Petrified Forest NP

Found at the side of the "Long Logs" trail.

7 vertical images stitched together in PS. Lee 3 stop ND filter. I hiked an old road to a part of the park called Petroglyph Canyon. It's an are not frequently visited. I suggest you talk to a ranger if you want to visit this area. The rock formations are pretty incredible- one in the image I made looks like a skull- and there are some interesting petroglyphs in the area.

Keystone Arch is about 200 yards off the road on Blue Mesa in Petrified Forest National Park. Most people don't leave the road. It's difficult to photograph because it's arch is pretty low to the ground. I had to take this shot lying on stomach with my tripod set as low as it could go. I wanted to highlight the arch by showing some of the light from the setting sun through it. I took 5 vertical shots with my 24mm Tilt Shift lens set at 2 degrees of downward tilt to get the foreground sharp. F11 for 2 seconds at ISO 50 with a 2 stop ND to hold the sky.

5 vertical shots with a 24mm tilt shift lens stitched together in PS6. I climbed up onto this log and walked to the end hanging over a cliff. I carefully balanced my tripod and set up my lens to capture the background and foreground in sharp focus. The sun had already dropped below the horizon and the sky turned a purple-blue. There was still enough warm light on the horizon from the sunset to light the scene. I love this time (called civil twilight) because the shadows lighten up and the light softens - natural HDR if you like. I used a Lee 2 stop ND filter to hold the sky and the exposure was set at 13 seconds at F16.

F16 at 50ISO for 1/4 second. No filters. Shot at "Crystal Forest".

The soft light of a slightly overcast sky allowed me to get the shadow detail in this gully. The banding of the different layers on the distant hills also adds interest and draws the eye right to the grasslands of the "expansion lands". This area is as beautiful as the park proper.

The "Expansion Lands" is a vast area east of the Petrified Forest National Park proper. It's accessible by 4WD only. I have been working for the Park documenting some of the awesome natural wonders out in this part of the park. These wonderful sandstone sculptures are just one example of what can be found in the park. Canon 5Dmk2 with Zeiss 50mm.

This is the view right off the Blue Mesa ring road -looking east over the expansion lands. I shot this on a Canon 5D mk2 with a super sharp Zeiss 50mm Makro Planar. 8 vertical shots stitched together to make a 1Gig file that I can print 24" by 60" at 300DPI and still retain great detail. This looks way better on Moab Somerset Museum Rag than it does on the Web. I spent a week in the park shooting at sunrise and sunset (working for the park). The park closes at those times of the day so I had the whole place to myself. I gave all my images to the Park Service to use to promote the park. It's an awesome place.