Permanently Closed to Tourists
The Navajo Nation has permanently closed this site to tourists due to disrespect of the land, live stock, and people. Exploretography respected the rules and we were blessed to witness the falls. It's sad to see beautiful locations closed due to ignorant people!
It did not have to end this away!
Please do not attempt to visit.
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Photography Tips for Photographing the Falls: I recommend getting there early for sunrise or staying through sunset to capture the most dramatic lighting. I prefer sunset for these falls, but there are far less people at sunrise (there were no one else there the day I went) which means no one photo-bombing your pictures.
Suggested Equipment:
Camera Body (equipped with charged battery and memory card, of course)
Wide Angle Lens: I used Canon 24-70mm 2.8 and Rokinon 14mm
Tripod
Neutral Density (ND) Filter: (such as this one
Lens Cloth
Unfortunately, waking up at 2 am to make it by sunrise from Phoenix, I was still in a daze and forgot my tripod. I did, however, have a light stand in my car that I made into a make-shift tripod. I was unable to adjust the light stand to some angles I would have liked, but it worked enough until it didn't work anymore. After the first 10 minutes I, inadvertently, tried to angle my camera forward and the light stand broke off flush in my camera's tripod mount. I was now forced into shooting handheld, which was not ideal. My biggest tip for anyone is to plan and prepare your gear the night before any photo adventure. The problem for me is that I am very spontaneous and often choose to take these adventure 5 minutes before I head out the door! I would highly recommend though to learn from my mistakes and shortcoming and plan your outings in advance, when possible. This will ensure you get the most out of your adventure! Another lesson I was reminded of on this trip: when shooting waterfalls you should occasionally check your lens for water spray. In a few of my photographs I noticed water spots that were likely due to water spray from the falls splashing on my lens. I didn't realize or think about it at the time because I was so cold and was fighting with the tripod issue already, so I didn't stop and take my time. This resulted in more time spent in post-processing than I would have liked. So bring a lens cloth and wipe down the lens in between every couple photos.
As far as camera settings I used a low ISO (100), high aperture (22), and longer shutter speed (1-10 seconds) while I was on the "tripod". Once the "tripod" broke I had to lower my aperture and shorten my shutter speed since I was hand-holding the camera. If you plan on photographing the falls midday I highly suggest you bring along a neutral density (ND) filter which allows you to use long shutter speeds in bright daylight without overexposing your image. Without the ND filter you would nee to use shorter shutter speeds (fractions of a second) to get the correct exposure, resulting in less "creamy" water. Instead of capturing the movement of the water you will essentially "freeze" the water. Compare the 2 pictures below. The first one was taken at 1/25 of a second. The second picture was 1.5 seconds. As you can see, keeping the shutter open for 1 second more significantly changes the look of the water movement.
One suggestion for ND filters is listed below (just be sure to purchase one that fits your lens):
Please feel free to watch this short video on my adventure:
If you are interested in purchasing a print please visit: https://heclickssheclicks.smugmug.com/Sheclicks/Travel/Grand-Falls/
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