Lightcrafter - Blog Posts

The Long View by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website Instagram Facebook Mobius Arch in the Alabama Hills of California. Panorama of 11 verticle photos, 19mm, f/2.8, 20 sec., ISO 12,800. There is lighting with LLL (Low Level Lighting) . This is not light painting but is very dim constant light that is left on and attempts to match starlight in intensity, typically done with light panels on tripods. One advantage is that it creates little or no visible light pollution and does not destroy your night vision. You cannot even see the light until your eyes become dark adapted, and then you can barely see it. Please see: www.lowlevellighting.org For more images like this please take a look at my website here . Thanks for all the kind support! Hope you enjoy! A big thank you to the wonderful Flickr family. Cheers, Wayne

The Elephant Walks at Night by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website Instagram Facebook This is a panorama of Elephant Rock in The Valley of Fire State Park, in Nevada, USA. The light on the horizon is the rising moon. Las Vegas is nearby, but somewhat behind me and off to my right. There are approx. 8 vertical images taken at 14mm, f/2.8, 20 sec., and ISO 8000. Taken with a Nikon 14-24 mm lens. Happy New Year! Here's wishing you all beautiful skies for shooting in 2017! A big thank you to the wonderful Flickr family for all the support and encouragement! Cheers, Wayne Thank you for all the kind comments I have received today!

Echos of Long Forgotten Times by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website Instagram Facebook Valley of Dreams, New Mexico Badlands, USA. Hope you enjoy! A big thank you to the wonderful Flickr family for all the support and encouragement! Cheers, Wayne

Kiss the Sky by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website Instagram Facebook Sunset Arch in the Escalante Grand Staircase National Monument in Utah, USA. This was taken during a workshop with Royce Bair (highly recommended!). Hope you enjoy! A big thank you to the wonderful Flickr family for all the support and encouragement! Cheers, Wayne

In Memoriam by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website Instagram Facebook IN MEMORIAM:, THE SENTINEL: The Sentinel in Bryce Canyon National Park fell on Nov. 25. It is seen here as the lighted spire just to the right of center. This was taken several years ago in an effort to accentuate the Sentinel. The spire was along the Navajo Trail which can be seen in the lower center of the image. The Sentinel was one of the named landmarks in the park. Farewell!

The Aged and the Ageless by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website Instagram Facebook This is a Bristlecone Pine encompassed by the Milky Way. One is the oldest individual species on earth, and the stars are the oldest thing we can see. For perspective, a human generation is estimated to be the average time between the birth of a mother and the average birth of her children, approximately 25 years. Bristlecone Pines are the longest living single multicellular species on earth, living up to and beyond 5,000 years. That is basically the length of recorded human history, 200 generations. The Milky Way above is estimated to be 13.21 billion years old, and the universe 13.77 billion years old, so the life of the Bristlecone Pines are but a blink of the eye. Since the light from the stars and galaxies can take millions or billions off years to reach us, when we look at the night sky we are looking back towards the beginning of time. Thanks for all the kind comments! Hope you enjoy! A big thank you to the wonderful Flickr family for all the support and encouragement! Cheers, Wayne

The Potholes of Escalante by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website Instagram Facebook Escalante Utah Pothole. These are giant eroded holes in the rocks and many have their own isolated landscape or ecosystem. Very fascinating! This was captured during a workshop with Royce Bair. I highly recommend his workshops. This is a reprocess. I think this is the hardest image I have ever processed. I just did not have the skill to do it adequately at the initial time, and I am not so sure that I have it now, lol. The difficulty comes from the wildly colorful sky (with bands of color and brightness, all the airglow, and all the clouds. I did several short panoramas over the pothole, and I did another 10-12 photos all from the same spot and with the same exposure factors. I was waiting for the clouds to clear, which they never did. I went back and pieced together the parts of the MW without clouds from the various frames. I “borrowed” parts of the MW and sky from the other photos I took at the same spot. The wild air glow makes it hard to know just what the sky is supposed to look like. Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! A big thank you to the wonderful Flickr family for all the support and encouragement! Cheers, Wayne

When Dreams Were Built of Stone by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website Instagram Facebook Cliff Dweller Ruins in the Four Corners Region of the SW USA. The Cliff Dwellers are more properly called the Ancestral Puebloans, and commonly called the Anasazi. The ruins are from approx. 1200-1300 CE, These people created a remarkable civilization in a harsh and difficult environment. They were exceptional in living in balance and homeostasis with the environment, something we have lost in the last millennia. In a land of scarce resources you could not afford to overuse your resources. To do so meant extinction. In our age of relative plenty maybe we have something to learn from the ancients. Technical stuff: Nikon 810A, Nikon 14-24 mm lens, 14 mm, 25 sec., f/2.8, ISO 12,800. I just want to take this opportunity to thank you for all of your support over the last couple of years. You have been very gracious and generous with your comments.

The Organ by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website Instagram Facebook This butte is called The Organ, located on the main road in Arches National Park, Utah, USA. This is a panorama of about 12 vertical images (some were cropped off the sides), taken with a Nikon 810A and Nikon 14-24 mm lens at 20 mm, f 2.8,20 sec., and ISO 12,800. Processed in PS and LR. This was taken from the path to "Park Avenue", a nearby area. The main challenge here was to get all the shots without car lights. Arches has become a very popular location for star gazing and night photography, and there is still a lot of traffic on the roads until midnight or so. The milky way was centered over The Organ shortly after twilight, and to get this composition you needed to shoot early. It took about 5 minutes to shoot the whole series, and 5 minutes without car lights was hard to come by. Due to the location near the road, car headlights can light up the formation from pretty far away. This was shot multiple times until I could get a series of photos with only a few interruptions. Anyway it worked out well. After midnight things get quieter in Arches, and most of the stargazers go home, but it's still a busy place for photographers. The butte is dimly lit with what I call "LLL", or Low Level Lighting. It is done with LED light panels (on tripods, and with warming filters) turned down very low to match starlight, and then left on the whole time. People passing by would not be able to see any light on the structure. Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! Big thanks to the wonderful Flickr family for all the support and encouragement! Cheers, Wayne

Grandstand at the La Playa Racetrack by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website Instagram Facebook This is "The Grandstand" in the Racetrack Playa in Death Valley. The Playa is a dry lake bed in Death Valley National Park. It lies in a relatively remote area, about a 4 hour drive from Furnace Creek, mostly down a rutted and sometimes rocky dirt road. This is not a road to hurry alone. There are many tales of flat or ruptured tires, and this is not a place to get stuck. The dry lake bed is sonic and unusual. It is best known for the "Sailing Stones" or "Walking Rocks". The Grandstand lies in the NW area of the Playa, and the Sailing Stones are better see more to the South. The Grandstand is a large rock formation arising from the dry lake bed. The photographer in the right foreground of the photo is Eric Gail. He masterminded the trip to the playa. Thank you Eric! You can see his excellent gallery here: www.flickr.com/photos/dot21studios Hey Eric, I'm going to need another model release! Maybe you can send me the name of your agent! Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! Big thanks to the wonderful Flickr family for all the support and encouragement! Cheers, Wayne

Dreaming of Alien Lands by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website Instagram Facebook This is a panorama taken in the Valley of Dreams in NW New Mexico. 11 images taken at 15 mm, f 3.2, 15 sec., and ISO 6400, stitched together in Lightroom. I was hoping to create a feel for the bizarre and otherworldly landscape. There is a light panel with a warming filter behind the larger hoodoo to the right, and another behind me to the side. Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! Big thanks to the wonderful Flickr family for all the support and encouragement! Cheers, Wayne

The Three Gossips by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website Instagram Facebook 

 Arches National Park, Utah. This is a night panorama of the landmark "Three Gossips" formation (foreground on the right), with "The Organ" rock formation in the center background. Sheep Rock is to the left. This is a panorama of multiple vertical images shot at 24 mm, !5 sec., f/2.8, and ISO 12,800, combined in Lightroom and processed in LR and Photoshop. Hope you enjoy! Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! Big thanks to the wonderful Flickr family for all the support and encouragement! Cheers, Wayne

Bristlecone Pine by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr:  Bristlecone Pine in the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest in the White Mountains of California. Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! Big thanks to the wonderful Flickr family for all the support and encouragement! Cheers, Wayne

http://waynepinkstonphoto.com

The Tree Sisters by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: 

 The Three Sisters, Goblin Valley State Park, Utah. The lighting is done with an LED light panel, made for video, with a warming filter that comes with the light. The light is too blue without the warming filter. This is an F&V Z96 panel I got on Amazon.com. It is placed on a 10 foot, 3 m high lightweight tripod (from B&H Photo), turned down to the lowest setting and left on the whole time. You can hardly see any light at all. I call this Low Level Landscape Lighting , or just Low Level Lighting (LLL). This is not classic light painting. Once you get it set up you can move around, get different angles, etc. (This discussion is in response to a question I received). Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! Big thanks to the wonderful Flickr family for all the support and encouragement! Cheers, Wayne

http://waynepinkstonphoto.com

Canyon Country by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Canyon Country. This is the view from Muley Point atop Cedar Mesa in southern Utan. It is near the top of the Moki (Mokey) Dungway, a spectacular dirt road that drops 1,200 feet or 400 meters from the top of Cedar Mesa down into the valley below. The views are spectacular, looking from southern Utah all the way to Arizona and Monument Valley. This is canyon country, atop the vast Colorado Plateau, occupying parts of Utah,Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. The plateau is around 5,000 - 6,000 feet or 2,000 meters high, with innumerable deep canyons and gulches. You mostly travel on top of the plateau or mesas, and descend into the canyons. It is like an endless wonderland to explore. I love the night photos taken on mountain tops, but this is a bit different. You are atop the mesas looking down, but you are looking down into deep dark canyons. There is not much light down there!!! Hopefully I have captured some of the beauty. This is a composite image consisting of a 15 sec., ISO 6400 image for the sky, and a 5 minute ISO 1600 images of the foreground, taken back to back. Both taken at 24 mm, f/2.0 with a Rokinon 24 mm f/1.4 lens. Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! Big thanks to the wonderful Flickr family for all the support and encouragement! Cheers, Wayne Please join me at: Website Facebook Instagram Blog

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

Fly Away... by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: This is called The King of wings. It is a winged hoodoo in the badlands of New Mexico. I saw a photo of this hoodoo about 2 years ago and had a real itch to photograph it. Last year I went there and it happened to be the wrong time of the year. I returned this spring and finally got the right night and season. The trail there is not very long, and if you do it just right it is not all that hard. The trail is unusually unforgiving though, especially at night. You can be 3-4 meters, or 10-15 feet off the GPS track and not be able to pass. You may be just off the trail and on a ridge rather than in a ravine. This is especially true at night when vision is limited. It is an unusual place with a partial skeleton near the base, probably from a cow. This is a panorama of multiple vertical images. There is Low Level Lighting, or LLL, to give some detail to the rocks. This is lighting that is very dim and left on the whole time, done with LED light panels. I am not sure of the size, but it is easy to walk upright under the "wing". There must be a massive amount of weight cantilevered from the base. 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

Life on the Edge by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Anasazi Part 7: This is False Kiva in Canyonlands National Park, Utah, USA. an Anasazi (or more properly Ancestral Puebloan) ruin. They are better known as the Cliff Dwellers. The exact purpose of this structure is unknown. It resembles a Kiva, or Ceremonial Center, but does not fit all the classic characteristics. The back left corner of the alcove or cave is roped off, presumably for possible future excavations. The Ancestral Puebloans literally lived on the edge in many ways. In the 13th Century, many of the structures were built in cliffs that were difficult to access, possibly because of raiding or strife. Archeologists have found evidence of massacres in some locations, that academics sometimes kindly call "warfare events". Anyway, life was perilous and frequently short. Examination of skeletons show many "stress bands" in the long bones from periodic episodes of starvation. Surprisingly, they also suffered from osteoporosis, or softening of the bones from loss of calcification or mineralization. We think of osteoporosis as an older person problem, related to aging an inactivity. They were most definitely not inactive, and did not live long. As game meat became scarce they relied more and more on corn they grew. A predominately corn diet lacks at least one essential amino acid, resulting in osteoporosis and weakened bones. They lived on the edge of survival every day, a truly amazing people living in a harsh land. As a side note, about 1 meter in front of that wall is a long straight drop down a cliff. There is also some smoke on the horizon from wildfires in California. Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy!  Please join me at: Website Facebook Instagram Blog

In the Valley of Dreams by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Valley of Dreams landscape at night, New Mexico Badlands, New Mexico, USA. This is a single exposure. Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! . Please join me at: Website Facebook Instagram Blog

Winter Wonderland by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Pine Tree Arch in Arches National Park, Utah. This was taken on a chilly winters night in Arches National Park, following a recent snowstorm. The stillness and quietness were remarkable. I've always enjoyed the way snow absorbs sound and creates a sense of quiet solitude. There was no one else crazy enough to be out at there, and even the animals were nowhere to be seen. There were lots of rabbit and deer tracks though. The scenery was breathtakingly beautiful. The session continued until my camera literally froze. The battery still worked but everything covered over in a layer of icy frost, including the lens. After heating (with hand warmers) and cleaning it several times I finally gave up, but was able to get a few photos completed. 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

Hoodoos in the Badlands of New Mexico by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Bisti Badlands, New Mexico 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

Beyond Perception by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: This is a panorama from Joshua Tree National Park taken last spring. There is some light pollution on the horizon that adds some color. I did a series of photos from Joshua Tree that kind of got pushed aside by more recent photos. This panorama is a combination of 11 vertical images taken with a Canon 1Dx camera, Nikon 14-24 mm lens, at 14 mm, f 2.8, 25 sec, and ISO 6400. 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

Visions of an Alien Land by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Bisti Badlands, New Mexico 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

Eric and the Arch by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Sorry for the title Eric, I couldn't help myself. Once it popped into my head it wouldn't go away. It just has a classic sound to it, like a midieval knight going out to slay the arch (or dragon). I think you definitely slayed this arch. My apologies for posting a similar photo previously, but I ended up liking this one better. By the way, this is Delicate Arch in Arches National Park, Utah. The person slaying the arch with his headlight is Eric Gail, fellow photographer and friend. He volunteered to be the model for this. Hey Eric, I need a model release! You can see his excellent gallery here: www.flickr.com/photos/dot21studios Light pollution from the town of Moab lights up smoke on the horizon from the wildfires in California. 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

Set the Table for One... by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: A quiet night in the Bisti Badlands of New Mexico. There are many of these "Table Top" Hoodoos scattered around the area. These develop when the base , a softer rock, erodes faster than the top, making for a wide variety of shapes. These table tops are one of my favorites. When the flat tops are really long or wide, they have been given the name of "winged hoodoos", and some are quite long and wing-like. Here I was playing around with the lights. Canon 6D camera, Nikon 14-24 mm lens at 14 mm, f 2.8, 30 sec., and ISO 6400. Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! Please join me at: Website Facebook Instagram Blog

Racing the Clouds by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: This is an image of Cyclops Arch in the Alabama Hills of California (eastern part of Ca. adjacent to the Sierra Nevada Mtns.). I arrived and got a couple of unlighted shots, and this one decent lighted shot before clouds rolled in and obscured the beautiful sky. There is a thick layer of clouds just above the frame, but I was able to salvage this one shot. I ended coming back the next night. One good thing is that cloudy skies = a good nights sleep! This is a single exposure. Canon 6D camera, Nikon 14-24 mm lens, f 2.8, 30 sec., ISO 6400. Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! Please join me at: Website Facebook Instagram Blog

Balanced Rock by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Balanced Rock in Arches National Park, Utah. There is a light panel creating some illumination on the foreground, and Balanced Rock itself is also partially lit by reflected light from a hand held halogen spotlight. This was shot with a Nikon 810A camera and a Nikon 14-24 mm lens at f 2.8, 30 sec, 14 mm, and ISO 6400. This night I was shooting with Eric Gail, an excellent photographer and now friend I met here on Flickr. Check out his wonderful gallery here: www.flickr.com/photos/dot21studios/ Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy!  Please join me at: Website Facebook Instagram Blog

Lost in a Dream... by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Hoodoo in the Valley of Dreams East, in the Badlands region of NW New Mexico.

Winged Hoodoo in the Bisti Badlands by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Winged Hoodoo in the Bisti Badlands, New Mexico. There is a marvelous variety of hoodoos in the badlands. Over millennia sedimentary rocks of different hardness were laid down, and the softer lower layers erode faster than the harder upper layers, resulting in unusual shapes. I accidentally left a light on in the back canyon, and did not realize it until the photo came up on the display, but I think it added to the appearance. This is a single exposure. 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

Dreaming... by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Valley of Dreams, in the Badlands of NW New Mexico. The hoodoos are mostly mudstone hoodoos, with a softer clay like base and a harder rocky cap. This was taken with a Nikon 14-24 mm lens at 15 mm, f 2.8, 25 sec., and ISO 12,800. This is a single exposure. 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