Watchman by Moonlight

Gallery: LandscapePosted June 28, 2014218 views7 comments

Hey, its not from the bridge! :)

I had a trip to Las Vegas in May, so I figured I'd get out to someplace new to me. I switched plans just before leaving and headed to Zion instead of Death Valley and scored a Watchman campground site in the park right next to the Virgin River. Per the ranger...the best campsite. 55 in the B loop. I'd not disagree.

I was trying to catch a few Zzz's in my bivy sack outside before the full moon rose, but the wind was keeping me awake so I crawled in the back of my rented hatchback to nap. Around 2:30 am I woke to this crazy bright light from the moon despite the thin clouds in the sky. I walked about 20 yards onto the sandy shore and made this image after a couple others with a different lens.

sony a7r, FE24-70 @ 24mm, F4, 25 seconds, ISO 100, tripod

I only took 1 shot of the scene with this lens. No idea why. Brain wasn't fully awake because I'd have liked to do a couple other things.

LR, and cloned out a light orb in PS.

Appreciate your comments and suggestions.

Comments

7 comments

Comment posted by Dan Kearl on June 28, 2014 at 2:27 AM

I am a sucker for shots like this so I like it a lot.....
You have a bit of a halo around the rock formation.
Also a bit of motion blur in the trees, must have been a breeze....
All in all though, I would have taken this and you did a nice job.

Registered on September 2, 2013, 209 Posts, 1514 Comments

Comment posted by Pat Sampson on June 28, 2014 at 6:37 AM

Love the mood here Jeff and the light from the moon.

I think I do see the halo that Dan mentions but on my Macbook it's certainly not pronounced.

I've done very few night images so I don't think I can add much. I like the image a lot.

pat

Registered on May 19, 2007, 953 Posts, 15989 Comments

Comment posted by Rick Turner on June 28, 2014 at 8:54 AM

Good story and for one shot , you nailed.

Interesting that you nailed the best campsite too. there are no coincidences.

Registered on February 18, 2012, 534 Posts, 2755 Comments

Comment posted by gary phillips on June 28, 2014 at 3:34 PM

I find the blurry trees a little bit distracting, but with a 25 second exposure, it's bound to happen. Definitely a different take on the Watchman. It's nice when you can't sleep to have something like this scene to photograph.

Registered on October 24, 2013, 185 Posts, 4136 Comments

Comment posted by Preston Birdwell on June 28, 2014 at 4:20 PM

Jeff, this is pretty dramatic. The blurring in the trees bothers me a little, but there's not much that you could have done with a single exposure--so, this works pretty well. I love the sky, and it's good that you got detail in the Watchman and some of the water.

--P

Registered on November 1, 2003, 471 Posts, 5188 Comments

Comment posted by Jeff Martyka on June 28, 2014 at 5:32 PM

I thought about what I could do with the blurry trees in post. I really don't mind them too much because they give a sense of motion that I felt, but that one on the left is rather bright. So I burned that portion of the image and decided to dodge the water while I was at it. Also tried to work on the halo...I need to work on that process a lot more.

Thanks for your thoughts!

Gary, I'd not mind being an insomniac in your part of the country!

Registered on June 20, 2014, 30 Posts, 155 Comments

Comment posted by Mark Seaver on June 29, 2014 at 2:51 PM

Burning that one set of blurred branches on the left was a big improvement to an already neat image.

Registered on January 23, 2011, 1103 Posts, 17270 Comments