America's Mountain Sunrise
Every now and then, the city of Colorado Springs will open the entrance to Pikes Peak early so people can have time necessary to get to the top of the mountain and watch the sunrise. This morning happened to be one of those mornings, a morning I could not let pass by without seeing that sunrise! (Click HERE to see the dates when Pikes Peak is scheduled to open early for sunrise.)
The evening prior, a friend of mine notified me that the mountain’s entrance would be opening early and I am sure glad she did. I had no idea it was already time for this event. It was going to be an early morning for me!
I’ve always heard that you needed to get to the gates extra early as the traffic backs up for quite a ways during these events. “Okay,” I thought to myself. “What does that mean for me?” It meant it was going to be an early rise out of bed, that’s what it meant to me!
I live a 45-minute drive from the entrance to Pikes Peak. Understanding that I had to be early, I set a goal of when I wanted to arrive. “I want to be at the gates at 0315, so I’ll set my alarm for 0230,” I thought to myself. Then it hit me; 0230!? Dang…!
I arrived shorty after 0300 and was the first one ion line!
I drove up to the gates not really knowing what to expect, but one thing is for sure, I was expecting a lot of people. Much to my surprise, this was not the case. I was the first one there! Surely tho, there’d be a swarm of people behind me. Again, much to my surprise, not really… Don’t get me wrong, there were quite a few cars that eventually showed up, but nothing like I was expecting. The drive up was uneventful and little to my knowledge, it was beautiful as I would soon find out on the way back down.
Arriving at the top did not take very long at all. Unfortunately, I did not log when I arrived, but my best guess is that it took somewhere just north of 30 minutes. Once at the top, it was time to find a spot to set-up and brace for the crowds!
Well, the crowds never really showed up. It was actually pretty nice. There were enough people there that you could socialize, but not enough to throw a photographer into a Maroon Bells or Mesa Arch flashback.
I knew exactly what I wanted to do and I was going to have to do it in stages.
Colorado Springs early morning lights
The first stage of my plan was to capture the predawn lights of Colorado Springs as can be seen above. This was going to be rather simple and necessary to get it done in the darker hours, so I put it first on my list of images to accomplish.
Single Star Image
The next image I wanted was going to actually be a set of images. Typically, when photographing stars, you want to avoid light pollution, unless it is actually desired in the image. In my case, I did not want any real light pollution in my image, but I was looking directly at a brightly lit city. Knowing this, I decided I’d give it a try, regardless of the light pollution, and see if I could get enough shots to create a decent star trail.
All of the images pretty much looked like the one above with the exception that each star moved slightly between frames. I was going to take as many images of the star’s movement as I could before the sky was too bright for it. If only I could have gotten to the top of the mountain sooner! I wasn’t able to get as many images as I wanted and therefore ended up with some pretty short star trails, as seen in the final image. Oh well…. No real biggie.
Image used for the primary horizon in the composite image.
Taking the image that I planned to use for the primary horizon was going to be quick. It was equally as easy as taking the image of the city lights. Quick exposure, low ISO, done.
With the city lights shot done, the stars shots and the horizon shot complete, it was time to wait for the sun to rise.
Sunrise from America’s Mountain
Right on time, the sun began peering over the horizon. In this image, seen above, I wanted to get the entire sun as well as attempt to get a decent “starburst” out of it. Sometimes, based on conditions, this is easier said than done. Basically, the steps are simple. Set your f-stop to about 22 and adjust your shutter speed accordingly. The high f-stop number really closes down on the aperture and therefore lets minimal light in. With this being the case, your shutter must remain open for a longer period in order to let the sensor receive enough light for the image you are attempting to create. Also, with this image, I grabbed a bit of the foreground rocks and decided I’d use them in my final image.
Good Morning from Colorado Springs….! (Prints Available Here)
Layering in the images in Adobe Photoshop, I combined the described images throughout this short write-up and ended up with the final product.
Pikes Peak as not usually seen, in Shadow!
After packing up and heading back down the mountain, I pretty much turned around to see this awesome view! This is the shadow that Pikes Peak casts when the sun is low on the horizon. Enjoy!
Feel free to follow along on the behind the scenes action as I travel around and soak up what Mother Nature amazingly provides, one photon at a time.
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~ Faz
