Valley of Fire State Park, about an hour north of Las Vegas, is a wonderful place for photography. Late in the day, the red rocks glow in the warm light. Even in the lavendar light of late dusk, they are something to behold.
Moon Set
I set up my tripod by the side of the road (see the small highway sign in the distance against the deep blue sky) to take a picture of the setting moon. Someone pulled up and stopped to see what I was taking a picture of, didn't see anything, and drove on. They were there long enough to paint the rocks on the right with their headlights. I took the picture again for a picture without the lighted rocks, but preferred the serendipity of the glowing rocks. The total exposure time was about 30 seconds.
Elephant Rock 1
Elephant Rock was silhouetted against the deep blue sky. After calculating the exposure time for the sky (about 15 seconds), I calculated the exposure for just enough flash to put a kiss of light on the rock. I fired my camera, and while the shutter was open, I ran up the hill behind my camera and fired my flash at the rock face.
Elephant Rock 2
I moved closer and changed camera angles so less of Elephant Rock is visible, but more sky and a rising planet show in the distance. As in the preceding photo, while the shutter was open, I moved back up the hill to paint the rock with just a little bit of light from my flash. The film that gave me these colors was Kodak Elite Chrome 100 slide film.
