Sand Tufa Delight
Our last night for this trip was spent at Mono Lake shooting the Sand Tufa. These structures are very unique to see, and fun to photograph, especially at night! The temperature called for a warm jacket, but once we started shooting, the chilly air seemed to not matter! Very fun evening and end to a great trip!
Mighty Cyclops
Rick and I just returned from a great trip to the Lone Pine and Mono Lake area in California, and we had some spectacular nights photographing under the stars. This was taken at Cyclops Arch in the Alabama Hills and is a work in progress! More to come from this area, soon!
Sotol Overlook
There was a fire in the Chisos Mountains the night we set up at Sotol Overlook, and we couldn't have had better conditions. Really wanted the entire arc, but there was a crowd to my left, and I couldn't get the last image I needed due to a heavy "KEVIN" effect. This was my first attempt to capture the entire arc of the Milky Way, and what a night it was! This image is a Panorama shot using my D800 with my 20mm lens attached, and consists of five images in portrait mode and stitched together in LR.
Back to Crow Town
We wanted to improve our shot from last year at this location, so we set up at 2:30AM and waited for the Milky Way to rise, We changed our LLL's position this year and added a Lume Cube 2.0 to our lighting scheme. This is a five shot panorama taken in Portrait mode with my D800, and 'Tamron 35mm Lens. Everything is stitched together, and processed in LR. My brother Rick spent many hours developing a star photo workflow for LR and Photoshop, so I gave it a try. I really like the results. I've still got a lot to learn, and it shows, LOL!
Crow Town 14mm
This image was taken an hour or so before the Pano shots were done, and it's a single shot with the D800 and my Rokinon 14mm SP Lens. We were very happy with the light placements we chose to illuminate the rocks and adobe hut. We set up three LLL LCD panels on tripods, and amazingly the batteries held up through three hours of 21 degree F temperature. A beautiful night!!
Crow Town Movie Set
Rick and I ventured to BBSP to look for locations to photograph the Milky Way, and after using PhotoPills to determine the position of everything, we decided to shoot here. We are both very glad that we chose this location since it turned out to be spectacular! We arrived at 3:30 AM and braved the 21 degree temperature while we set up our lights and waited for the Milky Way to be in the optimal position. We hardly noticed the cold when we climbed up to our predetermined camera positions and began to gaze upon the stunning night sky. After a series of 14mm shots, Rick mounted his Tamron 35mm lens on his D850 and began to shoot the preset camera positions on his Pano Rail system. This image is five shots in portrait mode, and was the last series taken before the sun crept over the horizon and turned the next series into an unusable blue sky that drowned out the Milky Way. Rick gets all the credit for manipulating the D850, but I was there too, so I helped!! Can't wait to get back to a dark sky location, and continue capturing as much as the dark of night has to offer!!
Terlingua Ghost Town
Our first night out in the adobe huts in the ghost town. This image is a work in progress, but I wanted to get the first attempt out on the site since my friends had been asking to see more of our MW photos.
Milky Way over Mobius
A recent visit to the Alabama Hills in Lone Pine , California.....
Milky Way at Mobius
Second image of a few at Mobius Arch.
Milky Way over Adobe Hut
A recent visit to Death Valley NP.
Milky Way over Tufa
Mono Lake Tufa makes a nice foreground for night images. The only problem we had here is that this area is on the inbound flight path for several airports in this part of California ! We shot a large number of images, and this one has the fewest airplane lights we saw all evening!
Terlingua Ghost Town
Tried some light painting on a cloudy night. Single image takes some fast moving to light everything in the foreground and background.
Moon Light in the Cemetery
Too much moon to see the Milky Way, but enough light to capture the foreground and a bit of sky.
Terlingua Ghost Town Cemetery Monuments
Thanksgiving 2018 brought a bright moon to the area, so I tried some moonlight images. Much fun, and chilly!
Terlingua Ghost Town Cemetery
Amazing how much light the moon brings to the night landscape. This image was taken at 10:00pm, so it was very dark to the naked eye.
Full Moon on Terlingua
I wasn't sure if I could capture the foreground well lit and the stars as well. My first effort, and it came out pretty good. The Rokinon 14mm lens is great for this kind of capture.
Under the moon on the desert
I saw Orion and grabbed my camera. The moon was full and directly above me. The view I had was remarkable, and the mountain in the background was pitch black.
Movie Road, Lone Pine, California
My brother, Rick, and I were able to make a brief trip to the Lone Pine area to work on star photography, and wound up in the same area two nights in a row. Slightly different angles each night, and we were pleased to see as much Milky Way as possible this time of the year. Great learning experience with Light Painting and star capture.
Terlingua Ghost Town Graves
My brother Rick and I met in Midland, rented a car and drove to the Big Bend area (Terlingua). This is my first star image, and the best I captured that night. We learned a lot, and will be back here at the earliest opportunity.
Milky Way near Jackson, WY #2
Milky Way near Jackson, WY
As I was walking the dog I looked down the end of the road at our RV Park and saw the Milky Way shining brightly low on the horizon. After I took the dog in I grabbed my camera and tripod and took several images, and wow!
Milky Way near Jackson, WY #3
#4
#5
I backed up and got the club house and a motor home in the foreground.
January 21, 2019 - Blood Moon
The full Moon waiting for the eclipse.
Blood Moon
Clouds persisted, so I couldn't get the images as sharp as I wanted them to be. Despite the haze the color came thru nicely. I'm sure that our fellow photographers in the Big Bend area caught some really nice images of this beautiful happening.
Blood Moon - Beginning.
The clear sky was affected by high thin clouds as the moon started to show color.