20210512_DesertSky - a photo on Flickriver

20210512_DesertSky

This is the kind of scene that drove me to plunge into nightscapes and Astro photography. I have taken/composed images I’m quite pleased with, but none have so many elements as this one. I was scouting locations proximate to Kanab, Utah where I was planning to attend the Nightscaper conference. I was a little sour on Lake Powell because the easy to reach locations are kind of “meh” at least if you are familiar. I wasn’t willing to spring for a boat rental, so I wasn’t giving it much thought. Then I learned about Alstrom Point.

Reachable with some ground clearance required. I was pretty sure my Prius wouldn’t qualify and was definitely not willing to chance it. Turns out the route is passable with a Forester if you are careful—most folks had even better clearance. As the crow flies, you are not far from Page, AZ, so despite traveling more than an hour off pavement, still sitting with full cell service.

All the nights away from home on this trip were clear, but I am glad this was the last location I visited. Having the car right there also lets me use all the hardware. I was using my tracker and telescope early in the evening to do some DSO imaging while waiting for the Milky Way to rise. I kept the tracker going for this composite - 4 landscape aspect images with the sky and land shot separately, but at about the same time.

Shot with a Canon EOS Ra and a Samyang 14mm f2.8 lens. Sky: Tracked, 20 shots, ISO 1600, 30s at each azimuth. Land: Single images, fixed tripod, ISO 1600, 300s. The 20 sky images are stacked using Starry Sky Stacker (appropriate for tracked sky). I process the sky with a modified DSO workflow that pays extra attention to color faithfulness (at least compared to earlier techniques I’ve employed!) and tries to keep the histogram from being blown out in stretching. I did emphasize the saturation of the H-alpha clouds in the Milky Way. The landscape was processed mostly in Lightroom and using Nik Color Efex mostly for contrast control and to soften some of it—very grainy from the long exposures.

May you too dream beneath the desert sky.

Peace & cheers!

www.mattdomonkosphoto.com/blog

Taken on: May 13, 2021

Tags:

night

night sky

Milky Way

desert

landscape

nature

Lake

Powell

stars

sky

Utah

Arizona

Astro photography « less

Sets appears in: • Landscapes and Nature • Night Sky

Groups appears in: • Nightscapes - Natural Landscapes at Night • The Milky Way more » • Landscape Beauty ! • Golden Landscape, Only The Best ! (Post 1, Comment 1) • Light at Night • All Nightscapes • BBC Sky at Night and Stargazing Live • Starry Night Astrophotography • Into the Night Photography • Nightscapes • APOD Submissions • Amateur Astro-Photography • Astrophotography - The Solar System and Beyond • Dark Sky Travels Magazine • Milky Way Bows • The Art of Astrophotography « less

Camera: Canon EOS Ra, f/2.8, 300 sec, 14mm, ISO 1600 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon EOS Ra
Lens:	SAMYANG RF 14mm F2.8
Aperture:	f/2.8
Exposure Time:	300
Focal Length:	14mm
ISO:	1600
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	No Flash
Exposure Program:	Bulb
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Manual
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic 10.3 (Macintosh)
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