1. Rafting Down The Grand Canyon
By James T Stover

2. Cast and Crew of the Expedition

3. Equipment
Strong, Light, Waterproof Tripod. Wide Angle Lens. I mostly used 18 – 105 mm lens. Borrowed a 12 mm for some Milky Way shots. Batteries. More Batteries. Still More Batteries. No power source for recharging batteries. Rafts, supplies, etc.

4. Two Rafts and Lots of Equipment

5. Techniques
Few sunrise or sunset shots because of high canyon walls. Harsh light during midday. High contrast. Use Neutral Density Filters and/or HDR. Use slow shutter speed to capture waterfalls. 1/10 – 1 sec. High shutter speeds for rapids. 1/1000 – 1/3000 sec. Moonless nights great for Milky Way. Full moon great for night landscapes. Lots of Panorama possibilities. Protect equipment from sand and water.

6. On The Raft

7. Star Trail Settings
Mode: Manual Long Exposure Noise Reduction: Off ISO: Low (200 or 400) Active D-Lighting (Nikon): Off Image Review Display: Off White Balance: Tungsten Aperture: Wide Open Lens: As wide as possible Shutter: 30 Seconds

8. Three Types of Images
Foreground Image: One image of foreground well exposed. Dark Image: One image with the lens cap on. Stars: Multiple 30 second exposures using Remote Control, Rubber Band or Interval Timer. Orientation: South: Horizontal Trails. East or West: Vertical Tails. North: Circular Trails. Combine the Dark and Multiple Star images using software: Startrails or StarStaX. Add foreground using Photoshop.

9. Taking Multiple Images Using Rubber Band
Set Shutter to Continuous Mode
Use rubber band to Hold Down Button

10. Taking Multiple Images Using Interval Timer
Interval must be longer than exposure: I.E. 31, 32 or 33 seconds, depending on camera. Experiment with your camera. If the interval is too short, the camera misses every other shot. Count is twice the number of minutes; I.E. count of 60 gives about 32 minutes. Three or four hours gives nice long trails, depending on how wide the angle of the lens.

11. Image Collection
After three or four hours, you will end up with several hundred images.

12. Startrails to Create Final Image
Add the dark frame and images to Startrails. Process image to create composite image and/or video. Use Photoshop to add in foreground.

14. Be In Good Shape
Lots of hiking and climbing. Stay up late for nighttime shots and star trails. Plenty of water. Lots of hard work.

15. Photographers At Work

16. Finally
Be Prepared to Get Wet!