Photographs from Zion National Park

Below are the some of the best photographs from Zion National Park. We spent 2 days in Zion during our southwest US road trip:

Canon 5D camera, Canon 24-85 lens, shooting mode Aperture Priority (Av), ISO 400, Exposure compensation (EC) -2/3, Aperture f6.3, focal length of 46mm, shutter-speed 1/3200 of a second, white balance of 'shade', picture style 'landscape', hand-held. [note: this really should have been shot ISO 100, Av, F11. I had been shooting the kids in the shade and these were the correct setting for that.]

Canon 5D camera, Canon 17-40 lens, shooting mode Aperture Priority (Av), ISO 200, focal length 17mm, Exposure compensation (EC) -1/3, Aperture f13, shutter-speed 1/320 of a second, white balance of 'cloudy', picture style 'landscape', hand-held.

Canon 5D camera, Canon 200mm f2.8 lens, shooting mode 'Program' (P), ISO 200, Exposure compensation (EC) -1, Aperture f5.6, shutter-speed 1/800 of a second, white balance of 'cloudy', picture style 'standard', hand-held.

Canon 5D camera, Canon 24-85 lens, shooting mode Aperture Priority (Av), ISO 400, Exposure compensation (EC) -2/3, Aperture f5.6, focal length of 24mm, shutter-speed 1/80 of a second, white balance of 'shade', picture style 'standard', hand-held.

This is another location where I could have spent a week photographing the entire park. You can't really do the park justice in 2 days. Since we were traveling with the kids, the trip focus wasn't photography.

I tried to get some unique landscape shots (like the ones above), that aren't the 'cliche' Zion landscape shots. When I found myself framing the same landscape shot I found in local galleries or my hotel room, I just stopped. To duplicate the same shot that has been taken 1000 times by other photographs wasn't interesting to me.

Sidebar: Although my Canon 24-85 lens covers a useful range for hiking with the kids it's just 'mushy' at it's wider apertures. If I shoot it at f8 - f13 it does produce good results. I may have to 'pony-up' for the 24-105 L at some point.