Ryan Moyer
Parallax
I wanted to start 2016 off strong, so I went back and processed a new milky way shot that I hadn't gotten to yet.
This shot was taken at Mesa Arch in Canyonlands National Park just outside of Moab, UT.
I had been to Mesa Arch several times before during the day, and getting there at night is something that's been on my wish list for a while.
It was like an all new place being out there in the middle of the night with no one else around. So quiet, so dark. When I went back to the car to take a quick 1 hour nap before catching sunrise from the same spot (to be shared later), a few coyotes were running around outside the car making a ruckus.
This actually was not the shot that I went to get. It was just something that looked interesting to me while I waited for the milky way to get into the right position for the shot I had come out there to shoot. As is not always uncommon, my favorite shot of the night ended up being one that I ad-libbed on the spot. I wanted to capture the feel of sitting around a fire under the arch, with dueling but parallel arches of beauty (one made of earth, and one made of stars) stretching overhead.
I was worried that the night was going to be a bust as I drove towards Moab (no small inconvenience, as the drive was ~4 hrs each way) due to the cloudy skies. But I trusted the cleardarksky reports that it would clear up. Sure enough, right as the sky got dark enough for the milky way to start shining, the clouds started breaking up.
Technical Details:
The green hue in the sky is not the aurora, but rather a phenomenon called "airglow". It is difficult to predict and invisible to the human eye, but viewable to a camera sensor. The "camp fire" is a series of small camping lanterns that were each wrapped up in orange tissue paper to simulate the look of a camp fire reflecting off the arch (since lighting an actual camp fire here would be a big no-no).
The image is a multi-shot panorama, with each individual frame being comprised of a shot taken at F2.8, ISO 6400, 15s on a 14mm full frame lens.
Parallax
I wanted to start 2016 off strong, so I went back and processed a new milky way shot that I hadn't gotten to yet.
This shot was taken at Mesa Arch in Canyonlands National Park just outside of Moab, UT.
I had been to Mesa Arch several times before during the day, and getting there at night is something that's been on my wish list for a while.
It was like an all new place being out there in the middle of the night with no one else around. So quiet, so dark. When I went back to the car to take a quick 1 hour nap before catching sunrise from the same spot (to be shared later), a few coyotes were running around outside the car making a ruckus.
This actually was not the shot that I went to get. It was just something that looked interesting to me while I waited for the milky way to get into the right position for the shot I had come out there to shoot. As is not always uncommon, my favorite shot of the night ended up being one that I ad-libbed on the spot. I wanted to capture the feel of sitting around a fire under the arch, with dueling but parallel arches of beauty (one made of earth, and one made of stars) stretching overhead.
I was worried that the night was going to be a bust as I drove towards Moab (no small inconvenience, as the drive was ~4 hrs each way) due to the cloudy skies. But I trusted the cleardarksky reports that it would clear up. Sure enough, right as the sky got dark enough for the milky way to start shining, the clouds started breaking up.
Technical Details:
The green hue in the sky is not the aurora, but rather a phenomenon called "airglow". It is difficult to predict and invisible to the human eye, but viewable to a camera sensor. The "camp fire" is a series of small camping lanterns that were each wrapped up in orange tissue paper to simulate the look of a camp fire reflecting off the arch (since lighting an actual camp fire here would be a big no-no).
The image is a multi-shot panorama, with each individual frame being comprised of a shot taken at F2.8, ISO 6400, 15s on a 14mm full frame lens.