Nightscapes Assignment Winner Tom Elenbaas
Photo By Tom Elenbaas

Congratulations to Tom Elenbaas for winning the recent Nightscapes assignment with the image, “White Pocket Star Trails.”

“A couple years back I spent the night at White Pocket with my brother Bob (relenbaasphoto.com) and another photographer friend, Steve Dahl. Bob and Steve both live in relatively close proximity to White Pocket, part of Northern Arizona’s Vermilion Cliffs National Monument, but for me, it was my first (and so far only) visit to this oasis of Navajo sandstone ribbons. We were met with perfectly clear skies, dashing any hope for a dramatic sunset or sunrise but ideal for our main objective of shooting the Milky Way and star trails framed by a foreground of colorful rock outcroppings.

“This image was made with my Sony a7R II and Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 lens. After locating the North Star and composing our shots, we began by light painting several frames to use for the foreground. For the next two hours, we sat there admiring the beauty of our surroundings while our cameras clicked off successive 30-second exposures. The star frames were stacked and blended in Photoshop and then merged with the foreground to create the resulting image.”

See more of Tom Elenbaas’ photography at www.tomelenbaas.com.

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