Grand Canyon

[Tom Williams]

I will be going up to the Canyon for a couple of days next week and would like a little advice. My camera is a Nikon D300 and I have the 18-220 and 35mm 1.8 and tamron 90mm 2.8 lenses. I also have a polarizer for the 18-200. I would appreciate any tips re settings or best lenses to use.
Tom

[zona5101]

bring a tripod for sunrise and sunsets. bracket your shots. typically your going to want apreture priority as you'll want to use the fstop a few down from full open...such as f5.6 to f8 as most lenses have their sweet spot in that range. You're on a tripod so shutter won't matter (much) and focused at infinity so maximizing dof with a small aperture (f11-f22) isn't a factor.

[Photologyst]

I agree with zona’s suggestions. If you have important shots, always bracket these. Later you could even use them for HDRs if desired.

Try to take some “unusual” angle photos, because the grand canyon is over exposed these days, what with hordes of tourists and their digi-cams. lol

[Tom Williams]

Thanks Bruce and Lumico. That is the kind of advice I was seeking. Would you use a UV or CP filter
Tom

[RecurrentNerve]

CP. Can help to remove haze and will make for more dramatic skies.

[Fusion]

Time of day is all important in the Canyon. Agree with the suggestion so far given but also add shoot at the best times of day, early morning and late late afternoon to avoid the harsh light of midday..

[Tom Williams]

Thanks everyone. Hopefully, I'll have something worthwhile to post here on my return.
Tom

[EOBeav]

A UV filter is of little use. A polarizer is a good option, but make sure you get a good one. Another option is to bring along a ND filter if you want to slow down your shutter time for moving clouds.

[photog1107]

I am also planning a trip to the Canyon in a few weeks, and fear I may not have the luxury of planning the perfect, golden time of day, as I'll be with my family on a guided tour and it will be out of my control. But I'd still like to try to grab some stunning shots if possible. Any advice if I happen to be there during that harsh mid-day time? Would a polarizer help that situation? I plan on taking my tripod.

[Krusty79]

Originally Posted by photog1107

I am also planning a trip to the Canyon in a few weeks, and fear I may not have the luxury of planning the perfect, golden time of day, as I'll be with my family on a guided tour and it will be out of my control. But I'd still like to try to grab some stunning shots if possible. Any advice if I happen to be there during that harsh mid-day time? Would a polarizer help that situation? I plan on taking my tripod.

If you have to shoot in the middle of the day, I would recommend a circular polarizer. B+W multi-coated is the best. Hoyas are supposed to be good if you're on a budget. It is most effective if you are shooting at a 90 degree angle relative to the sun. A graduated neutral density filter will reduced the brightness of the sky relative to the ground, but at midday, you would have to stack multiple filters to compensate for the differences in brightness, so I don't know if you want to try all that.

You might try bracketing some of your shots so you can do some HDR or exposure blending on your shots if you're inclined. That will help compensate for the large dynamic range you are going to run into shooting in the middle of the day.