Edited to add: Antelope Canyon has re-opened since July 2021. The cost for Ken’s Tours at Lower Antelope Canyon was $50/person and they are taking smaller groups of people at this time (Groups of 5). We recommend checking the prices as they are sure to change from year to year.
Antelope Canyon is one of those iconic locations to photograph in Arizona. There is actually a Lower Antelope Canyon and an Upper Antelope Canyon. You can only tour these locations with a guide from the Navajo Nation. Since the current pandemic all tours have been closed. However, rumor has it that by the end of September they may be re-opening, so I wanted to post about the tours in case you are lucky enough to book a tour. I have seen some of the tour websites show availability for Lower Antelope Canyon tours starting September 20, 2020, however I have not seen that for Upper Antelope Canyon yet. The Lower Antelope Canyon is the longer of the two, but in my opinion Upper Antelope is slightly more photogenic due to the iconic light beams. However, whichever option you choose will leave you with some amazing wall-hanging images.
Lower Antelope Canyon is approximately 1 mile long and you do have some ladders to climb down into the canyon, so be aware if you have any health issues that would prohibit you from doing ladders/stairs. It is also the least expensive of the two, however the price has increased in the last few years. About 3 or 4 years ago it was about $25 to enter Lower Antelope Canyon with a guide. Today (in 2020) the sites are showing $40 for a standard tour (typically between 10-20 people). The most popular tour companies for Lower Antelope Canyon are Ken's and Dixie Ellis. According to my tour guide, with Dixie Ellis, they are both part of the same family. My guide was friendly and knowledgeable about the canyon. She was also helpful with photography tips for those shooting on their phones and cameras. She provided insight on which white balance worked best, and pointed out structures and tips on composition that she experienced proved to make awesome images. This was not a photography tour either, which by the way are no longer offered on Lower or Upper Antelope Canyon since Dec of 2019. Don’t forget to tip your guides!
Upper Antelope Canyon is shorter and there is no climbing ladders required. Because it is shorter it seems more congested and you'll likely be surprised by the amount of people in the canyon at any given time. It appears the current tour rate is around $75 for the upper canyon. Upper Antelope Canyon is best known for it's light beams. The light beams are most visible April through the end of August, and are best seen between 10am-noon. When I visited Upper Antelope Canyon they were still providing photography tours and I did pay the extra at that time for the photography tour. The difference between the photography and tour and the regular tour is 1) you could bring a tripod , 2) the guides would get you set up and then stop the regular tours from entering the shot for 1-2 minutes so we had a chance to get our shots without people in the image and 3) they would throw sand up into the light beams to make them more visible in your photograph. While it seems like a short time to get your shot, it was still all you needed. As I mentioned above, those tours are no longer an option. Also you cannot bring a backpack as they packs often bump the narrow side walls and can cause damage. In Upper Antelope Canyon they also do not allow you to change lenses due to the amount of sand. In the Lower Canyon I did bring a small fanny-style bag and put my 70-200 in for some close up shots of the texture and colors. Otherwise, I mainly used my 16-35mm lens which was perfect for the shots I wanted. That was on a full-frame camera. I debated back and forth on my drive up whether I was going to use my 16-35 or my 24-70. I was glad I chose my 16-35 as I knew I could always crop in closer, but if my 24-70 wasn't wide enough there wasn't much I could do if I desired a wider view.
On the Upper Antelope Canyon, since I had my tripod I was able to get away with a much lower ISO and higher aperture to ensure detail. However in Upper Antelope Canyon I was closer to ISO 800, and using F2.8 to ensure i had a fast enough shutter speed to avoid blurry images from camera shake. I also played with my white balance a little. The lower Kelvin temperatures (around 4500 or so) brought out more purple tones, whereas Kelvin temperatures around 6000 brought out the warmer orange tones. If you shoot in Raw though you can manipulate this in post processing.
I can only guess on their re-opening process, but it may be beneficial to try and book within a few weeks of the re-opening as group sizes may be limited with less people in the canyon at a time. Again, this is just a prediction, but remember either way to be safe, patient, respectful and wear a mask. The Navajo Nation was hit pretty hard with the pandemic and I'm sure they are eager to being offering tours. I hope you all get a chance to see the beauty of these canyons. While in the area you may also want to visit Horseshoe Bend, Lake Powell and Glen Canyon Dam. If you do please share your pictures on our Exploretography-A Community for Active Photography Facebook group! As always, Explore, Create, and Do Good!
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