Seven Sisters of the Moon

Seven Sisters of Valley of Fire State Park

On a recent trip to Valley of Fire State Park, I arrived early.  I was hoping to be present for the sunrise and even consider doing some night photography.

Night photography requires a few elements in the subject for it to be successful.  Typically there needs to be something that extends vertically into the sky, there needs to be some movement either in the clouds or the stars.  If the stars are the subject, everything else can be dark.  If the stars are not the subject, there needs to be enough light to show some of the land.

On this particular evening, I had a full moon.  There were some clouds that were moving by relatively quickly.  I decided to stop next to the road at the rock formations known as the "Seven Sisters."  In what is the controversial subject, the state park has put a lot picnic tables between these beautiful rock formations.  That's very nice for picnics but it kind of spoils the view for a photographer.  At nighttime, I pulled off to the side of the road and composed the rock formations in such a way as the picnic tables could not be seen.  I did not have to clone anything out with shop.  I simply moved around the landscape until I had a viewpoint which showed what I wanted to show and hid what I wanted to hide.

This is a longer exposure.  The moon was actually very bright and illuminated the rocks beautifully.  Because the moonlight and the 7 sisters combined in such a nice way, I have titled this photograph "Seven Sisters of the Moon."