Latest Posts by wayne-pinkston - Page 4

Emerging into the Light by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website Instagram Facebook Surprises are always nice.This was taken in Monument Valley, just outside the park. My guide was Quanah Parker from Majestic Monument Valley tours. He had taken me to a small but excellent Ancient Puebloan-Anasazi Ruins near the valley located in a small canyon. As we crawled out (literally) of the alcove into the small canyon this was our view. The Milky Way lined up perfectly along the roof of the canyon. Beautiful and unplanned. Shot with a 12 mm Rokinon fisheye lens looking up. f 2.8, 30 sec. ISO 10,000. It has been difficult to find guides to go into Monument Valley at night. Now there is a guide and night photographer that is interested in taking photographers into the park to do night photography. If you are interested contact Majestic Monument Valley tours at 435-727-3432 and ask for Quanah Parker. Wonderful way to see the backcountry of MV. Highly recommended. 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

Target Ruins by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website Instagram Facebook Ancestral Puebloan (also called Anasazi or the Cliff Dwellers) Ruins called Target Ruins in an alcove in Butler Wash in SW USA. 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

The Arch With No Name by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website Instagram Facebook Small unnamed arch in Nevada, USA. Nikon 810A, Nikon 14-24 mm lens, f 2.8, 15 sec., 24 mm, ISO 10,000. Lighting with Low Level Lighting (LLL). For more about this technique please see www.lowlevellighting.org 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

Boot Arch by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website Instagram Facebook Boot Arch in the Alabama Hills of California. Nikon D810A Camera, 14-24 mm lens, 24 mm, f 2.8, 30 sec., ISO 10,000. Lighting with Low Level Lighting (LLL). For more info about this technique please see www.lowlevellighting.org 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

Tower of Babel by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website Instagram Facebook Tower of Babel, Arches National Park, Utah. Nikon D810A Camera, 14-24 mm lens, 24 mm, f 2.8, 20 sec., ISO 8000. Lighting with Low Level Lighting (LLL). For more about this technique please see lowlevellighting.org 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

Kiss the Sky by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website Instagram Facebook Bristlecone Pine in the Ancient Bristlecone Pone Forest, California. Single exposure. Nikon 810A camera, 14-24 mm lens, 20 mm, f 2.8, 20 sec., ISO 12,800. Lighting with Low Level Lighting (LLL), lowlevellighting.org For more images like this please take a look at my website here . 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

Joshua Tree at Night by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website Instagram Facebook Joshua Tree National Park, California. Canon 1Dx camera, Nikon 14-24 mm lens with an adaptor, f 2.8, ISO 6400. Lighting with Low Level Lighting (LLL). For more about this technique see lowlevellighting.org For more images like this please take a look at my website here . 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

Cedar Breaks Panorama by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website Instagram Facebook This is a panorama made of 2 sets of 13 vertical images from the Cedar Breaks National Monument in Utah. This is less well known as compared to the "Big 5" National Parks in Utah, but is a remarkably beautiful place. It resembles a huge eroded bowl or huge geode cracked open exposing innumerable red to orange hoodoos. Breathtaking! It is very close to Cedar City and Zion National Park. This is a blend of 2 panoramas, taken back to back and with the tripod unchanged in position. The sky images were taken at 18 mm, 20 sec., f 2.8 and ISO 12,800. The foreground was taken at 18 mm, ISO 3200, 300 seconds and f 2.8. The images were blended in photoshop. For anyone counting, lol, the foreground images took a little over an hour at 5 minutes apiece. Sitting around and quietly staring at the sky for an hour can be very pleasant. :-) For more images like this please take a look at my website here . Thanks for all the kind support! Hope you enjoy! A big thank you to the wonderful Flickr family. Cheers, Wayne

The Alien Throne by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website Instagram Facebook The Alien Throne, New Mexico Badlands. Nikon D810A, 14-24 mm lens, 14 mm, f 3.2, 25 sec., 6400. For more images like this please take a look at my website here . Thanks for all the kind support! Hope you enjoy! A big thank you to the wonderful Flickr family. Cheers, Wayne

It's a Long Way From Here To There by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website Instagram Facebook Bryce Canyon National Park. Canon 6D Camera, 16-35 mm lens, f 2.8, 20 mm, ISO 6400. Single Exposure. For more images like this please take a look at my website here . Thanks for all the kind support! Hope you enjoy! A big thank you to the wonderful Flickr family. Cheers, Wayne

Starlight Tufas by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website Instagram Facebook Starlight Tufas at Mono Lake. Single Exposure. Nikon D810A Camera, 14-24 mm lens, 17 mm, 20 sec., ISO 12,800. For more images like this please take a look at my website here . Thanks for all the kind support! Hope you enjoy! A big thank you to the wonderful Flickr family. Cheers, Wayne

Desert Dreams by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website Instagram Facebook Valley of Dreams in the New Mexico Badlands. 10 vertical images shot with a Nikon D810A camera and a Nikon 14-24 mm lens at f 2.8, 20 sec., 20 mm, and ISO 10,000. Lighting with Low Level Lighting (LLL). For more about this method of lighting please see lowlevellighting.org For more images like this please take a look at my website here . Thanks for all the kind support! Hope you enjoy! A big thank you to the wonderful Flickr family. Cheers, Wayne

The Two Legged Hoodoo by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website Instagram Facebook Valley of Dreams, New Mexico. Nikon D810A camera, Nikon 14-24 mm lens, at f 2.8, 14 mm, 25 sec., and ISO 6400. There is lighting with Low Level Lighting. For a tutorial please look here: www.lowlevellighting.org For more images like this please take a look at my website here . Thanks for all the kind support! Hope you enjoy! A big thank you to the wonderful Flickr family. Cheers, Wayne

The Two Legged Hoodoo by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website Instagram Facebook Valley of Dreams, New Mexico. Nikon D810A camera, Nikon 14-24 mm lens, at f 2.8, 14 mm, 25 sec., and ISO 6400. There is lighting with Low Level Lighting. For a tutorial please look here: www.lowlevellighting.org For more images like this please take a look at my website here . Thanks for all the kind support! Hope you enjoy! A big thank you to the wonderful Flickr family. Cheers, Wayne

Cyclops Arch by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website Instagram Facebook Panorama of 11 vertical images Nikon 810A, 14-24mm lens, 16 mm, f 2.8, 25 sec, ISO 10,000, This is a panorama of Cyclops Arch in the Alabama Hills of California. I had been there in August before, and the Milky Way was better centered over the arch. This trip was in June, and it was harder than I expected to get the core centered over the arch. So we "resorted" to placing the stone arch under the arch of the MW. It worked out better than expected. There is a small light panel under the arch with the light damped down very low. There is another light panel off to my left. For a tutorial on this kind of lighting (LLL) see lowlevellighting.org. For more images like this please take a look at my website here . Thanks for all the kind support! Hope you enjoy! A big thank you to the wonderful Flickr family. Cheers, Wayne

Bisti Badlands by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website Instagram Facebook The badlands of New Mexico are a fabulously sculpted and otherworldly place. There is Low Level Lighting (LLL) with LED Light Panels, dimmed very low to near starlight intensity and left on for the entire exposure. The idea is to add subtle lighting to accent detail. Royce Bair and myself have created a public service website, www.lowlevellighting.org, to explain Low Level Lighting. For more images like this please take a look at my website here . Thanks for all the kind support! Hope you enjoy! A big thank you to the wonderful Flickr family. 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 .

A Vast Eroded Land by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website Instagram Facebook Cedar Breaks National Monument, Utah, USA. This panorama was done a little differently than usual. The landscape images were taken under a setting moon (waxing, 50%) approx. 1 hour before moonset. All images were taken at 24 mm. The foreground was taken at f/2.8, 10 sec., ISO 6400. The sky ws taken 2 hours later, on a hour after moonset at f/2., 20 sec., and ISO 12,800. There were 10 vertical images taken at 24 mm for the sky and foreground. Images combined in LR and processed in PS. For more images like this please take a look at my website here . Thanks for all the kind support! Hope you enjoy! A big thank you to the wonderful Flickr family. Cheers, Wayne

A Night with the Goblins by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website Instagram Facebook Hoodoos in Goblin Valley, Utah. There is lighting with LLL (Low Level Lighting) . This is not light painting but is very dim constant light that is left on and attempts to match starlight in intensity, typically done with light panels on tripods. One advantage is that it creates little or no visible light pollution and does not destroy your night vision. You cannot even see the light until your eyes become dark adapted, and then you can barely see it. You can still enjoy the wonders of the night sky. For more images like this please take a look at my website here . Thanks for all the kind support! Hope you enjoy! A big thank you to the wonderful Flickr family. Cheers, Wayne

Three Sisters, Together for Eternity by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website Instagram Facebook The Three Sisters, Goblin Valley State Park, Utah. There is lighting with LLL (Low Level Lighting) . This is not light painting but is very dim constant light that is left on and attempts to match starlight in intensity, typically done with light panels on tripods. One advantage is that it creates little or no visible light pollution and does not destroy your night vision. You cannot even see the light until your eyes become dark adapted, and then you can barely see it. Please see: www.lowlevellighting.org Why Care? Arches and Canyonlands Nat’l Parks have recently banned light painting for workshops in 2017 and may ban all night photography in 2018. LLL is less disruptive and invasive. Arches officials are considering the lower impact of @lowlevellighting and need further input. It is up to us to define LLL as a different technique, differing from Flash Photography or Light Painting, so it can be judged on its own merits. For more images like this please take a look at my website here . Thanks for all the kind support! Hope you enjoy! A big thank you to the wonderful Flickr family. Cheers, Wayne

The Long View by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website Instagram Facebook Mobius Arch in the Alabama Hills of California. Panorama of 11 verticle photos, 19mm, f/2.8, 20 sec., ISO 12,800. There is lighting with LLL (Low Level Lighting) . This is not light painting but is very dim constant light that is left on and attempts to match starlight in intensity, typically done with light panels on tripods. One advantage is that it creates little or no visible light pollution and does not destroy your night vision. You cannot even see the light until your eyes become dark adapted, and then you can barely see it. Please see: www.lowlevellighting.org For more images like this please take a look at my website here . Thanks for all the kind support! Hope you enjoy! A big thank you to the wonderful Flickr family. Cheers, Wayne

The Elephant Walks at Night by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website Instagram Facebook This is a panorama of Elephant Rock in The Valley of Fire State Park, in Nevada, USA. The light on the horizon is the rising moon. Las Vegas is nearby, but somewhat behind me and off to my right. There are approx. 8 vertical images taken at 14mm, f/2.8, 20 sec., and ISO 8000. Taken with a Nikon 14-24 mm lens. Happy New Year! Here's wishing you all beautiful skies for shooting in 2017! A big thank you to the wonderful Flickr family for all the support and encouragement! Cheers, Wayne Thank you for all the kind comments I have received today!

Echos of Long Forgotten Times by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website Instagram Facebook Valley of Dreams, New Mexico Badlands, USA. Hope you enjoy! A big thank you to the wonderful Flickr family for all the support and encouragement! Cheers, Wayne

Kiss the Sky by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website Instagram Facebook Sunset Arch in the Escalante Grand Staircase National Monument in Utah, USA. This was taken during a workshop with Royce Bair (highly recommended!). Hope you enjoy! A big thank you to the wonderful Flickr family for all the support and encouragement! Cheers, Wayne

Questions and Answers

Do you hire guides?

Question: Do you hire Guides to find locations?

 Answer:  Do I use guides? Mostly no. Rarely I hire a guide. Sometimes I go with other photographers that know the area. Typically I go to scout an area before I shoot it. I research it on the internet and I have many hiking books for the West and Southwest USA. I thoroughly research the area online and in hiking books. 

Many times I see a photograph online that looks like a good night location, and I start researching that location. I prefer to go to places that do not have many people or one that has not received much attention at night. I like to find new places rather than just photograph the classic old ones. 

I go there and scout the area out in daylight. I record the GPS track or hike on my smart phone with the Gaia GPS app. It is a very good app. 

I check the place out to see if it is suitable for night landscapes. I mark the sites I want to photograph. I then follow the GPS track back there at night. Everything looks different at night. Everything, lol. 

I do a lot of hiking at night so it is easy to get lost. Use the GPS! Recording the GPS data is also great for using the next year or later, and also for communicating with other people. For example, there is a good place to photograph that I found in the Bisti Badlands of New Mexico that I found before I used the GPS app, and I never found it again, despite looking several times. 

For a big overview of a place that is new to me I might hire a guide to take me around and give me the big picture before I start exploring on my own. 

Learn how to use a GPS app on a smartphone! You can get the GPS signal even when you are out of cell phone range. Many of the places I go do not have a cell signal, but GPS still works.

Cheers, Wayne

Dec, 2016

In Memoriam by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website Instagram Facebook IN MEMORIAM:, THE SENTINEL: The Sentinel in Bryce Canyon National Park fell on Nov. 25. It is seen here as the lighted spire just to the right of center. This was taken several years ago in an effort to accentuate the Sentinel. The spire was along the Navajo Trail which can be seen in the lower center of the image. The Sentinel was one of the named landmarks in the park. Farewell!

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

The Potholes of Escalante by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website Instagram Facebook Escalante Utah Pothole. These are giant eroded holes in the rocks and many have their own isolated landscape or ecosystem. Very fascinating! This was captured during a workshop with Royce Bair. I highly recommend his workshops. This is a reprocess. I think this is the hardest image I have ever processed. I just did not have the skill to do it adequately at the initial time, and I am not so sure that I have it now, lol. The difficulty comes from the wildly colorful sky (with bands of color and brightness, all the airglow, and all the clouds. I did several short panoramas over the pothole, and I did another 10-12 photos all from the same spot and with the same exposure factors. I was waiting for the clouds to clear, which they never did. I went back and pieced together the parts of the MW without clouds from the various frames. I “borrowed” parts of the MW and sky from the other photos I took at the same spot. The wild air glow makes it hard to know just what the sky is supposed to look like. Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! A big thank you to the wonderful Flickr family for all the support and encouragement! Cheers, Wayne

The Sailing Stones of Death Valley by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website Instagram Facebook The Sailing Stones or Walking Rocks of the Racetrack Playa in Death Valley National Park, California, USA. The Playa is an extensive "dry" lake bed at a height of 1130 meters, 3608 feet, in Death Valley NP. It is 4.5 km long and 2.1km wide. The Moving Rocks have long been a mystery, leaving behind long tracks as they move without human or animal intervention. It's a fascinating and mysterious place at night. Cameras were set up to monitor them during the winter, and it is now thought that the stones move due to ice in the winter. A temporary pond can form and ice over. As the ice sheet breaks up the ice panels are blown by the wind and push the rocks along the semi frozen lake bed. This is a composite image with focus stacking, all taken at the same sitting and position. There is one exposure focused on the stars and distant mountains, one on the middle ground, and one on the stone, other camera factors unchanged. The rock was too close to get it all focused in one shot. Hope you enjoy, Eric Gail masterminded the trip to this site. Thank you Eric! 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

When Dreams Were Built of Stone by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website Instagram Facebook Cliff Dweller Ruins in the Four Corners Region of the SW USA. The Cliff Dwellers are more properly called the Ancestral Puebloans, and commonly called the Anasazi. The ruins are from approx. 1200-1300 CE, These people created a remarkable civilization in a harsh and difficult environment. They were exceptional in living in balance and homeostasis with the environment, something we have lost in the last millennia. In a land of scarce resources you could not afford to overuse your resources. To do so meant extinction. In our age of relative plenty maybe we have something to learn from the ancients. Technical stuff: Nikon 810A, Nikon 14-24 mm lens, 14 mm, 25 sec., f/2.8, ISO 12,800. I just want to take this opportunity to thank you for all of your support over the last couple of years. You have been very gracious and generous with your comments.