How to get this photo from the Mojave Desert

This photo was taken at Joshua Tree National Park, which is in the Mojave Desert of the Southwestern United States.

I think the photo is unique for a couple reasons:

• Color saturation (those rocks look brown most of the time)
• It’s a single exposure (I didn’t capture the moon in a separate exposure)

And, here are a couple of tips on how to get this kind of photo:

Get to your photo location before sunrise. This photo was taken just a few minutes after sunrise, when the sun is casting a very warm red-tinted light on the desert landscape. There are only two times of the day where those rocks look red (sunrise and sunset)–the rest of the time they’re a dull brown.

Check out a moon phase calendar for your location.Find the day of the month where the sun will be rising at the same time the moon is setting. Once a month, there’s a perfect opportunity for you to photograph the moonset (or moonrise) with one exposure–both the sun and the moon will be low on the horizon (giving you perfect light).

For a great moon phase calendar, check out StarDate, or the iPhone application VelaClock. Many handheld GPS units also have great moon phase calendars.

Technical Details of the Photograph

• Camera: Canon XTi
• Lens: Canon 70-200mm f/4L IS
• F-Stop: f/16
• Focal Length: 200 mm
• Exposure: 1/13