Grand Teton NP Closure and Star Trails
I recently finished a trip traveling to 20+ national parks in search of fall colors. It was unfortunate to say the least to hear of the park closures in the midst of beautiful fall colors.
When I got to Grand Teton National Park having just driven a few hours from Banff National Park, Canada, I was hopeful that the parks would open in time. Sadly they did not. Mormon Row, however, was a short 1-mile hike in from the barricade, so I decided to do the early morning hike in. This location is often called the most photographed location in North America, and I’m not sure if it’s Mormon Row or Maroon Bells, but in any seeing tons of photographers yelling out to each other about being in their shots is quite the standard sight. It was quite nice having the entire place to myself. The quietness and solitude of that morning is sure not to repeat itself until the next park closure.
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I was at Mormon Row shooting the sunrise just a couple years ago in August, so I was excited to see what late October would look like. Outside temperatures were around 20F and frost covered nearly everything covering surfaces with a white crystalized sheet that glittered in the sunlight. It was quite beautiful.
I arrived to the Mormon Row entrance at 12:00AM in the morning, which was great as really dark skies were just setting in. There’s a little airport nearby and I could tell that it was just winding down for the night, just in time for star trail photography.
Grand Teton Mountain Range Star Trails @ 933 seconds, F/5.0, ISO 320 at 17mm with in-camera white balance.
I captured the above single frame photograph with the Canon 17-40mm L on the Canon EOS 6D with a Canon intervalometer.
184 frames (12GB) captured at 32 seconds, F/5.0, ISO 320 at 17mm
The above star trail photograph is was captured with the same camera setup as mentioned before.
Grand Teton Mormon Row Sunrise Long Exposure 6:22AM @ 180 seconds, f/22, ISO 125, 30mm
Not long before sunrise I made the decision to capture the Mormon Row Barn for sunrise as opposed to this location, which just contains the beautiful rugged Grand Teton mountain range. The capture time of the above image was 6:22AM. To balance the foreground and sky I used a 3-stop soft Graduated ND and a 2-stop soft Graduated ND, as well as a B+W 3-stop circular ND to push the exposure out.
Grand Teton Mormon Row Sunrise Long Exposure 6:42AM @ 180 seconds, f/22, ISO 50, 30mm
Exactly 20 minutes later, at 6:42AM, the light became a bit harsh but the foreground elements absorbed all the beautiful sunrise light. Similar settings to the previous image, however I was able to lower the ISO to 50 and keep the exposure time and aperture values the same. To balance the foreground and sky I used a 3-stop hard reverse Graduated ND and a 2-stop soft Graduated ND, as well as a B+W 6-stop circular ND to keep the exposure at 180 seconds.
To give a reference of seasons, here’s an image I took in August at the same location and nearly the same composition:
Grand Teton Mormon Row Sunrise Long Exposure in August @ 30 seconds, f/14, ISO 50, 30mm
Captured in August, it’s amazing to see what a couple months and a season will do in terms of light and color. On this photograph I used a 6-stop B+W ND and a 3-stop reversed Graduated ND filter to balance the exposure on the Canon 5D Mark III.
Did you enjoy this article? If so check out a couple of my others!
Hands-on Review of the Canon EOS 6D
How to Pre-Visualize Like Ansel Adams
If you have any questions or comments let me know below.
Graham, Love the Grand Teton Mormon Row Sunrise Long Exposure 6:22AM @ 180 seconds, f/22, ISO 125, 30mm photo. I look at this photo and I can picture myself standing and enjoying the amazing view. Great shot!
Thanks Randy!
Graham
I have 6D and when shooting the Milky Way which noise reduction should I use, long exp. or high ISO speed NR !
Hey Carl,
There’s a few ways to do this:
1. Shoot a single long exposure
2. Shoot a single long exposure with NR
3. Shoot a sequence of images of the same frame with say F5.6, 30 seconds and ISO 400, and in photoshop combine them. I typically don’t like to use Photoshop however for star trail photography it’s definitely ideal over sensor artifacts.
Graham
Thanks You for the insight Graham,and the Grand Tetons & Star Trails are my favorite !
I loved the fact that you made the sudden decision to visit Mormon Raw Barn despite the NP closure (and why not for a little adventure if you traveled that much and you could have such a spot in a rare state). Its great to see that when you used the 5 stop ND + B&W circular ND combo at the 6.42am shot, the top of the barn is so nicely balanced and did not lose that much info in the details. Its a more balanced shot to my eyes. Thank you for this great post Graham!
For the Grand Teton Mormon Row Sunrise Long Exposure 6:22AM @ 180 seconds, f/22, ISO 125, 30mm shot, what was the benefit of the added filters? Why such a long exposure?
> “Captured in August, it’s amazing to see what a couple months and a season will do in terms of light and color. On this photograph I used a 6-stop B+W ND and a 3-stop reversed Graduated ND filter to balance the exposure on the Canon 5D Mark III.”
Why did you use the 6-stop ND filter for this shot?
Hey John,
To push the exposure out.
Graham
Of course… but why did you want to push the exposure out (my real question) in this situation?
Hey John,
Asking in such a direct and non-friendly way is not a good way to get good feedback.
I have found that by achieving bigger exposure windows in-between twilight and sunrise/sunset, I’m able to capture the colors from both twilight and sunrise/sunset into one frame, in one single exposure.
The secondary benefit of exaggerating natural features, such as clouds, is also a design element which I like.
Graham
It is clearly hard to read intentions on the internet. While my question was direct, I did not see or intend my question as non-friendly and no offense was intended. I certainly appreciate your feedback. I have found several of your articles extremely helpful.