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AcousticAlchemy â Monument Valley
Published: 2005-08-01 01:15:37 +0000 UTC; Views: 1295; Favourites: 34; Downloads: 88
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Description
Monument Valley straddles the border between Arizona and Utah and is located on the vast Navajo Nation. It is best known for it's "monuments", or huge stone pinaccles and buttes. Monument Valley is essentially not a valley, but rather a plateau. The tops of the monuments mark the level of an ancient plateau, which long ago, cracked, crumbled, and eroded away, leaving only the monuments. Most people think of monument valley only as the three "mitten" buttes at the visitors' center, when really the park covers a vast area with hundreds of spires and buttes, and many natural arches as well, most of which can only be seen on a guided tour. The 17-mile loop through the valley is quite beautiful, and passes some of the best known monuments, but for the really good shots, it is necessary to take a guided tour.The view from the Visitor's Center, and the only view that most people know.
This was taken in the last 2 minutes of light.
Okay so apparently the shot that I WANTED to submit (the horizontal view including all three buttes) got corrupted or something, and for some reason my Photoshop here just pooped out and will no longer work. So I am submitting the vertical shot with the single most well-known butte instead. Once I get photoshop back I will put the horizontal shot in, but this will do for now
filters used:
81B warming filter
2 stop graduated neutral density filter
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Comments: 35
woah, now that is a beautiful photo! I feel like I'm standing there already!
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What an incredible shot. I love good saturated Monument Valley photos. I'm curious as to how the horizontal shot came out (considering this one turned out so good).
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The horizontal shot is actually just a few down in my gallery from this one, if you want to see it.
Thanks for the comment!
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those colours and details are amazing. i just feel there is a little too much sky
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Thank you. I think you might be right about the sky. I probably could have composed alot lower.
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indeed
I was inspired by his shot of this rock and butte, in fact.
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you are most elequent.
I was actually disappointed to find that rock in the parking lot. I assumed I was going to have to pay one of the Dine to show it to me somewhere out in the desert.
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I knew from other people's pictures and stuff that it was at the visitor's center. I mean... I expected more of Ansel
Whatever.
Did you take the guided tour? I did, and it is incredibly surprising how little of the valley the Dine let you see on the scenic drive.
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Even tho, I live close by to Monument Valley, I've only stayed there once (other than to drive through on my way to other places).
We took an all day tour which included buffalo burgers and I think it was called Hidden Valley which is quite a ways away from the monuments, but very worthwhile.
In Ansel's defense, I suspect visiting Monument Valley in his day was a vastly different and more rewarding experience than today.
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I knew from other people's pictures and stuff that it was at the visitor's center. I mean... I expected more of Ansel
Whatever.
Did you take the guided tour? I did, and it is incredibly surprising how little of the valley the Dine let you see.
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this is a really nice view, especially with the rock in the foreground as well. i love the colours again and you've presented it well. can't wait to see the other shot!
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And cropped, to give an even more panoramic feel.
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Sigma 18-50 f2.8
Best lens for my digital, really. This is 2 shots stitched.
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breath taking, love the perspective, colors and tones, and im going to write down all useful information 
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thank you very much
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This is great also. I've been meaning to ask, what WB setting do you use in combination with the warming filter?
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Thanks, I generally either use auto white balance (or manual to whatever it should be for correct color) but then sometimes, if I really want to warm things up, I put it in custom between 5800 and 7000. It is a subtle change, but it really helps warm up and intensify colors.
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Do you end up with a neutral color balance if you select "auto" simultaneously with an 81B? i.e., doesn't the auto setting compensate for the 81B? Just curious, 'cause I haven't explored toning filters with my digital since I can change the WB later. That said, whatever you're doing certainly seems to be working well! Keep it up!
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Well I had it on auto with the 81B and it makes a very slight difference, but not what it should. It is barely noticeable. You need to really set it to a preset white balance to get the effect. So... if I use the 81B, I usually set the Kelvin manually, between 5200 (close to natural) and 7000 (pretty warm but still fairly natural)
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Thanks...that makes sense...
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i reeeeaaaally like this one! i'd like to see it taken in b&w.
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I have a similar one in black and white that I am debating submitting or not. I'm glad you like it
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Monumental. U must be getting red spots in front of your eyes... can U use the restore function on winXP to get back your program?
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I don't know. See, for some reason, the confirmation number I gave photoshop didn't work, so it started me on a 30-day period in which I could verify that I had the real thing. For some reason, that 30-day period expired today, after a computer reboot, when I only installed Photoshop (I priated it from my other house, where I have the real thing) a few days ago... So I don't know what happened...
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Monumental! U must be getting red spots infront of your eyes! Can you use the winxp restore function?
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Awesome picture.. I love the desert and the mitten butte is perhaps the image that stands out the most in my mind whenever I think of deserts.
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thanks, I think that you are probably not alone in that matter. The mitten buttes have become almost synonymous with the image of the American Southwest, after so many years of being used in Westerns and such.
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thanks, I think that you are probably not alone in that matter. The mitten buttes have become almost synonymous with the image of the American Southwest, after so many years of being used in Westerns and such.
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