About the Image(s)

This unusual formation, located in a remote canyon about 5 miles west of Hanksville, Utah, is variously named "The Space Needle," "Long Dong Silver," or "The Dark Tower." I am sticking with "The Dark Tower" (yes, I am a Stephen King fan!), although if you Google it the middle name is the most common. After flying at nearby Factory Butte, I drove over to the trailhead and hiked out to the site.

It was still pretty early so I got some nice shadows, and I put myself in the image for scale. I manuevered the drone so there was sidelight on the tower to add some depth.

ISO 400, F2.8, 1/640, up about 250 feet on a DJI Air 3S. In post, I fussed with the sky quite a bit because it was quite bright relative to the ground, but other than that just basic processing, set levels, added contrast, etc. Most everything was shades of white or gray so a BnW conversion seemed natural and it emphasized the shadows. I used Nik Silver Effects Pro for this. I like the Toning options this software provides and I used Selenium #4.

If you are ever in the area and want to go to this site, two heads ups. Don't bother to be there right at sunrise or sunset because the canyon walls will block all the light from falling onto the tower. This was shot about an hour after sunrise. And download from the internet driving instructions to the trailhead and follow them carefully. It is a confusing two mile drive with no landmarks and many tire tracks. From the trailhead the hike to the site is not especially navigationally challenging.