I have the opportunity to hitch a ride with some friends who are going out there dirt bike riding. I plan on bringing my street bike and going only to take photos. I’ve been to Moab a few times before but for only dirt bike riding. I have the book (southwest photography Vol 1 by Laurent Martres) and also searched this site for photo ops. What I really would like are suggestions for night photography, it will be close to a full moon while I’m out there and I would love to take advantage of that. Any ideas/suggestions would be much appreciated.
Thanks
Kurt
The moon will rise about 7:42pm on the 19th (one day before the full moon), although it seems to be about 1/2 hour later. The sun will set about 7:58pm. That could be very cool, you'll still have light but a nice dark blue sky.
There's plenty of opportunities but you'll only get one 15-20 minute shot at it.
RMC cichlids wrote:
Thanks for the info Ckcarr,
I was also thinking about some places to get star trails.
Well, that would be just about any place you point your camera up and leave the shutter open...
Have you gone into Arches NP, or just ridden your dirt bike? The guide book is good, but seriously, Arches has photo opportunities like every 1/4 mile... it's insane in there. The big ones are Delicate arch and the Windows, and there are 100's (thousands actually) others. Take the hike out to Landscape Arch, lot's of photo ops on the way. If you want to do some night shots, how about some early morning shots of Mesa Arch? It's up in Canyon Lands, about a 45 minute drive, but if you got there say, 3am, did some star shots with it, you would definately be first in line to set up and get the sunrise shots with it.
I knew that last question was just a bit to broad lol
I have driven through arches and canyons on off days of riding, but never really took it all in behind a lens. Moab is an incredible place with lots of photo ops as you say. I’ll have 3 solid days to shoot plus one last sunrise before heading home Sunday afternoon. I would like to mix it in with classic photo ops as well as things that I just happen to come across on hikes and riding around in general. I do need to study more on night photography so I can try to take advantage of the full moon. I tried one night over xmas holiday in Yosemite but other than one shot I got at tunnel view they were not very good. Mesa arch is defiantly a place I want to try for sunrise, I was thinking Delicate arch could be cool at night?
Thanks for all the advice.
Oh definately Delicate arch at night is awesome. You will want to head up there in the afternoon. It's a short little hike, but there will be lot's of people up there scattered about getting ready for the sunset light that turns the arch golden. Once the light is gone though, 99% of everyone leaves. There will be 100 people up there before the sun sets. Within 10 minutes of it setting, there will be 3 people left up there... So then it's easy to set up as the sky gets darker to start doing star shots. The other fun thing to do is to bring a strong flashlight and to paint the arch with light on some of the longer exposures. Or you can use an external flash and manual flash it off to light it up. But the flash light will give you more control.
Arches is amazing - more ground than you can cover. Do some research ahead of time to get a feel for the place.
Park Ave is 'different' - compared to the plethora of arches elsewhere. Landscape Arch is magnificent but then most of them are..... "Firey Furnace" is very much so at sunset.... the changes with the light span an amazing gamut everywhere in the Park.
Moab has a great deal more than Arches though.... Canyonlands isn't that far... "Island in the Sky" is worth a trip - astounding views. Mesa Arch (?) is great at sunrise. Natural Bridges is a longer haul - worth a trip sometime.
Lots of other places not so publicized ..... canyons and petroglyphs........
Ditto on Jim's thought - long exposures with 'painted light' can get really interesting results.
As I said however, you will have limited time to capture the moon, so know where you want to be beforehand. And, just because you see the moon come up at a certain time and location on the 18th, it won't be the same on the 19th... According to one chart I have it rises one hour later each day. And, that chart also shows moonrise at 6:42, not 7:42 as my GPS told me for the above post...
And, if you decide to do the hike up to Delicate Arch for moonrise or night shooting, it goes without saying that you need to have a flashlight and/or headlamp for the hike down. don't count on the full moon. The terrain totally changes and you need to be able to find the cairns, or else it's very easy to start veering off the wrong direction as you see the last car pulling out of the parking lot way off in the distance...
Thanks for all the great ideas guys; I will be riding a BMW K75 street bike with side bags. I defiantly need to read up on night photography some more and read into painting the light with a good flashlight. I have a good black diamond I purchased from backcountry.com last year and it worked well for my last 2 trips GTNP and Yosemite. This week I’m going to make an itinerary and try to stick to it best I can.
If anyone has some sites to check out on painting using a flashlight please let me know. I have an Art Wolfe series on PBS that he did one once for 8hrs and turned out incredible but he did not really go into how he did it.
What are some of the shortest exposures i can get away with for star trails?
And Ckcarr if you have a site handy for when and where the moon comes up that would be very handy to have. Because I think maybe on another nite in the windows section I could try and film the moon coming up in one of the windows??
Thanks again guys.
Hope this turns out to be a great trip!
Personally I like Arches at new moon for star trails. Full moon at sunrise/set is great, but way to hot otherwise. Also shoot a couple of days before full on a sunset so there is still light in the sky so the moon doesn't blow out.
I like balanced rock with star trails too. Any nice arch or figured rock with star trails is cool. There was one member here would shoot the arch during the golden hour, mark the spot so well (or just wait) and shoot star trails of the same cop and layer it. It was excellent!
ckcarr wrote
and, that chart also shows moonrise at 6:42, not 7:42 as my GPS told me for the above post...
Most charts don't show the time with daylight savings time taken into account since it isn't a given (AZ follow it for example).
