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Milky Way Over Chimney Rock, Capitol Reef National Park, Utah



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An early morning capture of the Milky Way setting over Chimney Rock in Capitol Reef National Park, Utah. This image was captured when headlights from a vehicle...
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An early morning capture of the Milky Way setting over Chimney Rock in Capitol Reef National Park, Utah. This image was captured when headlights from a vehicle lit up Chimney Rock which worked much better for illumination than our attempts at light painting that morning.
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Awards

Top Shot Award
Runner Up in The Milky Way Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in The Milky Way Photo Contest
Peer Choice Award
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Peer Award
WWWest NicoRabe caraporter gregurquhart dario_barbani robbiewade markperkins_3500 +46
Absolute Masterpiece
Jerryl DaPhotographyDude HKideckel daniturphoto sct198 ArthurGCowan JeremyElford +9
Outstanding Creativity
larssaar Aryanmehta GRitter
Top Choice
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Magnificent Capture
FeatherstonePhotography FrancoisHorne Gayle_Solis
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Virtuoso
SBMetamorphosisArtGallery
Superb Composition
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Top Ranks

Earth Day Every Day Photo ContestTop 10 rank
The Wonders of the World Photo ContestTop 10 rank
The Wonders of the World Photo ContestTop 10 rank week 1
Our World At Night Photo ContestTop 10 rank
What A Night Photo ContestTop 10 rank
What A Night Photo ContestTop 10 rank week 1
Everything Nature Photo ContestTop 10 rank
Everything Nature Photo ContestTop 10 rank week 1
The Milky Way Photo ContestTop 10 rank
ViewBug Photography AwardsTop 30 rank week 1
Image Of The Month Photo Contest Vol 26Top 30 rank
Image Of The Month Photo Contest Vol 26Top 20 rank week 2
Image Of The Month Photo Contest Vol 26Top 20 rank week 2

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4 Comments | Report
SBMetamorphosisArtGallery
 
SBMetamorphosisArtGallery September 01, 2017
wow this is mind blowing and gorgeous
adelemilitellobuttolph
 
adelemilitellobuttolph March 02, 2018
Thank you, everyone!
adelemilitellobuttolph
 
adelemilitellobuttolph March 21, 2018
Thank you everyone for the kind comments!
Antoniogut
 
Antoniogut March 29, 2018
great lighting on that rock. gorgeous
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Behind The Lens

Location

This photo of Chimney Rock and the Milky Way was shot in Capital Reef National Park, Utah. I was on a photography trip with a friend and we scoped out the location the afternoon before the shoot. I used the PlanIt! photography app to determine the best window of time for the optimal location in the sky of the Milky Way.

Time

We arrived on site around 3:30 a.m. to situate ourselves and take some practice shots. Throughout the next hour or so, we moved our location a little to improve framing. I really liked seeing the brightest area of the Milky Way positioned over the gap in the rocks to the right of Chimney Rock. The time stamp on the image file is 4:43 a.m, although I combined three images to get the right light on the rocks and placement of the Milk Way.

Lighting

Lighting for this image went through some changes. Initially, we attempted to light paint Chimney Rock, but our light was woefully under-powered for such a large rock. Occasionally, a vehicle would travel along the road that is roughly to the right of the scene and the headlights would create a nice light on the rocks. I started to capture images when the rocks were lit by headlights. Because the headlights were continually moving, they created a somewhat soft lighting that worked really well for this shot.

Equipment

For this photo, I used my Nikon D810 supported by a RRS TVC-24 tripod and RRS BH-40LR ball head. For capturing the Milky Way and needing a very wide angle lens, I selected my Zeiss Distagon T* 15mm f/2.8 ZF.2 lens. The 15mm is the widest lens that I own for my Nikon F mount cameras and always performs beautifully.

Inspiration

Clear skies in the desert southwest of Utah provide some of the best conditions for photographing the Milky Way that you can imagine. Our goal was to take advantage of these conditions and to find a spot that would produce a stunning image. We found Chimney Rock which has a beautiful form and perfectly positioned for the early morning Milky Way location in the sky.

Editing

Post-processing consisted of bringing three images into Photoshop as layers then using masks to show the areas that I wanted from each of the images. One image was used for the Milky Way and two for lighting on the rocks. A curves adjustment layer was applied to brighten the main part of Chimney Rock a bit. I then copied the image into another document, converted to Lab, and adjusted the L, a, and b channels to optimize the lightness and color. The image was then brought back into the original file as a new layer. From there, I adjusted the overall color with a Hue/Saturation layer and then added a little more yellow in the brightest part of the Milky way using another Hue/Saturation layer. The last step was to sharpen using the High Pass filter set to 2.1 pixels on another layer, setting the blend mode to Overlay.

In my camera bag

My most used landscape lens is my Zeiss Distagon T* 25mm f/2.8 ZF.2 lens. It goes with me any time that I plan on shooting landscapes, which is most of the time. I use it with a Nikon D810. I also typically carry a Zeiss Makro-Planar T* 50mm f/2 ZF.2 and a Zeiss Makro-Planar T* 100mm f/2 ZF.2 for a range of focal lengths and the ability to shoot close. Polarizers for each lens and a variable ND filter are always in my bag.

Feedback

For photographing the Milky Way, keep an eye on the weather to make sure that skies will be clear. Using an app that has ephemeris features is immensely helpful. I like PlanIt! because you can visualize the position of the Milky Way in various modes and can plan shots using a wide range of features. Milky Way shots benefit from an interesting foreground or mid-ground and light painting can highlight elements of the scene in a beautiful or haunting way. Make sure to shoot with a wide open aperture and use an appropriate shutter speed for the focal length of your lens. There needs to be enough light to pick up the Milky Way, which is relatively dim, but the shutter speed should not be so long that the stars become blurry. For my image here, shot with a 15mm lens, the aperture was wide open at f/2.8 and shutter speed was set to 15 sec.

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