Lower Antelope Slot Canyon, May 12, 2008

Key Hole, Lower Antelope Slot Canyon, originally uploaded by BillyCrafton.

Today, we got up and grabbed breakfast at the hotel and headed over to the Lower Antelope Slot Canyon at 8:30. Just after we pulled in, a tour bus pulled in behind us. Terry and Ken rushed in and headed to the back as Brian and I stopped at the entrance and shot as the photography tour went past us.

The Lower Antelope was beautiful I highly recommend it if you're in the area! The best times to visit seem to be from 8-10:45 and 2-4. The Key Hole is lit up around 10:15 if you want to capture a ray of light. After 11, the light goes away. Primarily, you're trying to capture the walls with the reflected light. That provides the best red colors. It's sometimes difficult to avoid the sky in a photo. If you do get it, you'll have blown highlights and you won't get the pretty blue of the sky. I was taking multiple exposures, one for the shadows and one for the sky, and I plan to merge them in Photoshop later.

After the slots, we hit Pizza Hut for lunch and did a little shopping. We were planning on heading out in the afternoon but clouds rolled in and turned the sky to gray. Instead, we went over to Slackers Bar and Grill and had dinner while watching the Red Wings beat the Star in the NHL playoffs. It started raining while we were there and rained through the night.