How might you take a night photo of an observatory near the entrance of Joshua Tree National Park? We take you behind the scenes to discuss photographing this image for a local magazine and some quick problem-solving. And you'll learn more about how to create photos such as this.
When the Door of Opportunity Opens, Walk On Through
Upon occasion, you can make your own opportunities, even when that's not the primary intention. For example, I saw a post on Instagram for a new local magazine entitled "Yucca Brevifolia: The Soul of Joshua Tree." Their aim was to showcase the vibrant region, including the lifestyle, businesses, artists, and cultural richness in the area surrounding Joshua Tree National Park in California and the high desert. The name "Yucca Brevifolia" is another name for Joshua Tree. Intriguingly, they also briefly mentioned the night sky.
As a local night photographer, I was thrilled by this mention. I emailed the magazine, encouraging them to include articles about how wonderful Joshua Tree National Park and the surrounding area were for night photography and how it was a Dark Sky Community.
Ten minutes later, I was surprised to see a reply from the magazine's co-founder and editor. She said that she was interested in having someone write an article and provide photos, asking if I would be interested. She wanted me to connect my passion for night photography in the area with Sky's the Limit Observatory in Twentynine Palms, located next to the East Entrance to Joshua Tree National Park.
I felt excited to write the article. I incorporated two photos from my trove of Joshua Tree National Park photos I had taken throughout the years. However, lacking any images of the observatory itself, I made the drive over there the following evening.
Photographing the Observatory
I arrived at night to find that there was a high school group listening to some of the astronomers talk about the night sky. I photographed them entering the dome observatory during blue hour. They were about to peer through the impressive 14" Celestron telescope within the dome.
The dome opened on top, revealing a dim red glow from the lights inside. Between the intriguing red glow and the beautiful illumination from the nearly full moon, I knew I had to photograph this.
For this photo, I thought I would try to show the passage of time through the movement of stars. I set up at the back of the observatory. I reasoned this would minimize the chances of accidental flashlight beams or someone bumping into my tripod.
I determined the best exposure for a single shot. This largely consisted of making sure that the red glow from inside would not be too bright. Since the nearly full moon was out, this was not difficult to do at all.
After determining the exposure, I simply kept the camera clicking away, taking one photo after another in succession. Why? I was going to show the movement of the stars over a long period of time by creating star trails!
Creating the Movement of Stars
Star trails are created by the rotation of the earth, for we are always, moving, moving, moving...
Star trails can be photographed in numerous ways. Here, I used a method called "stacking." This is done by using your tripod-mounted camera and taking photos one right after another for many minutes.
Then you can load them in a free program such as StarStax. Or you may use Adobe Photoshop CC. Either program combines your successive images into a single image that shows the trails of the stars altogether.
I discuss the three easy steps to creating star trails in Photoshop in more detail in another article.
My camera and intervalometer were set to photograph a sequence of photos for an hour, taking one photo after another, each photo two minutes in length. Click! Click! Click!
However, something soon occurred that would interfere with the outcome.
Uh Oh, the Dome Is Rotating!
I heard a voice inside say, "We're going to look at the moon next." And sure enough, several minutes later, the entire top of the dome began rotating so that the telescope could face the moon.
Knowing the dome would appear blurred from this movement, I still made the choice to leave the camera running and instead spent time conversing with a couple of the other visitors who were there.
Sometimes the Simplest Solutions are Best
When I stacked all of the photos, totaling 60 minutes, into Photoshop, I noticed that the observatory dome had actually moved numerous times. As expected, it was blurry.
I began removing the photos from the stack. About halfway through, I reached a point at the 34-minute mark where the dome was no longer blurry. Thirty-four minutes of star trails was sufficiently long, I felt, so I went with that.
Removing Airplane Trails
There were about 12 or 13 airplane trails in my photo. This became the most time-consuming part of the whole post-processing. I began using Layer Masks to eliminate the many airplane trails.
About Light Painting the Photo
I should mention that I "kissed" a bit of warm white light on the observatory, using a handheld ProtoMachines LED8. I did this to create a little bit more detail. To make it look natural, I aimed the light at the same angle as the moonlight was illuminating it.
This technique is known as "light painting," where a handheld light source is used to illuminate a scene during a long exposure. Your flashlight becomes your paintbrush, allowing you to literally paint with light.
More About the Article in Yucca Brevifolia Magazine
Excited about the Sky's the Limit Observatory, I returned there the following night with my friend. I had submitted my article and photos to the magazine two hours earlier. While setting up my camera, I heard a "cha-ching!" sound from my phone. I had already received payment from the magazine! That's about as quick as you can get!
The magazine debuts September 1, 2025, and will include my article "The Night Sky's the Limit in the High Desert" as well as several of my photos.
