Questions And Answers

Recapture Pocket Panorama by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook Recapture Pocket is an area on hoodoos near Bluff, Utah. There are 2 fields of hoodoos here. I call this Hoodoo Arch because it is an arch that is mostly just 2 connected hoodoos. There is Low Level Lighting (LLL) with a Gaol Zero Micro Lantern behind the arch and an LED Light Panel on a tripod about 50 meters behind me and to the right. Panorama: 11 images, 20 mm, f 2.0, 20 sec., ISO 6400, Nikon 810A Hope you enjoy! 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!

The Sand Worm by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website Instagram Facebook Single Exposure, Nikon 810A, 14-24 lens, 22 mm, f 2.8, 25 sec., ISO 12,800 The Sand Worm, New Mexico Badlands. For all the sci-fi fans out there, this was Inspired by the novel DUNE by Frank Herbert, cited in 2003 as the best selling sci-fi book of all time. Wandering the desert at night a pale apparition rose from the desert floor, and in the dim light I immediately I recalled the giant Sand Worms of the book Dune. In the dark it's one of those times when chills go down your spine (or maybe it was just the cold. lol). The Sand Worms were mysterious giants that lived beneath the sands on the desert planet Dune (Arrakis), and produced the spice Melange, the most valuable substance in the universe. If you like sci-fi at all, this is one of the best reads ever, highly recommend! From the Book: " I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain." 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. Cheers, Wayne

Moccasin Arch by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook Panorama, 4 images, 14 mm, f/2.8, 25 sec., ISO 8000 Moccasin Arch in Monument Valley. The Arch is a huge cavernous alcove with an opening in the side of the "roof". This is a photo of some of my fellow photographers taking photos within Moccasin Arch. I was taking photos of them while they were photographing the arch. It turned out that I liked this one more than my views looking straight outward from the arch. The photographers in the photo give you a sense of scale. The Arch is huge! A big thank you to Quanah from Majestic Monument Valley Tours for taking us there. Thank you! He is highly recommend if you want to take a night tour in Monument Valley (day tours also). 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

How to book lodging if you are chasing clear skies

Question: I just assumed it was kinda off season early June but I get the impression now that it actually gets quieter in July and August due to the heat. I'm reluctant to book in advance ... I need to follow the clear skies. Have you had any serious issues finding accommodations at last minute in say early June?

Answer:  In June it can be a problem at the last minute. The answer is somewhat round-about. I think June is the worst month overall to get lodging, with May next worse. July and August are a little better. I'll tell you what I do, but please keep in mind that I stay in cheap motels. I am not there much at night, and only come back around 5 to 7 a.m, sleep till maybe 1 p.m, and then go out to scout new location, or drive to new places, them try to be at the spot around sunset. Anyway, I do not spend much time in the motel, so I just get the cheapest one that has OK reviews (hopefully no bed bugs!!!).

So.... I usually get on a booking website. I usually use Orbitz, just out of habit. I book a motel where I think I want to be. Sometimes you have to pay up front, sometimes you don't. They have cancellation clauses usually. Occasionally they have a "no cancellation", or "no refund" policy", and I do not book them. Read the fine print while booking. They typically have a policy that you can cancel by 4 pm, the day before or 48 hrs before. I keep an eye on the weather, and if the outlook is cloudy, I will try to book in a clearer locale if possible, and then cancel to one i made in the cloudy place. Orbitz has been good about refunding money into my account as long as you follow the motel rules. This way I am not left out of a place to sleep. I usually do not cancel until I have an alternative. So far, so good.

So far I have had no problems with this method. Moab could be a problem in the high season. Still, there are usually some cancellations, and if you call around enough you can find a room. There may be less choice at the last minute. The smallest towns like Escalante, or maybe Kanab, can be the biggest problems because there are just not many motel rooms to start with, so there is less opportunity. Here is the worst scenario, one that I have seen: When it is actually raining, campers flood into town looking for a room, especially families with young kids. I suspect sitting in a tent all day with very young kids is not easy! Anyway, if it's raining rooms disappear fast. It does not rain much, but I have found that when there is continuous rain all day, then the whole region was clouded over, and there is nowhere to go, and I just sit it out.

I have never had a problem in Northern New Mexico, around Farmington and the NM Badlands. There seem to be plenty of rooms there. Just be careful of the very small towns. Hope this helps! One more point, if you are going to cancel, don't forget to cancel in time to get your refund. I learned this the hard way. Anyway, this can give you flexibility to move around if necessary. 

Good luck, Wayne     2016

Hoodoo Hill by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook Hoodoo Hill, New Mexico Badlands. Single exposure with Low Level Lighting. Thanks for all the kind support over the last year, it is much appreciated! A big thank you to the wonderful Flickr family!

Peek-A-Boo by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook This is a panorama of several photos taken with a 12 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens. I’ve included 2 photos. The first photo is the image after the distortion was corrected in Photoshop. The second image is before the correction. Note the angled horizon in the second image. The camera and lens were pretty severely angled to get the entire opening in the image. There is Low Level Lighting (LLL) with 2 Goal Zero Micro Lanterns. One is behind me to my left and one is down the ravine to get some light on the more distant walls. Both are turned to low and are covered with a handkerchief to further diffuse and lower the light. The Goal Zero Mini has a very nice neutral to slightly warm light colour temperature. 12 mm, f/2.8, 25 sec., ISO 8000. I actually like the one with the crooked horizon a little better, but someone will complain, lol. This recess is somewhat like a cave or alcove and somewhat like a small canyon, not sure what to call it. Maybe a cave-yon? 😂 The Milky Way lines up beautifully at certain times of the year making this a great spot. This is in the Navajo Nation and you need a Navajo guide to go there.

Question and Answers

Using the Nikon 14-24 f/2.8  vs.  Rokinon-Bower 24 f/1.4 

Question: Wayne, do you shoot with the 24mm because there is less distortion when you stitch the images together? I'm just curious why the rokinon 24 vs say the Nikon 14-24 at 14mm , which is a wonderful lens. I understand the rokinon has a larger aperture but at 24 mm, max exposure time is reduced. Obviously you knocked this image out of the ballpark - would love to know a bit more about the lens choices for panoramas. Thanks and keep up the fantastic work.

Answer: Well, first of all, at 24 mm my version of the 24/1.4 is remarkably sharp, even at f/1.4. It is sharper and has less coma than the Nikon 14-24 at f/2.8. The Nikon is a wonderful lens, and is my most used and versatile lens, but if I am shooting at 24 mm then the 24/1.4 is better. Second, it lets in more light. I can push the histogram more to the right. There is some danger in overexposing the stars, and I was concerned about that, but it worked out. I actually took the pano at several settings and chose the best one. By pushing the histogram more to the right, I get much more detail in the foreground, and that was the goal. For example, some photographers have argued that if you shoot the same photo with an ISO of 6400 and 12,800, all other settings being equal, the 12,800 will actually have less noise in the darker foreground areas than the 6400 photo. The histogram is pushed to the right, the foreground looks lighter, asnd there is less noise there. This is because the dark pixels in the dark left side of the each have less information than the lighter pixels in the right side of the histogram. Less information in each dark pixel equals more noise in the image. The more you push the histogram to the right, the more information you have in each pixel and relatively less noise. Of course you have to avoid overexposing the sky. Overexposure is rarely a problem in night photography, lol. Anyway there are some people that advocate shooting at higher ISOs for that reason. There are discussions on the internet about it. Hope this helps! More light into the camera is good, especially when you are working at the limits of the cameras sensor!

Lake Mead Panorama by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: This is a panorama of Lake Mead between Arizona and Nevada, a man made lake created by the Hoover Dam. This was taken from Stewarts Point near The Valley of Fire State Park, and about a one hour drive from Las Vegas. I had made a trip to photograph the Valley of Fire Park but a Park Ranger stopped me and told me I could not photograph there at night without a permit, so it was on to "plan B". I drove to Lake Mead trying to salvage something from the night. This is a 15 photo panorama combined in Lightroom, taken with a Canon 1Dx and a Nikon 14-24 mm lens at f 2.8, 30 sec, 14 mm and ISO 6400. This is about a 240 degree panorama so the sides of the photo are looking in opposite directions. The light pollution on the right is Las Vegas about 60 miles (100 Km) away, and the light pollution on the left in Moapa Valley about 15 miles (25 Km) away. The streak in the sky is a plane with very bright lights (coming in to land at Las Vegas). It looks a bit like a comet and I thought it was a point of interest. The water level has dropped in recent years due to drought and the bank where I am standing used to be many meters below the water level. Pierreeau photographie suggested the light was a UFO. This is a very reasonable guess since I am pretty sure there are lots of aliens in Las Vegas disguised as Elvis. Hope you enjoy! All comments are welcomed. Please join me at: Website Facebook Blog

Grandstand at the La Playa Racetrack by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website Instagram Facebook This is "The Grandstand" in the Racetrack Playa in Death Valley. The Playa is a dry lake bed in Death Valley National Park. It lies in a relatively remote area, about a 4 hour drive from Furnace Creek, mostly down a rutted and sometimes rocky dirt road. This is not a road to hurry alone. There are many tales of flat or ruptured tires, and this is not a place to get stuck. The dry lake bed is sonic and unusual. It is best known for the "Sailing Stones" or "Walking Rocks". The Grandstand lies in the NW area of the Playa, and the Sailing Stones are better see more to the South. The Grandstand is a large rock formation arising from the dry lake bed. The photographer in the right foreground of the photo is Eric Gail. He masterminded the trip to the playa. Thank you Eric! You can see his excellent gallery here: www.flickr.com/photos/dot21studios Hey Eric, I'm going to need another model release! Maybe you can send me the name of your agent! 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

Visions in the Valley of Dreams by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Landscape in the Valley of Dreams, in the Badlands of NW New Mexico.