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#joshuatreenationalpark #joshuatree #jt #parkinglot #bridge #person #silhouette
#joshuatreenationalpark #joshuatree #jt #parkinglot #bridge #person #silhouette
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Oct, 2016Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
I took this photo at Joshua Tree National Park, and the bridge is actually the bridge you encounter when you first exit the parking lot and enter the trail in the park. For me personally, I find this location very special to me since it was the first time I decided to travel outside of my comfort zone, and was home to the first area that I experimented with astrophotography, and immediately fell in love with it.Time
There was multiple times I visited this area from the moment the sun went down to early the next morning. This shot specifically was shot during daylight savings time, and one of the times I visited before this photo was taken, I realized the moon did not rise until later in the evening, therefore, letting the stars shine with more accumulation in quantity. After realizing this, we went out around 5pm and shot this photo a couple hours later when we were about to leave.Lighting
Given past experiences of visiting the location, I remembered the radial yellow light that gave way from the city lights and cars further down the mountain, so I knew that would look amazing for the landscape itself. Given that I previously photographed it as a landscape, I wanted to include something in the foreground that added to the story of the image. I placed a speedlite at the bottom of his feet and used it to give a more powerful feel to his presence being there. (especially with him centered in the image)Equipment
This was shot on a Canon 6D with my Rokinon 14mm at a shutter speed of 30 seconds. I used my Vanguard Alta Pro 263AB 100 Aluminum Tripod Kit which helped because of the sturdiness of its weight. The flash used was a NEEWER TT560.Inspiration
I initially go into each photo trip with a premeditated idea, but almost always do I prefer something we come up with spontaneously whilst on location. We were actually just about to leave the park, when I saw my friend Ryan (model in photo) walking in front of me on the bridge and I looked out to the horizon to see this amazing light come from the city below, and thought it might be a great shot with an even better story attributed to it. I thought about how many people look to the night sky for answers to their future hence the title.Editing
I took the photo into Lightroom and adjusted the exposure to be a bit brighter to show more stars, added contrast to make them pop more than the foreground, and added some clarity to the photo to give the stars a crisper look overall. I did a temperature change to have it be more cool so I could bring out the different blue hues that exist within the sky.In my camera bag
I actually just recently got gifted a new bag that houses all of my lenses and my camera! I usually have a Canon 6D as my body and carry with me a Rokinon 14mm, Canon 85mm, Canon 17-40mm, Canon 50mm, and a Tamron 70-200mm. I also always have at least one NEEWER TT560 Speedlite in my bag just in case I wanted to add something to the foreground in the photo, or have something pop in the image itself.Feedback
If you are chasing the stars for the night, avoid going on a night with the moon out (check the moon phase calendar), because when it is gone, the most amount of stars can be seen in the sky. I also use darksitefinder.com/map/world.html to find the best light pollution areas to photograph. If you are specifically going to Joshua Tree, it can get more dark than expected and I recommend having headlamps or flashlights on hand in case it is hard to see what is in your foreground.
