Posted by Andy Brehm on November 11, 2006 at 3:41 PM
Hey all, I will be heading down to southern Utah next weekend and was planning on going by House of Fire. I have heard that for the good light on the ceiling to get the "fire effect" that mid morning is best. Does anyone know about what time that would be for this time of year? I will wake up that morning in Moab and will probably shoot a location in Arches then make my way south shortly after sunrise. Is it possible to get the House of Fire the same day or should I hang around and get it the following morning?
Thanks
andy
Posted by Rene Pirolt on November 11, 2006 at 11:45 PM
Andy – not sure how the sun is this time of year, but…
You do not need to be there at sunrise, but between mid mornings to noon would be ideal. The ruins are on the eastern side in a canyon that runs north-south. The best light happens between morning and noon and the opposite side of the canyon is lit up. The reflected light will warm up the ruins very nicely when there are no clouds. Later in the day, the sun will light up the ruins directly and create harsh shadows. If you drive and hike fast, you might make it!
Have fun!
Posted by Grant Collier on November 12, 2006 at 4:35 AM
In the summer, you get the best light from about 2-3 pm before getting the direct sunlight. It may be earlier in Nov., but I don't know how much earlier. You should be able to get there by around 10 am, so I think you should be okay and you might arrive quite a bit too early.
Posted by Andy Brehm on November 12, 2006 at 3:46 PM
awesome, thank you both for your input. i tried looking some of this up on the net, but house of fire just gives you a lot of alice cooper references on google!
andy
Posted by Don Grall on November 12, 2006 at 5:09 PM
Andy,
I was just there on the 8th. The harsh shadow effect starts about 11:15am, so try to be there by about 10 AM. You want some sun on the floor to reflect up onto the ceiling without the shadow line interfering with the composition. By cropping in tightly you can photograph at 11:45am but for more flexible cropping, getting there earlier is better. The hike takes about 20 minutes one-way, tops. The day permit costs 2.00. I used a 17-40 on my 1DMkII up close (distortion is a real problem) and also a 70-200 from further back which lessons the distortion on the vertical lines of the openings but it compresses the flame lines.
Don
Posted by Andy Brehm on November 13, 2006 at 1:57 PM
Great, thanks Don that helps a lot. Hopefully I will get some good lighting. Every time I go to Moab it seems that I get really bad lighting. Maybe this is far enough away that it will be alright!
Andy
Posted by Brent Doerzman on November 13, 2006 at 3:33 PM
Great info so far, but I'll throw in a little more Andy. Have a look at this page I made up for a buddy a year or so ago. Good luck, and have fun. Oh, and more importantly, show us the images when you get back!!
Posted by Bill Pelzmann on November 13, 2006 at 8:30 PM
Andy,
Completing a morning shoot in Arches AND hiking to the Mule Canyon ruins by 10 AM sounds a bit ambitious - unless you have a collection of speeding tickets that you'd like to expand.
It seems you have some flexibility in your schedule and you could leave for Mule Canyon directly the next morning? If so, Iwould recommend making the most of the morning light in Arches and not rushing to Mule Canyon.
Posted by Andy Brehm on November 13, 2006 at 11:20 PM
excellent brent, thanks for the info. i have never seen the write up from robert hitchman.
bill, i have been thinking over my plans and have decided to take it a bit easy on the drive. i will probably take my time in arches in the morning and mess around for the rest of the day. maybe in natural bridges, havent been there in a while. anyway, the following morning would be much easier.
Discussion
8 repliesThanks
andy
You do not need to be there at sunrise, but between mid mornings to noon would be ideal. The ruins are on the eastern side in a canyon that runs north-south. The best light happens between morning and noon and the opposite side of the canyon is lit up. The reflected light will warm up the ruins very nicely when there are no clouds. Later in the day, the sun will light up the ruins directly and create harsh shadows. If you drive and hike fast, you might make it!
Have fun!
andy
I was just there on the 8th. The harsh shadow effect starts about 11:15am, so try to be there by about 10 AM. You want some sun on the floor to reflect up onto the ceiling without the shadow line interfering with the composition. By cropping in tightly you can photograph at 11:45am but for more flexible cropping, getting there earlier is better. The hike takes about 20 minutes one-way, tops. The day permit costs 2.00. I used a 17-40 on my 1DMkII up close (distortion is a real problem) and also a 70-200 from further back which lessons the distortion on the vertical lines of the openings but it compresses the flame lines.
Don
Andy
http://www.doerzmanphoto.com/Fire_Roof_Info.html
Completing a morning shoot in Arches AND hiking to the Mule Canyon ruins by 10 AM sounds a bit ambitious - unless you have a collection of speeding tickets that you'd like to expand.
It seems you have some flexibility in your schedule and you could leave for Mule Canyon directly the next morning? If so, Iwould recommend making the most of the morning light in Arches and not rushing to Mule Canyon.
bill, i have been thinking over my plans and have decided to take it a bit easy on the drive. i will probably take my time in arches in the morning and mess around for the rest of the day. maybe in natural bridges, havent been there in a while. anyway, the following morning would be much easier.
andy