Day 4 into our trip out west ... brought me to Mesa Arch in Canyonlands National Park. Having a blast of a good time. So far have been blessed with some pretty nice sunsets in Colorado and Utah ... and considering the forecasts were for sunny clear days ... that has been very nice.

Here is a taste of those clearing clouds as the Milky Way was making it's appearance in the night sky. There were two other photographers here when I arrived. We had a great time together there, and was able to pass on a lot of ideas to them. This capture here I purposely aligned the capture so that it was facing towards Moab off in the distance. Knowing that the city lights would be there hitting those clouds, the light would be neat off in the distance. You could not see this glow with the eye ... but alas the camera picked it up. They appreciated this once I showed them ... and they came over to taking this view as well.

When I arrived they let me know if it was okay to do some light painting. I told them that I wanted to get some with and without. They started off by doing some direct light on the arch ... I quickly showed them how I like to approach light painting, and it is similar to bounce flash photography. Pointing the light for several seconds on the scene behind us and to the right here and having that light source some in at an angle and also more diffuse with the bouncing, creates some nice shadows in the foreground, and nice in-fill light I think. They really LIKED the results as well, and much appreciated the new approach, one that they will be following from now on.

The other cool thing this evening is I met up with three other hikers and one person in the group there that was taking photos at the Green River Overlook at sunset. I told them that if they waited a while the Milky Way would be out, showing them a couple shots I took the night before. They also arrived at Mesa Arch to check it out. This other photographer, she did not have tripod, so I let her use mine for some shots, and helped show her how to set the camera in manual mode for the settings needed ... pointing out that the image stabilization needed to be turned off. It was a great feeling being able to help this person learn more about the equipment she had, and the joys of shooting with a tripod. After this experience, I think she will be getting one, and playing around with what the camera can really do once the sun goes down.

Really enjoying the new new 14mm Prime Lens at f2.8 as well for these night captures.

BTW - an alert to anyone heading to Moab right now. They are doing roadwork at Arches National Park, and for 5 nights a week the park is closed from 7AM to 7 PM. Of course that is the time that I wanted to be in that park. You can only get there at night right now on Friday and Saturday nights. Thus, no new captures will be made now at Arches for me. But I think that turned out okay as it pushed me to return to Dead Horse Point State Park and Canyonlands, and have had a good time in those lovely parks.

Sorry for posting and running ... but heading back out for the next destination on this extended trip.

Tags:   Mesa Arch Utah Canyonlands National Park

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Took a three mile hike into the Canyonlands for sunset last night ... this is one of the many amazing views there. Was greeted again with a pretty sunset color in the sky. Like being on another planet, certainly looks nothing like Maryland :)

It was amazing to have this whole area to myself ... well except for all the lizards, deer, bunnies, and other creatures that I saw, and the ones that I did not see.

Heading off to Mexican Hat, Utah now to explore there for several days.

Canyonlands National Park

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Capture made in the Utah desert as the moon was near setting last night.

Canyonlands National Park, Needles Area

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This was the first night sky capture I took on this latest trip out west with the new Rokinon lens. Was hiking along in Canyonlands and could see the glow of the Milky Way there rising above the trees along the ridge.

Tags:   Canyonlands National Park

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Tags:   Canyonlands National Park

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