While there are many articles on the internet that will show you pictures of Antelope Canyon tours, this article is actually about the difficulty of taking pictures on Antelope Canyon tours. Of course, pointing a camera at the walls of the canyon during a tour is going to produce an image, so why would photography of this area be considered so difficult? It has to do with the area itself, and the fact that Antelope Canyon is one of the most dramatic slot canyons on the planet. The thing about Antelope Canyon that is different than other canyons like the Grand Canyon is the availability of ambient light. Antelope Canyon was formed by flash flooding, and the water taking the same path each time a flash flood happens. This has created a channel or “slot” in the sandstone ground, essentially carving out a groove that you can now walk through. This groove is quite deep, and because of this depth there is no light coming from anywhere except directly above, illuminating the canyon walls and floor only in some places, and providing ambient light from bouncing off those areas. While this alone creates a situation that is difficult to photograph, the times from March to October of each year are even more so. This timeframe positions the sun directly overhead, and creates sunbeams at specific times of day that drop all the way to the canyon floor. Photographers come from all over the globe to test their skills photographing light which is being beamed into a dark area. The wide exposure range necessary makes it quite hard to get a good shot.
This is why professional photographs of Antelope Canyon tours look so much better than cell phone pictures. Typical exposure meters are going to either adjust for the bright light or the shadows, either letting in too little light or too much for both the canyon walls and the sunbeams to show appropriately. The typical cell phone photograph will be either too dark or washed out, and will probably not do justice to the scene that was in front of you at the time of your tour. It is very typical for people who take Antelope Canyon tours to show the photos and then say “these pictures don’t capture how beautiful it really is.” They are correct, and the best advice we can give about Antelope Canyon tours is to take a few pictures of your own, but then just spend the rest of the time enjoying the scene that is in front of you. Antelope Canyon has to be experienced, and no matter how good of a photographer you are, chances are you are not going to be able to capture the beauty of seeing it in person.
Do you have the photographic skills to get a good image of one of the most beautiful slot canyons on earth? Book your Antelope Canyon tour today, and we will make sure that you have plenty of chances to try.