p.1 #1 · Joshua Tree NP, Pinto Basin Milky Way pano
I wanted a completely unique Joshua Tree NP Milky Way pano, so I scoured Google Maps for several hours. I noticed that the road leading south into Pinto Basin was curvy, but ran perpendicular to the way the Milky Way lines up. This would be great, as the car lights create that sense of depth and leading line even though I don't really have a great foreground.
So...In April, I set out to create the shot you see below, but it was unseasonably cold, (48 degrees), and I was not prepared, so I only captured the pano of the sky knowing i'd have to return another day for the ground exposures. I took the sky pano about 2 miles down the road in the posted image at the "Cholla Cactus Garden".
Last night I returned to get my ground and car light stack. I parked along the road, and hiked about 1/8th a mile up a hill. During "blue hour", I took my 4 ground exposures. I then waited and started taking long exposures of cars driving on the road to get the light trails. I ended up only needing four car exposures, but I had to wait about an hour after I took my ground exposures when it was really dark, and I could take 4 minute exposures. I think I was perched on that hill for ~2 total hours, (from 7:45 to 9:45).
So...the image below is the finished product. The MW is lined up in its proper orientation, as I took a couple of reference photos last night just to be sure.
All exposures taken with Fuji X-T2 and Fuji 16mm F/1.4
Sky = 4 tracked exposures
Ground without cars = 4 exposures
Car lights = 4 exposures.
