Canyonlands National Park Best Places To Photograph

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If you only had 30 minutes to an hour to get a great image in Canyonlands National Park, where would you go? I’m going to show you exactly where to go. I’m trying to photograph in all 100 parks. I want to get a classic image from every national park. I want you to join me in this journey. We’re going to go into Canyonlands today. We’re going to look at the place that I think is the most amazing, then a place that’s kind of a little out of the park, but I think is also an incredible image you need to get. But let’s get in there. Let’s see what we got. Let’s explain where to go, what camera settings to use, and where’s the spot to get an image if you only had 30 minutes to an hour. Let’s go.

Canyonlands is a large park. There’s three different visitors centers. We’re going to come into Islands In The Sky visitor center and just keep going out that road. Stop at Mesa Arch and in the next day we’ll probably get up and do Dead Horse Point. So, here’s how we get out to Canyonlands to get this first shot. We stayed in Moab, love Moab. A lot of great places to stay there. We try to stay on the north side of town so we can get quicker to Canyonlands, but then we take the 191 north out of Moab. You’ll go out of town about seven miles or so, and then you’ll take a left-hand turn on the 313. That’s the highway that goes out to Canyonlands. Once you make it out to Canyonlands, you’ll go through the entrance booth there. If it’s open, you’ll need to pay your fee or if you have your pass, then you’re going to just keep going straight on this road that goes into Canyonlands. It is just a straight road in and it dead ends at Grand View Overlook. But on about halfway through, you’ll see a sign that says Mesa Arch and you’ll park right there. It comes up pretty quick. I put it in my GPS. GPS took me right there. It was not hard to get there. GPS knew exactly where it was going. We got there and parked and then there’s that half mile walk into the arch. So, it’s not a difficult time, not a difficult journey to get here. It’s about 45 minutes to get here. In the morning it was and was very fast, easy to get here. All right. So, there’s how we get there. Canyonlands, that Canyonlands road just goes out, dead ends, and comes back.

There are other entrances to Canyonlands. There’s one over in Needles. There’s one on the other side of the park. But the place that gives you the most beautiful kind of views and vistas is going to be on this main road coming out of Moab. So, if I only had a half an hour to an hour to take an image in Canyonlands that was really going to represent Canyonlands National Park, I would come right to Mesa Arch.

Mesa Arch is a beautiful arch. It’s about a half mile walk off from the parking, from the parking lot. So, it’s very close to the parking lot, easy to get to. Best to shoot at sunrise. The sun comes up, you look at the sun through the arch. It’s kind of the classic shot to get. So, you’re going to look through that arch, see that sun coming up. So, you’re going to want some kind of a, some kind of a photo app. I use a Sun Seeker. I use Photo Pills to just let you see exactly what the path of that sun’s going to be so you know where that sun’s going to be at when you’re doing your image.

As people walk up to Mesa Arch, a lot of them, and it was my first reaction the first time I came here, was to put my camera back a long ways and just shoot a picture of the arch, you know, with a little longer lens. But the ideal thing to do is to get right up to the edge. There’s a little kind of dip in the arch in the foreground to the left of the arch as you’re looking at it and just get about six or eight feet away from the edge there. Wide lens. I shot on a 16mm. So something that’s very wide. Get a 16mm, something very wide that just shows now I see the entire arch. I saw off the arch a little bit and I see out into the sun. And so it just gives you a beautiful image there with that arch. You can maybe get a little bit to the left and be able to see more of the arch, just depending on how you position yourself. We got here early. We arrived in the parking lot at 5:15 am. Or maybe it was, yeah, 5:15 am. Time we got out here was 5:30 am. Sun’s not coming up for another 35 minutes, but there’s still a lot of people here. We’re one of the first ones to put a tripod down. But immediately it filled up all around us. Had 50 to 60 of our best friends that joined us this morning to take this picture. So, you got to expect that. But that morning shot is the time to do it.

You want to shoot with an aperture like f/16 if you want to see that star burst on the sun. If you shoot at anything other than that, if you’re shooting at 56mm or 80mm, you’re not going to get that beautiful star. And that star will kind of burst beyond the arch in the foreground and look really cool. That’s kind of the classic shot. It’s worthwhile to, I mean there’s nobody here now. It’s worthwhile just to hang a little bit after the sun comes up. You can still get some beautiful images through the arch and the crowds are all gone. I mean, they’ve been here and they’ve gone. But, you know, at this point, it’s 7:30 am. It’s been about an hour and 10 minutes since the sun came up. But, I think it’s worth hanging out a little bit and taking some images. But, there are some other great places to photograph in Canyonlands. But my number one favorite place to go, place I’d go first is at Mesa Arch. So, don’t be afraid to come to Mesa Arch. If you can’t get here at sunrise, right when the sun’s coming up, because it’ll give you beautiful images all through the morning, even in the afternoon. It’s going to start to light it from the front. You could get some nice things at sunset, but I would not shy away from this shot if you can’t get here right at sunrise. So, if you’re traveling with your family or something and a group of friends and you’re looking at the Canyonlands, just take some time, get over here, get a shot. You’ll get that classic shot. You’ll get a nice image. May not be that sunrise shot, but it’ll be a nice image. So, make sure you come over and get this shot, even if you only have a few minutes and it isn’t a sunrise.

Yes, inside the visitor center, they did have a mini building blocks of Canyonlands National Park, Mesa Arch. That’ll be fun to build. A little bit of nerd action there for us today. Got some stickers for my SKB case and got a few souvenirs here at Canyonlands National Park.

So, the second place I would go to in Canyonlands National Park is not actually in Canyonlands National Park. It’s an overview called Dead Horse Point. We photographed here several times. The light comes in in the morning. It is just absolutely beautiful. It’s one of the only places that you get a really good look at the water, the river down below, and you get this turn, this point here. And in the morning, the sun kind of breaks through and lights up the the canyon. It’s just absolutely beautiful.

When we’re coming in on the road for Dead Horse Point, you’re past the visitor center. Just keep going until it dead ends. There’s parking right there. You’ll park. When you get out of the parking, you’re going to head towards the covered area that is right next to the overlook. Now, this is about four miles off from the main road. The main road being the main road that goes into Canyonlands. It’s just right outside of the park. It’s one of the first turns you make outside of the park. One note about going out to Dead Horse Point is that the park is only officially open from 6:00 am to like 5:00 or maybe 6:00 pm to sunset, something like that. We went in earlier than that to get morning shots there and so you can pay at the kiosk. Just pay your fee at the kiosk, put the tag in your window and you won’t have any problems. So the kiosk allows you to pay and go in anytime. So just so you know that that’s a way to get in and not feel uptight about whether you’re going to get a ticket or not. The kiosk is right on the road right at the entrance booth where you normally would pay your fee to go into the state park. So the little kiosk is right there. You do it, use a credit card and pay your fee there and you’ll get a sticker to put in the window. So, something to make a note of.

So, this is Dead Horse Point. When you come up to Dead Horse Point, don’t go right because that’s going to look down towards Canyonlands. It’ll give you a great look at the right here at Dead Horse Point at a little curve, but go to your left because if you get up in the left here, there’s a spot you can see over in the La Sal Mountains and you can see over into Dead Horse Point. It’s a perfect place to be. If you get here early enough in the morning, the point right in the middle allows you to shoot both ways. So, that’s where we’re going to go over to right now. To get here, you’re coming from Moab. And as you turn onto the road that goes out to Canyonlands, there’s a Dead Horse Point. You’ll see a lefthand turn going into Dead Horse Point. I wouldn’t come here first. I would go do Mesa Arch first, then come back here. But both of these will give you a great image. I’m standing on the point that is best to shoot in because you look back towards the La Sal Mountains, get great views there, but you also look back towards the Canyonlands National Park. So as you walk up to the point, you’re going to go into a covered building. When you hit that covered building, go right, come all the way out. You’ll see a metal stand. And Julene, show them, show them the metal stand. You’ll see a metal stand here.

There you go. Walk around that metal stand and get in this corner right here. You’ll find that the people who know this place will get here as quick as they can and they’ll try to get this spot because I can shoot towards the La Sal mountains. I can shoot back towards Canyonlands. I can shoot Dead Horse Point. It’s a great place to be.

In the summertime it’s good in the morning and it’s pretty good in the evening. It’s better in the morning. Definitely better in the morning. If you want to stay in Canyonlands National Park, go down to Grand View Overlook. It’s a beautiful look down the canyon there and that’s great in the morning. I would suggest you do Mesa Arch like we talked about this morning. Get in and shoot Mesa Arch. Come back here to Dead Horse Point and just get the next light. Get your shot at Mesa Art Arch. Get back here and get the morning light at Dead Horse Point. Dead Horse Point, you’re going to want a wide lens. I stitch this together most of the time. I’ll do at least two frames I’m going to stitch together. What I do is I put my hand up, take a picture of my hand, then I shoot one, two, and then put my hand up. So when I’m looking in Lightroom, I can see my hand. I know the next two frames go together. It just makes it faster to stitch. So I can go into Lightroom, put those two together, and I can do all my work and editing in Lightroom. It makes it very fast. We are right next to Canyonlands National Park. In fact, you see that road coming down there? That’s the Schaefer Trail Road. It takes you down off the rim around Dead Horse Point and then back into Moab. So this is, I think, one of the most gorgeous views here. If after the Mesa Arch, I would come here.Right from here, you can shoot towards the La Sal Mountains. You can shoot back into Canyonlands. You can see Dead Horse Point. This is where you want to stand. And this rock thing right here won’t get in your way. Whereas, if you stand on the platform, it’s going to get in your way. Get out your Sun Seeker, find out where the sun’s going to come up. It’s going to be back over in here in the morning. It’s going to be right now deep this way in the evening. Just figure out exactly where that sun’s going to be. This is where you want to set up. So, this is Dead Horse Point. One of my favorite places. Wide lens and stitch the the images together more than likely. And I would definitely shoot something like this. I would shoot at f/8. I don’t think you need to go beyond f/8 because of the distance. There’s nothing foreground here that you need to worry about. So, if you shoot at f/8 and then just let the shutter drag. Do your white balance at, I don’t do auto white balance in the morning very often. I usually do sun and it makes everything blue, but knowing that I’m shooting raw, I can get in and play with that color balance, do anything I want with it, but I like the look of it and it makes me feel good when I’m shooting. Everything works out really well. So, this is it, my second favorite place in Canyonlands, Dead Horse Point. That’s not actually in Canyonlands, but hey, we’re looking at Canyonlands. So, there you go, Dead Horse Point. One note is Dead Horse Point is a state park and you do have to pay another $20 entrance fee. So it is an issue that you have to pay that fee to come in. So, know that it will cost you a couple bucks to come here, but I think it’s worth it for the view. I think it’s better than most of the views along the road that goes out past Mesa Arch. I think this is probably one of the best views in this whole area. I shoot sometimes aperture priority and I will turn, I’ll just underexpose by a third or it depends on how the sun’s going. I’ll go to manual so I can just underexpose everything. It makes it look a little better. So we’ll play with those and talk a little bit more about that. This is the spot.

So let’s wrap this up. We’ve had a great time shooting in Canyonlands. The places to go are very simple. Mesa Arch, best place to go to. Easy to get to, great looking in the morning. Can look really nice later in the day as well. But if you want another spectacular place, go over to Dead Horse Point, which actually is kind of out of the park. But there’s several viewpoints that look that direction that are looking south. And either one, any of those will look really great early in the morning if you want to just stay in the park. But I would go to Dead Horse Point. Look at the river going around that bend right there. It’s just a beautiful, beautiful image.

If you have a four-wheel drive, drive the Schaefer Road that goes off from Canyonlands around Dead Horse Point and back to Moab. What a great drive that is. So, there’s a great place to photograph down there. But if you only have a few minutes, 30 minutes to an hour to shoot, get over to Mesa Arch. Take your family up there, take your friends up there, go over and get a quick shot, then back in the car and off you go. Make sure you use f/16 when you’re shooting at Mesa Arch because you want that beautiful sunburst coming through the arch. It’s just absolutely beautiful. Join me on this journey. Photograph 100 national parks in the United States and Canada. Join me on the journey. We’re going to make a book out of our first 20. We want iconic images in each one of the parks. Not just any old image, but a great iconic image from each one of the national parks. We’re going to start making books out of them. Our first 20 is the goal. So, come join me in that journey. And you keep those cameras rollin’ and keep on clickin’!