A maze of rocky wonderment, the Grand Canyon is a very exciting spot to visit for every travel enthusiast. Furthermore, the graveled landscape and the stunning depths of the Grand Canyon make it a jeweled dream of every photographer to capture this mystical place in a frame. The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, the United States and an iconic location for panorama photography.
WPC brings to you an insight into what it takes to be a travel photographer and the nitty-gritty of what makes the perfect picture, as part of the WPC travelogue series.
Here is the personal travelogue of our founder Anurag Mathur and an understanding of travel photography: Anurag is a photography and travel aficionado who believes that the best photographing moments are always spontaneous. His passion for photography makes him carry his camera everywhere he goes to create natural and spur-of-the-moment frames of magic with a simple techniques. Anurag, during his journey across the West Coast of the United States, captured some beautiful and attractive locations in his camera, including the jaw-dropping depths of the Grand Canyon.
THE GRAND CANYON: Key-point to remember:
1. LOCATION MATTERS
For many photographers, the South Rim points are most favorable for their canyon vistas and the views that the Rim offers from multiple directions. These photos were clicked from the Mather Point, a scenic viewpoint along the South Rim, renowned for its proximity to the visitors’ center. However, even the East Rim points offer a plethora of scenic views, perfect for an ideal picture.
2. It's NOT THE RIGHT TIME, EVERY TIME:
We went to photograph the Canyon around noon, at the Mather Point, because this time was ideal to get plenty of shadows which are necessary to capture the finest topographical details of the Vista like its contours and depths.
3. WHAT KIND OF LIGHTING SHOULD YOU CHOOSE?
According to Anurag, hard lighting is preferable at such places, because there’s greater clarity in the pictures, which allows you to seize the textures and the shapes of the terrain in high definition.
“We were lucky that the Canyon was canopied by clouds, which created more shadows and magnified the scenic beauty of the spot,” said Anurag, emphasizing the need to get every crevice and rocky contour accurately into the frame. Also, trying different White Balance presets can give different results.
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4. FOREGROUND CAN DO WONDERS:
The foreground is deemed as extremely important in case of locations with deeper contours and wider landscapes. Effectively placed, the foreground helps resonate the depth and the width of a location, for a greater perspective. This makes the picture look more real while giving it a 3D effect.
5. PICTURESQUE PANORAMA:
For locations like the Grand Canyon, with deep-set landscapes, niches, huge depths and sharp curves, the wise photographer always opts for a panorama, because it allows you to stitch together furthest corners of the enormous Canyon into one frame. “At such a vantage-point, only panoramas are capable of resounding the enormity of the Grand Canyon which is why I shot many pictures using the panorama feature of my iPhone”, says Anurag.
Believing Mobile Photography to be the next big thing, Anurag gives equal attention to iPhonography (refer to WPC course for iPhone photography) since it allows more exploration and variety.
Fascinated yet? Grab the first opportunity to travel to this great mass of beautiful terrain, and create your own travel portfolio…!
Stay tuned with WPC for more travelogues and blogs, Happy photographing!
