A night in a remote mountain valley in southwestern United States.

The location is Cathedral Valley, Capital Reef National Park, Utah. This remote location requires about 1.5 hour off-road driving and the road can be challenging. This is supposedly one of the least polluted areas in the US. Its clean air, its remoteness, and its relatively high elevation mean the night sky is spectacular. When I saw these imposing sandstone monoliths, I knew I had to make a Milky Way shot with these monoliths as the foreground.

To clearly see our galaxy, one needs a moonless night. However that means correctly exposing the foreground becomes an very difficult task because the environment will be very dark. If the foreground objects are close and small (e.g. a tree or a house), one can use a flashlight or a speedlite to light-paint the foreground. For "grand" landscape like these monoliths, the only realistic solution is to use the double exposure technique.

The first exposure was taken at night when I could clearly see the direction and location of the Milky Way. The exposure parameters were ISO 4000, F4, 30 secs, and focus length was 17mm. The second exposure was taken in the next early morning, before sunrise, using ISO 100 @ F11 to ensure optimal image quality. Personally I think the key to make this type of shots somewhat believable is to make the foreground dark enough, although I know other people might prefer more drama by choosing a brighter foreground with directional light. It's a matter of personal taste.