Dark Sky Utah

Dark Sky Utah helps photographers of all skill levels learn & master night photography. Join us.

06/03/2026

Flowers at Scofield Reservoir - Taking images in a campground is always challenging. Many campgrounds have bright lights that cast shadows or throw off your color balance.

Sometimes, you can overpower those fluorescent lights with white lights of your own. In this image, I used a small LED light to light this scene more evenly. The white light also helped lessen some of the orange color cast from the street lights.

I help photographers capture the night sky. If you’d like monthly photography tips, Milky Way planning info, and upcoming sky events, comment DIGEST, and I’ll send you the link.

Canon 6D 20.0 sec at f/ 3.2 ISO 3200 on the Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 lens

06/01/2026

There is nothing like the moment the Milky Way core pops up on your camera screen. It never gets old, even after taking thousands of pictures.

Night photography is one of the few times a camera can outperform the human eye. The camera will record light and color that we cannot see. It’s like finding a hidden treasure in each photo.

If you’d like monthly photography tips and night sky highlights, comment DIGEST, and I’ll send you the link to join my newsletter.

Chimney Rock, Utah
Canon 6D - 15 seconds f/3.5 ISO 12800 on the Rokinon 14mm lf2.8 ens
10 images stacked to reduce noise

05/31/2026

The Galactic Core towering over the majestic spires of Sunset Point in Bryce Canyon National Park.

I wish I had taken a picture of my husband sleeping in an anti-gravity chair near me while I took pictures in the middle of the night. Love is accompanying someone on a crazy last-minute road trip to Bryce Canyon for one night of pictures.

I’m Carly, a Milky Way Photographer and Educator. Here on Instagram, I share night sky photography, dark-sky locations, and tips for shooting the Milky Way throughout the year. If you’d like monthly photography tips and night sky highlights, comment DIGEST, and I’ll send you the link to join my newsletter.

The stars for this image were tracked using the iOptron SkyTracker Pro.
Canon 6D 300-seconds at f/3.5, ISO 640 on the Rokinon 14mm Lens.

The foreground was taken just after sunset to reduce noise and increase visible details.
Canon 6D 1/100 sec at f/ 7.1 ISO 1600 14mm

This is technically a composite since I moved my tripod to visit another location and then returned to Sunset Point to track the stars later that night. I use the Photopills app to visualize the location of the Milky Way and ensure accurate placement.

05/28/2026

Talk about lucky timing. This plane perfectly crossed in front of the Moon. It was a pleasant surprise since I missed seeing it live.

78% Waxing Gibbous Moon
Video taken on August 15, 2024, with the Finder TW2 telescope and DS1 Hawkeye camera.

05/26/2026

Total Lunar Eclipse from five years ago today. I almost missed this one because of the clouds, but my kids’ poor sleeping habits helped me out.

Sometimes seemingly bad things like your children waking you up in the middle of the night can lead to discovering that the clouds have parted to give a little glimpse at a total lunar eclipse. I didn’t have time to travel far, but the motorists heading to work were nice enough to help me with light painting in this location.

I’m Carly from DarkSkyUtah, and I help photographers capture the night sky. If you’d like monthly photography tips, Milky Way planning info, and upcoming sky events, comment DIGEST, and I’ll send you the link.

Lunar Eclipse of May 26, 2021, in Utah, USA
Canon 6D 0.6 sec at f /3.2 ISO 1600 on the Canon EF 50mm f-1.8 II-2 lens

05/24/2026

Choosing camera settings for night photography may seem daunting. I’ll walk you through setting the shutter speed for your night sky image. Share this post with a friend who would find it useful.

I’m Carly from DarkSkyUtah, and I help photographers capture the night sky. If you’d like monthly photography tips, Milky Way planning info, and upcoming sky events, comment DIGEST, and I’ll send you the link.

# photographytraining

05/22/2026

Airglow is caused when the gases in our atmosphere absorb UV light and X-rays. The gases absorb this extra energy, bumping the molecules into an excited state or causing them to disassociate or separate.

The state is unstable, so the gases must release light energy to recombine or become stable molecules again. The different gases emit signature colors, so scientists can tell what is happening in the atmosphere from the color.

We can’t see airglow unless there isn’t much light pollution. Capitol Reef has some of the darkest skies of the Big Five national parks. So you can catch airglow.

When processing images, I try to use the Milky Way core as my reference point for color, because the sky’s color can vary. Keeping the core color constant will make it less likely that you will mess up the white balance due to airglow or foreground color. Sometimes this means you have to use a mask and adjust the foreground and sky color separately.

61-image time-lapse video on June 3, 2022, in Capitol Reef National Park
Canon 6D 20.0 sec at f/ 3.2 ISO 3200 on the Rokinon 14mm lens

05/21/2026

Come sit by the lake and tell it all you’ve been thinking.

This image has gone through some changes. The first is my latest edit that is availaible for purchase as a print on my website. The second is my original edit, and the third slide was one of my first trending audio reels that I came across in my files.

Watching it made me nostalic for the early days of Reels. Social media was a little simpler then and a nicer place to hang out. Before all the AI junk and hate cluttering our feeds.

So find a lake this weekend and enjoy the night sky. Here is a little about the the lake featured in this image.

Yuba State Park in Utah is a great dark-sky location with sandy beaches, nice campgrounds, and lots of room for water recreation. You can even camp on the beach. With low snow levels this year winter, Yuba Lake may not be as full, so make sure you get there early in the season to catch these reflections.

These are ten images stacked to reduce noise in Starry Landscape Stacker.
Canon 6D 13.0 seconds f /3.5 ISO 8000 on the Rokinon 14mm f/2.8

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Dutch John, UT
84023

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https://darkskyutah.com/, https://darkskyutah.com/prints/

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