Mono Lake - Blog Posts

        Dragons The night can hold many dragons.  As a child, they live under the bed.  As a teen, they hide in school tests.  As a adult, they can hide in the sky. The building clouds on a spring evening very quickly turn into giant behemoths that spew fire and scream at the earth with voices that thunder across the plains and into the ears of the adults huddled safely fearing dragons.  Well perhaps not fearing, but certainly aware that dragons are out there,  lurking in the soft fluffy clouds of spring. The weather is a part of nature we all need to be aware of and respect...dennis

Mono Lake, California and the surrounding area.

Mono Lake by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook Blend Sky: 16 images, 20 sec, f/2.8, ISO 6400, 14 mm Foreground: 5 minutes, f/2.8, ISO 1600, 14 mm Mono Lake, California. These are tufas arising out of Mono Lake. They are formed from mineral deposits from springs beneath the lake bed over centuries and are exposed when the water level falls. The water level varies greatly. The paths I recorded 2 years ago during the drought are mostly underwater now. The largest concentration of tufas is along the south shore. When including the Milky Way you are usually facing south, so this makes it more difficult to photograph the tufas, lake, and MW at the same time. There are a few small “peninsulas” that stick out into the lake making it possible (but tricky) to shoot across the water facing S and include both tufas and the MW. There is a stack for the sky and a long exposure for the foreground (5minutes), blended in PS. Cheers, Wayne Pinkston

From Antiquity by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook Arising From a Watery Domain: Tufas emerge from a lake bed in California. The challenge here is find locations where you can get both water and tufas in the same photo. The tufas originally formed beneath the lake bed, but many have been exposed from the lake receding over time. The lake is one of the oldest lakes on earth. Anyway, the tufas are predominately on the south shore and the Milky Way is to the south, so it can be a challenge at times to get tufas with water in front of them. As the water rises and recedes the compositions change over time. ________________________________________________ 18 light frames and 1 dark frame stacked in Starry Landscape Stacker. 14-24 mm lens, 17 mm, 30 sec., ISO 12,800. I would normally use about 20-25 sec. for this focal length so 30 sec is a longer exposure than normal for me. Oops! Still worked out ok. ________________________________________________ Low Level Lightening (LLL) used the light the tufas. I’m this case the LLL was done with a single Goal Zero Micro Lantern gently placed on a small tufa about 30 feet, 10 meters away. I would prefer a more distant light source but the location was constrained by water and tufas.

From a Watery Origin by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook Tufas arising from their watery origins. These tufas are composed of calcium carbonate which precipitates out of the water from springs lying along the lake bed over millennia. Some are seen arising from the lake while others are now exposed on land after the shoreline has receded. Stacked image for the sky, long exposure for the foreground (3 minutes at ISO 1600).

Starlight Tufas by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website Instagram Facebook Starlight Tufas at Mono Lake. Single Exposure. Nikon D810A Camera, 14-24 mm lens, 17 mm, 20 sec., ISO 12,800. 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