Chasing the Dark - Pt. II - Southwest

dls

The pursuit of darkness continued into the Southwest, starting off with Cali. By this time, the moon started turning full, foiling my ambitions for clear and bright startrails and Milky Way shots. But full moonlit pictures also meant a more surreal lighting on foreground subjects without the need for light painting, and made for some incredible blue skies.

1. Mono Lake at Dusk


2. Moon and Tufas


3.


4.


5. Fun with light painting

dls

After a brief respite at Tahoe (and first night in a hotel ... woo hoo!), I journeyed to Utah after.

6. Deadhorse State Park


7. Mesa Arch, Canyonlands


8. Obligatory Sunrise shot through Mesa Arch


9. Delicate Arch and muted Milky Way (I need to do this shot with less moonlight... next time...)


10. Delicate Arch


11. Double Arch


Ambition is to return with less of a full moon and catch the Milky Way and do some startrails with Delicate Arch

kevincaophotography

These are breath-taking photos! These photos look like they were taking in the middle of the day. Brilliant work!

schmoo

I actually love the amount of moon you have in the first delicate arch shot. These are most excellent!

coscorrosa

Awesome series!! I really want to shoot Arches at night, I might head that way this winter some time.

dls wrote: »

Ambition is to return with less of a full moon and catch the Milky Way and do some startrails with Delicate Arch

Just give me a few days notice

thapamd

Amazingly beautiful! Blown away!

JimKarczewski

Nice work.

I'll be there in a couple weeks, new moon.. so NO moonlight the 2 weeks I'll be there. Guess I'll be playing with light painting the arches.... vs using moonlight, however, the milky way has me very excited to be there..

eoren1

Great work!
I'm partial to 3 and 4 but the arches came out really nice.
E

hawkeye978

Great set. I love #1 at Mono Lake and #4 or the arches at night.

bgarland

Amazing captures. I'm just going to go throw my camera equipment away now. What's the point anymore.

Secluded Valley

Those are awesome, Dan!

Kristine

dls

kevincaophotography wrote: »

These are breath-taking photos! These photos look like they were taking in the middle of the day. Brilliant work!

Thanks! The moonlight helps out quite a bit, and I love the soft light it imparts.

schmoo wrote: »

I actually love the amount of moon you have in the first delicate arch shot. These are most excellent!

Thanks. I was lucky with the side lighting from the moon. When I first envisioned the trip, I was hoping for popping stars and milky way. But this is a great excuse to go down again.

coscorrosa wrote: »

Awesome series!! I really want to shoot Arches at night, I might head that way this winter some time.

Just give me a few days notice

Will do, man. Arches is definitely one place that have many possibilities at night (during the day too, but to clone out the throngs of tourists and school groups would be maddening!)

JimKarczewski wrote: »

Nice work.

I'll be there in a couple weeks, new moon.. so NO moonlight the 2 weeks I'll be there. Guess I'll be playing with light painting the arches.... vs using moonlight, however, the milky way has me very excited to be there..

Looking forward to seeing the pictures. Arches seem to be an ideal place for light painting (if you have a strong enough flashlight...). If shooting Delicate at the night, make certain you are familiar with the terrain and the slope of the bowl (there is a drop off), and pay attention to the trail back if not planning on spending the night up there (the trail marking cairns can be tricky to spot in the dark).

bgarland wrote: »

Amazing captures. I'm just going to go throw my camera equipment away now. What's the point anymore.

Thanks, but ack! Just keep shooting. I usually operate by the following adage (which applies not only to photography, but to many other things in life, such as ... dating?): "quantity = quality." Of course that means I have a backlog of 200k shots to sort through and process, most of which is crap, but among them should be some quality nuggets! but if you are going to throw away your gear... what type is it and can i have it??

thapamd wrote: »

Amazingly beautiful! Blown away!

eoren1 wrote: »

Great work!
I'm partial to 3 and 4 but the arches came out really nice.
E

hawkeye978 wrote: »

Great set. I love #1 at Mono Lake and #4 or the arches at night.

Yellowstonegirl wrote: »

Those are awesome, Dan!

Kristine

Thanks a bunch for the comments and the encouragement!

bgarland

dls wrote: »

Thanks, but ack! Just keep shooting. I usually operate by the following adage (which applies not only to photography, but to many other things in life, such as ... dating?): "quantity = quality." Of course that means I have a backlog of 200k shots to sort through and process, most of which is crap, but among them should be some quality nuggets! but if you are going to throw away your gear... what type is it and can i have it??

Here ya be... What's your ship to address?



Plus a few more additions since the photo was taken.

Just kidding of course. I have only been getting into this hobby for about 3 years now so when I see some the outstanding work like yours it drives home the point about how far I still need to grow.

I agree with you the only way to grow is to get out and shoot until my shutter wears out. I guess I'll keep my equipment and go do that.

Thanks for the beautiful motivating images.

squirl033

really like #6 and #9... outstanding! was the light source for these just natural moonlight?

dlplumer

coscorrosa wrote: »

Awesome series!! I really want to shoot Arches at night, I might head that way this winter some time.



Just give me a few days notice

Beautiful series

I'd love to join you guys if my schedule permits. I didn't shoot any night shots at Arches last time I was there.

dls

bgarland wrote: »

Here ya be... What's your ship to address?



Plus a few more additions since the photo was taken.

Just kidding of course. I have only been getting into this hobby for about 3 years now so when I see some the outstanding work like yours it drives home the point about how far I still need to grow.

I agree with you the only way to grow is to get out and shoot until my shutter wears out. I guess I'll keep my equipment and go do that.

Thanks for the beautiful motivating images.

dang! and you have such a nice set up too...!
in regards to growth, i definitely relate. i am constantly humbled and inspired by better folks than myself. am finding that posting my stuff up in the forums forces me to improve my skills and find my own vision.

squirl033 wrote: »

really like #6 and #9... outstanding! was the light source for these just natural moonlight?

yep... it was just moonlight. no lightpainting in either.

dlplumer wrote: »

Beautiful series

I'd love to join you guys if my schedule permits. I didn't shoot any night shots at Arches last time I was there.

Definitely. Dunno when I will be going back, but still have a few more shots in mind that I want to capture in Arches.