The Baobab By Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook This Is A Huge, Majestic Baobab

Questions and Answers

How to take vertical photos and panoramas:

Question: What do you use to mount the camera vertically for your panos?

Answer: I use an "L" bracket. Here are photos from a Google search:

https://www.google.com/search?q=l+bracket+camera&client=safari&rls=en&biw=1584&bih=1295&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwit5fCbseLPAhXJHT4KHaYqAu0Q_AUICSgC

It screws on the bottom of the camera, and will attach to the tripod head either horizontally or vertically. It is Much better than turning the tripod head vertically, with the camera hanging to the side. The camera, when vertically with the L bracket, is balanced over the center of the tripod, and is much more stable than if you turn the whole tripod head sideways. Also, because the center of rotation is closer to the sensor plane there is much less parallax. Parallax has not been an issue for me. I use an Acratex L bracket and tripod head. There are many brands, and you just need to make sure the L bracket fits with whatever tripod head you are using. You can also use a nodal rail to further prevent paralax, This helps to center the sensor plane right over the center of rotation. In my night images paralax problems have not been a issue however when using the Acratex L bracket. Hope this helps, Cheers, Wayne

http://waynepinkstonphoto.com

Messages from the Past by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook Messages from the Past: It seems like a basic human urge to communicate our thoughts to the world. Are our ideas likely to be as long lasting as these carved in rock, or will all of our digital wonderings and our paper renderings fade away over the millennia like dust in the wind? There is something to say for permanence. If only we knew what they were saying... ___________________________________________ Full disclosure: This is a composite image. It was cloudy the night I was there so I did a panorama of the foreground and added the sky in later. Note, the Milky Way and sky are aligned in there proper position so this is not a make-believe scene, but reflects what you would see if the sky was not cloudy. ___________________________________________

Utah’s Canyon Country by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook The Colorado River passes through the canyons of Utah. This is a breathtaking vista and one of my favorite spots to visit in central Utah. This is a panorama of multiple vertical images with the long exposure foreground images and separate images for the sky (from the same location consecutively), blended in PS. FG: 35 mm, 240 sec, f/1.8, ISO 2000. Sky: 24 mm, 15 sec, f/2.8, ISO 8000.

Dreaming of Alien Lands by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website Instagram Facebook This is a panorama taken in the Valley of Dreams in NW New Mexico. 11 images taken at 15 mm, f 3.2, 15 sec., and ISO 6400, stitched together in Lightroom. I was hoping to create a feel for the bizarre and otherworldly landscape. There is a light panel with a warming filter behind the larger hoodoo to the right, and another behind me to the side. Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! Big thanks to the wonderful Flickr family for all the support and encouragement! Cheers, Wayne

Where the Hoodoos Have No Names by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook Where the Hoodoos Have No Names. Sometimes the Low Level Lighting (LLL) works out just the way you desire. My goal is typically to have the light come in at an angle to accentuate the surface features, and in this case it brought out the texture well. The location was constrained by rock on both sides so I bounced the light off a rock wall to the left. This usually makes the night less harsh and diffuses the light more. The LLL was done with a single Cineroid LED light panel. Stacked image, 18 light frames, 14-24 mm lens at 23 mm, 15 seconds, f/2.8, ISO 10,000.

Hi Wayne, I just wanna pop by and say 'thank you'. It's very kind of you to share your tips and experience with us in taking good landscape astro photos. I wish you all the very best in your journey. Asteria.

Thanks for taking the time to look and write. It’s much appreciated. Cheers, Wayne

Recommended eBooks for Nightscape Photography

1) Milky Way Nightscapes by Royce Bair

2) Nightscape by David Kingham

Both are excellent books and I have read both more than once. The information in the books is complementary. 

Lost in a Dream... by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Hoodoo in the Valley of Dreams East, in the Badlands region of NW New Mexico.

Madagascar Cathedral by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook Panorama 12 frames, 14 mm, f/2.8, 15 sec., ISO 12,800 This is the shell of an abandoned Cathedral in Madagascar. I've added a crop from the center section. The red on the horizon is from fires. The local people burn the field and multiple fires could be seen at any one time. The glow from the fires could be seen from long distances at night. A big thank you to @worldpixorg and @ryanplakonouris for arranging this trip. @worldpixorg is a charity organization using photography to raise money for charitable causes. Hope you enjoy, Wayne Pinkston

Stranger in a Strange Land by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: This was the name of a book published in 1961 by Robert A. Heinlein (a very good early sci-fi book), and this is how I felt wandering around the Bisti Badlands of New Mexico at night. It is an extensive area with no marked trails, and a maze of washes, ravines, hills, ridges, etc. It is a broken landscape full of small to moderate sized hoodoos of every shape imaginable. There are also a number of petrified trees. It is incredibly easy to get lost at night because you cannot walk anywhere in a straight line. I used a GPS app and still had trouble getting back to the car because of deep ravines. Anyway it is an amazing place and well worth a trip. This is a single exposure. This photo was lit with reflected light from a hand held halogen spotlight/torch. I reflected the light off of a formation to my left, diffusing the light, and also illuminating the scene from the side. Hope you enjoy! Please join me at: Website Facebook Blog