Arches National Park has been designated as an official International Dark Sky Park.  Spend 4 nights photographing the Milky Way against a wide variety of fascinating rock formations, including the largest collection of natural arches in the world.  

We will visit a wide variety of great locations in Arches National Park, as well as a couple of locations in Moab outside the park, including Canyonlands National Park.  The workshop will include classroom work to better your photographic craft, including time to process and critique your images.  We will shoot each evening into late at night as weather allows, with a few hours each day dedicated to classroom instruction and image processing.  We will end the workshop with a group slide show and critique. 

Colin is an award-winning photographer who has spent the past several years exploring the red rock Canyonlands of Southern Utah and the mountains of Colorado.  As a part time resident of Moab since 2011, he has spent several weeks a year exploring the photographic riches in and around Moab in every season, and has been leading workshops and tours in the area for several years as the founder of Rock Light Photo Tours.  He is a certified and insured photography travel guide in nearby Arches, Bryce Canyon and Canyonlands national parks. 

- Capturing the Milky Way with your digital camera

- Techniques and gadgets for better Milky Way photography

- Making your red rock sunset images pop

- Determining proper exposure
- Capturing great images in challenging lighting conditions

- Analyzing a scene for compositional options

- Using filters to improve artistic results

- Adobe Lightroom workflow for getting the most from your images

- Post processing for Milky Way photography

- Stacking images to reduce noise 

- Creating composite images with layer masking

- Techniques for creating star trails images

- Photographic techniques for shooting the red rock sandstone of the Colorado Plateau

Skills Needed:

All skill levels are welcome.  Participants who have a good working knowledge of their cameras, and basic understanding of digital workflow and knowledge or exposure to Adobe Photoshop or Lightroom will get the most from this workshop. 

Physical Demands:

Though locations visited during this workshop are readily accessible, the hilly terrain requires some moderate hiking (typically less than 3 miles round trip). Participants MUST be in good physical shape and able to climb and descend moderate to steep inclines. They should wear sturdy boots and use caution on slippery and rocky slopes.  As this is a night workshop, we will be shooting late at night, sometimes into the wee hours of morning.   We will hike to Delicate Arch, which is a 3.5 mile round trip with a 500' elevation gain topping out at 5,000'.

Group Size:

Maximum 6 photographers.  Note: This workshop usually sells out quickly! The May 28-June 1 workshop is already sold out!

Accommodations are available in one of our luxury vacation rental properties just 10 min. south of Moab, Utah, each with a private hot tub and a fully equipped kitchen, which will be a great base of operations for visiting Arches National Park other locations in and around Moab and Castle Valley.   One of the two properties will be the home base for the workshop, giving us a place to  gather for classroom sessions, a kitchen to use for meals, and a chance  to mingle with and learn from your fellow photographers.  Prices shown do not include local taxes.

• Private bedroom (King bed, pvt bath (3 avail): $175/night single occ, $200/night dbl occ.
• Private bedroom (Queen bed, pvt bath (1 avail): $150/night - $175/nt dbl Occ (1 Queen, 1 full)
• Private Bedroom (King bed, shared bath (1 avail): $130/night - $150/nt dbl occ.
• Private bedroom (full bed, shared bath(1 avail): $110/night - $135/night dbl occ (2 full beds)

Rooms will be billed separately in April, 2025

Some of the rooms are available at least one night before the workshop (May 18-23) if you wish to explore the area.  

  Avail May 18-23: 1x King bed w/ pvt bath, 1x king bed shared bath, 1x full bed, shared bath

  Avail May 19-23: 2x King bed w/ pvt bath, 1x Queen bed w/ pvt bath (queen + full dbl occ)

Please be sure to request one of the lodging options above when booking if desired.  Payment taken separately.  

Contact colin@Lightandphoto.com with questions.

Registration fee: $1150+tax per person ($1229 including Utah services tax)

Deposit to reserve a date: $400

Dates and Times

Workshop begins Mon, May 19 at 3pm, and ends Fri, May 23 at 11am.

Non-photographer/tag-along rate: $500 - for a spouse/partner/friend who wants to come along, eat meals with the group, and travel to some of our shooting locations.  Note there is a double occupancy rate for the lodging options at the vacation rental properties.

Where to Meet

Participants will gather and be based at the Red Rock Garden vacation rental property in Moab, Utah.   Directions and details will be sent well in advance of the workshop.

 What to bring:

• ·         A digital SLR or mirrorless camera capable of manual exposure settings.  Due to the short time frame of the workshop.
• ·         Plan to bring all of your lenses, from 14mm to 200mm(full frame equiv.), as the variety of daytime locations for sunsets will put all your gear to work!  A wide angle lens (somewhere in the 14mm to 35mm range) capable of an aperture of f/2.8 or lower is best for capturing the Milky Way.  Consider renting a lens if you don’t own one.
• ·         A sturdy tripod 
• ·         A circular polarizer filter, while not required, can be a useful tool for controlling glare and reflections for the sunset shoots. NOTE: Colin is a rep for NiSi Filters, which makes an excellent circular polarizer filter, and he can get you a 15% discount off retail prices.  https://nisiopticsusa.com/shop/nisi-circular-filters/round-cpl-circular-polarizer-filter/ti-enhanced-cpl/
• ·         Hiking boots or other sturdy shoes: while the hikes to locations we will visit will be fairly short (typically less than 1-3 miles round trip) a good set of sturdy hiking boots is good for protecting the ankles on rocky trails and slippery rocks.
• ·         Lots of clothing layers – Moab weather can be finicky, and temps can be chilly at night in the desert, and much warmer during the day.
• ·         A headlamp, preferably with a red light setting, to participate in optional night photo sessions.  A dimmable headlamp is a bonus.
• ·         Your own method of transportation.  We will carpool to locations as possible, so not everyone needs to drive every day.
• ·         A laptop computer, ideally loaded with Adobe Lightroom Classic, to best take advantage of the Lightroom workflow instructional session.  Cables and devices necessary to download your images from camera to laptop.