Revisiting "Zion's Lone Little Tree" (Patreon)

Eight years ago I took the above photo on the right, which was used my eBook, Milky Way NightScapes. The photo on the left was taken just last week. There are some big differences and procedures that will be explained in this post...

You can read on page 85 of my eBook how I used my Low Level Lighting techniques (or LLL) in late May of 2014 to take this single exposure with a 15mm fisheye lens (f/2.8, 30 seconds, ISO 5000) using a Canon 5D Mark III.

Besides the obvious composition differences in the two images, the left image was taken with a 24mm lens, using a Canon 6D, that was astro modified to H-alpha, making its imaging sensor more sensitive to the reddish hydrogen gases in the nebulas. There is also a rising crescent moon about 40 minutes below the horizon that is producing more sky glow around the tree and the core of the Milky Way.

However, the main difference I want to discuss here is the lack of LLL in the left image; and, the reason is because "artificial lighting" — even my less obtrusive Low Level Lighting, is no longer allowed in Zion National Park (making it one of five national parks (out of 63) that have now banned the use of any artificial lighting in taking night photographs.

Some may think that is a good thing, because they believe the right photo less "natural" than the left photo. I tend to agree somewhat with both sides. Let me explain how the more "natural" left photo was created, and show how it is really a subtle blend of both...

Here is first step in this nightscape capture: the single exposure of the sky (f/2.8, 20 seconds, ISO 8000). The left image is the raw capture and the right image has been processed with an "S" Curve in Photoshop to increase the sky contrast (see page 125 of my eBook). To further improve the quality of this image, a group of 15 images was taken at 13 seconds each (virtually stopping any star movement or trailing) and "stacked" together (greatly reducing the digital noise) in Starry Landscape Stacker (for Mac users). Windows users can use Sequator.

Adding recognition detail to the foreground: Because this area of Zion NP is in an extremely low light pollution area (almost a Bortle Class 1), this is virtually no detail in the foreground landscape. There are two ways to add detail to the foreground. One is by taking a longer exposure (4 minutes), which washes out the night sky and Milky Way stars. This is the case of the left image (using f/5.6 for greater depth of field, with a reduced ISO of 3200 and "Long Exposure Noise Reduction" mode to further reduce noise. The basic idea here is to use an exposure that is about four times greater than the sky exposure. This creates a foreground with much more detail. The only drawback is that detail has very little character or texture because overhead starlight is very "flat" lighting — similar to light from an overcast daytime sky, just darker.

The greater "character" and texture in the 2nd image comes from more perpendicular car headlight "light painting"!  Because the Little Tree is only about 200 feet (61 m.) from the road, a momentary exposure (about 5 seconds, ISO 3200, f/2.8) can capture some fleeting highlight detail that can sculpt the rocks and tree.

An alternative to car headlights? Of course, one could also walk below the tree (during a 30-second exposure) with a Lume Cube Panel Mini, attached to your head (like a headlamp), set at an insignificant 1% power, and accomplish the same thing, but that would be using "artificial light" to light the park features (even though the 1% power is about a thousand times less intrusive than the car headlights)!  Or, would it be a violation? The park regulation says that "...the use of headlamps to find your way at night," is not prohibited. Was your friend just trying to find his way below the Little Tree with his Lume Cube Panel Mini "headlamp", and you just happened to record the effects of his movements?  I'll let you figure that one out!

Blending the layers: In the image on the left, the car headlight exposure was blended in Photoshop layers with the longer foreground starlight exposure, using the "Lighten" mode. This blends in only the lighter effects of the headlights. In the the final image, on the right, the sky from the first exposure in our tutorial has also been blended in, using Photoshop layers. This blend and masking technique is explained on pages 68, 70, 76, 137 and 138 of my eBook.

Some have asked how old is Zion's struggling and persevering "lone little tree"?  I don't know for sure, but my guess is that it is well over 100 years old. Here is a photo I took (from the opposite side of the sandstone ledge) about 40 years ago with a film camera. I can see very little change in size and stature!