I always enjoy the short hike to Balanced Rock along the Grapevine Hills trail in Big Bend National Park. I have photographed the feature many times. My goal on this occasion was to find a different vantage point. I decided to setup my gear on a large boulder to the right of the feature which allowed me to capture the sun rising on the horizon as well as the rock. The advantage of my new vantage point is that I can showcase the area’s rock formations. The rock in the foreground is about four feet in front of me. This left me very little room to stand and set up my camera. I decided to take five photographs to capture the entire scene. I used my Kirk Long Rail to avoid Parallax Errors (distortion that occurs when capturing a panorama image with near foreground items). Overall I’m very pleased with my new location. I may return to this area in the future to photograph from a new vantage point.
This image was taken with my Canon EOS 5DS using my Canon EF 16-35mm f/4 Lens set on 16mm. The camera was set on Manual mode with the aperture set at f/14, shutter speed at 1/15th of a second and the ISO set at 100. I used a tripod for stability and my Kirk Long Rail to avoid Parallax issues. This is a series of five images brought together in Lightroom and completed in Photoshop using Nik Color Efex Pro.You can see my Big Bend gallery by clicking here. Please use the section below to post your comments, questions or suggestions.
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One of your best photos of balanced rock. They keep getting better. Looks like you didn’t have to worry about people in your shot.
Thanks Rick! No people. Park was virtually empty.
Excellent! The new viewpoint is yielded an impressive result. Where was it in reference to the boulder you used in the MW shot last year?
Thanks Tom. It’s located just to the right and in front of the other boulder. It’s a tighter fit but I like the outcome.