A Sequence of Photos on a Cold February Morning
Today, on my 64th birthday, I jumped up at 3:30 am. I looked out my windows to see stars and clear skies. A Winter storm and cloudy skies are on the horizon. The executive decision had to be made. I headed North to Snake River Overlook. I began shooting at 4:50 am under clear skies and abundant stars. Temperatures ranged from 0°F to -2°F, made a bit colder feeling by the light breeze.
For the night shots, I used my Nikon D5 with ISO settings ranging from 2500 to 6000 using a Nikon 24-70 lens. Midway through the “blue light” period, I switched over to a Nikon D850 body.
During the darkest period (astronomical midnight), I typically adjust the White Balance to around 4000K which helps add a little blue to the otherwise gray sky. If shooting in RAW, it’s really not an issue, but I like to see the blue on the back of the camera while shooting. As the blue light period begins, I adjust the White Balance gradually up to around 5250K and usually switch to much lower ISO values.
This is a desaturated version of the previous image. It’s probably closer to the reality of the scene. Occasionally, I make this kind of adjustment after I look at the images with “fresh eyes”. It seems night photographers use a lot of “artistic license”, especially when rendering the Milky Way.
This shot was taken at Snake River Overlook, looking North. The band of peach colored light at the horizon is from Bozeman, MT, 135 miles away!
The last time I tried to take photos at this time of the morning, clouds rolled over the range and effectively ruined my night shots. Normally, night photographers go out on “new moon” nights. Weather reports, when viewed the night before, can only be considered a “guide”. Fog can build up from below and clouds can completely cover the entire range, but I never know that until I make the commitment and get up early. It’s always dark when leaving town. I never know how the range is going to look until I get to about the entrance of Schwabacher Landing. Today it was good. Some days, I turn around and head on home or possibly to the Gros Ventre to wait for wildlife opportunities.
At 5:06 AM this morning, a crescent moon began to rise over the eastern ridge line. In reality. the crescent portion only covered 10-15% or so of the moon, but it still emits a fair amount of light. It turns into a ball of white in an early morning shot if the sky is still mostly dark.
Light from a crescent moon can actually be a good thing! The thin sliver of reflected light helped softly illuminate the mountains, yet let the stars shine through. A full moon, on the other hand, can wash out the stars and cast unnatural shadows.
I was fairly well bundled up this morning. I wore my heaviest wool socks, long underwear, warmest boots, long sleeve undershirt, long sleeve shirt, and two heavy jackets. When it looked like I’ll be actually taking photos, I opened a couple of “chemical hand warmers”, and I should have opened a couple of toe warmers. I was at the SRO parking lot at around 4:30 to 4:40 AM. The last shot I took there was at 7:30 AM. Three hours standing in that kind of cold is more than I can usually stand. I went back to the warm truck two or three times. I don’t like the idea of wasting gas while idling the truck, but I figure that’s a reasonable investment vs getting frostbite on my toes and fingers.
I often ask SIRI, “What time is sunrise today?” or “What time is moon rise or moon set today?” It helps to know the times. Astronomical midnight ends at roughly two hours before sunrise (or begins two hours past sunset). Sunrise was at 7:26 AM today, so I could anticipate the faint beginnings of the blue light period at 5:26 AM. It usually takes 10 or 15 minutes to notice the change, however.
This link is included in the Navigation bar on Best of the Tetons either on the right side or at the bottom of each post on the site. Notice on the Sun & Moon page, the “blue light” period is divided into Astronomical Twilight, Nautical Twilight, and Civil Twilight of around 30 minutes each.
This image was taken at 6:22 AM, or roughly an hour before sunrise, but still within the blue light or twilight period. I did almost no post production or processing in this one.
Same image, but with a little bit of post production.
This is about where I would take the image. At this time of the morning, the mountains begin to glow, and even more so with the rising crescent moon. Stars are still evident, but fading. This is actually one of my favorite times of the morning.
I was hoping the hazy clouds behind the Teton Range would explode with pink and purple. It did to some extent, but not as vivid as I had hoped. This shot was taken at 7:22 AM. Official sunrise would be four minutes later, but the eastern mountains delays that by a few minutes. In this photo, the very top of the Grand was starting to pick up some morning glow.
This shot was taken at 7:30 AM. I got a few more shots, then the light dulled.
I usually capture “pano sets” while at Snake River Overlook. When at 24mm on my 24-70mm lens, it takes only two shots to capture most of the range and a few trees on either side. At 50mm, using a full frame camera, it can take three horizontal format images. At 70mm, it often takes four and even five shots. When I get a spectacular sunrise, I turn my camera to vertical orientation and take seven to ten captures—usually tilting up slightly to get more of the “once in a lifetime” sky.
Once stitched in Lightroom, I know I can create Virtual Copies and crop the scene either wide or into smaller chunks. There’s a lot of data, especially when captured on a 45.7 megapixel Nikon D850. (Click any of the last three images to view them much larger!)
Panoramic Images: Tips for Getting More of the Tetons in a Shot
This morning, a cloud crossed in front of the sun and dulled the light while I was at Snake River Overlook. I folded up the frosted tripod and headed south with visions of foxes, moose, and wolves roaming around the sage flats near Kelly. As I was driving, the cloud moved out of the way—lighting up the Teton Range with amber light. I pulled over and snapped this quick (somewhat uninteresting) shot. Most of the pullouts along the Highway lack much in the way of a foreground subject , which at least for my tastes, makes Snake River Overlook more appealing. (see link below)
Anatomy of a Teton Landscape
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