Horse Shoe Bend, Arizona — the obligatory shot

After showing what Horse Shoe Bend, Arizona looks like in fog and snow in a photo yesterday, I returned today for the more conventional shot.

There are two major challenges in addition to the need for a very wide angle lens — to include the whole river, you need to lean out over a 1,000-ft precipice, and the difference between the bright sun-lit areas and the dark shadows is at least seven EVs.

I suffer from moderate vertigo, and when I approached the edge of the cliff even on my belly, I began to feel dizzy and nauseous — unlike a group of Japanese tourists who simply stood at the edge and leaned over.

In the end, I solved both problems by extending my tripod like a long pole, and running it out over the edge while I lay a couple feet back from the edge holding it. I took five bracked exposures using a cable release, and combined them in Photomatix. You still see the shadow, but it’s less heavy, though still looks natural.