Orion and the stars of the winter sky trailing as they set behind and through Turret Arch, in Arches National Park, Utah. I shot this April 6, 2015 after twilight but before the waning Moon rose, so the sky was dark. Illumination is from stars and the sky – no artificial light provided, and the Moon was not up. This is a stack of 4 x 8-minute exposures at ISO 250 for the ground and long star trails, plus an initial short 30-second exposure at ISO 4000 for the star points at the start of the trail, all with the Rokinon 14mm lens at f/2.8 and Canon 6D.
The total lunar eclipse of April 4, 2015 taken from near Tear Drop Arch, in western Monument Valley, Utah. I shot the totality images at 6:01 a.m. MDT, during mid-totality during the very short 4 minutes of totality. The mid-totality image is a composite of 2 exposures: 30 seconds at f/2.8 and ISO 1600 for the sky and landscape, with the sky brightening blue from dawn twilight, and 1.5 seconds at f/5.6 and ISO 400 for the disk of the Moon itself. Also, layered in are 26 short exposures for the partial phases, most being 1/125th sec at f/8 and ISO 400, with ones closer to totality being longer, of varying durations. All are with the 24mm lens and Canon 6D on a static tripod, with the camera not moved through the entire sequence. The short duration of totality at this eclipse lent itself to a sequence with one total phase image flanked by partial phases. The rocks are illuminated by lights from the community - light pollution but photogenic in this case - and partly from dawn glow in the east.
A panorama of the winter sky setting in the evening over the Tear Drop Arch Mesa at Monument Valley, Utah on April 3, 2015. Illumination is from the Full Moon, about to be eclipsed in a few hours at dawn. At left is Sirius and Canis Major, at left of centre is Orion, at right of centre is Taurus and at right is the Pleiades and Venus. This is a two-panel stitch of exposures with the 24mm lens and Canon 6D, each 15 seconds at f/3.5 at ISO 800, untracked.
