The Transept Trail runs westward from the North Rim Lodge into Transept Canyon – all at the north rim of the Grand Canyon. So, what’s a transept? Right, properly-speaking it’s the part of classical cruciform Christian church architecture that crosses between the nave and sanctuary, but in this case the term must be used in a generical form to indicate a minor corridor that crosses or emanates from a more significant space. Anyway, it’s a lovely walk in the trees, with strategical view points dotting the path. Note the smoke from a fire on the south rim – look along the horizon about 1/3 from the right edge. Near sunset, the shadows creep into Transept Canyon well before the sun actually dives below the horizon – a perfect test of HDR techniques.
The image above was recorded on July 17 at about 18:00 MST, using the Nikon D700 and the AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED at 31mm. The seven images used to generate the HDR image were recorded f/16 at 1/80s (0 EV), 1/640s (-3 EV), 1/320s (-2 EV), 1/160s (-1 EV), 1/40s (+1 EV), 1/20s (+2 EV), and 1/10s (+3 EV). The HDR image was generated using Photomatix Pro 3.1, with tone mapping conducted using the detail enhancer mode with the following settings:
Luminosity: 0
Strength 95
ColorSaturation: 46
WhiteClip: 0.249450
BlackClip: 0.000000
Smoothing: Very High
Microcontrast: 6
Microsmoothing: 2
Gamma: 1.000000
HighlightsSmoothing: 0
ShadowsSmoothing: 0
ShadowsClipping: 0
ColorTemperature: 0
SaturationHighlights: 0
SaturationShadows: 0
Additional processing was conducted using ACR 5.4 to adjust Recovery, Blacks, Clarity and Vibrance – and eliminate a few dust spots; and Photoshop to increase contrast and to enhance detail in the clouds using the ‘Overlay move’.
Oh, I nearly forgot. Below, I include a shot of the HP enjoying the view over Transept Canyon:
This is the first use of the Nikon GP1 GPS encoder: The coordinates of the site were recorded as follows:
Latitude: 36,12.1678N
Longitude: 112,3.561W
Altitude: 2493.00 m (8179 ft)
Time Stamp: 7/18/2009, 12:45 AM
Click on the thumbnail below for a Google Earth view of the location:
The GP1 works very well – if you start it up before you begin composing and checking exposure, etc., it locates satellites just about the time the first exposure is recorded.
Tags: Grand Canyon, HDR, HDRI, High Priestess, HP, North Rim Lodge, Photomatix, Transept Canyon
First picture is fantastic! Put a watermark on it or else you will find it on a calendar next year! High Priestess is looking unusually tall in shot #2. From her vantage point she’d be better able to spot the tripod you left behind.
Hi S,
Thanks for the comment! Yeah, the HP had to haul the WhiBal card down this sketchy slope to where I was set up – wasn’t even room to stand side-by-side. I sez, ‘Heya, give us a look out at the view of the Transept’ – beauty.
Cheers,
P.