Trees of the Grand Canyon South Rim

[jrbdmb]

It seemed like my wife and I were as interested in the "trees" of the Grand Canyon as in the canyon itself. Still a newbie compared to most of you, so CC appreciated ..

[jrbdmb]

Bonus shot ... nothing to speak of composition wise, but it was neat to be "Over the Rainbow" while in nearby Jerome AZ. And I just noticed a very faint second rainbow above the first ... very neat experience. It was only like this for about 30 seconds, no time to get a better vantage point - perhaps when I have a few hours spare time I can Photoshop this to remove the telephone pole and wires.

[CameraMan]

Nice! I haven't been to the Grand Canyon since I was 9. I must go back there soon!

[Jon Clemens]

There is nothing wrong with combining trees and a vista. You just need to decide before you take the picture whether it's going to be a 'tree' picture or a 'vista' picture. In the first one the trees provide a good sense of vastness and depth, but get in the way of the vista. With that much vista more attention needs to be paid to the composition of the vista.

In the second one, the tree in the center makes it a 'tree' shot, so the vista is more distracting than it is enhansing.

[rick_reno]

nice shots of the canyon, stunning vista

[CameraMan]

Yeah, I like the tree in the first one. I just wish the top wasn't cropped out. But still a beautiful shot!

[letsbewild]

Originally Posted by CameraMan

Nice! I haven't been to the Grand Canyon since I was 9. I must go back there soon!

It's an amazing place still - and always will be, but kind of depressing when you get there and it's just crawling with 10,000+ people a day tossing cans everywhere and shouting. Once you go about a mile down any of the trails though the fitness-phobic crowds disappear.

[argyle]

First shot...light is very nice, but tree top has been cut off and you have bits of another poking into the frame, horizon splitting the frame in half. Try to pull up some more detail in the lower right.

Second...not so good light as what's to be expected (usually) at that time of day. Bit of a 'distracting' composition.

[CameraMan]

Originally Posted by argyle

First shot...light is very nice, but tree top has been cut off and you have bits of another poking into the frame, horizon splitting the frame in half. Try to pull up some more detail in the lower right.

Second...not so good light as what's to be expected (usually) at that time of day. Bit of a 'distracting' composition.

Moving that horizon up or down would not help this photo. Maybe a wide angle lens would have suited this shot. But again I must say it's a truly awesome shot.

[jrbdmb]

Originally Posted by Jon Clemens

There is nothing wrong with combining trees and a vista. You just need to decide before you take the picture whether it's going to be a 'tree' picture or a 'vista' picture. In the first one the trees provide a good sense of vastness and depth, but get in the way of the vista. With that much vista more attention needs to be paid to the composition of the vista.

In the second one, the tree in the center makes it a 'tree' shot, so the vista is more distracting than it is enhansing.

Thanks for the feedback. I esp. agree with the second shot. Unfortunately I found this tree right around Noon, with the expected harsh lighting. In some cases getting lower and shooting up to eliminate the canyon walls as a distraction might have helped - but that would have beena hazardous option in this case. This might have been a good time for my 85 or 135L to minimize DOF (shame I didn't have then with me).

I still like the tree in the first shot (other than lopping the top of it), as it adds perspective - do you think pulling back some to show less tree and more canyon would improve this?

[jrbdmb]

Originally Posted by letsbewild

It's an amazing place still - and always will be, but kind of depressing when you get there and it's just crawling with 10,000+ people a day tossing cans everywhere and shouting. Once you go about a mile down any of the trails though the fitness-phobic crowds disappear.

I was actually surprised at how light the crowds were - hiking around the Rim Trail we were by ourselves most of the time. A few more people at the popular spots like Mathis Point, but no elbow-to-elbow crowds like I expect occur during the summer.