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The Grand Caynon in Arizona is called Grand for a reason. It's rather large!
Appreciating the scale of things that we see, and being able to judge distances is an aspect of our God given 3D vision system that is very challenging to replicate in a 2D photo or drawing.
One way of showing depth in a landscape photo is a technique called receding planes of perspective, where scenery in the far distance is more hazy than that which is close by.
During mid afternoon on the south rim of the canyon, as the sun's angle above the horizon became more acute, the atmospheric haze became more apparent, adding a sense of depth to the scene.
If you compare this image with one taken at midday (see Grand Canyon 01 for an example) one can see that the sense of depth in this photo is much more apparent with the increase in haze.
The lower angle of the sun also helps in creating shadows which add a certain three dimensionality to the composition.
And what of the dead tree? Well that's there because I like it!
Filename - grand canyon tree 01.jpg
Camera - Canon 5D
Lens - 24-105mm zoom @ 32mm
Exposure - 1/100sec @ f8, ISO400
Location - Grand Canyon, Arizona
This image - 800x640px JPEG
Conversion - ACR & PS-CS2
Comments - Polarising filter used to enhance colours.
All content copyright © Howard Litherland 2009-2026 unless otherwise stated.