Night Landscape - Blog Posts

Double Arch Panorama by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook From the archives but I've never posted this here before. This is a panorama of Double Arch in Arches National Park. 12mm fisheye lens, 10 vertical images, f/2.8, 30 seconds, ISO 10,000. This is basically a panorama of the inside of a spherical object. I’ve only done this a few times as there is infrequent need for this, but it is hands down the most fun panorama for me to do. It’s a bit more technically challenging than a standard pano. A panorama was done because I could not fit the entire scene on one frame, even with a 12mm fisheye lens and climbing the back wall (exciting in the dark!). In the past I had tried to do this pano with a 15 mm fisheye lens and still didn’t get as much coverage as I desired from top to bottom, so I returned 2 years later to try it with a new 12mm fisheye. This project took several hours to get the Low Level Lighting and positioning and exposures done. Unfortunately you pretty much need the location all to yourself or you’ll drive other people crazy running in and out of the arch. Anyway, I at least learned 2 new things. First, I could get the whole scene in a 12 mm pano but there was a lot more distortion to correct with the 12 mm fisheye compared with to 15 mm fisheye. Second, the distortion really depends on where you stand and even a few feet of difference can change the whole look of the results. It’s important to get level with the second arch to minimize distortion. So... now I want to go back and try again but it’s getting harder to get this location all to yourself these days.

Park Avenue by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook Park Avenue, Wall to Wall: Another location I’ve been wanting to capture is “Park Ave.” in Arches National Park. I’ve wanted to see if I could make an interesting composition in this location. Park Ave. is a trail between large buttes and spires on each side. To include the Milky Way I had to get to the north end of the trail and look south. This is a panorama of approximately 240 degrees, trying to capture the towering walls on each side. I still didn’t capture the feeling of the immense walls on each side, but you can get an idea of the landscape. This is a panorama. The sky was captured at 14 mm, f/2.8, 29 sec., and ISO 4,000. The foreground was captured at 14 mm, f/2.0, 120 sec., and ISO 6400. Images combined in PS. Thanks for looking! Wayne

The Hanging Hoodoo by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook “The Hanging Hoodoo”. I’ve been away from Flickr for many months unfortunately. It’s been a busy summer and I have a whole season of photos to process and post, and I’m just finally getting around to it. If anyone is still actually following me, then many thanks. 🙏🙏🙏 I had the opportunity to explore an area in New Mexico that I had not been to before, an area outside of the usual photo locations, and I found this “Hanging Hoodoo”. I was immediately enamored by the photo potential. I was able to return at the next new moon and get this photo. Next year I’ll return and get the scene with the Milky Way to the left of the hoodoo, but it was too late in the year to get it this time. I could just make a composite and paste a MW to the left of the hoodoo, but I try to keep it real. It’s a lot more fun and challenging to make it work out in actuality than just adding a MW. A lot more trouble too, lol. I think this would be a major photo op for photographers if anyone knew about it. I was lucky to find it. There is a 20 image stack for the sky and a 5 minute exposure for the foreground, blended in PS, all taken from the same position, back to back. Thought for the day... “The night is a tunnel, a hole into tomorrow..." ... Frank Herbert Thanks for looking! Wayne Pinkston

Horseshoe Bend of the Little Colorado River by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook Horseshoe Bend of the Little Colorado River. There are 4-5 horseshoe bends in the Little Colorado River within the Grand Canyon, and this is one of them. Different bends line up with the Milky Way at different times. This is in the Navajo Nation so you need a permit to go there. The Grand Canyon is not as deep here as it is more west, but is still really impressive, and the river views are excellent. That is the real color of the water. I have not changed it at all, only mildly increased contrast. The sky is a stack processed in Starry Landscape Stacker. This is one frame at 14 mm. Foreground was a long exposure of 5 min, f/2.0, ISO 1600. Sky was a stack of 20 images at f/2.0, 20 sec, ISO 6400. Images blended in PS. There was a LOT of airglow which I find appealing. Cheers, Wayne

Mono Lake by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook Blend Sky: 16 images, 20 sec, f/2.8, ISO 6400, 14 mm Foreground: 5 minutes, f/2.8, ISO 1600, 14 mm Mono Lake, California. These are tufas arising out of Mono Lake. They are formed from mineral deposits from springs beneath the lake bed over centuries and are exposed when the water level falls. The water level varies greatly. The paths I recorded 2 years ago during the drought are mostly underwater now. The largest concentration of tufas is along the south shore. When including the Milky Way you are usually facing south, so this makes it more difficult to photograph the tufas, lake, and MW at the same time. There are a few small “peninsulas” that stick out into the lake making it possible (but tricky) to shoot across the water facing S and include both tufas and the MW. There is a stack for the sky and a long exposure for the foreground (5minutes), blended in PS. Cheers, Wayne Pinkston

Alcove by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook Swipe Left: Large alcove or cave in Central Utah. This is a panorama of multiple images. Several photographers accompanied me to this alcove during the Nightscaper Conference last spring. Note the 3 photographers in the image, 2 on the right, 1 on the left. They give some perspective. There is Low Level Lighting with 2 small Goal Zero Lanterns in the alcove and a LED light panel outside the alcove to light up the far ridge. There are several nice features in this alcove. There are petroglyphs on the left ( not visible on this image), a window in the roof (image to follower), and a small pond in the foreground with reflections of the stars. I’d love to come back some time when the pond has more water. 14 mm, f/3.2, 20 sec., ISO 12,800. Thanks for looking! Wayne

Canyonlands National Park by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook Panorama Foreground: 16 frames, 30 sec., f/2.5, ISO 2000 (twilight) Sky: 16 frames, 4 exposures each, stacked, f/1.8, 10 sec., ISO 500: All at 35 mm Canyonlands National Park. Panorama with the foreground and sky acquired separately as above. Thanks for looking! Wayne

Madagascar Cathedral by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook Panorama 12 frames, 14 mm, f/2.8, 15 sec., ISO 12,800 This is the shell of an abandoned Cathedral in Madagascar. I've added a crop from the center section. The red on the horizon is from fires. The local people burn the field and multiple fires could be seen at any one time. The glow from the fires could be seen from long distances at night. A big thank you to @worldpixorg and @ryanplakonouris for arranging this trip. @worldpixorg is a charity organization using photography to raise money for charitable causes. Hope you enjoy, Wayne Pinkston

The Red Toadstool by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook Beautiful hoodoo in Southern Utah. This is called the Red Toadstool, and I’m guessing it is about 18 feet, 6 meters high, maybe a little larger. Low Level Lighting was used with an LED light panel on a 3 meter light stand located on a rocky mound about 10-15 meters away to the right, turned down very low. There is also a small LED light behind the hoodoo but it was turned down so low that it’s not really visible. ___________________________________________. Made from 21 light frames and 1 dark frame in Starry Landscape Stacker. 22 mm, f/2.8, 15 seconds, ISO 10,000. Thanks for looking!

Peek-A-Boo by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook This is a panorama of several photos taken with a 12 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens. I’ve included 2 photos. The first photo is the image after the distortion was corrected in Photoshop. The second image is before the correction. Note the angled horizon in the second image. The camera and lens were pretty severely angled to get the entire opening in the image. There is Low Level Lighting (LLL) with 2 Goal Zero Micro Lanterns. One is behind me to my left and one is down the ravine to get some light on the more distant walls. Both are turned to low and are covered with a handkerchief to further diffuse and lower the light. The Goal Zero Mini has a very nice neutral to slightly warm light colour temperature. 12 mm, f/2.8, 25 sec., ISO 8000. I actually like the one with the crooked horizon a little better, but someone will complain, lol. This recess is somewhat like a cave or alcove and somewhat like a small canyon, not sure what to call it. Maybe a cave-yon? 😂 The Milky Way lines up beautifully at certain times of the year making this a great spot. This is in the Navajo Nation and you need a Navajo guide to go there.

Great Barrier Island, NZ by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook Beach Panorama on The Great Barrier Island, New Zealand. 14-24 mm lens, 15 mm, f/2.8, 30 sec., ISO 12,800, 14 vertical images. ________________________________________________ The 2 brighter dots beneath the middle Milky Way arch (one brighter than the other) are the Greater and Lesser Magellanic Clouds. They are dwarf galaxies that orbit the Milky Way Galaxy. We do not see them from the Northern Hemisphere so I’m pretty excited to capture them. 😀

From Antiquity by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook Arising From a Watery Domain: Tufas emerge from a lake bed in California. The challenge here is find locations where you can get both water and tufas in the same photo. The tufas originally formed beneath the lake bed, but many have been exposed from the lake receding over time. The lake is one of the oldest lakes on earth. Anyway, the tufas are predominately on the south shore and the Milky Way is to the south, so it can be a challenge at times to get tufas with water in front of them. As the water rises and recedes the compositions change over time. ________________________________________________ 18 light frames and 1 dark frame stacked in Starry Landscape Stacker. 14-24 mm lens, 17 mm, 30 sec., ISO 12,800. I would normally use about 20-25 sec. for this focal length so 30 sec is a longer exposure than normal for me. Oops! Still worked out ok. ________________________________________________ Low Level Lightening (LLL) used the light the tufas. I’m this case the LLL was done with a single Goal Zero Micro Lantern gently placed on a small tufa about 30 feet, 10 meters away. I would prefer a more distant light source but the location was constrained by water and tufas.

Perseverance by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook This is one of my favorite photos of this past summer. The photo is not really spectacular or anything like that, but this Ancient Bristlecone Pine looks like it has borne the weight of the world for millennia. I suspect it is several millennia old at least. It has taken all the abuse the earth could throw at it yet it persists, bent but not broken. In fact it seems to be quite healthy with a lot of foliage not shown here. Is there any better life lesson to learn? ________________________________________________ Low Level Lightening (LLL) used for lighting. A single Cineroid LED light panel was used, set on a 10 ft. (3 meter) light stand about 100 feet (30 meters) away, off to the left side. The light was turned all the way to low and set at a relatively neutral to slightly warm color temperature of 4200K. ________________________________________________11 light frames and one dark frame stacked in Starry Landscape Stacker. 14-24 mm lens, 20 mm, f/2.8, ISO 8000.

Bell Tower by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook This one’s a bit abstract. We are looking up at the night sky and Milky Way in a bell tower of an old abandoned Cathedral in Madagascar. There is Low Level Lighting (LLL). The light inside the tower was a Goal Zero Micro Lantern, an omnidirectional light. The light outside was a Cineroid LED light panel set on 4000K and turned to low. ___________________________________________ There is a very large window in the front of the bell tower in the shape of a cross. Most of the glass has been broken out. ___________________________________________ There are 19 images stacked in Starry Landscape Stacker. 14-24 mm lens, 14 mm, 15 sec., f/2.8, ISO 12,800. Thanks for looking, Wayne

Messages from the Past by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook Messages from the Past: It seems like a basic human urge to communicate our thoughts to the world. Are our ideas likely to be as long lasting as these carved in rock, or will all of our digital wonderings and our paper renderings fade away over the millennia like dust in the wind? There is something to say for permanence. If only we knew what they were saying... ___________________________________________ Full disclosure: This is a composite image. It was cloudy the night I was there so I did a panorama of the foreground and added the sky in later. Note, the Milky Way and sky are aligned in there proper position so this is not a make-believe scene, but reflects what you would see if the sky was not cloudy. ___________________________________________

The Pillars of the Sky by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook The Pillars of the Sky: looking up in a borrow canyon in Utah. Low Level Lighting (LLL) used with 2 Cineroid LED light panels turned to low and used at a relatively neutral to slightly warm color temp of 4200K. The rock here is so “red” (actually orange) that if you use a light that is too warm the rock can actually look red and very bizarre. ________________________________________________ This brings up an interesting topic, how the color temperature of your light combines with the color temperature settings in your camera (white balance). I shoot at a relatively neutral camera color temperature (white balance) of 4000-4200K, so a external light temp of 4000K might be neutral to slightly warm in color, and a light temperature of 3000K extremely warm (yellow). If you shoot at a camera color temperature (white balance) of 3200-3800K (very blue sky) then you might need warm light temperatures of 2700-3200k to make your scene look adequately warm (if you want a warm foreground). A light temperature of 2700K is often too warm for me shooting at a camera white balance of 4200K. Have I confused everyone, lol?

Abandoned Cathedral by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook Inside an abandoned Cathedral in Madagascar. The red on the horizon is from fires. The local people burn the fields to clear them. There is no public electricity and so there is no light pollution from electric lights. 14 images stacked in Starry Landscape Stacker, 11 light frames, 3 dark frames, 14-24 mm lens at 24 mm, f/2.8, 15 sec, ISO 10,000.

Perspective! by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook Location, location, location! This is an example of how different a foreground structure can look from different perspectives. This is a huge cavernous double arch within the Navajo Nation in northern Arizona, USA. These 2 photos are the same arch taken about 20-25 meters, 50-75 feet, apart. There are 2 openings in the “roof”. The opening on the right (looking out) is much larger than the left. In the first photo I am far to the left within the arch, making the left opening look larger than it really is. This gives an “empty skull” appearance. In the second photo I am far to the right making the right opening look much larger (which it actually is). It’s remarkable how different the results are by just moving yourself a short distance. This arch is located in the Navajo Nation. If you are interested in in a tour to the location then contact @quanah_photography here on IG. Both photos are panoramas with multiple vertical images stitched together. 14-24 mm lens, 14 mm, 25 second, ISO 12,800. A big thank you for your support over the last year! Wayne Pinkston

Utah’s Canyon Country by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook Utah’s Canyon Country Panorama. Sometimes there are good surprises, especially at night. I shot another location first, so it was dark by the time I got to this location. The clouds were rolling in and I couldn’t see anything. Since this is a panorama I could only see fractions of the scene at one time on the camera LCD. I didn’t have much hope for a decent result, and I didn’t see the final results until months later when I finally had a chance to sit down and combine the images. I was pleasantly surprised and this turned out to be one of my favorites from the summer. Even the clouds worked out ok. The sky and foreground were shot separately. Rokinon 35 mm f/1.4 lens. The sky panorama was shot at 35 mm, f/1.8, 10 sec., and ISO 5000. The foreground panorama was shot with long exposures, 240 seconds, f/1.8, 35 mm, ISO 2500. _________________________________________Happy New Year and great shooting to everyone in the coming year! ________________________________________

Mountain Lake by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook Mountain Lake in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Stacked image in Starry Landscape Stacker, 16 light frames, 1 dark frame.

Portal by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook This is massive Natural Bridge or Arch. Low Level Lighting (LLL) used to illuminate the scene. There are 2 Goal Zero Micro Lanterns hidden under the arch to illuminate the undersurface. There is a Cineroid LED light panel on a light stand to my left to illuminate the foreground, and 2 more small lights illuminating the far ridge. With a structure this massive it can be a bit of work to get the lighting even. Lots of repositioning and reshooting. This is a vertical panorama with the images taken horizontally and the series of images sweeping upwards. 14-24 mm lens, 14 mm, f/2.8, 20 sec., ISO 6400.

Where the Hoodoos Have No Names by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook Where the Hoodoos Have No Names. Sometimes the Low Level Lighting (LLL) works out just the way you desire. My goal is typically to have the light come in at an angle to accentuate the surface features, and in this case it brought out the texture well. The location was constrained by rock on both sides so I bounced the light off a rock wall to the left. This usually makes the night less harsh and diffuses the light more. The LLL was done with a single Cineroid LED light panel. Stacked image, 18 light frames, 14-24 mm lens at 23 mm, 15 seconds, f/2.8, ISO 10,000.

From a Watery Origin by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook Tufas arising from their watery origins. These tufas are composed of calcium carbonate which precipitates out of the water from springs lying along the lake bed over millennia. Some are seen arising from the lake while others are now exposed on land after the shoreline has receded. Stacked image for the sky, long exposure for the foreground (3 minutes at ISO 1600).

Utah’s Canyon Country by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook The Colorado River passes through the canyons of Utah. This is a breathtaking vista and one of my favorite spots to visit in central Utah. This is a panorama of multiple vertical images with the long exposure foreground images and separate images for the sky (from the same location consecutively), blended in PS. FG: 35 mm, 240 sec, f/1.8, ISO 2000. Sky: 24 mm, 15 sec, f/2.8, ISO 8000.

Reflections by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook Reflections: The Greater and Lesser Magellanic Clouds are reflected in the shallow waters of the Great Barrier Island in New Zealand. The Magellanic Clouds are irregular dwarf galaxies that orbit the Milky Way. They do have a “bar” of stars or brightness centrally but are not classic spiral galaxies. Observation and theoretical evidence suggests that the clouds have been greatly distorted by tidal interactions with the Milky Way as they travel close to it (Astronomy.com). ___________________________________________ As an observer from the Northern Hemisphere it was fun to see the features of the Southern Hemisphere sky, like the Magellanic Clouds. These lie near the “southern arm” of the Milky Way and are not visible in the Northern Hemisphere. ___________________________________________ Usually we just have to coordinate the position on the Milky Way, the moon cycles, landscape location, and weather to get the desired shot. Here there was one more factors, the tides, which I was not used to considering. At low tide there is a very thin layer of water along the shore which was perfect for capturing reflections. Luckily this occurred around 1 - 2 a.m. when the stars were in excellent position. Stacked image, 14-24 mm lens, 14 mm, f/2.8, 20 sec., ISO 12,800. ___________________________________________ If you want an excellent guide to good shooting spots on the Great Barrier Island contact Carol @darkskysanctuary on IG.

The Castle Gate by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook The Castle Gate: There is Low Level Lighting (LLL) from 2 sources. There is a small Goal Zero Micro Lantern just behind the tunnel turned down low, and a Ceneroid LED light Panel on a light stand behind me and to the left, also turned down low. The Cineroid has a variable color temperature and is set to about 4000-4200K. The rock here is very red-orange, and if you use a light temperature much lower (warmer) that this then the rock turns very unnaturally red. Stacked image, 19 mm, f/2.8, 15 sec., ISO 10,000.

Window to the Stars by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Spectacular alcove in Utah with a “window” in the roof. There are petroglyphs far to the left and the alcove opens into a ravine with vegetation and a couple of small temporary or intermittent pools of water. There are 5 photographers in the photo. They look very small, can you spot them? There is also a small pool of water within the alcove with reflections. Very cool spot! Panorama, 20 sec., f/3.2, 17 mm, ISO 12,800.

Totem Pole Panorama by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook Panorama of the Totem Pole in Monument Valley, Utah. 11 images, 24 mm vertically, f 2.8, 15 sec., ISO 12,800. Thanks for all the kind support over the last year, it is much appreciated! A big thank you to the wonderful Flickr family!

Starstruck by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook This is taken in Arches National Park in the Arch called "North Window", with 2 friends from Moab. I had been wanting to shoot some photos of people silhouetted within the arch for a while, but did not get the opportunity until Sept. Thanks Dustin and Kelsey! This is a blend of 2 photos, one for the sky and one for the people, taken at the same focal length and f stop but different focus and shutter speed. Low Level Lighting used, with 2 small Goal Zero lantern within the arch and a Ceneroid Light Panel outside the arch on the right. Thanks for all the kind support over the last year, it is much appreciated! A big thank you to the wonderful Flickr family!