The slot canyons offering a unique photo experience highlighted by my opportunity to photography the night sky from Upper Antelope slot canyon. This page represents a small selection of my slot canyon photography. To view more photos use our search feature using the term slot canyons. Lower Antelope Canyon is a gorgeous place to visit. With its glowing red canyon walls and narrow, twisting passageways, this place is fun to visit and a joy to photograph. Antelope Canyon is made up of two slot canyons, Upper Antelope Canyon and Lower Antelope Canyon.

The location: Antelope Canyon

Antelope Canyon is one of many stunning slot canyons on the Navajo Nation near Page, Arizona. The canyon is at ground level, meaning you don’t have to hike uphill or downhill to access it. Despite being less than 1,000 feet long, Upper Antelope Canyon is one of the most visited tourist destinations of the Southwest. Lower Antelope Canyon and Canyon X are growing in popularity as well. Access to all three canyons is limited to paid guided tours.

The story: a photographer’s dream

While planning a month-long trip to the Grand Circle, an area of northern Arizona and southern Utah including multiple national parks, we debated putting Antelope Canyon on the itinerary. During high season, the “photography” tours of Upper Antelope will set you back $80-120 for just 2-3 hours, and we weren’t sure if it would be worth the cost. Encouraged by family members who’d recently toured the slot canyon, we determined this bucket list photography site was worth the investment.

Is the photography tour worth it?

Yes. If your goal is to take great photos of Antelope Canyon, you should pay for one of the longer photography tours. You’re allowed to bring any camera on the basic hour-long sightseeing tours, but you can’t bring a tripod and you won’t have nearly enough time. The guides for the photography tours are often more experienced and have good suggestions for making the most of your time. All in all, these are some of my favorite photos I’ve ever taken.

Taking the best possible photos

Limited time in the canyon

With about two hours in the slot canyon, time goes by too fast. You only have a few minutes at each point of interest. You’ll have to make compositions quickly and then not worry about them. There isn’t time here to get familiar with new equipment, so make sure you feel comfortable with your gear. Have everything clean, charged, and ready to roll.

Bags are not allowed in the slot canyon, including photo gear bags. You’ll have to fit everything in your pockets. Because you spend so much time crouching or kneeling in the dust, long pants are best. Snacks aren’t really necessary in the amount of time and you only need a small water bottle.

Camera gear and settings

Antelope Slot Canyon Pics Today

Due to the time and dust, you don’t want to mess with changing lenses while in Antelope Canyon. Use the widest angle option you can. Bring a tripod that’s easy to adjust quickly even if it isn’t very tall. (The photography tour required me to bring a tripod and it was essential for quality shots.) About 90% of my shots were taken from very low to the ground looking up, so a flip screen is a helpful bonus. Don’t forget your lens cloth.

I chose to use auto-white balance and neutral color settings. I don’t like making color decisions based on my little LCD view screen. The more neutral settings allow me to take my time on those choices in my digital dark room. I took my polarizing filter off part way through the tour to save a couple F stops. A U/V filter will help protect your lens from dust and is all you need. Definitely use bracketing⁠—multiple exposures of the same shot⁠—to capture detail in both shadow and light. Use a remote so your hands don’t shake the camera.

The gear: Canon

These photos of Upper Antelope Canyon near Page, AZ were taken with a Canon EOS 5D Mark II, with a Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L wide lens.

You can see the complete album of Antelope Canyon photos on the Wildsight Flickr page. Check out our photos for sale in the Wildsight Photography Etsy shop.

All images are copyright of Josh Schaulis and may not be reproduced or used in any way without written permission.

Glen Canyon National Recreation Area is located at the center of the Colorado Plateau and certainly ranks as one of the most beautiful and historically controversial areas under the guardianship of the National Park Service. When Glen Canyon Dam was completed in 1966, it backed up the water of the wild Colorado River to form magnificent Lake Powell, a reservoir capable of holding 24,322,000 acre feet of water. The waters of Lake Powell have created over 2,000 miles of shoreline along the Kayenta and Navajo Sandstone cliffs of Glen Canyon and resulted in the flooding of nearly 100 unique and beautiful side canyons.

Controversial dam

The controversy concerning Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell began when the dam was first proposed in the early 1950s. Conservationists and environmentalists vehemently argued against the dam's construction and the resulting flooding of beautiful Glen Canyon. Author Edward Abby championed the opposition to such dam construction and the inevitable destruction of the natural landscapes, archaeological ruins and historic sites in his famous 1968 book, 'Desert Solitaire.' The proponents of the dam and lake won the political debates, resulting in the submerging of Glen Canyon, many side canyons and the creation of Lake Powell.

Glen Canyon National Recreation Area

Glen Canyon National Recreation Area encompasses some 1.25 million acres (50,5857 hectares) of water and backcountry-related recreational areas. The recreational area stretches from the shores of historic Lees Ferry located below Glen Canyon Dam to the spectacular red cliffs of southern Utah — a distance of some 186 miles (299 kilometers). The land offers an endless display of dazzling vistas and endless geological phenomenon.

Horseshoe Bend

Horseshoe Bend is one of the unique geological phenomenon found within the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. Located only 5 miles downstream from Glen Canyon Dam, Horseshoe Bend is, in geological terms, a horseshoe-shaped incised meander of the Colorado River. It is a classic and spectacular example of water following its natural path of least resistance.

The sheer cliff rock walls are made of dense Navajo sandstone and act as a natural barrier to the river flow, forcing the waters of the Colorado River to make a sharp turn and travel through softer rock. But Horseshoe Bend is not the only geological phenomenon in the area. Just a short 15 miles from the Lake Powell marinas is another spectacular geological treasure — a place simply known as Antelope Canyon.

Antelope Canyon

Antelope Canyon is a slot canyon — a geological curiosity of tiny canyons formed when water seeps its way into fissures of the bedrock. Slot canyons are most common in desert areas. They are the result of many millennia of weather extremes. Antelope Canyon was thus formed over thousands of years of flash flooding of the intermittent creek running through it, wearing away the Navajo sandstone rock-face before emptying into the Colorado River and now into Lake Powell.

During the long periods of drought, windblown sand would polish the narrow slot walls into a striated, swirling finish. Antelope Canyon is famous for its ever-changing play of light upon its walls and the flowing sandfalls that cascade into the depths of the slot canyon.

Exceptional view

From the surface of the Earth, the fissure that opens across the Navajo sandstone is narrow and not exceptional to view. But first views can be deceptive. In the depths of the canyon, the walls can be 15 to 20 feet (5 to 7 meters) apart like that shown above and the slot canyon itself can be a 100 feet (30 m) deep. Navajo sandstone of Antelope Canyon was formed by aeolian depositions — sediment deposited by activity of the wind. Such depositions at Antelope Canyon began around 191 million to 174 million years ago during the Jurassic period. Iron oxide deposits were mixed with the windblown sands, resulting in layer after layer of varying shades of orange and red.

The canyon's heart

Rainwater near Antelope Canyon collects in an extensive basin above the beginning of the slot section. As gravity draws it downward toward Lake Powell, it picks up speed and sands while rushing into the narrow passageways of Antelope Canyon. Such annual and continual scouring of Antelope Canyon's walls mean the canyon is in constant flux, slowly changing after each flush of gushing water that passes through it. Unique shapes are formed within the slot canyon like the one shown above that is known as 'the heart.'

Where Water Runs Through Rocks

Antelope Canyon is actually divided into two sections — an Upper Antelope Canyon and a Lower Antelope Canyon. The Upper Antelope Canyon is the most famous and the easiest to access. The Navajo name for Upper Antelope Canyon is 'Tsé bighánílíní,' which means 'the place where water runs through rocks.'

Upper Antelope Canyon is only about 100 yards (91 m) in length. It is located at an elevation of 4,000 feet (1,219 m), and the walls of the Upper Antelope Canyon can rise some 120 feet (37 m) above the normally dry streambed. Thousands of tourists visit Upper Antelope Canyon each year, partly because it is an easy, flat walk through the slot canyon.

The Crack

Upper Antelope Canyon, also affectionally known as 'The Crack,' is famous for the wave-like structure of the canyon's walls. Upper Antelope Canyon is also known for the glorious light beams that penetrate into the depths of the canyon in the summer months between March 20 and Oct. 7. The summer light beams that radiate into Upper Antelope Canyon result in this slot canyon being the most photographed slot canyon in the southwestern United States.

The Corkscrew

Antelope Slot Canyon Pics Map

Some 4.5 miles (7 km) northwest of Upper Antelope Canyon is Lower Antelope Canyon — a slot canyon 1.1 miles (2 km) in length. The biggest difference between the two slot canyons is the size of the canyon floors. The upper canyon is wider at the bottom, while Lower Antelope Canyon is much smaller at the bottom, almost V-shaped.

The Navajo name for Lower Antelope Canyon is 'Hasdestwazi,' meaning 'spiral rock arches' and is sometimes called 'The Corkscrew.' Entering the lower canyon requires a short walk over uneven rock surfaces, before descending a series of five sets of stairs, shown above. Because of the challenging stairs, Lower Antelope Canyon usually sees fewer tourists than the upper canyon. But the fact remains that both Upper Antelope Canyon and Lower Antelope Canyon are a part of a complex, multi-faceted ecosystem with multiple drainage streams that transport local moisture runoff into what is now Lake Powell.

Origin story

The exact story of the discovery of Antelope Canyon seems to be lost to history. One Navajo tradition holds that a group of Navajo refused to join the 'Long Walk' of 1864 and took refuge in Antelope Canyon, where spiritual beings watched over them.

Another story suggests that a young Navajo girl, while herding her sheep, walked into the slot canyon and was amazed by the shafts of light she saw there. For a fact, we know the canyon was first documented by a Utah photographer who began publishing photos of Antelope Canyon in the 1930s.

Canyon tours

Access to the slot canyon of Antelope Canyon is today under the control of Navajo Nation. Authorized tour companies provide a variety of adventures for visitors to see and experience both the Upper and Lower Antelope Canyon. During the summer months, demand for the tours can be heavy and early morning tours are best to avoid the large crowds that at times gather.

Eighth Wonder of the World

Antelope Slot Canyon Pics

Antelope Canyon is believed to have received its name from the herds of pronghorns, Antilocapra americana, that once grazed along the canyon's rim during the winter months. The incredible slot canyons that laid below the grazing herds have been described by modern-day visitors as the Eighth Wonder of the World. 'Absolutely breathtaking,' 'awe-inspiring' and 'words can't describe it' are all comments from those who have seen and experienced this geological jewel and treasure of the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area.

Originally published on Live Science.