Starry Night

Congratulations! This is the Image of the Week selection for the Landscapes Gallery, week ending 22nd June, 2012! Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 17-40mm F4 L, RRS L-plate, Gitzo 3541 Tripod, Markins M-20 Ballhead, RAW files.

A night in a remote mountain valley in southwestern United States.

This picture was taken in Cathedral Valley, Capital Reef National Park, Utah. This very remote location requires about 1.5 hour off-road driving in good weather and the road can be quite challenging. This is supposedly one of the least polluted areas in the US. Its clean air, its remoteness, and its relatively high elevation mean the night sky is spectacular. When I saw these imposing colorful sandstone monoliths, I immediately told myself that I had to make a Milky Way shot with these monoliths as the foreground. That night we camped in a primitive campsite nearby, so we had the chance to execute my plan.

First of all, welcome to NSN! This is a really lovely first post. Cathedral Valley has been on my "to visit" list for quite a long time, and this image makes me want to go there even more badly...the shapes of the towers and your placement of the Milky Way between them make for a very powerful composition. I like the meteor too.

Again, welcome to NSN--looking forward to seeing more of your work here!

Very nice composition and a very nice photo.

Mark

Greg and Mark: Thanks.

Superb shot! Welcome to NSN

Truly awesome image!!!

A splendid composition. The contrast in the rich saturation really adds impact to the 'specialness' of the moment. Very well done ... and welcome to NSN.

Wow! Just a spectacular image all around! The sky is stunning and the composition works extremely well with the landscape framing the milky way. I could stare at this one for hours!!

Welcome to NSN and what a capture!

Welcome to NSN!

The planning of the image to place the Milky Way was inspired and then executed perfectly.

A Big Welcome to NSN!

A stunning almost "otherworldy" image!!! Your positioning of the Milky Way in the composition shows the attention to detail that went into creating this...congrats!

I look forward to seeing more of your work here....

Very surreal. Love the stars!

This is just awesome!! Did you blend an exposure of the monoliths at sunset with the night sky? If not, how did you get such nice illumination on them?

Thanks everyone!

Morkel Erasmus wrote:This is just awesome!! Did you blend an exposure of the monoliths at sunset with the night sky? If not, how did you get such nice illumination on them?

Thanks. Yes its a blend of two exposures, one night sky, one before sunrise. I didn't do a sunset shot because I could not precisely know the location of the Milk Way --- and I wanted it centered between the two monoliths.

So I waited until it was dark so I could clearly see the direction and location of the Milky Way, and I positioned my camera carefully to make the first exposure. The second exposure was taken on the next morning, before sunrise.

I have written a detailed description on how the image was made on my blog. Please check it out.

Awesome image. Great preparation and execution.

This is great. I love the colors, and you nailed the execution of this. Really nice Yiming!

Freaking Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is truly spectacular! Makes me want to take a visit through Utah

Gorgeous comp, but I find the sky waaaaayyyyy too blue... I'd warm up the sky image a little (not too much) to remove that tungsten look.

Superb image though...