Desirea Navarro (@desireanavarro) is a Seattle-based traveling photographer whose photography primarily focuses on landscape and nature imagery. She travels often and shares those experiences on her Instagram and YouTube Channel. A few months ago, she shared this image on Instagram. We loved it and sat down with her to learn more about how she took the photograph! Keep reading as she shares the story behind this shot she created using the Sony Alpha 7 III and Sony 20mm f/1.8 G.

Photo by Desirea Navarro. Sony Alpha 7 III. Sony 20mm f/1.8 G. 10-sec., f/1.8, ISO 200

Landscape and travel photographer explains the story behind capturing a ‘happy accident’ astro-landscape and how she edits & shares on the go.

When the pandemic hit life felt really scary and like most of us I felt very lost. That’s when I picked back up a camera again and set out inviting others to “Get Lost With Me”. I started sharing polls on my Instagram stories and it has blossomed into an interactive community, where they help me decide where I should head next to snap a photo! It’s a really fun way to have a sense of community and has helped people, including myself, feel less stuck. 

Running Out Of Time, Then Finding A Scene


In this particular scene I was actually headed to the Monument Valley for a sunset shoot but as life would have it traffic, car issues and road fatigue had me very late to the shoot. I ended up looking up something closer and that’s when I set my heart on Valley of the Gods. As you can tell from how dark the photo is I didn’t make it there in time either! So I stopped to set up camp for the night. I had zero intentions of taking photos at this point but my surroundings were incredible and I wanted so badly to capture what I was seeing. At this point I’d had very little experience taking photos at night so I was scrambling to set up my tripod in the pitch black covered in dust before curling up in the rooftop tent.

This is the photo I captured before turning around and noticing how interesting my lights looked against the underside of the camper highlighting the details of the car. That’s when I changed my focus and my camping setup.

Photo by Desirea Navarro. Sony Alpha 7 III. Sony 20mm f/1.8 G. 20-sec., f/1.8, ISO 100

Making The Image


For these shots I used my Sony Alpha 7 III paired with the Sony 20mm f/1.8 G which was absolutely key in getting these night shots coupled with such beautiful detail because of the 1.8 aperture. I got this particular shot by using a tripod, the 2-second timer feature and 10-second exposure but looking back I could just as easily have used the Edge app as a remote and done maybe 6-8 seconds because the 20mm f/1.8 G is such an incredible low light lens.

At first I thought maybe I wanted to feature my rooftop tent but as time went on the lights against the sharp features of the car are what stood out the most. Don’t get me wrong, the sky was also incredible but the moon made it challenging to focus on along with the constantly changing clouds, so this was a very fun compromise.

Sharing In Real Time


Then I used one of the best features of the Sony camera - the Imaging Edge app! Because I’m traveling and interacting with people on my stories I really enjoy posting in real time so they can see what they voted for come to life! So I transferred the photos to my phone and used Lightroom Mobile to edit a version of the photo and post to my socials.

Editing On The Go


Because I was traveling and didn’t want to open my laptop so late, I transferred the photos to my phone and used Adobe Lightroom mobile. I have my presets saved on both my laptop and mobile version so I can produce equally beautiful photos if I’m not in front of a computer.

I ended up lowering the exposure a lot and just really focusing on bringing out the details of my car and the lights themselves. All in all a happy accident as Bob Ross would put it. Photography has a way of teaching us to see the beauty in the world, to truly seek it out. And that even when things don’t go according to plan we can still do our best to make the most of it.



See more of Desirea Navarro’s work on Instagram @desireanavarro.