How to Plan, Shoot and Edit a Milky Way Arch Panorama (Part I)

Note: This is the first in a two-part series about creating a Milky Way panorama. Part I, below, covers planning and shooting. Come back next weekend for Part II, in which Tim Cooper goes over how to put it all together in post.


Weโ€™re a little more than half way through โ€œMilky Way Seasonโ€โ€”the time of year when itโ€™s easiest to see and photograph our galaxy. And thereโ€™s plenty of time left to shoot Milky Way panoramasโ€”the technique that results in the iconic image of the galaxy arching from horizon to horizon (which I like to call โ€œstarbowsโ€).

Here are a few examples from myself and my National Parks at Night partners:

This technique requires shooting multiple photographs, which means youโ€™re creating a composition that will require stitching during post-processing.

Letโ€™s walk through all the steps it takes to make a Milky Way panorama happenโ€”from planning to scouting to gear to shootingโ€”so that you can go forth and make your own!

When is the best time of year?

You can capture the Milky Way any time of year, but capturing the galactic coreโ€”the brightest and most notable portionโ€”happens only at certain times of the year. The galactic core is what most people want to see and shoot. Similarly, you can see the arch of the Milky Way any time of yearโ€”itโ€™s just without the core during certain months.

Furthermore, capturing an arch that spans from horizon to horizon, that includes the galactic core and that happens during nighttimeโ€”this all comes together during a limited window of the calendar. And this varies a bit depending on where you live.

Northern World

In the northern hemisphere, the galactic core can be photographed from the end of March to the beginning of October. Common wisdom is that โ€œprimeโ€ viewing dates are late April to late July, because thatโ€™s when the galactic center is visible for longer during the night. But every season has disadvantages to be aware of:

  • In early spring the core rises very lateโ€”or early, depending on how you look at itโ€”either way, well after midnight. Most people donโ€™t want to stay up that late or get up that early.

  • In midsummer the core is technically above the horizon longer, but there are fewer hours of darkness to shoot in. Late sunsets = less night.

  • As of August the core is too high above the horizon to create panoramas with the longer range of wide angle lenses (e.g., 35mm), so youโ€™ll be cornered into using the superwide familyโ€”think 15mm, 14mm, 11mm. (More on lens choice later.) You might even need to let the Milky Way arch out of the composition (see Chrisโ€™ Devils Tower pano above).

  • In September and early October the core is setting not terribly long after twilight endsโ€”so again, not a lot of time to shoot.

Southern World

In the southern hemisphere, the galactic core is visible from February to the beginning of October. Between April and August are the best months to photograph the Milky Way because of the much longer nights, but the prime of that time falls in the middle of winter (brrrr).

For the rest of this article, I will focus on the Northern Hemisphere, where I spend most of my time. But the techniques apply to our southern night photographer friends as well.

For ideal lack-of-light conditions, consider shooting during the few days before and after new moon.

When is the ideal moon phase?

To best capture the delicate features of the Milky Way in all its glory, you ideally want to shoot when the moon is not lighting the sky. That means the four nights prior to or after the new moon.

But this poses a problem: Without moonlight, how do you illuminate the foreground?

Being an astro-landscape photographer, I want the people viewing my images to see context. So the landscape needs light. You can make a Milky Way pano image while the moon is present. But keep in mind, you will lose the dimmest of the stars to moonlight in the atmosphere. So I like to choose a time when the moon is 60 to 90 degrees away from the coreโ€”i.e., a crescent. And the dimmer, the betterโ€”around 20 percent is ideal, give or take.

If you shoot in complete darkness, to reveal the foreground, consider Low-level Landscape Lighting, traditional light painting, or making a second run of panoramic images at a longer exposure length and perhaps a lower ISO for more quality. (For more on that last option, see Gabeโ€™s write-up about his Hovenweep photo.) Or โ€ฆ embrace the dark. Use silhouettes with intent. Darkness is OK if harnessed with skill.

Scouting

First, check your weather. I prefer the Weather Underground app, but use whatever works for you.

Weather Undergroundโ€™s prediction for Bryce Canyon National Park. Looks great for night photography!

Choose someplace dark. Why? The Milky Way has a lot of subtle, faint parts, so give yourself the best chance for success by choosing a location away from light pollution. When shooting in Bryce Canyon with Tim Cooper this past Juneโ€”specifically, in Fairyland Canyon, where we intended to make a panoโ€”we knew we could expect great dark skies, because we had e-scouted the location with Light Pollution Map:

Light Pollution Map rendering of the Bryce Canon region.

I also love using the PhotoPills๏ปฟ app to drop a pin and then scrub though which night is best. I look for when twilight is just ending, and the arc of the arch.

PhotoPills Planner view of the Fairyland Canyon pano.

Gear

In addition to a capable camera for night photography and an intervalometer, I recommend the following:

โ— good tripod (like my trusty Gitzo Traveler Series 2)

โ— panoramic leveling base (like my Acratech)

โ— good ball head (like my Acratech GP-ss)

โ— nodal rail (like my Acratech Nodal Rail)

โ— L bracket (like my Acratech Universal L Bracket)

โ— a lens focal length somewhere between 14mm and 50mmโ€”preferably 20mm to 35mm, and preferably a prime lens

Starting from the ground up:

  1. Get your tripod legs spread wide. Get it tightened up and as stable as possible.

  2. Mount the leveling base on the tripod legs. Level it. (If you donโ€™t have a leveling base, then level the tripod itself using a built-in or external bubble level, adjusting each leg accordingly.)

  3. Mount your ball head on top of the leveling base. Level that.

  4. Mount your nodal rail to your ball head.

  5. Secure your L bracket on your camera and mount the camera on the tripod in vertical position. (Vertical frames will give you more information to work with than horizontal frames will. Always shoot pano frames vertical.)

  6. Mount your lens. Historically I used my Sigma 35mm f/1.4 Art lens for pano stitches. I find its flat field makes stitching easier with less overlap. But lately Iโ€™ve fallen in love with the Viltrox 20mm f/1.8, because it comes in a Nikon Z-mount and is crazy-easy to focus manually.

  7. Attach your intervalometer.

Why the nodal rail?

If you have elements in your foreground that have to be stitched, using a nodal rail properly will eliminate parallax. That will make your pano stitching software very happy.

Essentially, to set up a nodal rail, you place something tall and skinny close to your camera, such as a street sign, lamp post or tree, or even another photographerโ€™s tripod with the center column raised. Then rotate your pano base left and right, observing the item. Slide the nodal rail forward and backward until the test object doesnโ€™t move left or right when you swing your camera. Thatโ€™s the point at which youโ€™ve eliminated parallax.

Camera Settings

OK, letโ€™s lock down a few variables and settings to get the pano shot right.

Focus

If possible, focus during daytime and tape it down with gaffer tape. (Or, use other ways to get proper focus.)

Exposure

Now we are getting serious! You have to chooseโ€”are you shooting to:

โ—       share on a small to medium screen, or

โ—       print and/or sell

If the former, use the 400 Rule to determine your longest viable shutter speed; if the latter, use the NPF Rule. I want sharp stars, so I use the NPF Rule on Default. But Iโ€™m not making wall murals, so I donโ€™t choose the Accurate setting.

Here are my settings for the Bryce Canyon pano:

  • ISO: 6400

  • Aperture: f/2.8

  • Shutter speed (with intervalometer): To test different focal lengths, I used the NPF Rule with three lensesโ€”the Zeiss 15mm Distagon f/2.8 (18 seconds), Viltrox 20mm f/1.8 (14 seconds) and Sigma 35mm f/1.4 Art (8 seconds). (More on the results when we get to the post-processing in Part II.)

Framing

Face east. This is the center of your panoramic image. Look left, then right. Your pano stitch will begin to the north and end facing south. And this will move more to the right as the galactic core rises and the Milky Way rotates clockwise. (Reminder: Iโ€™m speaking specifically about the Northern Hemisphere.)

Then you shoot, one frame at a time, moving left to right, overlapping at least one-third. (That is, including one-third of what was in the last frame in the current frameโ€”overlapping visual information, so the software has context when it starts stitching.) Repeat as many times as you need to cover the range of your composition.

Notice I say at least one-third. I always overshoot panoramas. Meaning, I overlap each frame way more than I geometrically need toโ€”approximately 50 percent, to be approximately precise. Why? I want to give the post-processing program as much information as possible to stitch a great pano; those extra pixels are a good hedge on your photo bets. If you donโ€™t give your stitching program enough to work with, you failโ€”and going back is kinda hard, right?

When rotating the camera between frames, I do not use the markings on the base of my ball head. With my eye, I look at something in my frame that is in the middle, then loosen the pano base and rotate the camera until that object almost hits the left edge of the frame.

PhotoPills angle of view data for my 20mm mounted on my Z 6.

Yes, you can instead use the degree markings on your ball head to do this more precisely. I choose not to, and I see no ill effect on the final image due to opting for this preference. But if you want to use math to capture accurately spaced pano slices in the fewest number of frames, then look up the angle of view for your lens (you can do this in PhotoPillsโ€”and remember to look up the angle for portrait mode), then divide it by 2 or 1.5. The result is the number of degrees you rotate the panning base on your ball head between each frame.

For example, see the included screen shot. PhotoPills reveals that the angle of view for my 20mm mounted on my Z 6 is 61.72 degrees. To make the math easy, letโ€™s call it 60 degrees. (Even when being precise, we really only need to be approximately precise.) Divide 60 degrees by 2, and that tells me to rotate my camera 30 degrees between frames. On a ball head with markings at the base, itโ€™s more than easy to see when youโ€™ve moved the camera 30 degrees.

Shooting

Now โ€ฆ go for it! You are ready. Make those exposures.

All my frames for the Bryce Canyon pano, from each of the three lenses.

Points to Review

Your keys to success:

  • Lock and unlock your pano head for every exposure. Itโ€™s a pain, but one little slip in your sequence and you cannot stitch it! Itโ€™s soul-crushing. Believe me.

  • Use the start-stop on your intervalometer (as opposed to pressing the bodyโ€™s shutter release) to eliminate camera shake.

  • Make the pano exposures back to back, one immediately after the other. Donโ€™t dally. Stars move a lot in 8, 10, 20 seconds. Too much time between your frames will make bad panos or awkward duplications of stars in the overlapped areas. Astronomers and pixel-peepers will notice.

Post-Production

Those are the nuts. Now for the bolts. (And by โ€œnowโ€ we mean โ€œnext week.โ€)

Iโ€™m going to hand off this topic to Tim, who in our next post will cover how to process these frames into a glorious stitched panoramic image. Stay tuned!

Matt Hill is a partner and workshop leader with National Parks at Night. See more about his photography, art, workshops and writing at MattHillArt.com. Follow Matt on Twitter Instagram Facebook.

UPCOMING WORKSHOPS FROM NATIONAL PARKS AT NIGHT

Seizing a World of Nights: Announcing Our 2020 Workshops and Tours

As we enter our fifth year of workshops, I must simply say, we are so very humbled and grateful for all of youโ€“readers, attendees, friends and all.

Now โ€ฆ itโ€™s time to announce our 2020 itinerary! Our dream locations span the world. From coastlines to mountain peaks, boats to four-wheel-drives, we will explore this amazing planet and work together on capturing photos of the darker side of its beauty.

Letโ€™s go find those amazing places, improve our skills and become the best night photographers we can be.

Note: Several workshops have already sold out. As always, we announced them to our alumni and our email list first. However, if that workshop truly speaks to you, be sure to sign up for the waitlist! There is no fee to do that, and weโ€™ve had many waitlisters become happy alumni! See our 2020 Workshops page for updates on what is sold out and what is still open.

Joshua Tree National Park

Joshua Tree National Park

A Slight Change in Direction

You may notice above that we're going to Joshua Tree this year. Didn't we do that in 2017? Yes, we did.

From our beginning, we have been committed to offering a workshop at every U.S. national park, one at a time, without repeating. However, for four years weโ€™ve heard the refrain from our most loyal attendees: โ€œPlease go back; we want a chance to go with you.โ€ So weโ€™ve listened, and weโ€™re adjusting our mission. We are still committed to running a night photography workshop at every national park possible, creating new experiences, exploring new places, seizing new nights. But we will also do this: Once per year, we will host a workshop in one of the parks weโ€™ve visited before. For you. Because youโ€™re right. These places are too amazing not to revisit.

And this year we start with Joshua Tree, a gem of the desert in southern California.

Our 2020 Night Photography Workshops & Tours

Without further adoing, below is what weโ€™re up to in 2020. This includes all our workshops and tours. A simple rundown, with links, dates, photos and brief descriptions. A ton more info is available about each event by simply clicking on the links provided.


Passport Series Workshops

Our signature event workshops. We take a deep dive into a national park, and a deep dive into the fundamentals and intricacies of night photography, exploring and photographing some of the most beautiful places that have been set aside for the preservation and enjoyment of all. Involves shooting every night, and at least a partial daytime curriculum of lessons and/or image reviews.

  • Joshua Tree, April 25-30

  • Shenandoah, June 6-12

  • North Cascades, August 2-7

  • Badlands, August 9-14

  • Yellowstone, September 20-25

Joshua Tree National Park

Joshua Tree National Park encompasses sections of two different desertsโ€”the Mojave and the Coloradoโ€”both full of opportunities for remarkable images. We will extensively explore this IDA Dark Sky Park. People come for the trees and bouldering on the rock during the day, but at night these features take on a heightened surreality and make for great foreground subjects while the Milky Way stretches across the sky. We will also have special access to Keys Ranch, a photogenic โ€œghost ranchโ€ that has several buildings, old cars and lots of machinery to light paint. The workshop will feature dark starry skies, Milky Way explorations, as well as a gentle waxing moon that we can mix with our light painting to create wonderful night images.

Dates: April 25-30, 2020
More Information: Joshua Tree National Park

Shenandoah National Park

Road-trip through time as we fully immerse ourselves in the scenic Shenandoah area. Weโ€™ll visit historic towns like Harpers Ferry and venture deep into the surreal underworld of the Luray Caverns. Then of course there is the 105-mile Skyline Drive, which features 75 beautiful overlooks of the rolling Blue Ridge Mountains. Weโ€™ll do some daytime hikes to photograph waterfalls, and nighttime shoots to capture the Milky Way rising above the Appalachians. You are sure to enjoy an incredibly immersive experience in our nationโ€™s 20th national park.

Dates: June 6-12, 2020
More Information: Shenandoah National Park

North Cascades National Park

In the northern regions of Washington state, some of the least-visited and most beautiful mountains in the U.S. rise dramatically from the landscape under untainted dark skies. An alpine wilderness rife with dramatic peaks, lush forests, placid lakes, gushing waterfalls, curious wildlife and more. We will explore by day and night, visiting and photographing different regions of this peaceful, special place.

Dates: August 2-7, 2020
More Information: North Cascades National Park

Badlands National Park

Nestled in the Northern Great Plains, Badlands National Park comprises 244,000 acres of otherworldly landscapes, grassy prairie and wildlife such as bison, black-footed ferrets, mountain goats and bighorn sheep. Weโ€™ll be visiting during the 2020 Perseid meteor shower, and will be focusing on capturing the incredible eroded landscapes with Milky Way, meteors and some moonlight.

Dates: August 9-14, 2020
More Information: Badlands National Park

Yellowstone National Park South

At well over 2 million acres, Yellowstone is the second largest park in the lower 48. Covering three different states, this park has such a diversity of scenery and biospheres that we decided it was just too much to cover in one workshop! This, the first of our Yellowstone workshops, will cover the southern end of the park. From the Upper Geyser Basins and Old Faithful to the awe-inspiring yellow stone walls of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, weโ€™ll explore and photograph some of the more iconic features in the southern half of our first national park.

Dates: September 20-25, 2020
More Information: Yellowstone National Park South

Adventure Series Workshops

A workshop or tour that explores one or more of the many inspiring night photography locations in North America. Examples include national monuments, national forests, scenic byways, urban ruins and more. May also include specialty experiences in narrowly defined regions of national parks, or even narrowly defined themes in broader spaces. May or may not involve a formal daytime education component.

  • Charleston March 29-April 3

  • Trona Pinnacles & Alabama Hills, May 4-9

  • Maineโ€“Mid-Coast, July 12-17

  • Maineโ€“Monhegan Island and Acadia, July 19-24

  • Colorado High Country, October 4-9

Charleston

This gem of the south is a night photographer's dream. We'll explore the naturalโ€”the boneyard beaches, the sandy shores, the dark skies over the Atlantic. And we'll explore the man-madeโ€”the cobblestone streets, the Civil War forts, the historic cemeteries. And so much more. Welcome to the ghosts and charm of one of America's prettiest cities.

Dates: March 29-April 3, 2020
More Information: Charleston

Trona Pinnacles & Alabama Hills

Two fantastical places in the southern California desert, both known for rock formations that photographers love to make art with. Trona Pinnacles, a collection of 500 spires of rock rising from a dry ancient lake bed. And the Alabama Hills, a set of arches and other formations in the stark and mesmerizing Owens Valley. We'll be there in full moonlight for a light painting-intensive workshop, capturing the nighttime beauty of these surreal and wild places.

Dates: May 4-9, 2020
More Information: Trona Pinnacles & Alabama Hills

Maineโ€“Mid-Coast

The Maine coast epitomizes coastal New England. Rocky points extending out into the sea, spruce forests and sandy beaches, small harbors full of fishing boats and lobster traps, villages with country stores, churches and lighthouses. Weโ€™re used to seeing iconicโ€”or some would say clichรฉโ€”images of this scenery. Weโ€™ll take those photos, and you, a couple of steps further by photographing this quintessential scenery at night, with a special emphasis on techniques for photographing different types of lighthouses.

Dates: July 12-17, 2020
More Information: Maineโ€”Mid-Coast

Maineโ€“Monhegan Island and Acadia

Our night photography expedition of the Maine coast continues for a second week. A small island community, a village surrounded by the Atlantic, a lighthouse standing tall upon a hill, an 80-year-old shipwreck. Then we drive up the coast to an amazing national park, small but diverse, with rocky coastline, crushed-stone carriage roads, the Milky Way hovering above. Monhegan Island and Acadia National Park await, in the dark, ready to be photographed.

Dates: July 19-24, 2020
More Information: Maineโ€”Monhegan Island and Acadia

Colorado High Country

Skies seem clearer at higher elevations and Colorado has plenty of those. Weโ€™ll be exploring the stateโ€™s San Juan Mountain range, which is the largest within the Centennial State and contains some of the highest and most jagged peaks in the lower 48. It also has a ton of jeep roads which allow fun access into these alpine landscapes.

Dates: October 4-9, 2020
More Information: Colorado High Country

Voyager Series Workshops

Photography tours outside the United States, often overseas, sometimes far overseas. We endeavor to trek the globe finding beautiful landscapes and fascinating cultures to immerse ourselves in, especially in the dark. International tours usually forgo classroom or formal meeting time in favor of exploration.

  • Lofoten Islands, March 8-16

  • Orkney Islands, May 16-23

  • East Greenland Schooner, September 4-13

  • Barcelona, November 15-20

  • Easter Island, January 25-February 1, 2021

Lofoten Islands

This will be a winter workshop focused on photographing the rugged snow-covered mountain islands, northern lights, pristine fisherman huts, and the untouched beauty of this remote and breathtaking region of the world. March is a perfect time to visit Lofotenโ€”the milder winter temperatures make the overall experience ideal for catching the auroras over a snow-globe winterscape.

Dates: March 8-16, 2020
More Information: Lofoten Islands

Orkney Islands

During our tour weโ€™ll explore the remarkable ways that past and present collide at the crossroads of the Celtic and Viking worlds. A cluster of 5,000-year-old archeological sites on the archipelago are collectively designated as a World Heritage Site called The Heart of Neolithic Orkney. The main sites consist of two major circles of standing stones, a massive chambered cairn, and the remains of an ancient village that was exposed on a clifftop during a storm in the 19th century. Orcadians live with these monuments in their backyardsโ€”these relics are part of the cultural, as well as physical, landscape that influences the way the locals interact with the world.

Dates: May 16-23, 2020
More Information: Orkney Islands

East Greenland Schooner

Experience the extraordinary scenery and Inuit culture of Greenlandโ€™s captivating coastline. This trip along the striking and sparsely populated east coast of Greenland will begin and end in the village of Kulusuk, but everything in between is truly an exploration. Glacier hikes, stand-up paddleboarding, sea kayaking, and of course photographyโ€“โ€“youโ€™ll have the opportunity to do all of these and more on one of our grandest adventures yet.

Dates: September 4-13, 2020
More Information: East Greenland Schooner

Barcelona

Barcelona, Spainโ€™s premier city of culture and art, is rich in delicious dichotomies. From the 13th century gothic Barcelona Cathedral to the 19th century Art Nouveau masterpiece of the La Sagrada Familia. From the respectful and beautiful graffiti to the citywide art installations. Here world class food, art and architecture are woven together to create one of the most beautiful and photogenic cities in Europe.

Dates: November 15-20, 2020
More Information: Barcelona

Easter Island

Few places on Earth are as mysterious or compelling as Easter Island. The giant stone figures known as Moai oversee this remote island 2,200 miles off of the coast of Chile. Most of Rapa Nui, as itโ€™s known to the locals, is a national park. Not only is it hard to get to Easter Island, it is notoriously difficult to access the park at night. In Late January of 2021, National Parks at Night will be taking a maximum of 12 people for an unforgettable week with the Moai.

Dates: January 25-February 1, 2021
More Information: Easter Island

Skills Development Series Workshops

Classroom- and education-intensive workshop experiences designed to teach specific skills and goals, such as post-processing, night portraiture and the like. Usually comprises more classroom or studio time, but will always include some amount of shooting.

  • Post-Processing Intensiveโ€“Catskill, January 12-17

  • Post-Processing Intensiveโ€“San Francisco, April 18-23

  • Catskill Night Portraiture, October 29-November 3

Post-Processing Intensiveโ€“Catskill

Youโ€™ve spent a lot of time building your camera skills and honing your photographic vision. Now itโ€™s time to take it to the next level. Post-processing has become an integral part of nearly every discipline of photography. Just as the black and white photographers of the 20th century were able to creatively interpret their work in the darkroom, we can now use modern technology to enhance our photos, and even to create images that were impossible only a few short years ago.

Dates: January 12-17, 2020
More Information: Post-Processing Intensiveโ€“Catskill

Post-Processing Intensiveโ€“San Francisco

Same as our post-processing class in Catskill (above), but in the beautiful Bay Area.

Dates: April 18-23, 2020
More Information: Post-Processing Intensiveโ€“San Francisco

Catskill Night Portraiture

Master the fundamentals of night portraiture with our expanded five-night workshop. Mash up night photography with classical portrait lighting to create dramatic long-exposure portraits. Level up your creativity and craft.

Dates: October 29-November 3, 2020
More Information: Catskill Night Portraiture

But Wait, Thereโ€™s More!

Donโ€™t see the perfect fit for your schedule or location? Throughout the year we continually announce our Ambassador Series destinations with our partners at Atlas Obscura, Rocky Mountain School of Photography and more.

Also, remember to always monitor our Speaking Engagements page. We give lectures and photo walks in the New York City area and all over the country. And if you want us to come directly to your camera club or meet-up group, feel free to contact us. (Click here to see what we can offer.)

We also offer one-on-one tutoring in-person or via videoconference that can help you build your portfolio, organize your images or give you targeted, individualized education to elevate your photography skills.

Finally, weโ€™d like to express a deep thanks to all our alumniโ€”the 300-plus fine photographers who have accompanied us over the past 3.5 years to wonderful night photography locations such as Acadia, Big Bend, Biscayne, Bryce, Capitol Reef, Dry Tortugas, Death Valley, Great Sand Dunes, Great Smoky Mountains, Olympic, Redwood, Zion and more. We appreciate you so very much.

Do you want to see their work? Check out this playlist of all the workshop slideshows.

Seize the Night

Are you ready to leap with us into 2020 and beyond? Sign up today to #seizethenight!

Matt Hill is a partner and workshop leader with National Parks at Night. See more about his photography, art, workshops and writing at MattHillArt.com. Follow Matt on Twitter Instagram Facebook.

UPCOMING WORKSHOPS FROM NATIONAL PARKS AT NIGHT

Sometimes it Takes Two Takes: How Revisiting Locations Can Improve Your Night Photos

I learned early on in my career that revisiting sites and images over time can lead to a deeper understanding of the landscape, as well as to better and less obvious photographs. In a way, this is like going back to reprocess an older image after gaining more knowledge of post-processing software, except youโ€™re remaking the image in personโ€”bringing additional personal experience, acquired skill and a more mature mindset to the scene.

Of course, multiple factors can change in addition to the photographerโ€™s vision or perception, most of which have more to do with the location than the photographer. Places are different across the seasons, in different weather and during different phases of the moon.

If you first visit a place in winter, perhaps coming back in early summer to include the Milky Way core in your image would be worthwhile. Other less obvious things can change the nature of a location tooโ€“โ€“a streetlight that has burned out or been replaced, a car parked in an unfortunate spot, or some other distraction that prevents (or creates) an ideal composition.

In this weekโ€™s post, all five of us present examples of photographs that we made on different occasions in the same location.

Panorama Point, Capitol Reef National Park

by Gabe Biderman

I love all the Utah parks, but if you were to ask me which was my favorite โ€ฆ well, Iโ€™d have to tip my hat to Capitol Reef National Park.

I was fortunate enough to visit this Gold Tier International Dark Sky Park twice, the first on an epic road trip with Matt, Chris and my brother-in law Sean in 2016. We stopped at the aptly named Panorama Point and fell in love with the S-curve of the road cutting through the spectacular red rock landscape. We talked about driving the car, with headlights on, down the road to emphasize the line, but Matt suggested that we level up by taking advantage of the carโ€™s moonroofโ€”we could hold his Pixelstick out of it and carve a unique band of light around the curves.

It was a true team effort. I ran all three of our camera rigs from the top of Panorama Point, Matt drove the car without the headlights on, and Chris held the Pixelstick straight through the roof. It took a few attempts under the mostly full moon, but this has remained one of my all-time favorite collaborative images.

Take 1, April 2016. Nikon D750 with a Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 lens at 24mm, light writing with a Pixelstick. 2.5 minutes, f/8, ISO 800.

When Matt and I returned to Capitol Reef to lead a workshop in June 2018, we knew we wanted to share Panorama Point with the group. This time there was no moon and the road that cut through the dark foreground led exactly to the core of the Milky Way. I wasnโ€™t even planning on shooting that night, as I had already taken what I felt was a pretty unique shot of this locationโ€”but this was just too good to resist.

The Milky Way was definitely the dramatic feature and could have very well stood on its own with a thin silhouetted foreground. But I wanted to revisit the road. This time I aimed my camera down the opposite end as it curved toward the core. By total coincidence, a car drove down while I was exposing, and this time it ruined the shotโ€”it was way too bright, despite no one holding a Pixelstick!

Because the conditions were so dark, to get the best image quality I shot multiple high ISO frames that I would later blend in Starry Landscape Stacker. To get a clean foreground with good detail, I let in an additional 3 stops of light and shot at a lower ISO (1600). I then blended the sky and foreground. (You can see how I processed the final image in the video that accompanies the blog post linked above.)

Take 2, June 2018. Nikon D5 with an Irix 15mm f/2.4 lens. Sky composed of multiple frames at 25 seconds, f/2.4, ISO 6400; foreground shot at 13 minutes, f/2.5, ISO 1600.

Mesquite Flat Dunes, Death Valley National Park

by Chris Nicholson

In 1995 I drove cross-country with a college buddy who was also a photographer. When we got to southern California, we saw that our route took us close to, though not through, Death Valley National Park. For a moment we considered veering toward the park, but instead opted to beeline toward the Pacific. Big mistake. Twenty years later, I finally made my way back and instantly fell in love with this stark and beautiful landscape. I developed an affection for this place thatโ€™s so strong, Iโ€™ve returned a half-dozen times in the four years since.

One of my favorite locations in the park to photograph is Mesquite Flat Dunes. Everything about this area lends itself well to landscape photographyโ€”the strong lines of the dune crests, the patches of playa in the troughs, the ripple patterns in the sand, the way light and shadow interplay, the desert-mountain background on every horizon. Really, you canโ€™t go wrong here.

Well, I suppose you can go wrong, and I have, more than once. One case to prove the point: On my third trip to Death Valley, I wanted to locate and light paint a single shrub among the dunes. I found a good candidate, composed it, lit it โ€ฆ and lit it, and lit it, and lit it โ€ฆ and just wasnโ€™t creating what I wanted. I could see the final result in my head, but couldnโ€™t get the light to match it. Eventually I abandoned the idea and moved on to more successful matters.

Take 1, February 2017. Nikon D3s with a Nikon 28-70mm f/2.8 lens, light painted with a Coast HP7R flashlight. 8 seconds, f/8, ISO 200.

Later that year, on my next trip to the park, I was out in the dunes again, determined to find a way to make my old idea work. I adjusted a few things about my strategy:

  • I shot later in the evening, toward the end of twilight, when I could have a nice blue sky but also get some stars.

  • I found a shrub on a more gradual slope, which provided a more uniform background.

  • That slope was also wide, which provided me an angle from which I could backlight while facing downhill, from well outside the frameโ€”which meant I could light paint from one spot to create nice, hard-edge shadows that didnโ€™t drift off the bottom of the frame.

Not only did this approach work much better than what Iโ€™d tried and failed at just 10 months before, but the result ended up being one of my favorite photos of the year. And actually โ€ฆ maybe one of my favorite photos Iโ€™ve ever made in Death Valley.

Take 2, November 2017. Nikon D3s with a Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 lens, light painted with a Coast HP7R flashlight. 20 seconds, f/5.6, ISO 1600.

Marshall Point Lighthouse, Maine

by Lance Keimig

Iโ€™ve had the good fortune to teach at Maine Media Workshops for the last several years, and over the course of five or six workshops there, Iโ€™ve been able to photograph some of the areaโ€™s iconic lighthouses on multiple occasions. Marshall Point Lighthouse is one that never fails to give up a picture that Iโ€™m excited to go home with.

A photographerโ€™s vision may change and develop over time, influencing the way that they might respond to a location. But in the three examples shown here, the local conditions at the lighthouse were more significant than anything else.

I first visited this beautiful Maine lighthouse in August 2016 and had the incredible good fortune to experience a little aurora borealis. That led me to photograph the lighthouse from the south, the opposite from where most people usually set up. The exposure was dictated more by the appearance of the aurora than the lighthouse.

Take 1, August 2016. Nikon D750 with a Sigma 24mm f/1.4 lens. 15 seconds, f/4, ISO 1600.

In June 2017, the beacon had been replaced with a much brighter and cooler LED light source, which changed the scene dramatically, even bathing the shoreline across the bay in bright greenish light. My first thought was that the residents of the homes across from the lighthouse must have been dismayed at the change, as their backyards were continuously illuminated by the crazy-bright light. Fortunately I figured out how to compensate for the brightness, by positioning my camera in a way that prevented the lantern from blowing out completely.

By choosing a closer and lower camera position on the northwest side of the lighthouse, as well as blending separate exposures for the lantern and landscape, I was able to keep the bulb out of the frame and therefore control the exposure better than on my first visit. The Milky Way core is in the background, and dictated the overall exposure. In hindsight, I should have used ISO 100 for the lantern exposure to preserve maximum dynamic range.

Figure 2, June 2017. Nikon D750 with a Tamron 15-30mm f/2.8 lens at 20mm. Two exposures of 1/3 and 20 seconds, f/2.8, ISO 1600.

Finally, in both July 2018 and this past May when I went to Marshall Point, lightning was flashing out at sea. The lightning enhanced the images from those nights, and made for a memorable experience.

I used a longer overall exposure and lower ISO to preserve dynamic range and also to allow more time to increase the chances of catching a lightning strike. As it turned out, I captured three of them! I used Lightroomโ€™s Merge to HDR feature to combine the images. The wider angle of view of the 15mm lens allowed me to include the reflection of the lantern in a puddle in the foreground.

Take 3, July 2018. Nikon D750 with a Tamron 15-30 f/2.8 lens at 15mm. Three blended exposures of 8 seconds, 20 seconds and 110 seconds, f/4, ISO 400.

Zion National Park

by Tim Cooper

Zion National Park just may be my favorite park to photograph. Not because itโ€™s more spectacular than any other park, but because itโ€™s simply so rich with photo possibilities. It seems everywhere you look, there is some version of beauty to capture. Day or night, cloudy or sunny, spring or fall, you can always find a photograph here.

My first visit to Zion was in 1994, and since then Iโ€™ve led workshops there almost every year. Frequenting the park has given me the opportunity to revisit locations that I love.

Iโ€™d had this particular image in my mind for some time but had never been able to pull it off, for one reason or another. Finally during a workshop in 2011 the conditions and timing were just rightโ€”or so I thought. A nearly full moon provided the foreground illumination I wanted, and the semi-clear skies allowed for a chance at good star trails. I located the North Star and framed it with the tree and the distant mountain.

Full-moon nights are tricky conditions for capturing star trails. The brightness helps illuminate the foreground, but makes using long exposures difficult. In this example I had to stop down to f/5.6 to achieve a 12-minute shutter speed. While I liked the shot, I never really loved it. The foreground illumination is uneven, the star trails are a bit short (12 minutes isnโ€™t really long enough when pointing north), and I somehow ended up with a gap in the trails.

Take 1, November 2011. Nikon D700 with a Nikon 24mm f/2.8 lens. 12 minutes, f/5.6, ISO 200.

Fortunately, I was able to visit again the following year. Same place, similar moon phase. But this time I started a little earlier in the evening, which allowed the moonlight to provide more even illumination throughout the foreground. Conditions dictated an aperture of f/8 and a shutter speed of 5 minutes. That was clearly not long enough for star trails, so I needed to shoot multiple frames to stack in post-production. After setting up my composition, I calculated that to get an hour and a half of exposure time, I would need to shoot 18 5-minute exposures. I set my ShutterBoss II intervalometer and sat back to enjoy the night.

My reshoot solved all the problems, and I had an image I was happy with.

Take 2, March 2012. Nikon D700, Nikon 35mm f/2 lens. 18 5-minute exposures at f.8, ISO 200.

Newfound Gap, Great Smoky Mountains National Park

by Matt Hill

Visiting Great Smoky Mountains National Park two years in a row was a real treat. One of my favorite views includes a portal to see the road you drive to get up to Newfound Gap. So, car trails plus star trails!

On my first visit, I had a crazy mix of clouds, thunderstorms and Milky Way. Plus, the namesake smokiness the mountains exude was drifting over the peak into the scene. (I wrote about this photo last yearโ€”see โ€œHow I Got the Shot: Car and Star Trails in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.โ€) It was simply magical. But so much about executing the image involved compensating for obstacles to my vision. Which is fineโ€”thatโ€™s part of photographyโ€”heck, itโ€™s part of art (and life) in general. But I knew there was more potential in that place and in that idea.

Take 1, May 2018. Nikon D850 with a Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 lens. 960 seconds, f/2.8, ISO 400.

This year, I was running a workshop in Great Smoky Mountains with Lance. We took the group (and Chris, who was visiting from nearby!) up to Newfound Gap, and all the obstacles from the year before were absent. The weather was entirely different. Clear. Crisply cold. Expectant. Awaiting the coming moonrise. So I set up to shoot it again. The result was a pastel mix of yellows and greens from the horizon to the star field, and then clear-as-a-bell star trails.

I was smitten. Both photos earned a place for months as the lock screen on my phone. And if I had to choose, I couldnโ€™t say which was superior. I love them both. You?

Take 2, May 2019. Nikon Z6 and a Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8. 871 Seconds, f/4, ISO 200.

We all reshoot, right?

When have you revisited a location to improve upon an idea? Weโ€™d love to see your images and hear your stories!

Please share in the Comments section below or on our Facebook page.

Lance Keimig is a partner and workshop leader with National Parks at Night. He has been photographing at night for 30 years, and is the author of Night Photography and Light Painting: Finding Your Way in the Dark (Focal Press, 2015). Learn more about his images and workshops at www.thenightskye.com.

UPCOMING WORKSHOPS FROM NATIONAL PARKS AT NIGHT

How I Got the Shot: Dueling Dinos in Borrego Springs

Dueling Dinosaurs, Borrego Springs, California. Nikon D750 with an Irix 15mm f/2.4 lens, lit with a Luxli Viola and Maglite Mini. 25 seconds, f/4.5, ISO 4000.

The Location

Ricardo Brecedaโ€™s metal sculptures in Borrego Springs, California, are intense and dramatic with or without light painting. They are incredibly fun to shoot. The 130 sculptures are spread out over about 8 miles of desert, but two of my favorites are a pair of giant dinosaurs that stand together in eternal battle.

The relationship between these two makes for some great composition options. The two dinosaurs are about the same size and roughly 40 or 50 feet apart, although they donโ€™t appear that way in these images. I set up the camera to make it look like the near dinosaur was about to bite off the head of the more distant one.

You can find Ricardoโ€™s two dinosaurs right here.

The Exposure

I was collaborating with Cutler Connaughton, one of our workshop participants when we partnered with Atlas Obscura this past May. We placed our cameras very close together, as there was very limited space to get the alignment just right.

After determining the composition, we focused and decided on the ambient exposure. I was using an Irix 15mm f/2.4 lens, which I can usually shoot at f/2.8 and get incredibly sharp results. But in this case I needed to stop down to f/4.5 for more depth of field. The 400 Rule told me that my longest usable shutter speed for star points with the 15mm was 25 seconds, so I set the ISO accordingly to get an adequate background exposure. Final exposure: 25 seconds, f/4.5, ISO 4000.

This is the final composition without any added light. I thought that it worked as a silhouette, but knew it could be improved with a suggestion of detail. I donโ€™t want to reveal everything with my lightingโ€”I want the viewer to be left with questions. If you have all of the answers with a quick glance, thereโ€™s no need to keep looking at the image, and I want to keep eyes on the picture as long as possible. Nikon D750 with an Irix 15mm f/2.4 lens. 25 seconds, f/4.5, ISO 4000.

The Lighting

This exposure left the dinosaurs completely silhouetted. We needed to add light.

We turned on a Luxli Viola and set it to 10 percent power and 3000 K, and mounted it on a hand-held Elinchrom boom arm. I wanted to use a warm color balance to bring out the rust color of the steel sculptures, which would contrast nicely with the cool natural light.

Ten percent brightness provided just enough intensity to accomplish what we needed during the exposure, while still providing a good amount of control over the added light. Turning up the power of the Luxli would have gotten the job done in less time, but would have been less forgiving if my positioning wasnโ€™t perfect while painting. Every decision I make when creating an image is a compromise, balancing the various elements required to make the shot work.

The Shoot

Cutler triggered both cameras, while I experimented with the lights.

We made a total of 47 exposures of this setup! Refining the composition took five frames, as we had to have our cameras nearly touching and the tripod legs overlapping to make it work. The rest of the exposures involved making slight modifications in the lighting. Itโ€™s not unusual for me to make six to 10 variations to get an image just right, but this one required a lot of perseverance.

The sequence of 47 exposures that Cutler and I made together. The final version actually occurred about two-thirds of the way through the sequence, but we kept at it because we werenโ€™t confident that we had what we were after.

The lighting involved four steps from four different positions, and three of the four steps were done with a single light source during the 25-second exposure. I could have set up multiple lights in fixed positions or lit each part of the scene in separate exposures, but I needed the exercise! I ran from one spot to the next over and over again, reviewing the results with Cutler and making mental notes each time for the next exposure.

The first light position was about two feet behind and over the right shoulder of the foreground dinosaur. This is the main light in the image, and even slight variations in position altered the overall appearance dramatically. The light was about 10 feet off the ground, which is why I was using the boom arm.

I couldnโ€™t tell you how much light was added from each position, but I had good control over the process, and thatโ€™s whatโ€™s important.

The second light position was just out of the frame from camera-right, and slightly behind the foreground dinosaur. The purpose here was to backlight the teeth of the beast to emphasize its ferociousness.

For the third position, I ran further to the right and behind the second dinosaur to light that one. I wanted to show texture as well as detail, so it was important to light from an oblique angle.

Cutler took care of the last detail (from the fourth position), which was to light the left claw of the foreground dinosaur with an incandescent Maglite Mini flashlight, just enough to separate it from the background. The color balance of the Maglite Mini is a little warmer than the Luxli, but against the monochromatic rusted steel, this isnโ€™t noticeable. If Cutler had been using an LED light, the color difference would have been obvious. The mini-Mag was a good choice for this task also because it was both dim and focusable.

I recommend that people count seconds in their head when they light paint to get a repeatable and consistent effect in the image. Iโ€™ve been doing this for so long that I work by what feels right rather than actually timing the light in each position. For this image, I couldnโ€™t tell you how much light was added from each position, but I had good control over the process, and thatโ€™s whatโ€™s important.

The final image, before and after being lit as described in the text. Nikon D750 with an Irix 15mm f/2.4 lens. 25 seconds, f/4.5, ISO 4000.

Location Lighting  vs. Light Painting

Other photographers might have approached this scene differently. Most would probably not have run around tripping over rocks and waving a light on a stick in the dark, but thatโ€™s just the way I roll.

Using fixed-position lights on stands would certainly lead to more consistent results, and most likely fewer overall exposures to get to the end result. To me though, that is simply location lighting, and not light painting. The difference is more than just semanticsโ€“โ€“light painting is an active process that requires a different skill set than location lighting. Both are valid approaches, but the former is what makes my creative juices flow.

The line between light painting and location lighting has blurred in recent years. The term Low-level Landscape Lighting (LLL) has come to be used to describe static lighting in astro-landscape photography (ALP). This is partly out of necessity, and partly due to the development of new technologies such as the Luxli panel light.

When working at the high ISOs required for star points in ALP, itโ€™s difficult to light from multiple positions during a brief 15- to 30-second exposure. With short exposures at high ISOs, itโ€™s also hard to control traditional light painting tools like the venerable Coast flashlights, because they are just too bright for such a sensitive sensor. The amount of time required to adequately illuminate most subjects with a bright light at ALP settings is just a fraction of a second.

This is an outtake, initially overlooked because I was excited about the original concept. This one was made at the very end of the sequenceโ€”it was actually the last shot of the night. After I felt like I had finally nailed the shot we were originally going for, I decided to try a couple of other ideas just to see what would happen. Which one do you like better? Nikon D750 with an Irix 15mm f/2.4 lens. 25 seconds, f/4.5, ISO 4000.

Final Thoughts

I always tell our workshop participants that there is no wrong or right way to do things in night photography. Thatโ€™s what makes this such a great mediumโ€“โ€“itโ€™s incredibly flexible and adaptable to different visions. I donโ€™t try to teach people to do what I do, but how to develop their own techniques and methods to make images that get them excited.

The bottom line is that it doesnโ€™t matter if you do long or short exposures at low or high ISOs, or light with flashlights, strobes or an army of Luxli lights. What does matter is that photographers find a way of working that leads them to grow and that leads them to images that excite them.

Lance Keimig is a partner and workshop leader with National Parks at Night. He has been photographing at night for 30 years, and is the author of Night Photography and Light Painting: Finding Your Way in the Dark (Focal Press, 2015). Learn more about his images and workshops at www.thenightskye.com.

UPCOMING WORKSHOPS FROM NATIONAL PARKS AT NIGHT

Oreos and More: 16 Ways to Celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Moon Landing

Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.
— Neil Armstrong

Itโ€™s here. The Big 5-0. Fifty years since a person first touched a world beyond our home.

I donโ€™t remember this happening. I was still a year and a half fromโ€”as my grandfather would sayโ€”being even a twinkle in my parentsโ€™ eyes. I wouldnโ€™t be born until the latter half of 1971, and Iโ€™d grow up in a world where humankind had already made a giant leap toward the stars.

Yet here I am, in 2019, marveling that this ever happened and celebrating that it did.

How am I celebrating? Well, mostly by conversing with my 6-year-old daughter about it. Last night we talked about Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, and we looked at pictures of the lander and the rover and the rigid U.S. flag.

And now I remember that โ€œmoonโ€ was one of her first words, and how she would delight at seeing it in the night skies of Astoria, Queens, where she lived her first few years, and how when she was 3 she would love to say, โ€œLook, the moon is a crescent, like a croissant!โ€ And how she, even more than me, will grow up thinking that not walking on the moon is just a faint remnant of history.

Before going to bed, she asked if she would ever get to walk on the moon too, and I said maybe. Then I changed my answer. โ€œYes,โ€ I said, โ€œif you want to walk on the moon, then Iโ€™m sure youโ€™ll find a way.โ€

She willโ€”sheโ€™s that kind of kidโ€”determined, unburdened by the nuisance of obstacles. Kind of like that trio of moonwalkers 50 years ago, and kind of like the thousands and thousands of scientists and technicians who helped lift them to the beyond.

Then she asked, โ€œDaddy, can we do it together?โ€

Gosh, I hope so.


16 Ways to Celebrate

Not many things are celebrated by a majority of the world at once. The moon landing was one of the few, and its semicentennial also will be recognized globally. You wonโ€™t be able to escape it on the news todayโ€”heck, you canโ€™t even escape it on our blog.

If you canโ€™t beat a party, then you might as well join one. What can you do to be festive today? Below are 16 ideas.

1. Eat Some Oreos

Nabisco recently released limited edition Marshmallow Moon Oreo Cookies. Not only are they as yummy as the rest of the best Oreos, but the package glows in the dark! In stores nowโ€”if you can still find them.

(Might we also suggest Milky Way and Mars bars? Moon pies? Tang?)

2. Explain Dynamic Range

Moon-landing conspiracy theorists point to many pieces of evidence that a half-century ago NASA produced nothing more than a big show on a sound stage. One of their Exhibits A is that no stars appear in the sky in Buzz and Neilโ€™s photographs from the surface. So for fun, go find a moon-landing denier and explain that the reason no stars appear is because film couldnโ€™t handle the vastly different exposures of the bright surface of the moon and the darkness of space in one perfectly exposed frame. (Lunar module payload didnโ€™t have space for split-ND filters. Duh.)

3. Watch the Movie

Whether on TV, or at a movie or IMAX theater, watch Apollo 11, the full-length documentary released earlier this year. Itโ€™s back in theaters this weekend, is streamable on multiple platforms (Amazon, Google Play, YouTube, et al.), and will be broadcast on CNN twice this evening.

4. Read About a Progmatic Woman

You may have seen this in 2015, but itโ€™s worth a revisit. Check out Wired magazineโ€™s profile of Margaret Hamilton, who, working in โ€œa manโ€™s field,โ€ came to be instrumental in leading the development of the software that powered the Apollo missions. She was such a pioneer in coding that she even co-coined the term โ€œsoftware engineer.โ€ See โ€œHer Code Got Humans on the Moonโ€”And Invented Software Itself.โ€

5. Shoot with Neil & Buzz

The New York Times put together an outstanding interactive digital walk-through of the moon landing, along with photographs the astronauts made both on the surface and on the flights to and fro. Itโ€™s hard to describe this experienceโ€”youโ€™ll need to check it out yourself. See โ€œApollo 11: As They Shot It.โ€

Neil, this is Houston. Did you get the Hasselblad magazine?

Roger, Houston. โ€ฆ Weโ€™re in the process of using up what film we have. Weโ€™ve probably got another half an hourโ€™s worth of picture-taking.

6. Relive the Landing in 3D

Go to your local bookstore and buy Mission Moon 3D: A New Perspective on the Space Race by David Eicher, editor of Astronomy Magazine. The book features stereoscopic versions of famous and lesser-known photographs of the 1960s space race, lending unique visual access to one of the greatest stories of the 20th century. 3D viewing glasses included.

7. Listen to Brian May

On January 1 of this year, the legendary Queen guitarist released a composition called โ€œNew Horizons.โ€ The song is really a celebration of the titular NASA space probe that buzzed a Kuiper belt object, but weโ€™re including it here because May, also an astrophysicist, designed the 3D viewer that comes with the book mentioned in the previous paragraph. Yes, really. Plus, the song could have easily been about flying to the moon for the first time, right?

8. Also Listen to Pink Floyd

Because now that Iโ€™m mentioning it, Dark Side of the Moon will be in your head. Also, itโ€™s where Michael Collins spent half his time 50 years ago today, while he circled over his moonbound friends. (โ€œThere is no dark side of the moon, really. Matter of fact, itโ€™s all dark.โ€)

9. Immerse Yourself in The Atlantic

If youโ€™re not tired of reading (thank goodness, that means youโ€™re still reading this post), then click over to the website for The Atlantic and peruse their 14-article series reflecting on the lunar landing, titled โ€œThey Went to the Moon.โ€ Pieces include:

  • โ€œWhat Is the Apollo 11 Landing Site Like Now?โ€

  • โ€œYour Smart Toaster Canโ€™t Hold a Candle to the Apollo Computerโ€

  • โ€œThe Most Compelling Photo of the Moon Landingโ€

10. See What Neil Armstrong Saw

Using NAC images, moon topography, trajectory data and all sorts of other neat technology, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera folks created a video simulation of what Armstrong saw when the lunar lander was lunar-landing. Check it out on the Arizona State University website.

11. Mail a Letter

Head to the post office (before noonโ€”todayโ€™s Saturday!) to buy some First Moon Landing commemorative stamps, and use one to send a letter to somebody whoโ€™d like to receive a letter from you. Better yet, make it a postcard and tell them youโ€™re vacationing on the shores of the Sea of Tranquility.

12. Watch a Monument Prepare for Liftoff

If youโ€™re in Washington, D.C., head to the National Mall for the National Air and Space Museumโ€™s โ€œApollo 50: Go for the Moonโ€ show, which will culminate with an image of the missionโ€™s full-scale, 363-foot Saturn V rocket projected on the Washington Monument.

13. Build Your Own Lunar Lander

Seriously! Lego lets you do it, and the job entails just 1,087 pieces. (If you count only 1,086, watch where you step with bare feet.) The NASA Apollo 11 Lunar Lander kit will set you back only $100. Think thatโ€™s a lot? NASA spent $240 million on each of theirs. Kit includes Lego Neil and Lego Buzz.

14. Build Your Own Moon!

Four Point Puzzles produced a beautiful 1,000-piece, two-foot circular puzzle of the full moon based on the highest-resolution photo NASA has made to date. (We encourage Four Point to make an easier version based on a waning crescent.)

15. Attend an Event

The U.S. is celebrating the moon landing anniversary everywhere (except the moon, ironically). If youโ€™re interested in learning more about this historic moment, or seeing if you can score some green cheese, look for an event near you. (Know that today is not your last chanceโ€”many of these programs run longer into the year.) NASA and Space.com are here to help, with a list of ongoing events and exhibits, from Houston to Cape Canaveral, from the mountains to the prairies, from sea to shining sea.

16. Finally, Photograph the Moon

Last, but absolutely not least, get outside with your camera tonight and photograph that big gray ball in the sky. Want some help? See our blog posts:

Your Turn!

How will you be observing or celebrating the 50th anniversary of the first manned moon landing? Share in the Comments section below or on our Facebook page. Weโ€™re all in this together. Party on.

Chris Nicholson is a partner and workshop leader with National Parks at Night, and author of Photographing National Parks (Sidelight Books, 2015). Learn more about national parks as photography destinations, subscribe to Chris' free e-newsletter, and more at www.PhotographingNationalParks.com.

UPCOMING WORKSHOPS FROM NATIONAL PARKS AT NIGHT