The contrasting red and white rocks that in some areas are up to 3000 feet (910m) tall and are spectacular for both color and monochrome photography.
Visiting the park is very simple, a one-way loop scenic road provides easy access to many of the best photographic spots. There are however pull out points and parking areas allowing access to many of the hiking trails which are well worth exploring for more unique photo opportunities.
Leica MP240 35mm Summilux 1.4 FLE 1/2000sec at f5.6 ISO 200
Taken at the high point lookout at stop 4, I was lucky to get some really interesting clouds which I felt helped direct the viewers eye to the mountain top within the image. I really like the landscape here as it reminds me of old Western films like The Good. The Bad and the Ugly which I am a huge fan of.
I edited this image in Silver EFX Pro where I tend to start with the presets like High Structure Smooth and then adjust from there adding red or orange color filters to darken the sky, and localized adjustments to bring out details within key areas like the rock face and the brightness of the clouds. For me, monochrome images are successful when they are quite high contrast. The can have areas which are full black or full white, but I try to maintain a good range of tones within those extreme values. The original image when shooting in camera is quite flat, I try to protect both the highlights and shadows knowing I will push them in Lightroom, but this ensures all the values within the middle are there so I get a total range of greys throughout the photo.
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