Photographing the Milky Way in the Bisti Badlands (4K)

[@laurentldoldi840]

Excellent, Ron! I will be in this area around May 26th 2025 to photography the Milky Way around midnight, then sleep in my car (After 3 nights in a hotel in Farmington).

[@RonBurkett]

Thank you! I know you are looking forward to your excursion and I wish you clear skies! (Be sure and bring plenty of water!) Thanks for watching and commenting.

[@jmfoty4280]

I am excited to go to Bisti Badlands and Valley of Dreams in three weeks to experience the annular eclipse there and do Milky Way photography at night. I hope to see you there, Ron. -John

[@RonBurkett]

Excellent, John! I'm sure you will really enjoy that - it's a perfect location for it, and good luck!

[@elevatedarchives]

Good stuff man, I am definitely gonna have to make it out there. 😃✌🏻

[@RonBurkett]

Thank you! I appreciate you watching and commenting. Yep, the Bisti Badlands is a fascinating place, I was there again for the annular eclipse - it was fantastic!

[@elevatedarchives]

@@RonBurkettNo problem, it was my pleasure. I saw another video where a guy was flying his drone out there. I was like hold up, checked gaia gps, yep that's wilderness! He said he was in blm, that's bs. Awesome, did you make another video for that one? 😃

[@RonBurkett]

@@elevatedarchives Yeah, I"ve seen some other videos with drone footage from there. Now, it is BLM land, BUT it is a wilderness area (as you said) so drone use is prohibited. I did make a video of my eclipse trip, you can see it here - kzbin.info/www/bejne/kH24qoaQgpJlbKc Now, you will see some drone footage at the end but I was flying OUTSIDE of the wilderness area - the road and parking area are not in the boundery of the wilderness area. Also, I have another Milky Way video from there if you're interested enough - kzbin.info/www/bejne/n6aVcqCjfsSdndU And... you might enjoy this from the nearby "Valley of Dreams" - kzbin.info/www/bejne/qXTTdomwn92SkLc

[@elevatedarchives]

@@RonBurkett I already added the sub so I will be checking those out as well! 😃👍🏻🤙🏻✌🏻

[@RonBurkett]

@@elevatedarchives 'preciate that!

[@basilbcf]

I live a couple hours away from this place and it is definitely on my bucket list of places to do Milky Way photography.

[@RonBurkett]

It is a great location for that - thanks for watching and commenting.

[@deedershotwell5912]

Spectacular view 🙏love it

[@RonBurkett]

Thanks, Deeder!

[@suzannefrench9944]

Love it. On my way Todd’s there. Where were you at. The coordance..

[@RonBurkett]

Hey Suzanne, thanks for watching, commenting and subscribing! I don't have the co-ordinates from exactly where I took the photos, if that's what you mean, but here are the co-ordinates for the parking area I used. It's easy to find on Google maps. N 36.259107 W -108,251771

[@southernx201]

Ron that was one of your best expeditions and videos yet. Well done. Would love to go there.

[@RonBurkett]

Thanks, Jeremy! It is an other worldly place, even more so than I tried to show in this video - thanks for watching and commenting!

[@hweinkum]

Great video, thank you!

[@RonBurkett]

Thanks, Harald! I appreciate you watching and commenting!

[@shupingyin8082]

Awesome vid. What time of the year we’re you there?

[@RonBurkett]

Thanks! I was there on October 4.

[@shupingyin8082]

@@RonBurkett so it is not too hot. It’s on my bucket list hope to shoot Milky Way there

[@RonBurkett]

@@shupingyin8082 Yes, typically not so hot that time of year - however, it is nearing the end of Milky Way season so it's about the last chance for the year.

[@RonBurkett]

..and you might enjoy this one from another visit out there (same time of year) - kzbin.info/www/bejne/n6aVcqCjfsSdndU

[@shupingyin8082]

Thank you kindly

[@VietNguyen-gj4gm]

Thank You for your sharing, Mr Ron. That’s great video and photos. I tried last time but went to the wrong location. Can you share the GPS locations? I really appreciate. ❤

[@RonBurkett]

Thank you for watching and commenting. However, I'm afraid I did not record the GPS coordinates for this location, I just walked around during the day and found a spot I liked - sorry!

[@livingwithrob]

Great shots Ron. Thanks for sharing. Success to you.

[@RonBurkett]

Hey Robert, I appreciate that!

[@DacAL_8]

Beautiful pictures! Is it possible to park an SUV along the side of the road and sit in a folding chair and stargaze throughout the night without hiking in the Badlands? Where’s the best place to just park the car and enjoy the night sky? (Milky way etc)

[@RonBurkett]

Hello! Thanks for watching and commenting! To answer your question - Yes - that would be very possible. You could even drive out to the parking area for this trailhead (shown at 0:49) and sit there all night if you wanted. It's BLM land and camping is permitted with no reservations or fees. Heck, you could take your folding chair just 100 yards or so from the parking area and sit there and probably couldn't tell there was another person in the world. Or, just about anywhere along the road into the badlands would work also, you could just park on the side like you said. The whole area is very dark, so skywatching will be good amost anywhere out there.

[@DacAL_8]

@@RonBurkett Thank you very much for these info! We’re planning to drive from WI to Denver, CO and make a loop to Mt Rushmore to MN , back to WI this coming July. Really appreciate your response sir!

[@jmfoty4280]

Another 2 questionS: WHAT DID YOU DO TO LIGHT THE HOODOOS IN YOUR FOREGROUND WITHOUT MOONLIGHT AT 9:11 IN YOUR VIDEO? LOW LEVEL LIGHTING IS MY GUESS SINCE THE DISTANT ROCKS ARE DARK. WOULD SHOOTING THE FOREGROUND DURING THE BLUE HOUR AND CORRECTING WHITE BALANCE DURING POST-PROCESSING WORK?

[@RonBurkett]

Of course - believe it or not, I used the flashlight on my phone to light the foreground - just a quick wave, lasting maybe a second or two. And yes, you could certainly shoot the foreground while there was still some light remaining and correct and merge the images in post. In fact, I think this is a pretty common technique. I made another trip to NM this past fall and did three Milky Way/HooDoo shoots - you might enjoy watching them. Here are links - kzbin.info/www/bejne/n6aVcqCjfsSdndU - kzbin.info/www/bejne/qXTTdomwn92SkLc - kzbin.info/www/bejne/invPnGajZ6yYfdU . One more in the Bisti Badlands, one in the Valley of Dreams, and one with ruins at Chaco Canyon.

[@DCGuy12]

Thanks so much for the video, this is exactly what I was looking for. Where did you stay overnight?

[@RonBurkett]

You are welcome! I appreciate you watching and commenting. This was part of a larger trip out west for me and I was staying in Grants, NM - a couple of hours away. I have also driven to this area from Durango, CO before - I think it's a little closer from there.

[@jmfoty4280]

Thank you for sharing. Doing some nightscapes in the Bisti Badlands is on my bucket list. My most pressing question for you is what did you need to return to your vehicle on a moonless night? Or did you have a moon to guide you? Did you use a tracker that helped you follow bread crumbs back to the parking lot?

[@RonBurkett]

Hello, and thanks for watching and commenting! ...and a very good question - first off, there was no moon (hence perfect conditions for Milky Way photography). I did research via Google Maps before I went and noted that my destinations were all pretty much directly east of the parking area. So, I just needed to walk directly west when done to return. Also, if you will look at about the 10:00 mark, in the lower right corner you will see some lights. They are very distant on the horizon but they were in line with the parking area, so I just walked toward them when I could see them.

[@johnnyat]

I’ve been to Bisti a couple of times and the best thing to do is bring a gps. We set a way point at the parked vehicle while it was still light and continued to do so every few hundred yards till we reached the landmark we wanted to photograph. After dark we followed the way points back to the vehicle.

[@BalaKrishnan-sh3vt]

hi Ron, how did you merge foreground and background images ?

[@RonBurkett]

Hello, Bala! Thanks for watching and commenting. I used masking in Photoshop to combine the images.

[@nirv]

5:22 - everything was fine until you asked me to subscribe!™

[@RonBurkett]

Hey... I get it... I don't really like doing that, but to grow my channel, I need subscribers, and I think sometimes, even if people like the content they don't really think about subscribing, so I just added a reminder without making a big deal about it. I appreciate you watching anyway.

[@nirv]

@@RonBurkett you can have my subscribers. I'm trying to get rid of them! I don't want popularity I just want to drop insightful videos and who cares how many people see it. Nobody begged for stuff like that in the 90s on the internet! Only since cell phones. Man I hate cell phones.

[@RonBurkett]

@@nirv Understood. Well, I hope you finished the video anyway, and stay tuned - I've just gone back to NM and done the same thing again in two places. Videos coming eventually.