Just scouting future Milky Way shot location

[BasilFawlty]

Wife and I drove out to Cabazon Peak yesterday to do some Milk Way photo "planning." It was a pretty cloudy and windy day so I knew I wasn't going to get any Milky Way shots, but we went out just to scout the area in daylight and determine good locations to hopefully get some good Milk Way Shots with the peak in the image. I have a really cool iPhone app called PhotoPills. It allows you to set in specific dates and times and then hold the camera up to see the actual foreground and it superimposes the milky Way onto the scene so you can see approximately what the resulting scene would look like at whatever date/time you set. This was shot just a few minutes after sunset. Not a great shot, but was really just trying to plan a future night time shot with the Milky Way.

 

[Soocom1]

NW corner of the peak.

Nice area to shoot.
Lots of BLM land and some tribal with a splattering of private.
If you get near the top the view is breathtaking at night, but you need to be careful coming down.

There are several really nice roads for some killer shots toward Mt. Taylor. Its a really cool topographical region.

 

[Jeff15]

Nice one..........

 

[BasilFawlty]

NW corner of the peak.

Nice area to shoot.
Lots of BLM land and some tribal with a splattering of private.
If you get near the top the view is breathtaking at night, but you need to be careful coming down.

There are several really nice roads for some killer shots toward Mt. Taylor. Its a really cool topographical region.

This particular shot was from about 3.8 miles as the crow flies north east of the peak, just off the dirt road (279). When I go out later to shoot the Milky Way I plan to be further east and closer to the peak to get the Milky Way where I want it in relation to the peak.

 

[K9Kirk]

Nice shot there, GL with the Milky Way shoot!

 

[BasilFawlty]

Nice shot there, GL with the Milky Way shoot!

Thanks! Just hope I can find a good night with no moon and no clouds.

 

[Soocom1]

Youll need about a week. Were in wainong so the moon will be gone by Thursday

 

[BasilFawlty]

Youll need about a week. Were in wainong so the moon will be gone by Thursday

Will be new moon July 2nd. Question is, will there be a clear sky?

 

[Soocom1]

Typ.... yes.

Its Aug you have to worry about.

 

[Sil]

nice gretsch guitar !!!! I wonder if tomorrow I'll see a place like this ...

 

[BasilFawlty]

nice gretsch guitar !!!! I wonder if tomorrow I'll see a place like this ...

Thanks but...it's a Rickenbacker (John Lennon Signature Series 12 String)

 

[crimbfighter]

That'll make a really nice foreground subject. I use Photopills frequently and absolutely love the app. It's one of only two apps I've ever paid for, and worth the money if you want to plan milky way images.

Are you going to try to get the milky way coming out of the top of the peak or offset to one side? It's too bad it's not earlier in the year to get a pano arcing low over it.

 

[Soocom1]

Geographically speaking, obviously you have ot be on the NE side of the peak to actually see the cluster.
The biggest problem is the light pollution from Abq. and Rio Rancho. but because of the way the topography works in that area, you can get a really nice low spot near the Rio Puerco and point upward.


Now you do have to keep in mind the location of the Private land.
The entry side to Cabezon is State park area.

there is a strip of private land that leads almost to the base of the peak that you need to be aware of. The owners and purported owners are at odd with each other over it.

that red strip is the area i am talking about.
The peak (bottom arrow) and the circle is where you want to set up for the shot.
The red is private land (mostly the Village of Cabizon) , the blue state and the sandy areas are BLM.