Hellhole Canyon is a lovely little hike to a palm canyon in the Anza-Borrego Desert. We cut it short after getting in 4+ miles and a glimpse of the palms and made our way back into town to get out of the sun. Borrego Springs has just a handful of restaurants and the spot we hit (s/o Pablito’s) happened to be slammed thanks to the film festival. The place was packed full of indie film people and live jazz music. Several hours later, my belly full of tasty enchiladas, I made my way a couple minutes out of town back to the Hellhole Canyon trailhead. The contrast between the two locations in such a short period of time probably started doing things to my brain.
Here are a couple high ISO test shots of the ocotillo I chose as my subject. I really like these “candid” shots because of how spooky and flat my flashlight makes the plant against the dark sky.
I tried a few different things, but ultimately chose to offset the plant to the right and light it dramatically from that direction as well. Because it is winter, there is just a hint of the far side of the milky way to the left and Orion above.
The final image is a composite of one of the light painting exposures over a composite of around 18 shots using Starry Landscape Stacker. The timelapse composites that light painting shot over around 60ish images. I should’ve stayed out longer, but hiking in the sun all day had given me a headache.
January 2024