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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

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.

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

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. 😀

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

Abandoned Cathedral by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook Abandoned Cathedral in Madagascar. This is the shell of an old abandoned cathedral in Madagascar. This was adjacent to a girls school and the priest was very nice to let us shoot there at night. There was no electricity in this region and the red glow on the horizon originates from multiple fires. The local people burn the fields to clear them and there are always multiple fires in the distance. Also bandits steal the cattle and set the villages on fire to keep the people from chasing them. 😳😬 This is a panorama of multiple vertical images. There is a Goal Zero lantern in the bell tower and a single light panel off to the right to provide Low Level Lighting on the outside. BTW, we had 3 armed guards at all times. Thanks to WorldPix and Ryan for setting up this trip! 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

Among the Hoodoos by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook This was taken in the badlands in northern New Mexico. There are multiple areas you can visit outside of the better known Bisti Badlands. In this photo I was using Low Level Lighting to try and create a sense of depth to the field of hoodoos in the foreground. If you want a guide to the area consider contacting Kialo Winters at Navajo Tours USA. To all Night Photographers - There will be a large Nightscaper Conference in Moab May 1-3, 2019. There will be multiple speakers over 3 days and nightly excursions. You can find more information here: intothenightphoto.blogspot.com/ Thanks for all the kind support over the last year, it is much appreciated! A big thank you to the wonderful Flickr family!