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.

Narrowleaf Yucca - Yucca angustissima

Checkerboard Mesa, East Mesa, Zion National Park, Washington County, Utah, USA, June 12, 2015, Nikon D90, AF-S DX Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G, Manual Exposure Mode, f/2.8 for 1/60 second, ISO 800, processed in Lightroom CC and Photoshop CC.

Thunder and Rainbow at Sunset 

We were over at Checkerboard Mesa taking photos of plants and just listening to the sounds of approaching nightfall. There was no one else around, strangely odd for this National Park at this time of year. The birds were chirping and singing and there had been a little rain, more was being threatened and it was quickly becoming dusk. We actually were there looking for Desert Bighorn Sheep, but. . . .

We started to head back towards Springdale to see if we could see any more sheep before the light totally failed. Just past Checkerboard Mesa, the sunset was so compelling that we just had to stop and create some images. There is so much happening in this image - the Thunder storm that was brewing to the North, the rainbow as the rays of the setting sun passed through the advancing rain, the sunset itself, the wonderful silhouettes. Has become one of my all-time favorite images!

"Thunder and Rainbow at Sunset"

Checkerboard Mesa, East Mesa, Zion National Park, Washington County, Utah, USA, June 12, 2015, Nikon D90, AF-S DX Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G, Manual Exposure Mode, f/7.1 for 1/200 second, ISO 400, processed in Lightroom CC and Photoshop CC.

"Painting Rocks" Desert Indian Paintbrush

Desert Indian Paintbrush - Castilleja chromosa, Clear Creek, East Mesa, Zion National Park, Washington County, Utah, USA, April 27, 2014, Nikon D90, AF-S DX Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR at 55mm, Manual Exposure Mode, f/8 for 1/250 second, ISO 200, processed in Lightroom CC and Photoshop CC.

"Misty Mountain"

Temple of Sinawava, Zion National Park, Washington County, Utah, USA, April 26, 2014, Nikon D90, AF-S VR Zoom-Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED at 70mm, Manual Exposure Mode, f/8 for 1/250 second, ISO 200, processed in Lightroom CC and Photoshop CC.

Misty Temple

Temple of Sinawava, Zion National Park, Washington County, Utah, USA, April 26, 2014, Nikon D5000, AF-S DX Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR at 38mm, Manual Exposure Mode, f/5.6 for 1/125 second, ISO 250, processed in Lightroom CC and Photoshop CC.

Telephone Canyon Waterfall

Temple of Sinawava, Zion National Park, Washington County, Utah, USA, April 26, 2014, Nikon D5000, AF-S DX Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR at 29mm, Manual Exposure Mode, f/9 for 1/320 second, ISO 200, processed in Lightroom CC and Photoshop CC.