Bachelor Night Sky Drama
I headed up the mountain to scout a location for a private workshop I was teaching the next night. I wanted to be sure my suggested plan was doable. The couple requesting the workshop were avid photo enthusiasts looking for beautiful scenery and hopefully, beautiful sunset light.
The Cascade Highway had just opened a week earlier. I arrived well before sunset. Seasonal spring streams in Sparks Lake Meadow were running fast and overflowing their banks in some places.
I drove the bumpy rode to Sparks Lake for a reconnaissance walk-about. I made some mental notes and drove back to the Cascade Highway. I parked in the roadside turnout and walked the high shoulder of roadside looking south towards Mount Bachelor. Swift moving water snaked through the meadow.
Something was brewing to the South. I could see cumulus clouds building and moving slowly north towards me.
It was eight pm. I spent a good couple of hours walking the meadow practicing smooth water long exposure images with Mt. Bachelor in the background. The sky was pretty boring. I kept my fingers crossed the cumulus clouds would produce a sky worthy of waiting for.
By 9 pm it began to happen. I could the distant dark clouds were darkening. Periodic lightening strikes appeared between the clouds and ground. I guessed it was 25 miles to the South and slowly moving my way. All I had to do was wait.
I spent the next hour composing what I hoped would be a dramatic storm image. I needed a compelling foreground. I found a good size pool of water created by a stream dead end. The moon was over my right shoulder in a clear sky. It was in its first quarter phase but was shinning brightly on Mt. Bachelor and the meadow. It wouldn’t set till 1:50 am.
Civil and nautical twilight came and went. Stars began to appear as astronomical twilight waned. It was nearly 11 pm now.
Lightning, followed by booming thunder happened with regular frequency. On the leading edge of the storm there was a layer of transparent thin clouds. I could see the stars faintly through them.
It was all in front of me and headed straight at me. No rain fell!
It was after midnight and pretty dark now. I mounted my wide angle lens and calculated my exposure. I planned a long exposure. Long enough to capture lightening, long enough to capture a smear of clouds and, long enough to make star trails.
I did some trail-and-error exposure testing and got it dialed in. The exposure time was between 12-18 minutes! I evaluated each exposure and made necessary adjustments.
[See Technical Exposure Settings below for details.]
I stood in the meadow a long time taking image after image. I spent the time between exposures mesmerized by the storm passing in front of me. Finally satisfied I had capture the drama of the moment, I packed my gear. But I couldn’t leave. I stood there watching the storm for another 10 minutes, then it began to rain.
Technical Exposure Settings
Camera: Nikon D850
Lens: Nikon 14-24 mm f/2.8 at 24 mm
ISO: 400
Exposure time: 16 mintes
Aperture: f/9
Light metering: pattern