The Druid By Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook Just A Fun Shot From The New Mexico

Where a Civilization once Thrived... by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: This is the Anasazi or Ancient Puebloan Riun called the 16 Room Ruin. It has many other names but this one seems most common. It is located just south of Bluff, Utah adjacent to the San Jaun River. This is part of an experimental series to see if the Anasazi Ruins are amenable to photography at night. I would love to combine an interest in the Anasazi with nighttime photography. I spent several days in August in the SE corner of Utah photographing several ruins at night, to be processed over the next few weeks. One thing I did discover is this: Being in these ruins at night is fascinating. To see the starlit sky, and be surrounded by ancient habitations where people once thrived is magical. It's like going back in time. The alcoves just glow with the light. You can imagine the glow of fires illuminating the ceiling and walls centuries ago. This ruin is in one of a small minority of Alcoves or Caves that opens facing North, and faces a fertile plain overlooking the San Juan River. Because it opens to the North, the Milky Way is seen overhead to the South. Most of the Anasazi Ruins purposefully open facing South, providing shade in summer and sunlight and heat in winter. It seems they were more concerned with these mundane everyday matters than with the needs of photographers that would come 800 years later. On the other hand the Milky Way may be visible looking out of many alcoves at some point in the year. There are limited choices for photo ops. Sometimes the only decent choice is looking into the Alcove, sometimes the only choice is to look out. Most of the flat "bench" in the Alcoves was used as building sites, and there is not a lot of room to roam around. The maintained and easily accessed Anasazi tourist locations in parks are closed at night. You can get a permit to photograph these at night for hundreds of dollars. There are, however, numerous sites on Bureau of Land Management land that are not maintained. There are unmarked trails to many of these ruins, and if you can find them you can photography at night. Many require a hike of a mile or more through rough trails. They are open to visitation but the BLM does not make them easy to find, sometimes knocking down cairns that mark the way. This is a panorama of 10 vertical images combined in Lightroom. Taken with a Canon 6D camera and a Bower 24mm f 1.4 lens at f 1.4, 15 sec, and ISO 6400. There are 6 lights used. There are 4 very small lights shining up on he ruins from just in front, and there are 2 larger lights lighting the whole alcove. Warming filters were used on the lights. The ridge looks more domed than it really is because of looking upwards at a relatively close structure. Disclaimer: No ruins were harmed in the making of this photo! So what do you think? Is this kind of image interesting or worth pursuing? Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! Your time, faves, and comments are much appreciated! Please join me at: Website Facebook Blog

White Mesa Arch by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook White Mesa Arch in Arizona. This is in the Navajo Nation and you should have a local guide to go there. This spot was completely off my radar until it was introduced to me by Quanah Parker who is with Majestic Monument Valley Tours. This trip caused me some embarrassment, lol. You have to climb a sandy hill to get to the arch. We parked down below, and I grabbed my gear and tripod and headed up. I set up the lights (Low Level Lighting) and tripod and reached for the camera, which wasn't there, sigh. It was still in the backseat of the car. You would think that you could at least remember the camera on a photo trip, sigh again... Anyway it was down the hill and back up the hill. The night was a success anyway. The arch is huge, and the view through the arch is wonderful. There is some light pollution form homesteads in the area. Many thanks to the model, Jacinda Wileto! For more images like this please take a look at Wayne Pinkston Photography . Thanks for all the kind support over the last year, it is much appreciated! A big thank you to the wonderful Flickr family!

Questions and Answers

About Processing Nightscape Photos

Question: Hi Can you just prepare tutorial about how to edit milky way?

Answer: This is an excerpt form my website:

http://lightcrafter.smugmug.com/About-Nightscapes

There is a lot more on the website if you are interested.

About Workflow:

I'll try to pass along some workflow ideas, as these change and evolve. It changes as I learn.

There is a choice you have to make at some point in the processing. It can be made initially or later. If you want the sky to be blue with a cooler look overall, you will want to process the sky with a cooler white balance. This usually turns the highlights in the Milky Way a magenta color, and is very pretty. This seems to be the most common choice photographers make. The sky experts say that the real color of the Milky Way is more yellow, and they assume the sky is black (and I suppose it is out in space!). If you use the Temp  and Tone curves to make the darkest part of the sky a dark grey, several things happen. The Milky way develops a yellow hue rather than magenta. The stars develop individual colors. If you look closely you will see blue, yellow, red, white, and occasionally orange stars, with the largest number being blue. This reflects the temperature at which the stars burn, the bluer stars burning hotter. This is a better reflection of real life. If you process the sky as a "cool" blue color it will in part cover up airglow (green) and light pollution (yellow, orange, red). If you process the sky more neutral or more "warm" you will find a lot of subtle color coming out. The airglow and light pollution shows up much more vividly. It can be attractive or a nuisance. You can then try to make the light pollution and airglow go away, or you can embrace it and work with it. This can make the sky look very surrealistic, with lots of green, yellow, orange and red. IT can look beautiful but very otherworldly. Lots of photographers try to get rid of this color to make the sky look more natural or more like we expect. Lately I have stopped trying to get rid of these colors and have embraced them (at least for now). A good choice might be to process the sky more neutral to start with and then adjust the color later as desired. You could select the sky in photoshop and then use the color tools.

The initial part of processing can be done in Adobe RAW or Lightroom (I use Lightroom). For processing I usually make the darkest part of the sky as neutral as possible in Lightroom (using the Temp and Tint sliders).   It is hard to get it perfect, at least for me. When I say I make the sky as neutral as possible, I do this: I pick the darkest area and try to make it grey or only slightly tinted. The easiest way to do this is to look at the separate histograms for red, green and blue in the histogram graph and use the Temp and Tint sliders to get the separate color curves to overlap or match up as best you can. Overlap or superimpose the blue and yellow peaks (in the part on the histogram that represents the sky - the large rightmost peak), then superimpose the green and magenta peaks as best you can, then go back and superimpose the blue and yellow peaks again, keeping an eye on the darkest sky. This means that you no longer have a cool or warm tone bias. The more neutral you make the dark sky, the more subtle color you can bring out elsewhere. If I want to end up with a blue sky I will then move the Temp slider very minimally to the left (one click). This is virtually un-noticeable at this stage. To get a preview of what the sky will eventually look like go to the "Tone Curve" function in Lightroom. Click on the little square in the bottom right hand corner, so you can manipulate the curve freely. The place a very steep "S" shape on the curve, up at the top and down on the bottom. This will increase the contrast tremendously, and you can see which way the color is trending. I like to leave it with a minimally blue bias in the darkest sky. Then right click on the curve and click "flatten curve", and the sky will return to a grey flat color (contrast will be applied later in Photoshop). Usually the upper sky is so much darker than the lower sky that I may lighten the upper sky with a gradient in Lightroom to make the sky more uniform in density. This helps a lot in processing the sky later. I also do noise reduction, sharpening, and lens correction in Lightroom and export to Photoshop. You can do all of this in Adobe RAW with the exception of the gradient function. In Lightroom or Adobe Raw here are some good initial settings for sharpening and noise reduction for an ISO of 6400 in a Canon 6D:

For sharpening, Amount 50,  Radius 0.7, Detail 15-20, Masking 75. For noise reduction, Luminance about 40-50, Detail 50, Contrast 50, Color about 17-20, Detail 50, smoothness 100.  The amount of noise reduction you need will vary with your camera and ISO. I then export or open in Photoshop. To do this right click the image and choose "Edit in Photoshop".  In Photoshop I carefully select the sky and foreground and save the selections separately. I chose the sky and may increase the vibrance a slight amount (10). This darkens the color in the sky slightly. You can darken the sky primarily in Curves by adding contrast, but if this is your primary way to darken the sky, then you may be adding a lot of noise and graininess. I mildly increase the vibrance first, then mildly increase the contrast in curves use a "S" shaped curve. Increasing the vibrance first means that you can use a smaller contrast adjustment in curves to darken the sky, and end up with a less noisy and less contrasty sky. Many times the sky can end up looking overly sharp, and this helps to lessen that effect.

I find that this will really bring out the subtle sky colors if you start with a neutral sky. If you make the sky very blue in Lightroom from the very beginning, them you cover up a lot of the subtle colors in the sky, and also you can give the airglow and light pollution unpleasant color casts. Airglow and light pollution can be attractive! I may make small changes in the color with the "curves" tool using the Red, Green, and Blue curves, or by using the Color Balance function. I frequently choose the Milky Way with the lasso tool and feather it about 200 pixels, and then use then  adjust the brightness and contrast and vibrance. I frequently chose the lower sky separately and darken it, as it is usually much brighter than the rest of the sky.This often improves the color tones in the MW, but not always. I then chose the foreground and adjust the contrast separately in curves. I do a little dodging and burning for hot areas or areas that are too dark, and that's about it. I commonly increase the local contrast using the Unsharp Mask function, using an Amount of 10-20, a radius of 40-50, and a threshold of 0. This increases contrast and gives the impression of sharpness, without increasing the perceived noise too much. If there is too much noise I use the Topaz noise reduction plug-in. It is remarkable good at reducing noise without making the image too soft.

Cheers, Wayne Pinkston ©2015

Questions and Answers

About Panoramas

Question: Do you use a panorama head for your pano shots, or single frame ultra-wide angle?

Answer: When I call it a panorama I have taken multiple images and stitched them together, usually vertical images. 

I use an Acratech Ballhead that I like a lot. I also use an Acratech Leveling Head which I love. The leveling head makes panoramas much, much easier to get all the images in a horizontal plane. There are lots of leveling heads out there, and this is the one piece of equipment that I would strongly suggest. As long as it works the brand does not matter. At first I only used it for panos, but then I started using it for every night photo and life got a lot easier. Once you level the camera and take that first long exposure photo, it is so much easier to recompose the shot. If the camera is level then you can just swivel it from side to side, or up/down (a little trickier) and the camera remains level. I can usually get the composition right in 2 shots rather than taking multiple shots. Sometimes it takes more, but it is a lot faster to get the composition right with the leveling head. Also you can switch from Hor to vert and not have to change much. I also use an Acratech “L” Bracket almost always when mounting the camera vertically and it helps a lot with panos. It’s much better to help preventing parallax. 

I just wing it on overlap, and overlap a lot. I also use a Acratech Nodal Rail to position the focal plane over the point of rotation. This prevents parallax and the computer can reconstruct it better. In reality though, I only use the nodal rail when there is something  in the foreground that is close, and parallax might be an issue. If everything is far away then I just use the L bracket and it all works out just fine. 

I am learning double row panos, and using special software for that like PTGui pano software. If you want double rows think about this software. For the really high MWs I use the widest lens I have and do them vertically. I have had decent luck with my 15 mm Sigma fisheye lens vertically. I do some lens correction on each image in Lightroom or Adobe RAW and then stitch them together and it works out OK. Just do lots of overlap.

Cheers, Wayne

Joshua Tree by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website Instagram Facebook A Night in Joshua Tree. A photo from the my archives, reprocessed. For more images like this please take a look at my website here .

Monument Valley Panorama by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Panorama of The Mittens in Monument Valley at night. 12 images, 24 mm, f 1.6, 13 seconds, ISO 10,000. Monument Valley Landscape Astrophotography Workshop! There are 3 remaining spots open in the workshop I will be leading in MV June 6 to 9, 2018. Details can be found here: waynepinkstonphoto.com/Workshops If you are interested please contact me here or through my website, waynepinkstonphoto.com This is a 4 day workshop with an extra "optional" 5th day on June 10 if anyone wants to stick around and shoot nightcapes with me in the area. This day can also be used as a make-up day if needed. Three days will be scheduled shooting in Monument Valley and one day outside of Monument Valley. That day will be used to practice and learn Low Level Lighting while shooting hoodoos in the area. Landscape Astrophotography will be the focus of the workshop. There will be lectures on 3 days, and a group dinner on one day. I have also been asked frequently about guiding and workshops in the New Mexico Badlands. So here is a general question - Is anyone out there interested in attending a Landscape Astrophotography Workshop in the New Mexico Badlands May 14 - 17, 2018? There is no obligation, I'm just trying to judge interest. For more images like this please take a look at Wayne Pinkston Photography . Thanks for all the kind support! Hope you enjoy! A big thank you to the wonderful Flickr family. It's a pleasure to post here.

Eric and the Arch by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Sorry for the title Eric, I couldn't help myself. Once it popped into my head it wouldn't go away. It just has a classic sound to it, like a midieval knight going out to slay the arch (or dragon). I think you definitely slayed this arch. My apologies for posting a similar photo previously, but I ended up liking this one better. By the way, this is Delicate Arch in Arches National Park, Utah. The person slaying the arch with his headlight is Eric Gail, fellow photographer and friend. He volunteered to be the model for this. Hey Eric, I need a model release! You can see his excellent gallery here: www.flickr.com/photos/dot21studios Light pollution from the town of Moab lights up smoke on the horizon from the wildfires in California. Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! Big thanks to the wonderful Flickr family out there. Please join me at: Website Facebook Instagram Blog

The Aged and the Ageless by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website Instagram Facebook This is a Bristlecone Pine encompassed by the Milky Way. One is the oldest individual species on earth, and the stars are the oldest thing we can see. For perspective, a human generation is estimated to be the average time between the birth of a mother and the average birth of her children, approximately 25 years. Bristlecone Pines are the longest living single multicellular species on earth, living up to and beyond 5,000 years. That is basically the length of recorded human history, 200 generations. The Milky Way above is estimated to be 13.21 billion years old, and the universe 13.77 billion years old, so the life of the Bristlecone Pines are but a blink of the eye. Since the light from the stars and galaxies can take millions or billions off years to reach us, when we look at the night sky we are looking back towards the beginning of time. Thanks for all the kind comments! Hope you enjoy! A big thank you to the wonderful Flickr family for all the support and encouragement! Cheers, 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

The Totem Pole, Monument Valley by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook The Totem Pole in Monument Valley. You need a local guide to visit Monument Valley at night. I can recommend Majestic Monument Valley tours if you are interested. I am planning something different and new that I hope will be a lot of fun. I am planning Fantasy Nightscape Workshops during the July new moon. There will be 2 three day workshops, in July 2018, July 8 through 10, and July 11 through 13. Photographer Eric Gail will also be an instructor. The workshop will be in the New Mexico Badlands. This area has multiple “Otherworldly” locations. This area gives us multiple sites that will be suitable for photographing fantasy scenes. This workshop will be different in that we will compose the photos with Fantasy Figures. It will be like Comic Com under the Milky Way. We will first capture the composition in a standard fashion without a person and then with one or more fantasy figures in the photo. We will provide costumes including an Astronaut (full spacesuit), Alien, Predator, Lord of the Rings (Aragorn-Strider), Conquistador, Star Wars (including Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, Obi Wan Kanobee, Jango Fett), Witches, and Wizards, Steampunk, and Medeival figures, Conquistador, etc. If that is not imaginative enough you can bring your own fantasy outfit! We will be shooting in an Otherworldly setting so costumes or figures that fit the setting would be best. Suggestions are welcomed! There will be lectures in the late afternoons for about 2 hours depending on group interest. We will cover and practice Landscape Astrophotography, Low Level Lighting, and Composition, in addition to planning, and scouting for Astrophotography. Additionally we will cover using smartphone apps such as TPE, Photopills, True DoF (Depth of Field) and Gaia GPS, and Google Earth, etc. These are instrumental in my planning and scouting. If you are interested please mail me here at Flickr. Thanks for all the kind support over the last year, it is much appreciated! A big thank you to the wonderful Flickr family!