The Antelope slot canyons near Page, AZ have an amazing array of shapes to photograph. This combined with the reflected light inside the canyon create some amazing images. You can’t just walk through them though, you need a guide.
Antelope Slot Canyons
The Antelope Slot Canyons have been a favorite of photographers for years. It’s no wonder with the amazing light that exists here and the relative ease of access. There are two Antelope Slot Canyons – upper & lower. There are a number of other slot canyons in the area as well but the upper and lower get the most attention.
The canyons are not that long . Only a few hundred yards in the case of the Upper and it’s all level ground so pretty easy to walk through. The Lower Canyon is longer and can be a bit harder to hike. They were formed by flash floods over the years carving out the sandstone into amazing curves and wave like shapes. During the warmer months when the sun is higher in the sky, shafts of sunlight enter certain sections of the canyon and hit the canyon floor. These are favorite events for photographers and since it occurs during the summer vacation months causes very crowded conditions.
The Tours
Both canyons are on Native American land and require a guide. Because of their popularity, Native American tour companies have been established to take people through and during the peak seasons it gets very busy. There are stories about how some of these tours can be pretty disappointing. There’s no doubt the Native American Tribes are capitalizing on the popularity. The tour prices are getting very high and the group sizes are getting pretty large.
The upper canyon is the most popular and as a result is the most crowded. There are two types of tours – basic & photography. The basic tours don’t allow tripods and are intended for those just taking snapshots with their phones or simple cameras. The photography tours are longer and allow time for your group to set up a camera & tripod and compose your shot. In both cases no backpacks are allowed because there’s not a lot of elbow room in there with the multiple tour companies operating simultaneously.
The tour company we chose was Adventurous Antelope Canyon Photo Tours. We did the photo tour so that we could use tripods due to the low light levels in the canyon. In fact if you choose the photo tour you have to have a tripod and a DSLR or mirrorless camera. They actually do check before you go. If you have no tripod they’ll rent you one. These photo tours are expensive for what you get however. About two hours total but it’s the only way to make good images of these formations. You just have to mentally prepare that it’s going to be overpriced and it’s going to be crowded so set those as expectations going in.
The ride to and from the slot canyon is a bit of a cattle car since they have to transport you in their vehicles. Due to the deep sand in spots it requires four wheel drive so they tend to be pick up trucks with seating in the back or old Ford Excursions. It’s a bumpy ride and in our tour company’s case took about 15 minutes.
The canyon tour itself was a mix of wow and wait for the group in front to move out of the way. They move a lot of people through the canyon, some of which are on photo tours and others that are on the basic tour. There are defined stops on the way through that the guide sets up. You only have a couple of minutes at each stop to make the photo. One row of photographers is kneeling down low with their tripods and the second row is standing behind them. The guides for the photo tours do a pretty good job of keeping people out of your image during your five minutes.
Once through to the end of the canyon you do a u-turn and go back through. This way you can get a second try at some of the locations if you want. In addition to the random curves and wave shapes, there are recognizable shapes as well that the guides point out. One of those is called the Bear and is shown below. You can make out the shape of the bears head at the top of the image.
The Featured Image
It’s somewhat hard to compose an image in the slot canyon because the light levels are pretty low. What your eye sees and what the camera can see with a long expose are two different scenes. The featured image at the top is a 15 second exposure. As I said, tripods are a must. The colors and details that come out with a long exposure are a bit surprising at first. To the naked eye the composition may not look that interesting but when you review the image on the screen it’s like “wow, I didn’t know that was in there”. The guide can help here as they know where most of the good compositions are.
You have to be careful to not include any sky in your image. The dynamic range between the light levels on the canyon walls and the light value of the sky is too great. The sky will be blown out. The image above of the Bear caught a small patch of sky and it has this problem. It also helps to exclude the canyon floor as there are just too many footprints in the sand. Most of the interesting shapes are above your head so just keep looking up.
It’s pretty dusty inside the canyons so it’s best to not change lenses while there. Bring the one setup you think you’ll need for the trip and bring a lens cleaning cloth and a pocket blower for dust. I debated between my 24-70mm and 24-120mm zooms. I took the 24-120mm to get more range but I could of done just fine with the 24-70mm. This is for a full frame sensor DSLR. Adjust accordingly for other sensor formats.
There’s lots of interesting interplay between the shadows and the highlights of the featured image. That’s part of the allure of these slot canyons and you need to use the entire range of light. Some may boost the shadows a lot in Lightroom or Photoshop but I think that’s a mistake. The alternating shadows and highlights give the image depth and contrast while also enhancing the color variation of the sandstone walls.
Final Thoughts
These slot canyons have been on my photo bucket list for many years. We almost didn’t go since the tour cost had gotten so high but being in Page, AZ for other images we decided to bite the bullet and do it. I’m glad we did. Even though the tour itself was a bit hectic the scenes inside the canyon are pretty amazing. And the tour prices are only going to get more expensive next year. Some photographers go every year but I have a feeling this will be a once and done location for me. I don’t see enough value in going through the tour process again to get similar shots. That may change as time has a way of moderating opinions but for now, there are a lot of other places yet to see and photograph.
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Nikon D810 with Nikkor 24-120mm @ 34mm. f/9 at 15 seconds. ISO 100.
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