Bright Angel Sunset

North Rim Grand Canyon National Park, AZ

( Click on image to access high resolution virtual tour. Not for mobile devices.)

 

September 30, 2018. I captured this photograph at Bright Angel Point, near the North Rim Visitor Center in Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona.

We had arrived at the North Rim earlier that afternoon and drove to Bright Angel Point, hoping to photograph the canyon at sunset. My previous visit had been in May 1983, shortly after I purchased my first SLR camera, a Canon A-1. Unfortunately, an incident during that trip resulted in the loss of all my photographs. Returning to this remarkable location had been on my bucket list ever since, and I was determined to capture the views I remembered so vividly from 35 years earlier.

The day had been overcast, and the light was quite flat. However, I noticed a narrow opening beneath the cloud deck where the setting sun might briefly appear. I made sure my camera equipment was set up and ready, then waited for the light to change.

Sure enough, the sun eventually broke through that opening. The Lord blessed us with a few minutes of beautiful, warm evening light illuminating portions of the North Rim. The southern side of the canyon remained largely in shadow, with rain showers visible in the distant mountains. Meanwhile, sunlight reflecting from clouds behind me gave the nearby canyon walls on the right a subtle, warm glow.

The South Rim Visitor Center is visible near the center of the photograph. In the high-resolution virtual tour, you can zoom in and explore the remarkable detail of the canyon, including Bright Angel Trail as it descends from the South Rim into the canyon.

I created this panorama from 180 individual photographs, arranged in five rows of 36 images with approximately 25% overlap, using my Canon 5DS R and a Canon 70–200mm lens set to 200mm. The exposure settings were f/11, 1/20 second, and ISO 200. The resulting panorama preserves the intricate geological formations and subtle evening colors across this expansive Grand Canyon landscape.
The original image is:

• 2.865 gigapixels
• 26,764 × 107,056 pixels
• 89.2″ × 356.9″ at 300 PPI
• 4:1 aspect ratio
• Available as fine art prints, plaque mounts, aluminum prints and PlexiPlaq.
• Available as a Quad-Panel up to 48″ × 192″.
• Wall murals up to approximately 7 ft 5 in × 29 ft 9 in at 300 PPI, or 14 ft 10 in × 59 ft 6 in at 150 PPI.
• This image can be cropped to your desired dimensions.

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