Addiction to southern Utah redrock is such a pleasant thing... sigh....
Perfect clouds.
Scrambling into the entry to Peek-A-Boo.
Easy meandering in the Dry Forks of the Coyote Gulch.
The entry to Spooky Gulch looks innocent enough, but the slot gets soooo tight!!!
The clouds, oh the clouds!
I have never tried HDR for a person shot, but my daughter was willing to model for me. Nothing fancy or earth shaking, practice helps for when I need the technique in the future.
Now this is what I was just dying to shoot, I have been wanting to achieve decency with star shots and lighting the foreground. I think I finally got that here.
Here are the technical details:
1) Tripod (a nice rock solid tripod)
2) Crank the ISO to 3200
4) 10mm lens wide open (This is my weak link I think, f4 is a little slow and the corners are not super sharp, but I am NOT complaining. I am very happy with what I got!)
5) Set the camera on the longest self timer delay setting, mine is 12 seconds, this allows you to get into position with your flash.
6) Set your exposure for 30 seconds, this can be fudged, I have heard the the longer the focal length, the shorter time you want to expose due to star movement.
7) Any old flash that has adjustable power settings and that you can trigger manually. (if you want to get really really fancy you can use flash stands with remote triggers, which will save you a bit of walking around in the dark!)
8) a good imagination, and go!
This shot was back lit by the dying fire, along with a little light in the bottom corner from Escalante 20 miles away. I was standing almost 90 degrees off to the right of the formation.
This worked better than I had any expectation for, I think my lens correction algorithm in ACR was a little heavy handed lightening the corners, but I am working on a re-do.
The foreground was a little overexposed but still not bad, I include it to show how the flash can bring out the texture of the rock if you angle it right.
This shot of Metate Arch is my favorite, I git the lighting just the way I wanted it, which took a couple of tries. I actually had to rush down around the side of the arch and turn off my headlamp before the camera started. Again remote radio triggers would have been very handy!!!! I just wish I would have been able to be back when the Milky Way was up, but I slept through my alarm.... sigh....
Who can resist a unique self portrait?
And just to whet your appetite, a quick excerpt from my trip through Spooky Gulch.
