Star Trails and HDR Photography in Arches and in Colorado

[kandace]

After surviving the horrendous ascent to the "Viewpoint of Delicate Arch," I didn't have much time to survey an excellent spot for doing star trails with a nice foreground and the North Star. So I elected to setup at Balancing Rock - nice foreground but no North Star. But I did get some long streaks, which were slightly turning. For good stair trails, you need to setup with camera pointing towards the North Star. At High Lonesome Ranch, in DeBeque, CO, my only clear night, I had a moon setting much later and a sun rising early resulting in only 21 pics being taken. I will be in South Texas next week, I might be able to work on this but will have a full moon.

Arches National Park, located in Moab, UT, is a landscape made up of beautiful monoliths of red sandstone rock, with numerous arches and interesting structures carved out by the wind, water, ice and extreme temperatures. I did some HDR photography at sunrise at the North Window Arch (NWA). The idea was to arrive there to get on the ledge so you could shoot directly through NWA into Turret Arch with the morning glow bathing the entire area. Arriving around 5:00 am and hiking up to NWA, I was surprised that three other photogs had already beat me to the "ledge." So my shots were looking through NWA directly at the sunrise.

I plan to return in 2012, after dropping my husband to fly fish. I want to spend several days in Arches National Park, Canyonlands, Antelope Canyon, Glen Canyon and Lake Powell.

[jrandml]

Really really nice.

[Webster]

Really great shots !  Is the landscape anHDR ?