Hello Wayne- I Came Across Your Flickr Page And Subsequently Your Web Site. Your Photos Are Absolutely

Madagascar Cathedral by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook Panorama 12 frames, 14 mm, f/2.8, 15 sec., ISO 12,800 This is the shell of an abandoned Cathedral in Madagascar. I've added a crop from the center section. The red on the horizon is from fires. The local people burn the field and multiple fires could be seen at any one time. The glow from the fires could be seen from long distances at night. A big thank you to @worldpixorg and @ryanplakonouris for arranging this trip. @worldpixorg is a charity organization using photography to raise money for charitable causes. Hope you enjoy, Wayne Pinkston

A Perfect Night by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: A Perfect Night for Photography in the Valley of Dreams East, In the New Mexico Badlands. There was a lot of airglow in one area of the sky, adding a lot of color. You can see how bizarre the landscape is, a very alien and otherworldly place. Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy!  Please join me at: Website Facebook Instagram Blog

Old Navajo Hogan by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook Inside of an old Navajo Hogan looking up through a hole in the roof. 12 mm fisheye panorama, 25 sec., f/2.8, ISO 8000. A big thank you to @quanah_photography for taking us there. This is in the Navajo Nation and you need a guide to go there. I highly recommend @quanah_photography.

Alcove by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook Swipe Left: Large alcove or cave in Central Utah. This is a panorama of multiple images. Several photographers accompanied me to this alcove during the Nightscaper Conference last spring. Note the 3 photographers in the image, 2 on the right, 1 on the left. They give some perspective. There is Low Level Lighting with 2 small Goal Zero Lanterns in the alcove and a LED light panel outside the alcove to light up the far ridge. There are several nice features in this alcove. There are petroglyphs on the left ( not visible on this image), a window in the roof (image to follower), and a small pond in the foreground with reflections of the stars. I’d love to come back some time when the pond has more water. 14 mm, f/3.2, 20 sec., ISO 12,800. Thanks for looking! Wayne

Tower House Ruin Panorama by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: This is a panorama of the Tower House Ruin near the Cedar Mesa region of Utah. It is an Ancestral Puebloan Ruin, or Anasazi - Cliff Dweller Ruin in the Four Corners region of the SW USA. This is a panorama of multiple vertical images combined in Lightroom, looking out from the alcove. There is low level constant light on the foreground. This is not classic light painting, but more similar to modified studio lighting or "outdoor" studio lighting. It consists of light panels on tripods left on the whole time, very dim, barely visible or not visible to the naked eye. This takes time to set up. The light is intended to match the intensity of starlight (it does not take much!). This different from traditional light painting where you briefly shine a brighter light on the subject or near a subject. I have encountered several photographers at night that just about had a nervous breakdown when you mentioned light painting, but then became very quiet and cooperative when they saw the lighting I set up. I think we need a different label for this kind of landscape lighting, different from "light painting". I have decided to personally call this Low Level Landscape Lighting, (LLLL for short), or LLL, Low Level Lighting. I hope some term other than light painting catches on, as it just does not describe the more recent methods of landscape lighting at night. I doubt that anyone in a studio would describe their lighting as "light painting;. We just need some new language to talk about these methods more accurately. Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! Big thanks to the wonderful Flickr family out there. Please join me at: Website Facebook Instagram Blog

The Druid by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook Just a fun shot from the New Mexico Badlands with some props, an enjoyable session trying to create a "magical" feel, shot with with Ryan Wykoff and Jessica Mahoney. Thanks! Single exposure, 24 mm, f 2.0, 15 sec., ISO 8000. 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.

Questions and Answers

Star Trails

People have asked me a number of questions about equipment, issues, and technique in Nightscape or Landscape Astrophotography. Since many of these questions are recurring, I am going to post the questions and answers here. I’ll answer your questions to the best of my ability!

Q: Why don’t I see star trails in your 30 second exposure? Did you use a tracking device? I get star trails with my 24 mm lens at 30 seconds. 

A: There is no tracking device. If I was using a 24 mm lens or so, I would get star trails at 30 sec., but this was done with a 15 mm fisheye lens (I have corrected for distortion), and the wide Field of View makes the star trails so small that they are not visible unless you mag it up a lot. There is a simple guideline to avoid overly large star trails. Divide 500 by the focal length of the lens. So a 24 mm lens would be 500/24 = 20.8 seconds. You want to keep your exposures for a 24 mm lens under 20 sec, and for a 15 mm lens under 33 seconds. Most people call this the “Rule of 500″. If you are going to blow up the photo really large, then you could use 400 instead of 500.

Ancestral Puebloan (also known as the Anasazi or Cliffdwellers) Ruins in the Four Corners region of the SW USA. This a part of a pueblo, occupied in the 1200's, located in the Canyon of the Ancients. Cheers, Wayne Www.waynepinkstonphoto.com (at Canyon of the Ancients)

Stardust Dreams by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook That’s Anastasia flying in the North Window at Arches National Park. Wandering around at Delicate Arch in Arches NP I saw two people posing in front of the arch in ways that regular people just cannot do, like bending over backwards, or standing on your hands bending backwards. 😳 We eventually got to talking and I mentioned I take photos at night and they offered to participate. It turns out that they are incredible athletes specializing in Acrobatics. Check out Daniel at @acro_climber or @acro_shoots and Anastasia @baikalstorm on Instagram. These amazing acrobats posed that night in North Window in a number of poses that would be difficult in the daytime, but even harder at night. They were posing on the edge of a rock face, on hard uneven ground, in the dark, and holding each other up. Remember, the photo is lightened, it is nearly completely dark out there! So a big thank you to Daniel and Anastasia! In this photo Danial is holding Anastasia up in the air with his feet. The person on top is called the “flier”, so I erased Daniel and moved her up a bit to make her really “fly”. Sorry Daniel! There is one photo for the sky, and then another photo of the acrobats taken at the same focal length and ISO, but with a flash on the acrobats. The 2 photos were combined. Sigma 14-24 mm lens, 24 mm, f 2.8, 20 sec. (sky), 2 sec. (people), ISO 12,800. Hope you enjoy! Wayne Thanks for all the kind support over the last year, it is much appreciated! A big thank you to the wonderful Flickr family!

To Walk a Pale Land, Part 3 by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook Part 3 of a series, "To Walk a Pale Land". New Mexico Badlands. Single Exposure. Low Level Lighting (LLL) with one small Goal Zero Micro Lantern turned down low and about 40 meters away to the left. For more images like this please take a look at Wayne Pinkston Photography . Thanks for all the kind support over the last year, it is much appreciated! A big thank you to the wonderful Flickr family!