The Rockville Bridge and Grafton Ghost Town are just outside Zion National Park. The bridge was built for the National Park Service in 1924 to provide a link between Zion National Park and the North Rim area of Grand Canyon National Park.
The bridge was designed by the U.S. Bureau of Public Roads for the Park Service, fabricated by the Minneapolis Steel and Machinery Company, and erected by Ogden contractor C.F. Dinsmore. The bridge spans 217 feet (66 m) in a single span, using a steel twelve-panel Parker through-truss.
The Rockville Bridge was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995.
Image Details
I used a Canon 16-35MM F4 L Lens at 16mm, F13, for 50 seconds at ISO 2000 on my EOS 5D Mark IV camera.
The moon provides the backlight shadows of the trusses you see.
This is a single exposure.
I lit the bridge by walking through the scene holding a pair of Lume Cube Lights.
It took me about 50 seconds to walk across the bridge. There is a lot of traffic so it takes two people to do this. One person needs to stay by the tripod in case a car come by.
It took at least 10 takes to get this right. Either cars came or I did not have the Lume Cubes just right.
I cannot say enough about these lights. I have three of them and use them all the time. They are variable from 1% to 100% power. They are also variable from Tungsten ( 3200K) to Daylight (5600K).
They even tell you how many minutes of power are left. Get some.
Rockville Bridge Milky Way
I posted this image once before but edited it slightly since then.
That is a single shot exposure of the Milky Way in November looking straight up from beneath one of the trusses. I lit the beams with a small flashlight, a maddening process as it is not close to repeatable. Centering the camera was problematic.
I now have a EOS R5 Mirrorless Camera that is much easier to work with. I would also use Lume Cubes if I was to try this again.
Reader Q&A Addendum
Q: Pretty neat picture. Never seen anything like it, what light source in the interior of the bridge made it look so orange?
A: The bridge is pretty rusty, naturally orangish. But it was also lit as described by the Lume Cubes. I do not recall what temperature setting I used but it was towards the Tungsten end of the range (lower Temperature in Kelvin degrees). That produces an orangish color that works well for night images.
Moon Notes Addendum
I described the shot as a “full moon”. Actually, it was taken a day or two before the full moon, the best time for a shot that looks like a full moon. On the day of the actual full moon, the moon rises too late and it is too dark. There is a lot of ambient light a day or two before the full moon and that is when you can can capture an image like this.
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Mish
Tremendous ! Great artwork. Love the lighting !!! Never cease to same Thank You for the tips ……again 😊
Wow! Beautiful!
I find the photo of the heavens thru the steel framework fascinating. It is reminiscent of the framing that is used to support many of the large observatory telescopes.
OK. Both of these shots really hit the mark.
But the bridge screams for Shopping. It’s already juuust enough past realism and in to impressionistic territory, what with the lighting and the clouds, so …
What happens when you Shop out the moon shadows? Then Shop the trees to flow toward the viewer to match the clouds’ flow. Then … add a dark, mysterious man standing at the far end of the bridge. Maybe holding a steampunk lamp to his torso and wearing a wide-brimmed hat and a long coat down to his knees. Then auto-play a very quiet, unintelligible whisper that blends in to an ambiguously malevolent chuckle.
Well, just a thought. 🙂
Oh. And crows.
beautiful images as usual!
Pretty neat picture. Never seen anythinng like it, what light source in the interior of the bridge made it look so orange?
The bridge is pretty rusty, Naturally orangish.
But it was also lit as described by the Lume Cubes. I do not recall what temperature setting I used but it was towards the Tungsten end of the range (lower Temperature in Kelvin degrees). That produces an orangish color that works well for night images.
Moon Notes Addendum
I described the shot as a “full moon”. Actually, it was taken a day or two before the full moon, the best time for a shot that looks like a full moon. On the day of the actual full moon, the moon rises too late and it is too dark. There is a lot of ambient light a day or two before the full moon and that is when you can can capture an image like this.
Only TWO words, Amazingly beautiful!!!