Milky Way over the Watchman

kdog

Classic view of the Watchman peak from the Junction Bridge in Zion National Park. Two frames blended, one for the sky and one for the earth. Both ISO ISO10,000 , F/2.8. Sky 20s, earth 300s. Canon 5DMKIV + Canon 24-70 F/2.8 MKII. I took lots of frames of the sky intending to stack them for noise reduction, but this "proof" image came out well enough that I may not bother.

sarasphotos

What can I saybut "WOW"!

Stumblebum

Yeah, wall hanger K-dog! Blown away! Bravo! Yeah, don't mess with this no more!

kdog

@sarasphotos said:
What can I saybut "WOW"!

Thank you, Sara!

@Stumblebum said:
Yeah, wall hanger K-dog! Blown away! Bravo! Yeah, don't mess with this no more!

Thanks for the high praise, man! It's Milky Way season -- let's go get 'em!!

Richard

Awesome.

denisegoldberg

This is amazing, well done!

moose135

Beautiful!

ziggy53

Gorgeous and awe inspiring beauty! A part of your Magnum Opus.

I agree that this is perfectly processed for printing.

kdog

@Richard said:
Awesome.

@denisegoldberg said:
This is amazing, well done!

Thank you Richard and Denise!!

kdog

@ziggy53 said:
Gorgeous and awe inspiring beauty! A part of your Magnum Opus.

I agree that this is perfectly processed for printing.

Thank you kindly, Ziggy!! I will admit I'm pretty stoked about this one. OK, will print a proof of this on my home printer and maybe order a metal print from Bay Photo. Really appreciate your kind words.

David_S85

Just simply awesome. Well done!

Was it the moon that was lighting up the canyon wall? If I remember correctly, you are facing north taking this. I thought the MW was visible mostly to the south?

kdog

@David_S85 said:
Just simply awesome. Well done!

Was it the moon that was lighting up the canyon wall? If I remember correctly, you are facing north taking this. I thought the MW was visible mostly to the south?

Thanks, David! You're actually facing southeast here, exactly what you want for the MW core. The tiny sliver of the moon had already set. Light painting provided by the city of Springdale as far as I know!

kdog

@moose135 said:
Beautiful!

Thanks, Moose!!

David_S85

@kdog said:

@David_S85 said:
Just simply awesome. Well done!
Was it the moon that was lighting up the canyon wall? If I remember correctly, you are facing north taking this. I thought the MW was visible mostly to the south?

Thanks, David! You're actually facing southeast here, exactly what you want for the MW core. The tiny sliver of the moon had already set. Light painting provided by the city of Springdale as far as I know!

Aha! That explains it. Thanks. I knew there was a tall ridge on the left when viewing south on the bridge. I just thought you were shooting from the other side looking north towards the other canyon side. I went to google earth just a while ago to try to figure this out.

black mamba

Great work, Joel.

Juano

Congratulations! Beautiful shot.

kdog

@black mamba said:
Great work, Joel.

@Juano said:
Congratulations! Beautiful shot.

Thanks very much, Tom and Cristóbal! Good to hear from you guys.

Cornflake

Terrific, Joel. I'm not surprised that you nailed it in the slightest.

kdog

@Cornflake said:
Terrific, Joel. I'm not surprised that you nailed it in the slightest.

Thanks, Don! That's high praise coming from you!

shniks

Wow Joel! Incredible capture of the MW. Did you wait long for this? What time did you take the MW? Must have been past midnight (if you took this recently)?

kdog

@shniks said:
Wow Joel! Incredible capture of the MW. Did you wait long for this? What time did you take the MW? Must have been past midnight (if you took this recently)?

Thanks, Nikhil! It was around 3am on May 25, memorial day. I used Photopills to nail down the time that the MW would be in the right spot.

dlplumer

Fantastic, Joel!!!

roaddog52

Great capture Joel! I've been doing some research, and planning a couple Milky Way images, and this shot is very inspirational.

Phil

kdog

@dlplumer said:
Fantastic, Joel!!!

Thanks very much, Dan!

@roaddog52 said:
Great capture Joel! I've been doing some research, and planning a couple Milky Way images, and this shot is very inspirational.

Thanks very much, Phil. I haven't done a whole lot of this stuff myself yet, and I'm pretty stoked to do some more. Just have to find the time to get out there.
I'll be looking forward to see what you come up with.

slpollett

Nice one. We were at Zion last week, but didn't have a chance to try any milky way shots.

Sherry

kdog

@slpollett said:
Nice one. We were at Zion last week, but didn't have a chance to try any milky way shots.

Thanks, Sherry. Is "we" the operative word there? Night photography is usually pretty impossible with non-photographer companions I've found.

slpollett

@kdog said:

@slpollett said:
Nice one. We were at Zion last week, but didn't have a chance to try any milky way shots.

Thanks, Sherry. Is "we" the operative word there? Night photography is usually pretty impossible with non-photographer companions I've found.

Actually, "we" would have all been happy to get out in the middle of the night to get some milky way shots. Last year, my non-photographer husband and I vacationed at Zion. I signed us both up for a photography excursion to shoot milky way. Hubs said he would go with me but really wasn't interested in doing any photography himself. I packed my second camera body anyway, rented another wide-angle lens and tripod from the excursion shop and set him up to shoot anyway. He got some really awesome milky way shots from around the same spot you were at (I assume you were on the little bridge over the Virgin River that is on the Pa'rus trail), so now he is HOOKED!! (lol). I'm gonna make a photographer out of that boy, yet!! This time, it was me being the party pooper. I managed to get a kidney stone during our vacation and spent most of our time there not feeling well. (I'm fine now.) Oh well, now I just have an excuse to have to go back!

I really do love your photo.

Sherry P.