There are at least four main kinds of light in Antelope Canyon; direct sunshine (infrequent because of the high, narrow nature of the canyon), reflected sunlight, which gets more and more red as it reflects deeper between the rock walls, skylight, which is quite blue, and reflected skylight which is made more red by the rock.

In many places these different kinds of light help to define the shape of the rocks, as the upward facing surfaces will be much more blue than the downward facing surfaces. The deeper in the canyone one is, the more prominent the blue light is because the sunlight is proportionately dimmer.