Twilight Tailights-3
Shot backside of Maui in desolate Kaupo under a full moon
Shot backside of Maui in desolate Kaupo under a full moon
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Sep, 2015Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
It was taken along the narrow, bumpy, deteriorated, and desolate back road to Kaupo on the island of Maui. (There's actually a line item on your car rental contract stating that you agree NOT to travel along this particular road.)Time
I truly love late night shooting; it's the stillness and quiet solitude that allows me to sense a shot and work it until completion. The mysteriousness of the full moon landscape and the oftentimes spookiness of it all really adds drama to any landscape.Lighting
The light of the full moon provides depth and tonal richness to any scene. To me, it is the hidden "magic hour". Afterall, moonlight is sunlight reflected off an 18% gray celestial body.Equipment
"Twilight Tailights 3" was shot using a Nikon d7100 body and a Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 AT-X Pro lens mounted on a vintage Marchioni Tiltall aluminum tripod I affectionately call the "beast". 30.0 sec @ f/6.7, ISO 800Inspiration
My original goal that evening was to capture a shot of one of my favorite waterfalls bathed in the light of the full moon. I set out early so that I could explore any other opportunities that might present themselves along the way. I was not dissapointed. The whole backside of Haleakala was a photographic delight and I had to limit myself so as not to miss the window for the original shot. Time was getting tight and I promised myself that I would not stop the truck again until I got to the waterfall... I no sooner said the words aloud when I came around the corner and saw the silhouette of that gnarly old tree by the side of the road. I was compelled and the truck pulled itself over. I quickly got to work shooting test shots and recomposing the image and soon felt that the shot was captured.. that is until I turned and saw headlights approaching from the distance. What luck!! At this ridiculous hour and so completely far from anything! I waited for what seemed like an eternity, and in fact it was, for this old beat up truck was cruising along at 5mph. Reaalllly slow. So slow that you can see each bump along the road registered in the tailights' long exposure. Sometimes things just have a way of working themselves out. Ultimately, I made it to the waterfall in time. However, the clouds had obscured the light and the ensuing rain ended the shoot. Somehow, I was ok with it all.Editing
I shoot in raw and almost always post process in Lightroom and/or Photoshop. This particular image came out almost perfectly straight out of the camera. I dropped the highlights a bit because of the blown out moon, but that was really all that was necessary this time.In my camera bag
My Canon Powershot S120 is on my person At All Times, in fact it's in my pocket. That little thing is a pocket-sized powerhouse! When I'm on a mission though, the Nikon d7100 has been replaced by a d810 body. Lenses depend on my objective, but the kit is stacked with Nikkor 17-35 f/2.8, nikkor 35-70 f/2.8, nikkor 80-200 f/2.8, nikkor 24 f/2.8 afd, nikkor 50 f/2.8 af, three legged thing roger tripod, yonguo speedlight, grad nd, nd, circular polarizer and 10 stop nd, spare batteries, cards, and lens cleaner.Feedback
Have an idea in mind, but be open to what the journey has in store. If you are looking to create a timed exposure of tailights, you may want to bring a friend along instead of leaving it to chance as I did:) On the technical side, I didn't anticipate the ghosting and flare. Even though it is moonlight, you should still consider a lens hood when composing shots where your lens typically exhibits those effects. The shot I saw was a silhouette compostion. In terms of lighting angles, treat the full moon as though it were the sun. When you take shots with the full moon off to the side and out of the frame, you will achieve beautiful exposures with pinpricks of starlight throughout the sky. Happy hunting!
