December 3, 2009 Amboy Under the Milky Way

Amboy, California, is a tiny town buried in the middle of the eastern Mojave Desert.  It is on old U.S. 66, but when Interstate 40 was built in the 1970s, it missed the town by about 10 miles.  There is now little reason to pass through Amboy, except for nostalgia’s sake, or to enjoy the blistering heat of summer by yourself, or to photograph the world-famous “Roy’s” sign.

As I approached Amboy at dusk on this clear and crisp evening, I was thinking that I might be able to get some cool shots of the moonrise behind the Roy’s sign.  Moonrise was spectacular the day before, as the moon was full or just past full.  While waiting for moonrise, I spent time shooting some wide-angle shots of the sign and the adjacent motel and cafe/convenience store.  The sign did not have lights of its own, but was illuminated by a bright flood light near the gas pumps.  With the camera on the tripod, my 10, 20, and 30 second exposures were picking up more and more stars.  Soon, the Milky Way was in nearly full display!  I cranked up the ISO to 800 to 1600, opened the aperture to 2.8 to 3.5, and shot 20 to 30-second exposures until the glow of the moon behind the nearby mountains became a nuisance.  Those 20 or 30 minutes of very dark skies beneath the Roy’s sign were very cool!  My moonrise shots wound up to be a little anti-climactic.  That final image that looks like an annular eclipse of the moon is due to some fun and games in Photoshop.