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My Moab/Arches National Park Trip
First off, don’t forget to scroll down for today’s Lightroom tip. As for this post, I’ve had a few requests to see some photos from the Moab, Utah workshop I taught at last week. First off I have to say thanks to everyone who attended. It was an awesome workshop! I was fortunate to have an incredible group of photographers and, as always with these workshops, some of the nicest people I could hope for. I always go home with new friends that I keep in touch with for years after, and this workshop was no exception. Weather was great (but cold) for the most part and we all walked away with some breath-taking photos. Anyway, here’s some shots.
First off, click each photo to see it larger. Next each photo was taken with my Nikon D300 on the Really Right Stuff BH-55 ballhead mounted on a Gitzo tripod. All were processed with Lightroom, Photoshop, and sharpened with Nik’s Sharpener Pro 3. HDR (Photomatix Pro) was used in one of them as well. I’ve got a big space on my wall at home so I’m trying to decide which one to print large. I’d really appreciate a comment to let me know which one is your favorite.
Where? At Mesa Arch in Arches National Park
When? Sunrise
Lens? Nikon 70-200 mm VR
Settings? f/16
Processing? Lightroom for white balance, color saturation, and vignetting. Photoshop for some minor retouching. Photomatix to create HDR photo since there was no way to capture this in one photo.
How early did you get up? 3:35am and we left the hotel at 4am.
Where? At Mesa Arch in Arches National Park
When? Sunrise
Settings? f/16 and 1/60 second.
Lens? Nikon 14-24mm
Processing? Lightroom for white balance, color, exposure, vignetting. Photoshop for minor retouching and removing small distractions.
How cold was it? Very cold and very windy. No matter how many layers anyone had on it seemed we were all shivering. But well worth it.
Where? Dead Horse State Park
When? Sunrise
Settings? f/16 and 1/60 second.
Lens? Nikon 14-24mm
Processing? Lightroom for white balance, color, exposure, vignetting. Photoshop for minor retouching and removing small distractions. Nik Viveza to make the tree pop a little more.
Why did you shoot the tree and not all the other vast scenery out there? Basically, the sun had already come up. I had often shot so many photos of the same exact thing at sunrise, and end up with only one photo for the morning. So I forced myself to shoot sunrise for about 5 minutes and then switch spots as soon as the light changed. This is where I ended up.
Where? Delicate Arch in Arches National Park
When? Sunset
Settings? f/16 at 1/180 second.
Lens? Nikon 18-200mm VR (I got tired of changing lenses so I went for versatile over expensive)
Processing? Lightroom for white balance, color, exposure and vignetting. Photoshop for minor retouching and removing small distractions.
How long was the hike to this Arch? A little over an hour if you walked at a fairly brisk pace. But it was a lot of fun and well worth the result.
Where? Dead Horse State Park
When? Sunrise
Lens? Nikon 70-200 mm VR
Settings? f/11 at 1/45 second.
Processing? Lightroom for white balance, color, exposure and vignetting.
How did you end up getting this photo at Dead Horse as well as the other one above? They’re very different huh? Actually, I just turned around. Seriously, I was shooting in one direction when the sun was coming up. I turned around and this is what I saw. So I quickly changed lenses from wide to telephoto and got this shot.
Where? At Mesa Arch in Arches National Park
When? Sunrise
Lens? Nikon 14-24mm
Settings? f/16 at 1/60
Processing? Lightroom for white balance, color saturation, exposure, and vignetting. Photoshop for some minor retouching.
Did you really get up at 3:30 for this photo? Yep. If you don’t get there early it supposedly gets incredibly crowded. It didn’t for us because it was snowing that morning and the weather forecast was abysmal. But everything changed and we got some incredible photos.
Thanks for checking them out folks. Please let me know which ones you like best.
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When I saw the shots from Moab, I thought, “Oh cool, I’ve been there.” We went in the summer and it was crazy hot!! The hike up to Delicate was in the heat of the day…*whew* you forgot to mention that it was all uphill!!! Haha!
My favorite is the tree after all, because with the others, you think oh yeah, Moab. But with the tree, it could be anywhere and yet, no where. It looks like it has a story, what it’s seen and what its been through. It makes you think more and it should bring up more questions.
While at the park, I looked at all the old photos from the turn of the century and thought to myself, wow how many times do you think these rocks have been photographed?!!! Just my thoughts.
Great photo’s Matt, without a doubt Moab-3 is the one to print big for me.
Great shots! Wish I could have gone along for that one. Been through Moab several times while traveling, and never had the time for the long stop over.
I’ll be hitting Zion in a few weeks. We’ll see what fun stuff there is to shoot there.
Hi Matt
I loved 3 pictures Dead Horse State Park, Mesa Arch in Arches National Park and last but not least Mesa Arch in Arches National Park.
Dead Horse State Park is my favourite.
Why did you make it so difficult?
Phil
I’d vote for Moab-3, but they are all excellent.
My favorite is #1 closely followed by #3. Great captures.
Hey Matt, what lens did you take besides the three mentioned? And all the images are iconic, but I guess I vote for number 2- Mesa Arch. No HDR on this or fill flash? You deserve these shots- 3:30 A.M!! Thanks for all of the info very helpful. Cindy
Great shots Matt I try to make a trip to Moab every other year and hit up Park Ave at sunrise. Morning is the best anywhere for a 100 miles around Moab. Can’t say which would be my favorite, I’d print them all and change them once a week. Thanks for all you do on this blog it is a real help.
Matt, Lovely shots!
Not to be nitpicky, but I believe the correct name of the park is Dead Horse Point State Park. Gotta remember the “point”!
I thought Arches was one of the nicest places to visit on this earth. I took many photos that look similar to yours, but of course yours are better!
I didn’t have as much time to photograph as I wanted, because I was primarily there for mountain biking.
You gotta go mountain biking in Moab!
Next time, if you want a real treat, hike the Klondike Bluffs trail and head into Arches at the very top of the trail. The veiw is just unbelievable!
Here is one of my pics from that hike:
http://mroberg.smugmug.com/photos/147702565_5orsX-L.jpg
I hope to make it to one of your classes one of these days.
Beautiful shots, and thanks for sharing!
Wow!
Hi Matt,
very very nice picrtures, nearly the best I have seen from this location. Could you please give us a complete look to your workflow for one or two of these pictures, which would mean you show us a short film whcih shows the complete workflow from importing a picture into Lr, and ends with the export for web.
Many thanks in advance !
Robert
Those are some awesome photos! I really like all of the layers and haze in moab-4, but moab-3 is also really neat as well. I like the sunrays in it, composition, colors!
Great work!
Hi Matt,
As always thanks for sharing.
My favorite – Tree at Dead Horse State Park
I love the tree at Dead Horse. It’s been a few years since i’ve been to Moab. Every summer it seems to be on the planned route, and every year it gets nixed from the road trip plans. Once my little one is a little older, I hope to make it to a photo workshop in the area.
Hi Matt,
I love most the first picture. The colors are so vivid yet one tone. Also like the composition…
The tree. I love the tree. They are all great… but I always like the great shot that no one else would think of taking to best. Thank you for sharing!
Hi Matt,
I love all the pictures, but definitively the number 1 is my favorite, congratulations for your captures and thanks for sharing
Matt,
The photos look GREAT!!!!!! It will be tough to choose from. I do like moab-3, followed by moab-1. I like the colors in moab-4 and moab 8. It depends on what your wife thinks will go good in the room too! See, your persistence paid off.
Larry Loar
I liked At Mesa Arch in Arches National Park
best with Dead Horse State Park as runner up. Why? The other ones are certainly nice but more commonly seen. The first one is different and makes a person look close to reaaly see the image.
Moab-3 all the way!
Great Shots. Dead Horse is my choice
The one I keep going back to is Dead Horse Point State Park–but I think if it were my shot (o VERY wishful thinking!) I’d put it back in Lightroom and lighten the foreground just a bit, to get a little closer to what your eyes can see even when you’re looking at the splendid light flowing into the canyon and across the world. Such great colors and balances and the drama of the clouds–how can you resist?
Really nice pictures. I’d also really like to see what you did with HDR. Coulod be really interesting.
Hi Matt!
Oh lord, what a great set of pictures! If I had to pick just one, I would go for Moab-8. The view of those mountains is absolutely gorgeous!
Moab 3 is the one I think would look best printed, but Moab 8 is my favorite!
I like the Dead Horse State Park tree shot. Reminds me of a Maxwell Parrish print with the lighting all a glow.
Correct that… I meant Maxfield Parrish! Duh!
I love all the pics, and the tree was my choice also. It makes for an awesome conversation piece. That Nik Software used to make that tree pop rocks. Great shots.. all well worth it I’m sure. Congrats!
Hi Matt,
My favorites are moab-8 & moab-11(tree). my eyes would feast on either one printed large (or any of the set). But if I had to choose one it would be moab-8. the composition is so great. it seems as if we are sitting in the balcony at the grand theatre of mother nature. the colors are stunning as well.
the tree makes moab 11. it has very a nice curve, texture and shape. it also looks very old. the clouds, blue sky and orange sunrise make this a very nice image.
I don’t know, I my have to choose the tree! I love trees anyway.
They are all gorgeous, Matt. I like Moab -3 but also the tree. Thanks for posting all the FAQs too. Very helpful.
I preferred moab 4
Hi Matt:
Could you tell me what group or class that you went on this trip with? I am interested in signing up for a class like this.
These are great shots I also liked the video on what you did in lightroom. Have you ever tried Capture NX2 for processing your raw files? I also use a Nikon camera and I am trying Capture to see how it works with NEF files.
Thanks for your help.
Larry
They are all beautiful shots. I like Moab-4 best. I think it stuck in my mind because it is a bit different. I have seem similar arch photos before but the layers and colors in Moab-4 are just amazing. Thanks again for sharing!
Hey Matt,
I really like your moab-4.jpg photo. How did you get the photo to look identical (luminosity) in both IE and Firefox? My photo always look darker on IE (not color-managed browser) than on Firefox (I turn on color-managment option). Also your photo also looks identical (luminosity) in Windows preview, and IE, and Firefox. My photos always look darker when preview using Windows.
By the way, I have calibrated ips panel monitor and export jpg from LR with srgb but LR always exports photos darker than if I use the print module to print to jpg.
Again, really like your photo. Just wonder how did you get the many shades of orange so consistent in luminosity across Windows preview, IE, and Firefox.
Jonathan
Definitely the Dead Horse (moab-8) shot.