I had planned on going shooting this past Friday, but some plumbing issues ended up keeping me home until just before sunset. I rushed out to Gates Pass thinking that maybe I could get some sunset shots, despite it being a pretty boring (cloudless) day. I pulled up with literally 10 minutes to spare before sunset and tried to get a few shots in. There wasn't time to hike to a good vantage point, and so I really didn't get anything too exciting, although there were one or two shots that I did end up processing.
I decided that since the sunset was a bust, I'd head out into the desert to a spot that I like with a great grouping of 3 impressive saguaros standing kind of on their own. With no moon out, maybe I'd get some good night shots. In the end, after trying several compositions, I realized the milky way was vertical and could be placed just-so among the cacti. I'm no milky-way shooter, by any means, and now, a day or so later, I realize a few things I could have done to make my shots easier to take and probably yield better results. It didn't help that it was windy as all get-out, BTW. Anyway, here's the real keeper from the evening:
#1:
Here's another I couldn't help but take in the parking area when I got back to the car:
#2:
All in all it was a fun night out and, the wind aside, it couldn't have been better weather. It was a learning experience too, both from a shooting perspective, and a milky-way processing perspective.
Nice way to spend an evening!
Handheld or tripod?
This is really exposed well!
Dan
Just fyi..I was on "night maneuvers" in the mountains around Ft Huachuca in So AZ.......It was early December 1967..The sky was ablaze in celestial splendor!
