Silhouette of a Tree

This light painted tree is at Dead Horse Point. I shot it at f4, ISO 400, for 30 sec with the 10-24 lens and no filter. I am amazed at how far the Earth turns in just 30 sec as seen in the streaks left by the stars. I used a Ryobi flashlight to paint the tree and ran it up and down the tree about 3 times. LYLE

Big Dipper at Dead Horse Point

On every trip we try a little light painting when it gets dark. I love the Big Dipper and always include at lease one photo of it. This tree was dead but still standing, on the desert not too much is there to cause the dead trees to rot (no water) so they stand long after they die. I hit this one with a beam of light through my fingers to better direct the light just to the tree. I was concerned about the noise in the sky but I think much of it is actually the multitude of stars that are seen in the area. There was still a lot of light from the setting sun and a ranger station to the north. Manual mode shutter speed 30 sec. ISO 400, f4, 10-24 wide angle at 10mm, and was shooting without any filter, not even a UV. LYLE

Light Painting on a Mountain

While returning from 'light painting' on some dead trees we spotted this scene. A road crew was working on a stretch of highway across from this mountain. Their lights lit up this mountainside. Just as I opened up my lens for a 30 second capture a pickup pulled in and lit up the foreground with its headlights. At first I was upset but when I saw the results I was thrilled. This is a once in a lifetime shot that simply could not be repeated. LYLE

The Painted Tree

I read an article on painting an item with light when it was totally dark outside so decided to try it while I was in Zions National Park. There was no moon out and it was about 10:30 at night so we tried it. We had about 4 flashlights with us including a million candle power flood light. I don't think it was used on this shot. I set the shutter at 30 sec., f4.5, ISO 100 and fired away. You can see the movement of the stars in the background (I know that it is actually the Earth that is moving). It would be hard to find three grown guys, all ready for retirement, running around in the dark laughing like we were that night. LYLE