The Milky Way shines above the Grapevine Hills and boulders around balanced rock on a cold spring night in Big Bend NP.

Milky Way over Balanced Rock - Big Bend NP 228-1

Balanced Rock - Big Bend National Park

The morning started early with a 3:00am drive down Grapevine Hills Road, a bumpy dirt road heading north from the Chisos Mountains. After parking at the Balanced Rock trailhead, we made the easy walk to the iconic rock formation, then headed uphill further to obtain a clear view of both Balanced Rock and the distant horizon. I’d lugged along a star tracker, as well, and began the tedious task of setting it up, aligning it with the north star, focusing the stars, and shooting long exposures (up to three minutes each) of the Milky Way as it slowly rolled across the dark sky.

The image you see here is a composite. The Milky Way portion was taken between 4:30-5:30am. With sunrise ~ 7:00am, the foreground of the landscape was taken around 6:15am in another long exposure (several minutes) to allow for some definition to show up in the rocks. Back home, the two images were blended together to show what our eyes can see but the camera cannot capture in a single image. Photo © copyright by Rob Greebon.

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Premium Canvas Gallery Wrap

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Photographic prints face-mounted to acrylic have a vibrant color, clarity and depth. The image will be printed on Epson Premium Glossy Photo Paper unless otherwise requested*. This paper produces vivid, life-like images that is a favorite among discerning photographers and artists. 

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