When Dreams Were Built Of Stone By Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website Instagram Facebook Cliff Dweller

Canyonlands National Park by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook Panorama Foreground: 16 frames, 30 sec., f/2.5, ISO 2000 (twilight) Sky: 16 frames, 4 exposures each, stacked, f/1.8, 10 sec., ISO 500: All at 35 mm Canyonlands National Park. Panorama with the foreground and sky acquired separately as above. Thanks for looking! Wayne

Ancient Bristlecone Pines on Flickr.

Ancient Bristlecone Pines in Bryce Canyon National Park, with the Milky Way above.

Eggshells and Cracked Eggs by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook Blend (Focus Stack) Nikon 810A, f 2.8, 20 sec., 17 mm, Nikon 14-24 mm lens Cracked Eggs and Eggshells. This is taken in the Bisti Badlands in an area know as the "Cracked Eggs" or the "Alien Egg Factory". This was done in a workshop during the May New Moon. It is about a 1.5 mile hike from the parking lot. The badlands are a mesmerizing place at night with a very otherworldly feel. In this photo I was trying to capture a close view of a "cracked" egg along with the Milky Way. There is a close focus on the "eggshell" and a far focus on the sky. I am giving a Landscape Astrophotography Workshop in the New Mexico Badlands in July, two 3 day workshops, July 8-10 and July 11-13. If interested please contact me through my website. We will cover Landscape Astrophotography with classic night landscapes and then add people/figures into the compositions. Thanks for all the kind support over the last year, it is much appreciated! A big thank you to the wonderful Flickr family!

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

Questions and Answers

How to book lodging if you are chasing clear skies

Question: I just assumed it was kinda off season early June but I get the impression now that it actually gets quieter in July and August due to the heat. I'm reluctant to book in advance ... I need to follow the clear skies. Have you had any serious issues finding accommodations at last minute in say early June?

Answer:  In June it can be a problem at the last minute. The answer is somewhat round-about. I think June is the worst month overall to get lodging, with May next worse. July and August are a little better. I'll tell you what I do, but please keep in mind that I stay in cheap motels. I am not there much at night, and only come back around 5 to 7 a.m, sleep till maybe 1 p.m, and then go out to scout new location, or drive to new places, them try to be at the spot around sunset. Anyway, I do not spend much time in the motel, so I just get the cheapest one that has OK reviews (hopefully no bed bugs!!!).

So.... I usually get on a booking website. I usually use Orbitz, just out of habit. I book a motel where I think I want to be. Sometimes you have to pay up front, sometimes you don't. They have cancellation clauses usually. Occasionally they have a "no cancellation", or "no refund" policy", and I do not book them. Read the fine print while booking. They typically have a policy that you can cancel by 4 pm, the day before or 48 hrs before. I keep an eye on the weather, and if the outlook is cloudy, I will try to book in a clearer locale if possible, and then cancel to one i made in the cloudy place. Orbitz has been good about refunding money into my account as long as you follow the motel rules. This way I am not left out of a place to sleep. I usually do not cancel until I have an alternative. So far, so good.

So far I have had no problems with this method. Moab could be a problem in the high season. Still, there are usually some cancellations, and if you call around enough you can find a room. There may be less choice at the last minute. The smallest towns like Escalante, or maybe Kanab, can be the biggest problems because there are just not many motel rooms to start with, so there is less opportunity. Here is the worst scenario, one that I have seen: When it is actually raining, campers flood into town looking for a room, especially families with young kids. I suspect sitting in a tent all day with very young kids is not easy! Anyway, if it's raining rooms disappear fast. It does not rain much, but I have found that when there is continuous rain all day, then the whole region was clouded over, and there is nowhere to go, and I just sit it out.

I have never had a problem in Northern New Mexico, around Farmington and the NM Badlands. There seem to be plenty of rooms there. Just be careful of the very small towns. Hope this helps! One more point, if you are going to cancel, don't forget to cancel in time to get your refund. I learned this the hard way. Anyway, this can give you flexibility to move around if necessary. 

Good luck, Wayne     2016

The Totem Pole, Monument Valley by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook The Totem Pole in Monument Valley. You need a local guide to visit Monument Valley at night. I can recommend Majestic Monument Valley tours if you are interested. I am planning something different and new that I hope will be a lot of fun. I am planning Fantasy Nightscape Workshops during the July new moon. There will be 2 three day workshops, in July 2018, July 8 through 10, and July 11 through 13. Photographer Eric Gail will also be an instructor. The workshop will be in the New Mexico Badlands. This area has multiple “Otherworldly” locations. This area gives us multiple sites that will be suitable for photographing fantasy scenes. This workshop will be different in that we will compose the photos with Fantasy Figures. It will be like Comic Com under the Milky Way. We will first capture the composition in a standard fashion without a person and then with one or more fantasy figures in the photo. We will provide costumes including an Astronaut (full spacesuit), Alien, Predator, Lord of the Rings (Aragorn-Strider), Conquistador, Star Wars (including Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, Obi Wan Kanobee, Jango Fett), Witches, and Wizards, Steampunk, and Medeival figures, Conquistador, etc. If that is not imaginative enough you can bring your own fantasy outfit! We will be shooting in an Otherworldly setting so costumes or figures that fit the setting would be best. Suggestions are welcomed! There will be lectures in the late afternoons for about 2 hours depending on group interest. We will cover and practice Landscape Astrophotography, Low Level Lighting, and Composition, in addition to planning, and scouting for Astrophotography. Additionally we will cover using smartphone apps such as TPE, Photopills, True DoF (Depth of Field) and Gaia GPS, and Google Earth, etc. These are instrumental in my planning and scouting. If you are interested please mail me here at Flickr. Thanks for all the kind support over the last year, it is much appreciated! A big thank you to the wonderful Flickr family!

Nankoweap Overlook, East Rim of the Grand Canyon by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website Instagram Faceb ook Nankoweap Overlook on the East Rim of the Grand Canyon. This is an remote undeveloped area along the western margin of the Navajo Nation and along the East Rim of the Grand Canyon. There are many miles/km of dirt roads and tracks to reach this site, but most of them are flat and in good condition. In 3 days of scouting and 3 nights of shooting I encountered 0 people. You do need a Navajo permit to travel in this area. This is a blend of 2 images taken back to back from the same spot, a 240 sec. image of the foreground at 14 mm, f 2.0, and ISO 2500 with long exposure noise reduction (LENR), and a sky image taken at 20 sec., 14mm, f 2.0, and ISO 12,800 and blended in PS. In my opinion the river views along this part of the canyon are much better than on the South or North Rims. The light pollution is from the South Rim and tourist area many miles away. One perplexing note - the area is on the edge of the Navajo Nation which uses Daylight Savings Time, and Arizona which does not use DST. If you are using your smartphone for planning Milky Way shots (example TPE, Photopillls, PlanIt) and you leave your phone on "Auto Time Zone", strange things will happen. You can walk 10 ft., 3 m, and your time zone will change, and sometimes the time and time zone will change back in forth standing in one place. You start wondering "what time is it really?", and "just what time zone did I plan for?". I marked times to be in certain spots and then had no idea what time it really was, lol. Advice: pick a time zone and take your phone off auto before you ever get there! Cheers, Wayne 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.

Hoodoos and Bones by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook Oh, if the land could only speak, what a tale it could tell... For tours to this area contact Kialo Winters at Navajo Tours USA. Thanks for all the kind support over the last year, it is much appreciated! A big thank you to the wonderful Flickr family!

The Pillars of the Sky by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook The Pillars of the Sky: looking up in a borrow canyon in Utah. Low Level Lighting (LLL) used with 2 Cineroid LED light panels turned to low and used at a relatively neutral to slightly warm color temp of 4200K. The rock here is so “red” (actually orange) that if you use a light that is too warm the rock can actually look red and very bizarre. ________________________________________________ This brings up an interesting topic, how the color temperature of your light combines with the color temperature settings in your camera (white balance). I shoot at a relatively neutral camera color temperature (white balance) of 4000-4200K, so a external light temp of 4000K might be neutral to slightly warm in color, and a light temperature of 3000K extremely warm (yellow). If you shoot at a camera color temperature (white balance) of 3200-3800K (very blue sky) then you might need warm light temperatures of 2700-3200k to make your scene look adequately warm (if you want a warm foreground). A light temperature of 2700K is often too warm for me shooting at a camera white balance of 4200K. Have I confused everyone, lol?

Stillness Reigns Over The Alabama Hills by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: This was taken in the Alabama Hills in eastern California, near Mt Whitney. For those who have not been there, it is a wonderful place for night photography, or any landscape photography for that matter. There are numerous large rock collections separated by largely flat ground, making it easy to get around. This panorama was made from multiple vertical images shot at 14 mm, f/2.8, 20 sec., and ISO 10,000. Processed in Lightroom and Photoshop. My daughter served as my photo assistant this summer, and that is her standing on the rock.A big thank you to Eric Gail (www.flickr.com/photos/dot21studios/) for finding this spot. Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! Big thanks to the wonderful Flickr family for all the support and encouragement! Please join me at: Website Facebook Instagram Blog