The hardest thing about this post was selecting the picture I would share. There are so many great vistas, views, and perspectives of the Grand Canyon, it boggles the mind.
In a series of posts I'll share one or two photos from each location and talk a little about the immersive experience delivered by our fantastic guides Samantha and Doug on our Arizona and Utah Adventures by Disney (ABD) vacation.
After leaving the Enchantment Resort in Sedona, we began the bus ride to the Grand Canyon, stopping in Williams Arizona, one of the last vestiges of Route 66. This stop is about half way between Sedona and the Grand Canyon and helps to break up the ride and give you a chance to get out and stretch your legs and do a little shopping. As you wander the town, see if it reminds you of any Disney movie in particular.
After leaving Williams, we headed the rest of the way to the Grand Canyon. Before entering the park, we stop in a small town just outside the park entrance for a pizza buffet lunch and then across the street to watch an iMax film about U.S. Army Major John Wesley Powell who led the 1869 Powell Geographic Expedition through the canyon on the Colorado River.
After the iMax movie, we head into Grand Canyon National Park to our first stop at Mather Point. True to ABD fashion, our Disney guides do something fun, but I won't say, so as not to spoil the surprise. After our first breathtaking view of the Grand Canyon, we are taken to our rooms inside the Grand Canyon National park. It's said that there are only about 1,000 guest rooms inside the park. One benefit of that is, as the crowds of tourists leave the park around 5pm, the park becomes very empty and you can often walk the rim of by Grand Canyon Village and not see another soul.
This particular shot was taken at Mather Point. I don't remember exactly where, but based on memory, it may be to the right when you walk to the rim from the parking lot.
I chose to do a 3-bracket HDR (High Dynamic Range) image for many of my pictures of the canyon to be able to bring up the shadows and manage the highlights. The settings for the normal exposure were aperture f/13 to ensure good clarity throughout the shot, 1/200 sec shutter speed, ISO100, and 22mm focal length (1.5x crop) on my Sony A6000.
The canyon tends to be very hazy so for most of my shots, I applied a "de-haze" filter along with tone mapping during post-processing in Adobe Lightroom.
I hope you get some great shots of the Grand Canyon.