I’m off to my annual spring trip to Big Bend National Park with some of my photography buddies. I thought I would share my Top 5 landscape photographs from my 2015 trips to the Park. The countdown will begin tomorrow and it will conclude next week with my favorite photo. I will outline the equipment I used, why I chose the camera settings, the post processing tools I used and what I was thinking when I captured the photograph. I will also outline what I would do different if I had the chance. In the meantime, the photo below deserves and “Honorable Mention”. It was a close tie with #5 but lost in the “tie-breaker”.
Original Post: September 11, 2015
Location: Ernst Tinaja. This is a long drive but a short hike. Some rock climbing is required but not a rigorous effort.
Equipment: Canon EOS 5D Mark III, my Canon EF16-35mm f/2.8 Lens, tripod and a remote shutter release.
Camera Settings: Lens set at 21mm, f/18, 1/2 second, ISO 100, five bracketed images (-2, -1, 0, +1, +2).
Post Processing: I used Photomatix to blend the five images into a single image (see HDR). I then used Photoshop for the final touches.
Comments: We arrived before sunrise but the cloud cover was not very interesting. So, I thought that a reflection would be a better approach. I used bracketed images to close the gap between the bright light of the sunrise and the shadow of the tinaja. I chose f/18 to get maximum depth of field. I chose ISO 100 to maximize sharpness. In retrospect, I would change the aperture to f/8. That would have given me more sharpness to the image and reduce the risk of camera shake due to the longer exposure.
![Ernst Tinaja Canyon with Water Pool](https://tkahler.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/20150413-Ernst-Tinaja-Sunrise-ALb.jpg)
Click here to access my Big Bend portfolio. Please use the section below to post your comments, questions or suggestions.
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These trapped rocks are always cool to see. Glad that it isn’t a selfie with you on the rock.
I’m glad too Steve… :)