Go Play Outside! 😎
See It: Getting away from city lights at night can quickly change your perspective on life. Suddenly, that heavy burden you were carrying lightens in comparison to the quiet solitude, the diverse planet, the expanse of universe and stars. “What? Me worry?” I enjoyed this view during one of the nights as I camped out in the spectacular Willamette (“Will-AM-it”) National Forest near Detroit Lake, Oregon, in anticipation of the August 21, 2017 total solar eclipse. You could see something similar there, or any of a number of ‘dark sky‘ locations around the world, far away from city lights.
If you want to go to this particular location, don’t just go for the stars. Take in the beautiful Detroit Lake and don’t forget to bring a printed map, as road signs are few in National Forests. Just north of the resort town of Detroit, off of Oregon Route 22 (North Santiam Highway), take French Creek Road SE north into the mountains north of the lake. About 4 miles in, keep to the left as French Creek Road SE becomes NF-2223. At about 6 miles, bear right to stay on NF-2223. At 8 miles, keep left to switch to NF-520. Stay straight at 6.5 miles to remain on NF-520. At 11.5 miles, bear left to turn onto NF-525. Finally, at about 12 miles, turn right onto the side road heading up to the antenna towers and park on the right, about 500 feet up the road. To this spot, it’s about an hour and a half drive from Salem and 2 hours from Bend.
From your parking spot, walk southeast through the few trees along the road to the clearing overlooking Detroit Lake. You will see the lake below, 10,495′ high Mount Jefferson to the east and 7,795′ Mount Washington and the Three Sisters (9,177′, 10,085′, and 10,358′) to the south southeast. Head northeast up the hill to a larger clearing and see a broader swath of the lake, as well as the town of Detroit at the northwest end of the lake. More about Dark Spots, Detroit Lake,
Shoot It: This image was captured with a Canon 7D DSLR (crop factor 1.6), Canon EF-S10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 lens at 10mm and f/4.5, 30 sec, and ISO4000, with mirror-lockup enabled and 2 second shutter delay, on a tripod, on August 19, 2017 at 10:54 PM. Basic adjustments in Photoshop Lightroom.
Improve It: ISO4000!!?? Why do you think I used such a high light sensitivity on this shot? What problem did this create in the image? What else might I have done to reduce ISO with what tradeoffs? What problems are you having with your photographs? Let me know at Inquiries@GibsonOutdoorPhoto.com and I will share some tips to overcome these issues in a future blog post.
Go Play Outside! 😎
-Scott