Wish someone had warned me about light pollution at Joshua Tree before I camped there last weekend

Had to scrap 90% of my long exposure shots because car headlights from the road kept ruining every 30-second frame.

3 comments

3 Comments

Had to scrap 90% of my long exposure shots" - oof, yeah I feel your pain. I camped there last November and lost a whole night of star trails to headlights sweeping across the parking lot. Honestly, the best trick I found was to walk about 15 minutes past the Pinto Basin Road pull-offs into the open desert (just use a headlamp with red light so you don't ruin your night vision). The farther you get from the main roads, the less chance of random car beams wrecking your frames. Also, timing wise try to shoot after midnight when traffic dies down (like 1 AM to 4 AM is golden). Another thing that helped me was using a tall rock or a boulder as a natural shield between me and the road. If you're stuck near a designated campground, set up pointing south or east away from the 62 and the main entrance road. Oh and bring a black cloth to drape over your camera between shots - car lights can still flare into your lens even if they're not directly in frame.

reesemiller19d ago

Right, because nothing says "serenity of the cosmos" like a surprise high beam to the face at 2 AM... might as well just set up in a Walmart parking lot and call it a day. I've come to accept that night photography is basically 10% taking pictures and 90% praying a drunk driver doesn't find your exact patch of desert. The red headlamp is a lifesaver though, I leave my regular one in the car on purpose now to avoid the temptation. The boulder trick is good, but I swear some headlights have a homing beacon for my tripod. At least when you lose a night's work to a ranger, you get a good story out of it... mine's usually "and then I just sat in the dark for an hour, fuming.

park.robin19d ago

Man, isn't it just the worst when a whole night of work gets trashed by one random car? I had a similar thing happen at Death Valley last year, spent three hours on a shot and then some ranger's headlights swept right across my frame. That red light headlamp tip is solid, I started using one after reading about it online and it really does help you see without killing your night vision. And that bit about the black cloth is smart, I never thought about how light can bounce off the lens even when it's not in the shot. I'm definitely stealing that trick for my next trip out to Joshua Tree.