Home : Blogs : Mike Hendren, Your Castle Rock Realtor® : Colorado Rain

HDR Image of Meteor Crater in Arizona

Photo © Mike Hendren, 2009

I was traveling through Arizona a few days ago - headed home after visiting my son and his wife in Phoenix. I took a little detour, just about 6 miles off I-40, near the eastern border of Arizona to visit the famous Meteor Crater.

It is truly impressive, especially when you consider it was caused by a direct hit from a relatively small meteor. The crater is about 550 feet deep and 4,000 feet across and was caused by a meteor not much bigger than a large house - only about 150 feet across. It's scary to even contemplate what would happen if a fairly large meteor hit the Earth - I'm afraid it would be a catastrophic event! I'll keep my fingers crossed. :-)

One thing that shows the size of the crater is when you consider that I was standing on the edge, using a 14mm lens, and I still couldn't get the whole thing into the photo!

For this HDR image, I started with 7 bracketed images and used Photomatix Pro to combine them.

You can see my Photo Blog at: http://thrumikesviewfinder.com/

SEARCH Denver Homes For Sale at www.MikeHendren.com

Posted by Mike Hendren, Your Castle Rock Realtor® on 10/23/2009 11:45 AM

Comments (22)

Travel in the ActiveRain Channel

meteor crater, arizona, hdr, high dynamic range, travel, sun, starburst, nikon, photomatix, blogging

Originally posted at: Thru Mikes Viewfinder: HDR Image of Meteor Crater in Arizona

This post has been included in Arizona Information
Post is included in group: Things to Do/Places to Visit
Post is included in group: Photos
Post is included in group: Friday's Fotos...
Post is included in group: Dedicated Bloggers
Post is included in group: Addicted to Active Rain

22 Comments on HDR Image of Meteor Crater in Arizona

OCT

Mike, I have always seen this crater in books but you captured a GREAT personal photo. Thanks. Very eerie looking...

Hi Mike, it is just amazing how much damage meteors can do when you think about their size. I really like your photo. Thanks.

What an awesome picture. Mother nature and the universe are amazing!

I'm curious about he rainbow effect at the bottom of the photo. Do you know why or how that was created? Which lens and camera were you using?

Gary - Thanks - Yeah it is a little eerie looking isn't it!

Liz - Thank you very much - They are scary when you consider the effects of a big one hitting us.

Bruce & Sandy - You're so right - they are amazing!

Lee - That rainbow effect is what they call a lens flare, very common when the sun hits the face of the lens. Normally they just create a bright spot, or a string of spots, but it was interesting that in this case it made that little rainbow! There were actually some more spots in the sky but I was able to remove them with software.

You went to a lot of work in getting this picture for us, Mike. Well done, and thanks!

Mike ... Thanks for sharing this beautiful photo image of the Metor Crater at Colorado. Wow! Amazing place and event. Your photo tech expertise is over my head. Perhaps you can share some of how to do that at another blog. Best to you.

Mike - man went to the moon for some moon rocks while here on earth there are likely some space rocks

Nice shot. Meteor crater is an amazing place to visit, although the Grand canyon is better.

Wow, Mike, this is SO neat! I also love the sun with its rays in the corner. What a cool shot!

Mike - I remember making a trip back home to California after being in Kansas. Along the way we stopped off to see the Meteor Crater. I must have been about 20 years old at the time. I never forgot it! Your photo captures it and all the surreal feeling that emanate in that fascinating place.

Hello Mike, you and Myrl are lucky ones to have already been to the Crater. When young I wanted my folks to detour a few miles to the south to see it - but nope, it was too much of a time and mileage thing for them. Great photo! John

OCT

Mike, Impressive shot. This place is on my bucket list too. It is amazing how many near misses our planet has each year with rocks much bigger...

Helping you live your American dream...

Congratulations Mike - This photo has been featured in the "Photos" group: http://activerain.com/groups/photos

GOOD MORNING MIKE! I caught this on your Twitter update and I tell ya - next time I had toward Flagstaff - I'm stopping! It's a wonder that I've lived here so long and haven't taken the time to visit this! Beautiful photo! -- Gabrielle

Mike,

Great description of your first-hand look and great combining of the shots - seamless. :)

Steve

OCT

Thank you all for reading and for the great comments.

I'll try to do an HDR how to blog in the near future.

Space rocks right here on earth - cool!

The Grand Canyon is WAY better - you could spend days there.

Myrl - Thank you very much for the feature on your Photos group!

This is a stunning photo - and impressive crater! I'd love to see that!

Debi

Thank you, Debi. It is definitely worth the time to make this little side trip if you're ever in the area.

Incredible Mike! I don't want to think about any larger meteors hitting the earth either- that's pretty amazing. Fantastic photo!

OCT

Mike - Excellent photography! They say the chances of a direct hit is minimal in the near future but who knows?

OCT

Mike - A great shot of an impressive sight. I'll put this on my "places to see" list.

Leave a response…

Name:

Email:
(optional)

Comment:

What does the graphic say?