Canyonlands & Great Gallery pictographs

[Ivan J. Eberle]

I'm in Moab this morning trying to reconnoiter a hike into Horseshoe Canyon specifically for the petroglyphs. What time of day do the panels get the best light (it's cloudless right now, full shade might be preferable)?

I've got a 4x5 with 90mm/135mm/210mm (as well as a 645 with a 35mm w/a lens). Any thoughts on which among these will be most useful/useless?

[Arthur Nichols]

I cannot speak for the time of day but I would assume that you would want to photograph in either full sun or shade. The problem with this assignment is getting enough contrast to render the pictographs. I did a workshop John Sexton in Canyon DeChelly and he recommended using Tech Pan film and then developing using a normal developer. I don't remember all the details but you will need to puch up the contrast considerably to get these to print. I guess that there are some substitutions available as a Tech Pan replacement. I think Freestyle has some. Good luck it is a magical area you are going into.
Art

[Kirk Gittings]

Though I have shot some of those Barrier Canyon Style sights, I'm not the right guide. FWIW, For future reference, if one is scanning film I suggest shooting color negative film. On some of those petroglyphs, I have found saturating the reds before conversion profoundly aids in maximizing separation (or some other color tweak very difficult to ascertain in the field).

[AdvLandscape]

Ivan, I just returned from the area your in about three weeks ago.

Before I departed on the trip I bought the book "Photographing the Southwest, Utah by Laurent Martres " I specifically purchased that book because he spent a great deal of time informing the reader on some of the best times for light per the locations. As I only had a short period of time to spend there I wanted to maximize that time.

So telling you that, I noticed that many of the National Park visitors centers had that book on the shelf. And while I do not have it with me right now I think I remember details in it about the "Great Gallery". So if you have time you could simply swing by one the visitors centers and read that section. The book is very informative.

[Eric Leppanen]

Here is another good source, which you can download over the web:

http://shop.photographamerica.com/product-p/035-pdf.htm

[George Stewart]

In this thread, you'll find a posting I made back in '07 with an example shot:

http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?t=28414&highlight=great+gallery

[Kirk Gittings]

That is a nice image George, great shadows. Here is one of mine that in retrospect I am not happy with the cropping (to tight on the left) and will have to revisit the negative. It is a color negative conversion with bumped reds as noted above.

[Brian Ellis]

I cannot speak for the time of day but I would assume that you would want to photograph in either full sun or shade. The problem with this assignment is getting enough contrast to render the pictographs. I did a workshop John Sexton in Canyon DeChelly and he recommended using Tech Pan film and then developing using a normal developer. I don't remember all the details but you will need to puch up the contrast considerably to get these to print. I guess that there are some substitutions available as a Tech Pan replacement. I think Freestyle has some. Good luck it is a magical area you are going into.
Art

Funny, I did that same workshop with John and I remember his talk about using Tech Pan for petroglyphs because otherwise you wouldn't get enough contrast. I didn't have any Tech Pan with me so I used TMax 100 and developed at N+1. They came out great, printed beautifully. They looked as good from a technical standpoint as John's.

[sanking]

A book that I found very useful was Guide to Rock Art of the Utah Region, by Dennis Slifer. You should be able to purchase it at a bookstore in Moab.

If you are going to be photographing pictographs I second Kirk's recommendation to use color negative film as there is very little contrast between the color of the figures and the sandstone on which they are painted. You can enhance the contrast a lot by scanning and using color controls in Photoshop in the B&W conversion. I spent several weeks in the Moab area over a period of four years working primarily with B&W film in 5X7 and 12X20. If I had it to do over again I would use only color negative film.

Sandy King

[Kirk Keyes]

The panel is in shade from the mid-afternoon and on. I've been there about this time of year and I think about 3PM and later is when you want. Remember it's a several mile hike back out and several hundred feet back up to the top of the canyon. I'm not a fast hiker, but I think you should leave your self a good hour to get back to the parking lot.

[Bruce Schultz]

The contrast problem led many of the first photographers of rock art to splash liquid, water and sometimes kerosene, on the images to bring out the color and saturation. Of course, that resulted in many images being ruined or disfigured.

[Ivan J. Eberle]

I covered my butt by shooting both color transparency (Astia 100F) and neg (Pro 160S).

The 135mm turned out to be the best for catching the whole of the gallery in one frame. (Hoping this Caltar IIN AKA Sironar N is a good and sharp lens, but it's a bit of a gamble since I snapped it up in Monterey on my way out of town but haven't gotten any film back from it yet. But I did have the chance to test the shutter on the road thanks to my laptop and homespun sound-card shutter tester).

Neat hike, but seems quite a bit longer than the advertised 3.5 miles each way to the Great Gallery, perhaps due to soft sand in the river wash. Was probably 3:30 PM til I hit the trail. Stayed down there until dark. Took ~2-1/2 hours to hike back out, non-stop, by headlamp. Thank goodness for the herd path which helped to find the rock cairns.

[Eric Leppanen]

Neat hike, but seems quite a bit longer than the advertised 3.5 miles each way to the Great Gallery, perhaps due to soft sand in the river wash. Was probably 3:30 PM til I hit the trail. Stayed down there until dark. Took ~2-1/2 hours to hike back out, non-stop, by headlamp. Thank goodness for the herd path which helped to find the rock cairns.Congrats on your successful hike. A few questions if you don't mind:

- How were the road conditions? I presume you took the graded east-west dirt road from Utah Highway 24? Did you need/use AWD?
- How long did your initial hike take from the trailhead to the Gallery?
- Since you arrived back at your car after sunset, how difficult was it to drive back in the dark? Did you have any trouble staying on the correct road?
- How close could you get to the Great Gallery panel? I hear there is a small fence limiting access?
- You mention that a 135mm lens did a good job framing the overall panel. Did you also use any longer lenses? How long a lens is needed to capture smaller subgroups of individual figures?
- It sounds like your 135mm Caltar/Sironar-N had enough coverage for you (I understand the Gallery figures are generally above head level, requiring use of a fair amount of front rise)?

Sounds like a challenging but fun hike! Thanks for any insights you can provide.

[Ivan J. Eberle]

Didn't need 4WD but if you've got it you may want to engage it for steering control in the driftblown sandy stretches. (It may rain Tues-Weds so this could rapidly change.)

Figure on at least a couple of hours each way. Driving back in the dark was fine, it was the hiking out that wouldn't have been something to recommend for a less experienced hiker.

You can stand back and get a better shot that's closer to being on the same level w/o as much tilt with the 135m than a 90mm. (The 210mm would have been best, but for the trees. ) The close-in detail shots will require the most rise/tilt.

[Darryl Baird]

The contrast problem led many of the first photographers of rock art to splash liquid, water and sometimes kerosene, on the images to bring out the color and saturation. Of course, that resulted in many images being ruined or disfigured.

do you have a source for this statement? ... book or author?

[lonepeak]

I'm a little late to this thread but here's my two cents for the future. I always go there in February to beat the crowds. My wife likes to camp on the rim every year as a start to the camping season. I find the light perfect in the morning as the entire panel is in full sun. I made some nice images this year with FP4+ in 4x5 and the contrast looked fine to me. In the past I've successfully used a variety of films using my 35mm but prefer the look of black and white. Just my two cents.