Friday, September 23, 2011
After work on Friday, Amanda and I headed down to Moab to meet a few friends at the Moab Brewery for a birthday party and some burgers. After dinner we hiked up to the Moab Maiden in the dark so that I could attempt some night photography there again. Here’s a few of my photos from the night.
This is probably my favorite photo from Friday. I was able to frame the shot so that the Big Dipper was right over the large boulder containing the petroglyph.
Under the Dipper by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr
This one didn’t turn out as well as I had hoped, so I guess I will have to try again sometime in the future.
Milky Way Princess by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr
I have taken a photo of the Moab Maiden with star trails before, but I wanted to attempt the shot again. I think this one turned out better than the last, but I’m still not entirely happy with it. Either way, we had a nice evening watching the sky. We even spotted a few shooting stars.
Maiden Star Trails by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr
My friend you have amazing talents – Utah is a beautiful state and I love visiting. I have seen the Moab Maiden – yet I do not have skills in capturing stars. How do you photograph stars without any movement? Are you choosing I high ISO and then light painting your subject?
To capture stars without any movement you need to use a very wide lens and keep your exposure under 30 seconds. In order to do that I needed to use a high ISO and I did bounce some reflected light onto the petroglyph (direct light was too harsh and washed out the petroglyph).
THANKS FOR THE INSIGHT. I WISH YOU WELL IN YOUR PURSUIT.
Hi Randy
Just an update – I visited the Maiden last Wednesday night prior to the moon appearing. I shot some rather nice shots with fill flash and the dusk afterglow. However, when I set up for light painting and stars, I was greeted by bats swooping down on me – they may have been attracted to either my 3 days of campsite musk or the red LED lamps I use. Unfortunately, they were relentless that evening and I packed up early to escape. It was a surreal experience as they thumped by head continuously. Maybe I should have pulled a Peter Lick and kept shooting. My Best to You -and if you would like to see my shots – what best to get in contact with you? Tom