Panorama - Blog Posts

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Look at that...🏔

Double Arch Panorama by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook From the archives but I've never posted this here before. This is a panorama of Double Arch in Arches National Park. 12mm fisheye lens, 10 vertical images, f/2.8, 30 seconds, ISO 10,000. This is basically a panorama of the inside of a spherical object. I’ve only done this a few times as there is infrequent need for this, but it is hands down the most fun panorama for me to do. It’s a bit more technically challenging than a standard pano. A panorama was done because I could not fit the entire scene on one frame, even with a 12mm fisheye lens and climbing the back wall (exciting in the dark!). In the past I had tried to do this pano with a 15 mm fisheye lens and still didn’t get as much coverage as I desired from top to bottom, so I returned 2 years later to try it with a new 12mm fisheye. This project took several hours to get the Low Level Lighting and positioning and exposures done. Unfortunately you pretty much need the location all to yourself or you’ll drive other people crazy running in and out of the arch. Anyway, I at least learned 2 new things. First, I could get the whole scene in a 12 mm pano but there was a lot more distortion to correct with the 12 mm fisheye compared with to 15 mm fisheye. Second, the distortion really depends on where you stand and even a few feet of difference can change the whole look of the results. It’s important to get level with the second arch to minimize distortion. So... now I want to go back and try again but it’s getting harder to get this location all to yourself these days.

Park Avenue by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook Park Avenue, Wall to Wall: Another location I’ve been wanting to capture is “Park Ave.” in Arches National Park. I’ve wanted to see if I could make an interesting composition in this location. Park Ave. is a trail between large buttes and spires on each side. To include the Milky Way I had to get to the north end of the trail and look south. This is a panorama of approximately 240 degrees, trying to capture the towering walls on each side. I still didn’t capture the feeling of the immense walls on each side, but you can get an idea of the landscape. This is a panorama. The sky was captured at 14 mm, f/2.8, 29 sec., and ISO 4,000. The foreground was captured at 14 mm, f/2.0, 120 sec., and ISO 6400. Images combined in PS. Thanks for looking! Wayne

Abandoned Cathedral by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook Abandoned Cathedral in Madagascar. This is the shell of an old abandoned cathedral in Madagascar. This was adjacent to a girls school and the priest was very nice to let us shoot there at night. There was no electricity in this region and the red glow on the horizon originates from multiple fires. The local people burn the fields to clear them and there are always multiple fires in the distance. Also bandits steal the cattle and set the villages on fire to keep the people from chasing them. 😳😬 This is a panorama of multiple vertical images. There is a Goal Zero lantern in the bell tower and a single light panel off to the right to provide Low Level Lighting on the outside. BTW, we had 3 armed guards at all times. Thanks to WorldPix and Ryan for setting up this trip! Thanks for looking! Wayne

Madagascar Cathedral by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook Panorama 12 frames, 14 mm, f/2.8, 15 sec., ISO 12,800 This is the shell of an abandoned Cathedral in Madagascar. I've added a crop from the center section. The red on the horizon is from fires. The local people burn the field and multiple fires could be seen at any one time. The glow from the fires could be seen from long distances at night. A big thank you to @worldpixorg and @ryanplakonouris for arranging this trip. @worldpixorg is a charity organization using photography to raise money for charitable causes. Hope you enjoy, Wayne Pinkston

A Whale of a View by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook This is an arch called “Eye of the Whale” in Arches National Park. It is one of the more obscure and less visited arches. You have to take a dirt road for a couple of miles, or several kms, to get to the arch. The road alternates with rocky areas and deep sand, so a high clearance 4WD vehicle is required. It’s a fun spot off the beaten path. This is a panorama of 6 vertical images taken with a Sigma 14 mm f/1.8 lens at f 2.8, 30 sec, and ISO 12,800, with a Nikon 850 camera. The Arch is deeper than most, almost like a short tunnel. My first thought when hearing the name was “why would someone name an arch that”? Anyway, when you approach the arch from the path it really doses look like a giant eye, and even photos from inside the arch look like you are viewing from inside a giant eye. Hope you enjoy! Thanks for all the kind support over the last year, it is much appreciated! A big thank you to the wonderful Flickr family!

Feeling Small in Big Hogan by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook This is a vertical panorama in Big Hogan Arch in Monument Valley, Utah. After taking the panorama I photographed myself with the same lens and settings and added it to the panorama in the same position. As you can see, Big Hogan Are is aptly named. It is huge. You feel like you are standing in a cathedral. The hole at the top is actually overhead in reality. The appearance here makes it look like it is in the front wall, but that is the result of trying to fit the inside of a sphere onto a rectangular image. You need a guide to enter Monument Valley at night. If you are interested in a night tour contact Majestic Monument Valley Tours and ask for Quanah. Thanks for all the kind support over the last year, it is much appreciated! A big thank you to the wonderful Flickr family!

To Walk a Pale Land by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook To Walk A Pale Land. Part of a series from the New Mexico Badlands. This is a panorama of 9 vertical shots taken at 14 mm with a 14-24 mm lens, f/2.8, ISO 12,800. I was about 6-8 feet from the larger hoodoos on the sides, very close. There was considerable distortion in the individual photos from being so close, but the combined photos in the panorama eliminated the distortion remarkably well. People frequently ask me about nodal rails and parallax. The current versions of Lightroom and Photoshop do remarkably well at eliminating parallax error in the photos. I do have a nodal rail and take as many panoramas as I can manage, but I do not bother with the nodal rail. I do not use it, and have never had an issue with parallax preventing stitching or distorting the image. In this image I was trying it o catch the rising MW between the hoodoos. Taken in May 2018. There are no paths in the New Mexico Badlands, and multiple places you can visit. If you want guidance consider contacting Kialo Winters @chacorunner, at Navajo Tours USA, highly recommend! Thanks for all the kind support over the last year, it is much appreciated! A big thank you to the wonderful Flickr family!

Recapture Pocket Panorama by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook Recapture Pocket is an area on hoodoos near Bluff, Utah. There are 2 fields of hoodoos here. I call this Hoodoo Arch because it is an arch that is mostly just 2 connected hoodoos. There is Low Level Lighting (LLL) with a Gaol Zero Micro Lantern behind the arch and an LED Light Panel on a tripod about 50 meters behind me and to the right. Panorama: 11 images, 20 mm, f 2.0, 20 sec., ISO 6400, Nikon 810A Hope you enjoy! For more images like this please take a look at Wayne Pinkston Photography . Thanks for all the kind support over the last year, it is much appreciated! A big thank you to the wonderful Flickr family!

Arches Within Arches by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook Arch in Northern New Mexico For more images like this please take a look at Wayne Pinkston Photography . Thanks for all the kind support over the last year, it is much appreciated! A big thank you to the wonderful Flickr family!

White Pocket Panorama by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website, Instagram, Facebook Panorama at White Pocket, Arizona. 10 images, 14 mm, f 2.0, 25 sec., ISO 12,800. I think this might be my first pano of the MW Arch in August. Typically I find the MW is too high to get onto a single row Pano by that time of year. Somehow I was able to fit the whole sweep of the MW onto a vertical 14 mm Pano. You can tell it is getting late in the MW season because the core has set relatively quickly during the night. There is still plenty on MW to see though! Note the Andromada Galaxy near the top of the frame, above the Milky Way, to the right. For more images like this please take a look at Wayne Pinkston Photography . Thanks for all the kind support! Hope you enjoy! A big thank you to the wonderful Flickr family. It's a pleasure to post here.

Monument Valley Panorama by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Panorama of The Mittens in Monument Valley at night. 12 images, 24 mm, f 1.6, 13 seconds, ISO 10,000. Monument Valley Landscape Astrophotography Workshop! There are 3 remaining spots open in the workshop I will be leading in MV June 6 to 9, 2018. Details can be found here: waynepinkstonphoto.com/Workshops If you are interested please contact me here or through my website, waynepinkstonphoto.com This is a 4 day workshop with an extra "optional" 5th day on June 10 if anyone wants to stick around and shoot nightcapes with me in the area. This day can also be used as a make-up day if needed. Three days will be scheduled shooting in Monument Valley and one day outside of Monument Valley. That day will be used to practice and learn Low Level Lighting while shooting hoodoos in the area. Landscape Astrophotography will be the focus of the workshop. There will be lectures on 3 days, and a group dinner on one day. I have also been asked frequently about guiding and workshops in the New Mexico Badlands. So here is a general question - Is anyone out there interested in attending a Landscape Astrophotography Workshop in the New Mexico Badlands May 14 - 17, 2018? There is no obligation, I'm just trying to judge interest. For more images like this please take a look at Wayne Pinkston Photography . Thanks for all the kind support! Hope you enjoy! A big thank you to the wonderful Flickr family. It's a pleasure to post here.

Canyon de Chelly Panorama by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website Instagram Faceb ook Panorama of Canyon de Chelly in Chinle, Arizona, taken from one of the viewpoints on the Southern Rim. I had never seen a night photo from the rim of the canyon so I wanted to give it a try. There was so much light pollution that I did not expect this to be successful, and left disappointed after trying panoramas from several viewpoints. When I processed it, the image was more successful than expected, and the light pollution actually adds more color to the photo. For more images like this please take a look at Wayne Pinkston Photography . Thanks for all the kind support! Hope you enjoy! A big thank you to the wonderful Flickr family. It's a pleasure to post here.

Cedar Breaks Panorama by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website Instagram Facebook This is a panorama made of 2 sets of 13 vertical images from the Cedar Breaks National Monument in Utah. This is less well known as compared to the "Big 5" National Parks in Utah, but is a remarkably beautiful place. It resembles a huge eroded bowl or huge geode cracked open exposing innumerable red to orange hoodoos. Breathtaking! It is very close to Cedar City and Zion National Park. This is a blend of 2 panoramas, taken back to back and with the tripod unchanged in position. The sky images were taken at 18 mm, 20 sec., f 2.8 and ISO 12,800. The foreground was taken at 18 mm, ISO 3200, 300 seconds and f 2.8. The images were blended in photoshop. For anyone counting, lol, the foreground images took a little over an hour at 5 minutes apiece. Sitting around and quietly staring at the sky for an hour can be very pleasant. :-) 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

Desert Dreams by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website Instagram Facebook Valley of Dreams in the New Mexico Badlands. 10 vertical images shot with a Nikon D810A camera and a Nikon 14-24 mm lens at f 2.8, 20 sec., 20 mm, and ISO 10,000. Lighting with Low Level Lighting (LLL). For more about this method of lighting please see 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

Cyclops Arch by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Website Instagram Facebook Panorama of 11 vertical images Nikon 810A, 14-24mm lens, 16 mm, f 2.8, 25 sec, ISO 10,000, This is a panorama of Cyclops Arch in the Alabama Hills of California. I had been there in August before, and the Milky Way was better centered over the arch. This trip was in June, and it was harder than I expected to get the core centered over the arch. So we "resorted" to placing the stone arch under the arch of the MW. It worked out better than expected. There is a small light panel under the arch with the light damped down very low. There is another light panel off to my left. For a tutorial on this kind of lighting (LLL) see 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 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 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

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

Window to the World by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Anasazi Part 3: Image... Your picture window is 100 feet (30 m) hight and 200 feet (60 m) wide. It looks out over a wash filled with cottonwood trees, small brush, wildflowers, and intermittenty a small stream. In the distance are ridges and hills, and beyond that is a broad plain or wash where you may grow crops in wetter times. The trail winds up the side of the ridge. The glow of cooking fires illuminates the alcove or cave with a golden glow. Above the plains you look out on a star filled sky and seasonally on the Milky Way. The night sky is woven into your life as naturally as the day. The stars and seasons flow past endlessly. We may have electric lights, TV, movies, You Tube, and Flickr :-) , but the Anasazi or Ancient Puebloans had a view to die for. Since some of the structures are defensive, they may well have died defending their home. The Anasazi or Ancient Puebloans lived in the four corners region of the Southwest USA in pre-columbian times, approximately from 700 AD to 1200 AD, abandoning the area in the 13th century, possibly because of drought. This is a panorama of the Monarch Cave Anasazi Ruins in the Comb Ridge region of SE Utah. There are 11 vertical images combined in Lightroom.. Taken with a Nikon 810A camera and a Nikon 14-24 mm lens at 14 mm, f 2.8, 30 sec., and ISO 6400. There is one very large alcove but separated into two sections. I am sitting on a 30 - 45 degree stone wall that separated the two sections. To the left is the larger section and the easiest to reach. Most of the structures there are destroyed, but there are a few low walls and many pits for grinding grain, as well as some petroglyphs and pictographs. The section to the right is harder to reach and in better condition, with several rooms and rounded walls. A wide overhang unites the two sides. The Milky Way hugs the far left edge of the sky, only partially seen. As a consolation prize, we have the Andromeda Galaxy in the left center sky, the double cluster, and several additional faint galaxies. Disclaimer: No ruins were harmed or touched in the making of this photo! Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! Your time, faves, and comments are much appreciated! Please join me at: Website Facebook Blog

Where a Civilization once Thrived... by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: This is the Anasazi or Ancient Puebloan Riun called the 16 Room Ruin. It has many other names but this one seems most common. It is located just south of Bluff, Utah adjacent to the San Jaun River. This is part of an experimental series to see if the Anasazi Ruins are amenable to photography at night. I would love to combine an interest in the Anasazi with nighttime photography. I spent several days in August in the SE corner of Utah photographing several ruins at night, to be processed over the next few weeks. One thing I did discover is this: Being in these ruins at night is fascinating. To see the starlit sky, and be surrounded by ancient habitations where people once thrived is magical. It's like going back in time. The alcoves just glow with the light. You can imagine the glow of fires illuminating the ceiling and walls centuries ago. This ruin is in one of a small minority of Alcoves or Caves that opens facing North, and faces a fertile plain overlooking the San Juan River. Because it opens to the North, the Milky Way is seen overhead to the South. Most of the Anasazi Ruins purposefully open facing South, providing shade in summer and sunlight and heat in winter. It seems they were more concerned with these mundane everyday matters than with the needs of photographers that would come 800 years later. On the other hand the Milky Way may be visible looking out of many alcoves at some point in the year. There are limited choices for photo ops. Sometimes the only decent choice is looking into the Alcove, sometimes the only choice is to look out. Most of the flat "bench" in the Alcoves was used as building sites, and there is not a lot of room to roam around. The maintained and easily accessed Anasazi tourist locations in parks are closed at night. You can get a permit to photograph these at night for hundreds of dollars. There are, however, numerous sites on Bureau of Land Management land that are not maintained. There are unmarked trails to many of these ruins, and if you can find them you can photography at night. Many require a hike of a mile or more through rough trails. They are open to visitation but the BLM does not make them easy to find, sometimes knocking down cairns that mark the way. This is a panorama of 10 vertical images combined in Lightroom. Taken with a Canon 6D camera and a Bower 24mm f 1.4 lens at f 1.4, 15 sec, and ISO 6400. There are 6 lights used. There are 4 very small lights shining up on he ruins from just in front, and there are 2 larger lights lighting the whole alcove. Warming filters were used on the lights. The ridge looks more domed than it really is because of looking upwards at a relatively close structure. Disclaimer: No ruins were harmed in the making of this photo! So what do you think? Is this kind of image interesting or worth pursuing? Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! Your time, faves, and comments are much appreciated! Please join me at: Website Facebook Blog

Trona Pinnacles by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: This is a panorama of the Trona Pinnacles in California, USA, another small step in my efforts to photograph landscapes at night (this time a larger area). For orientation the parking lot is on the left and the dirt road in the foreground goes around the right side of the formation and carries you deeper into the park. There is "static" light painting. There is a light far to the right, and several small lights among the pinnacles. There was a lot of light pollution aiding in the lighting. The bright area along the horizon to the left is Ridgecrest, Ca., and I believe the light pollution on the bottom right is Barstow, Ca. The image wraps around more than 180 degrees, approx. 210 degrees. There is some airglow near the horizon creating the greenish effect in the sky. Many night photographers remove or diminish the light pollution and airglow to make the scene look more natural or to make the sky look more like people expect it to look. I have decided to go along with what the camera detects rather than what you expect to see. As a result this produces a somewhat surreal effect, which to me has a more exotic feel. The rock spires are called Tufa Spires, and are up to 140 feet (43 meters) high. Over 30 movies and TV shows have been shot in this alien landscape, including Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek V, and Planet of the Apes. This is a series of 15 vertical images combined in Lightroom (the new version has a panorama merge function). The images were taken with a Canon 1D X camera and Nikon 14-24 mm lens at f 2.8, 14 mm, 30 sec exposures, and ISO 6400. Hope you enjoy! Thanks in advance for taking the time to look and comment. 

Trona Pinnacles by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: This is a panorama of the Trona Pinnacles in California, USA, another small step in my efforts to photograph landscapes at night (this time a larger area). For orientation the parking lot is on the left and the dirt road in the foreground goes around the right side of the formation and carries you deeper into the park. There is "static" light painting. There is a light far to the right, and several small lights among the pinnacles. There was a lot of light pollution aiding in the lighting. The bright area along the horizon to the left is Ridgecrest, Ca., and I believe the light pollution on the bottom right is Barstow, Ca. The image wraps around more than 180 degrees, approx. 210 degrees. There is some airglow near the horizon creating the greenish effect in the sky. Many night photographers remove or diminish the light pollution and airglow to make the scene look more natural or to make the sky look more like people expect it to look. I have decided to go along with what the camera detects rather than what you expect to see. As a result this produces a somewhat surreal effect, which to me has a more exotic feel. This is a series of 15 vertical images combined in Lightroom (the new version has a panorama merge function). The images were taken with a Canon 1D X camera and Nikon 14-24 mm lens at f 2.8, 14 mm, 30 sec exposures, and ISO 6400. Hope you enjoy! Thanks in advance for taking the time to look and comment.