Mesa Arch

Canyonlands National Park, San Juan County, Utah, USA, March 11, 2017. Nikon D90, Tamron SP AF 10-24mm, f/3.5-4.5 Di II LD Aspherical IF B001N at 10mm, Manual Exposure mode, f/22 for 1/13 second, ISO 200, processed in Lightroom CC and Photoshop CC.

It seems that everyone that has ever visited Canyonlands National Park, has been to Mesa Arch. When we arrived a little before sunrise, it was pretty much a circus. There were a bunch of college aged kids having a mini rock concert off to one side, about two dozen photographers lined up and jockeying for position to try and get that iconic shot of the sunrise through the arch, and a bunch more folks just hanging around and taking it all in.

After all the hubbub died down, I wandered over to the right side of the arch and made this image, which in my mind is my favorite of the morning!

Mesa Arch, Canyonlands National Park, San Juan County, Utah, USA, March 11, 2017. Nikon D90, Tamron SP AF 10-24mm, f/3.5-4.5 Di II LD Aspherical IF B001N at 10mm, Manual Exposure mode, f/8 for 1/30 second, ISO 200, processed in Lightroom CC and Photoshop CC.

Lauri and I did wade into the melee and get a few images. There was no way to negotiate the crowd with a tripod, however. I tried and it just wasn't working, so I decided to handhold and managed to get a couple of fairly decent images. It is magical how the sunrise colors the bottom of the arch. It is not just a sleight of hand of those who photograph it, but needs to be experienced to be appreciated fully.

Mesa Arch, Canyonlands National Park, San Juan County, Utah, USA, March 11, 2017. Nikon D90, Tamron SP AF 10-24mm, f/3.5-4.5 Di II LD Aspherical IF B001N at 10mm, Manual Exposure mode, f/22 for 1/13 second, ISO 200, processed in Lightroom CC and Photoshop CC.

Arches National Park Teaser

While certainly not a comprehensive list, some other interesting things to see in Arches National Park are shown in a few images here. The petroglyphs at Wolfe Ranch are believed to be Ute images. The ones below are pretty obvious. The one above leaves a little more to the imagination!

The sparse vegetation in this barren and harsh country can be intimidating to some, but having spent much of my formative youth in similar piñon-juniper country, this always seems like home to me!

Even though it is a harsh and barren environment, if you walk slowly and allow the wildlife to not be disturbed, you can often catch glimpses of critters that appear unexpected, even in the heat of the day!

The Fiery Furnace, an intriguing place to be sure, but not one I have ventured into - yet!

There has been so much damage to the ground underneath and near Landscape Arch that the NPS has fenced it off and getting the images I would like is not possible. Of course having the beautiful sunny day turn gray and overcast didn't make the job any easier.

Zion Night Skies

We passed through Zion National Park on Friday evening after sunset - much later than anticipated. We left in plenty of time, but dilly dallied around in several places along the way and turned a 3-1/2 hour drive into about a 12-hour one. To be fair, we avoided the Interstate and took back roads, stopping at several small towns and locating ancestor's graves and just generally enjoying not having a deadline or set timeframe.

As we were passing through the park in the dark, I decided to check Sky Guide and sure enough, the Milky Way is high in the sky and the moon doesn't rise until very late. A perfect setup for some good night skies images. We are both beat, however, so we decided to sleep in the next morning and have our little photography experience the next night. The downside of that is the show we are here to see at Tuacahn won't get out until around 11:30 pm on Saturday, on the other side of St. George.

By 1:30 am we were set up at the "Bonsai Tree" waiting for some vehicles to provide a little light painting for us. Never happened, so we did a little painting ourselves and made some dark images as well.

"Bonsai Tree," Zion National Park, Kane County, Utah, USA, June 18, 2017, Nikon D90, Tamron SP 10-24mm f3.5-4.5 Di II LD Aspherical IF B001N at 10mm, Manual Exposure Mode, f/3.5 for 30 seconds, ISO 3200, processed in Lightroom CC and Photoshop CC.

The Watchman was well lit by the lights of Springdale as usual. I wanted to get a little reflection off the Virgin River, but that didn't turn out so well. Not enough reflected light from the sky and light painting catches more than the river, so. . . . I do have some ideas to try next time.

The Watchman, Zion National Park, Washington County, Utah, USA, June 18, 2017, Nikon D90, Tamron SP 10-24mm f3.5-4.5 Di II LD Aspherical IF B001N at 10mm, Manual Exposure Mode, f/3.5 for 30 seconds, ISO 3200, processed in Lightroom CC and Photoshop CC.

The Milky Way was too far up in the sky by 2:30 am to get the Meeting Hall and the Milky Way in a single image from the West side.  As I was experimenting, however, with various angles and set-ups, the moon began to rise in the East. That created the perfect light painting scenario for an image from the East of the Hall rather than the West.  This is one of my favorite images of the night!

Grafton, Washington County, Utah, USA, June 18, 2017, Nikon D90, Tamron SP 10-24mm f3.5-4.5 Di II LD Aspherical IF B001N at 10mm, Manual Exposure Mode, f/3.5 for 30 seconds, ISO 3200, processed in Lightroom CC and Photoshop CC.

As we were leaving to head back to St. George about 3:30 am, I wanted to stop and make a few images of the Rockville Bridge with the Milky Way behind and above and the tiniest amount of light painting from the moon.  Also one of my favorites.

Rockville Bridge, Rockville, Washington County, Utah, USA, June 18, 2017, Nikon D90, Tamron SP 10-24mm f3.5-4.5 Di II LD Aspherical IF B001N at 10mm, Manual Exposure Mode, f/3.5 for 30 seconds, ISO 3200, processed in Lightroom CC and Photoshop CC.

Light Pollution

We thought that going up onto the North side of Mount Timpanogos would be the perfect place to get some good Milky Way images. With no moon in the sky, we expected it to be very dark. Boy, were we wrong!  It never got dark. We could clearly see each other all night long.

These two images were taken 21 days apart, while there are many differences, the most striking is the effect of light pollution on the image. You can tell the Milky Way is there in the second one, but the detail and definition is lacking - washed out by the light from the southern Wasatch Front communities.

Bridge over the Virgin River, Zion National Park, Washington County, Utah, USA, July 9, 2016. Nikon D90, Tamron SP 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5 Di II at 10mm, Manual Exposure mode, f/3.5 for 30 seconds, ISO 3200, processed in Lightroom CC and Photoshop CC.

Alpine Loop, American Fork Canyon, Mount Timpanogos Trailhead, Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest, Utah, USA,, July 30, 2016. Nikon D90, AF-S Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 at 18mm, Manual Exposure mode, f/3.5 for 25 seconds, ISO 3200, processed in Lightroom CC and Photoshop CC.

A Comparison of White Balance

These two images of the Milky Way were taken from the Virgin River Bridge near the South entrance to Zion National Park. The lights from the town of Springdale, Utah are providing the reflected light on Watchman.

These two images are the same except for the White Balance setting. The first image was taken with White Balance set to "Auto" giving a color temperature of 4150 K. The second image is taken at 3550 K.

Bridge over the Virgin River, Zion National Park, Washington County, Utah, USA, July 9, 2016. Nikon D90, Tamron SP 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5 Di II at 10mm, Manual Exposure mode, f/3.5 for 30 seconds, ISO 3200, processed in Lightroom CC and Photoshop CC.

Night Skies

Friday night I participated in the National Park Night Skies Photography Workshop sponsored by National Park Trips Media and Tamron USA in Zion National Park. It was taught by David Akoubian, Ken Hubbard and Andre Costantini and hosted by Rob Wood and Dave Krause. Cecil Holmes also helped teach. Had a great time learning and practicing and was able to capture some great images in the process.

A view of the Milky Way from the "Bonsai Tree". Special shout out to Andre Costantini for the light painting. Bonsai Tree, Zion National Park, Kane County, Utah, USA, July 9, 2016. Nikon D90, Tamron SP 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5 Di II at 10mm, Manual Exposure mode, f/3.5 for 30 seconds, ISO 3200, processed in Lightroom CC and Photoshop CC.