Joshua Tree National park - Milky Way from White Tank Campground

Arch Rock isn’t the only thing to shoot at the White Tank campground in Joshua Tree National Park. Just past it lie some awesome rock formations. The MW was lining up perfectly so I used the path to lead the eye out. On the left is another somewhat well known rock formation known as the Wizard’s Eye and looks better facing the other way as you can see the hole. This shot is made up of 6 shots of the same composition all fired back to back using the same exposure. I stacked all 6 for the foreground to reduce the noise, and 1 for the sky using a noise reduction program and combined them to get a pretty noiseless final image. Stacking the sky requires a bit more work due to the rotation so as long as I can get similar results using noise reduction I opt for that instead. Nikon D750, Nikkor 14-24, f/2.8, 15 sec, ISO-6400

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City Lights - Los Angeles

A long exposure from downtown Los Angeles behind the 110 freeway.

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Malibu Dreamscape - Milky Way plus fog

I have bucket list locations and bucket list shots. Locations are places like Alaska that I’d just love to go to. Shots can be from anywhere as they are just shots that have all elements line up perfectly from a vantage that I want. One of those is this shot from Malibu. I’ve been here a handful of times trying to get the fog just as it is coming into the canyon on a night where the MW would be pretty visible. I’ve been here with no fog and when the fog was already too thick to make out any details underneath. Reason to catch the fog just as it is coming in is to still make out the lights on Malibu Canyon Rd and some of the ones down near PCH/Pepperdine. As I got to this spot, the fog was already coming in and I literally took 4 foreground shots before it got too thick. This shot is comprised of 2 snaps as a vertical pano; one for the foreground as the fog rolled in and one for the MW about 3 hours later as the MW aligned just before the clouds on the right overtook the sky. Both shots were with the Nikon D750, Nikkor 14mm 2.8, f/2.8, 15 sec, ISO-3200.

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Minaret Fire - Mammoth Lakes CA

A throwback to one of the best sunsets I’ve witnessed up in Mammoth. The entire sky was fire but as the sky started turning a deeper yellow I pulled out my telephoto to really get some of the details of the Minarets. The textures in the clouds were pretty cool with a small break of light near the peak. Taken from the Minaret Vista where I’ll probably try capturing the Milky Way next time I’m up there as long as it lines up right. Friday is right around the corner!

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Lone Juniper and Balanced Rock under Milky Way - Joshua Tree National Park

Here’s the first MW shot I processed from my trip Wed night. We came here before dark to get a nice foreground shot. I wanted 2 things; to have the balanced rock underneath the juniper to give the sense that the rock is smaller, and to use the awesome rock crevices as leading lines in which to me was key for this shot. This comp requires you to get right up to the tree so a twilight foreground shot helped ensure my DOF was sharp throughout. I lined up the juniper as if it is carrying the weight of the MW. As the MW rose through the night, airglow started to appear which is a nice bonus to add some nice green to the sky. My foreground was shot at 8:30 pm with the Nikon D750, Nikkor 14-24, f/14, 10 sec, ISO-320 and the stars were shot at 1:15am at f/2.8, 15 sec, ISO-6400. Times like these I wish I had a second FF body to take other comps while I leave my main body in place for the money shot. But I’m happy how this turned out and I’ll just have to return another time to get a different comp I have in mind. Round 2 tonight, stay cool out there gonna be a scorcher.

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Junpier and Rock - Joshua Tree National Park

Pulled an all nighter in Joshua Tree last night. We were hoping mid-week plus the 100+ degree weather would ensure we could hit some of the more popular areas without any trouble of fighting over spots. We started the night off at the lone juniper and balanced rock where we stayed well into the night to shoot the Milky Way. This is a shot from when we first arrived at sunset while the golden hour light was providing some nice light on the subject. The nice wispy clouds mostly blew away by sunset so didn’t get any burn but we did get some nice clear skies for astro. We will be back out here this weekend, but probably to some of the less popular areas as it will be crowded for the new moon weekend. Forecasts show temps to rise up to like 110 this weekend so if you are heading into the desert bring plenty of water and stay safe. Nikon D750, Nikkor 14-24, f/14, 1/60 sec, ISO-100

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Myrtle Falls - Mt. Rainier National Park

Can you tell my head is still in the PNW? This was taken almost 4 years ago. Hiked through snow and early wildflower blooms and can easily say this is one of my favorite National parks. First time visiting this park, first time we set foot in WA, and my first shot to get published in a magazine by @naturesbestphotomagazine . Can’t wait to bring Cole up to this area when he gets older but for now he will stay with the grandparents while the wife and I go enjoy ourselves. Nikon D7000, Nikkor 18-200, f/16, 0.3 sec, ISO-100

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