White Sands
National Monument
A Lunar Hat-Trick
It isn‘t often that one gets to score a "hat-trick"
when doing landscape photography. On a cold December 2001 morning at White
Sands National Monument in southern New Mexico I had such a morning.
The dunes cover some 275 square miles and are comprised of a very fine white gypsum sand. Be
aware that the park is located in the middle of the US military‘s White
Sands Missile Range and can be closed at times during test firings. This
occurs on average twice a week and can last for one to two hours. It‘s therefore
a good idea to check with the park service before planning a shoot.
We stayed in Alamogordo the night before our sunrise shoot and had
arranged with the park rangers to be let in an hour before sunrise. In the
winter the park opens at 7am. This was right at sunrise, making a dawn shoot
impossible. An inquiry the day before showed that you can have the rangers open
the gates early for a fee of $50 per additional hour requested.
Dawn — White
Sands
Pentax 67II and 55~100mm f/4.5 zoom.
Provia 100F.
(No, the horizon isn‘t tilted. The dune is sloping
away to the right and the mountain range is receding as well).
We left our motel at 5:30am and were at the gates 10 minutes early. Promptly
at 6am the ranger arrived and let us in. It was a 5 minute drive to the place on
the road that we had selected the afternoon before as a likely spot to hike in
from. Ten minutes after that we were in the dunes pretty much away from
footprints.
As with other popular dunes areas footprints are the major impediment to
photography, so it‘s necessary to hike far enough from the road to get away from
them, or be lucky enough to arrive right after a wind storm has swept them
clean.
These three images were all taken within an hour of each other. The one above
was the first in the series, taken just before sunrise. The sun rose to my left
and had just started to illuminate the San Andres Mountains to the
west. The moon was setting as we found this first location.
We had planned the combined Bosque del Apache and
White Sands trip to coincide with a full moon — at this point
about 3 days past full. Though the moon was still fairly high, because I was
down in the gully of a large dune I was able to look somewhat upwards, making
the moon appear lower. (This actually was the case with all three of these
images). The position was a good one because it prevented me from including
some messy low hills and scrub brush just over this first dune. Fortunately,
though the light level was still low there was enough sky glow to provide some
texture to the dunes.
A 2-stop split neutral density filter was needed to bring the exposure for
the sky and especially the moon down enough so that they show detail and aren‘t
blown out. Without one this shot would have been impossible. Though the
filter has also caused the upper sky to go very dark, I like the effect — it
helps "frame" the image.
Shadows & Moon — White Sands
Pentax 67II and 200mm f/4 lens.
Provia 100F.
Once the sun crested the horizon the colours changed dramatically for a brief
time. The glow of sunrise suffused the sand with a warm golden light. It only
lasted for a few minutes but I encountered these plants and quickly noticed that
again, because I was down in a valley looking upwards, I was able to incorporate
the moon. The use of a split ND filter again helped hold detail in the moon.
You may notice, especially in the larger linked version of this frame, that
there are some small shiny spots, especially noticeable along the ridge line. At
first when I was "spotting" the image in Photoshop I couldn‘t
figure out what they were. They I realized that these were sand crystals acting
as small but intense reflecting mirrors where the sun was catching them at just
the right angle.
Sand-Moon-Bush — White Sands
Pentax 67II and 55~100mm f/4.5 zoom.
Provia 100F.
About 20 minutes later when the sun was well up I found this last set-up.
Unfortunately, as with the other three images, web representation simply can‘t
do justice to the subtly and detail to be seen in a print. There is a delicate
warm mauve glow to this image that regrettably has not survived net
reproduction.
All three images were photographed with a Pentax
67II and 55~100mm f/4.5 zoom lens. This trip
was my first location shoot with this camera, and its lenses exceeded my expectations.
This is an excellent camera for landscape work, combining high image quality
with ruggedness and portability.
Eggshell White
Our group joked that White Sands should actually be
called Eggshell White Sands, because the colour isn‘t a pure white — more of
an off-white that you might use to paint your bathroom. Regardless, it‘s
glaringly white during the day, and wearing sunglass is therefore a must. The
sand is as bright as fresh snow. Of course since the location is in
southern New Mexico, from April through October the daytime temperatures are incredibly
hot. Bring water, sunglasses, a sun hat and a compass. If you hike a few dunes
away from the road it‘s quite easy to get lost. There are no landmarks. Be
careful.
Exposure Compensation
Keep in mind that shooting at White Sands is just like
shooting in snow. This means that between 1 and 2 stops of plus exposure compensation
is needed to avoid the sand coming out gray. For more on this see my tutorial
on Exposing Snow.
Also keep in mind that because the sand is almost pure white it
takes on whatever colour-cast the sky provides. This makes early morning and
late afternoon the ideal times to capture interesting light effects. Whatever is
happening in the sky in terms of colour is reflected onto the sand.
Finally, though the dunes themselves can be beautiful, only very
early or late in the day do they have enough texture, due to cross-lighting, for
their architectural qualities to be evident. The inclusion of some vegetation
can also be very helpful in creating perspective and adding scale to the
otherwise featureless dunes.
If you go to White Sands, let
me know how you make out.
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