Balanced On The Edge Of Infinity
Balanced Rock in Arches National Park was illuminated by a passing car while I was making this exposure of the rock and the Milky Way. Thank you, passing car f...
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Balanced Rock in Arches National Park was illuminated by a passing car while I was making this exposure of the rock and the Milky Way. Thank you, passing car for making this shot light up.
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Jul, 2015Views
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nandicmb
September 13, 2015
Congratulations on your Contest Finalist win in Freshmen 2015 Photo Contest!
linnaecarlson
December 10, 2015
Thank you for enjoying this photo. It was a lovely warm night in the desert of Utah. Night photography can be so rewarding.
Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken on a vacation to Moab, Utah that my husband and I took in August 2014. My husband is not a photographer but I told him that one of my goals on this trip was to do some night photography in one of the National parks in the Moab area. This photo was taken on August 17th with no moon and the waning of the Leonid Meteor shower.Time
Well, night photography happens at night, so we waited until it was well past sunset. It was a beautiful crystal clear, warm, moonless night in the desert. Lucky for us, Arches National Park is open all day and night so nothing stopped us from heading into the park. This photo was taken at 10:41 in the evening. At that time there was no longer any glow at all on the western horizon.Lighting
Some of the most amazing photos are what I call, "right place, right time" shots. This one qualifies as one of those shots. I had tried earlier to capture the Milky Way with Court House Rock in the foreground and then light paint the rock feature with a flashlight. I got minimal results at best. Beautiful Milky Way, but the Court House Rock formation is massive that my light source was just not cutting it. We moved to the next location, Balance Rock, which is in the featured photo. This rock feature is considerably smaller so I was thinking I'd have better luck with my light painting. It was better but still not wonderful. As I was doing this 27 second exposure, a car leaving the park, came down the road toward us. As it passed by, the headlights lit up Balance Rock. The light was on the rock for long enough that I thought for sure Balance Rock would be over-exposed. In my mind, the shot was ruined, but to my surprised the result was just what I need to light up Balance Rock. All thanks to a passing car and a road pointing the car lights in the right direction. All I can say is...Right place, right time.Equipment
I did this photo shoot with a Canon EOS 5D Mark III with a Canon 24-105 4L IS USM. It was shot at ISO 2500 at 28mm F4.0 and a 27 sec exposure on Bulb setting. I am embarrassed to say that I thought I had left my tripod plate at home so I couldn't use my tripod for this shoot. I improvised by using a beanbag neck pillow I found in the car. I rested the camera and lens on it and balanced it on one of the many rocks sitting around in the desert. It worked great for this. Needless to say that later I found an extra tripod plate on my Canon 70-200 lens. I felt pretty dumb but my pillow still worked great.Inspiration
I've alway hear about how little light pollution there is in the desert in Utah. I love photos of the Milky Way so when we decided to head out West to do some jeeping in Utah and Colorado, I knew this would be the perfect opportunity to try my hand at some light painting. Arches Nation Park is close enough to Moab to get there on a short drive yet far enough to have very little light bleed into a photo. Also, you don't have to wander too far into the desert to find a nice foreground to put in front of the Milky Way. Just seeing the desert sky at night in Utah is really all the inspiration you need. It's amazing.Editing
My exposure was pretty good on this photo so all I did was load it into Lightroom and slightly bump up the vibrance and just toned down any background noise a smidge. I then send it over to Color Efex Pro 4 to bump up the sharpness and that was about it.In my camera bag
I still have and use a Canon Power Shot SD 960 IS point and shoot. It was my first good digital camera. I call her "Little Girl." I learned to use all the great features on this camera. It still takes wonderful photos. My second camera which I call my "big girl camera" is a Canon 60D. This was my first DLSR. My favorite though is my Canon 5D Mark III. She's the "Queen Bee. My favorite lenses are my Canon 70-200mm 2.8 IS and my Canon 24-105mm. I also have a Tamron SP10-24 mm 3.5, Tamron 18-270 mm 3.5 and a Tamron 90mm 2.8 Macro. I use the Tamron lenses on my Canon 60 D. I have been using a Vanguard Tripod with a Vanguard ball head. For a recent photo trip to Alaska, I recently purchased a Zomei travel tripod that also converts to a monopod. I Love this new tripod for its weight, stability and the fact that is folds down so compact that it fits in your suit case.Feedback
For night photography, you have to have a clear, moonless night, or a least one when the moon rises really last or sets very early. There are so many sources to get the phases of the moon during the month along with sunrise and sunset in the location you want to photograph in. Try to find a location with very few large cities near by. The more remote the better. For shooting the Milky Way, having something interesting in the foreground is so much nicer then just a pain sky with stars in it. An old barn or country church, an interesting tree, an old car. I even did a fun Milky Way photo with our John Deere combine out in the field during harvert and my husband standing by it looking up at the night sky. Even a still lake in the foreground to reflect the stars is wonderful. I always shoot this type of photo in the Bulb setting and on a tripod. A windless night is also helpful to avoid shake and I try to use a very low ISO. I shoot on Manual and then experiment with the exposure length. A cable shutter release is a must. Night photography is so fun and a great thing to do with other photo friends, especially if you bring some snacks and beverages to share. So peaceful and so rewarding. Forego some sleep and give it a try. You will not be disappointed.
