The Atacama Desert on the Chilean high plateau of Altiplano and the Mauna Kea Summit on the Big Island of Hawaii are generally recognized as the two best places for astronomical observations. However, in this article, I argue that the best place for amateur night sky photography is elsewhere. It is in Hawaii too, but on the Island of Maui. It is the extinct Haleakala volcano. Although smaller than the Mauna Kea volcano, Haleakala might actually be better suited for amateur photographers.
NIKON D750 + 20mm f/1.8 @ 20mm, ISO 6400, 15/1, f/2.5
The combination of dark sky (due to the absence of light pollution) and high altitude with little cloud is what makes the Atacama Desert on the Chile-Bolivian border and Mauna Kea Summit so unique. It is therefore no wonder that one finds state-of-the-art technology telescopes in those sites: in Atacama, the ALMA project as the world’s largest system of 66 telescopes was launched in 2013; Mauna Kea Summit is the second largest observatory for optical, infrared and submillimeter astronomy. I have had the great fortune to have visited both these locations (I was not at the ALMA site itself, as it was under construction back in early 2013, but I went to a public observatory nearby). And that is why I dare pronounce this verdict: those sites are great for experts working for those observatories, but not so great for amateur photographers.
NIKON D750 + 14mm f/2.8 @ 14mm, ISO 100, 8/10, f/4.5
Don’t get me wrong, I am not arguing that the Atacama Desert and Mauna Kea Summit are not unique and beautiful enough. They absolutely are and you should visit them, not only because of the dark sky.
NIKON D7100 + 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5 @ 13mm, ISO 100, 1/100, f/8.0
NIKON D7000 + 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5 @ 17mm, ISO 100, 1/500, f/6.3
However, if your interest is primarily astrophotography, you should know that taking those incredible Milky Way shots there is not so easy. Why?
Both the Atacama Desert and Mauna Kea observatories lie well above 4 000 m (12 000 feet). For that reason, you need to acclimatize yourself and even then you might still suffer from altitude sickness. But that is by far not the main hassle. Unfortunately, there are further restrictions. Mauna Kea Summit is open to the public, but only from dawn to dusk, when the telescopes are inactive. Staying overnight is forbidden, unless you have a special permit. I found out that it takes a year or even longer for professional photographers with long records in astrophotography to obtain such a permit.
NIKON D7100 + 70-200mm f/4 @ 130mm, ISO 100, 1/200, f/9.0
NIKON D7100 + 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5 @ 20mm, ISO 100, 1/25, f/4.5
Moreover, tourists need to hire an off-road vehicle, since the upper part of the route is on a steep gravel road (actually, I encountered some normal cars too, although most standard hired cars are not insured for the Mauna Kea Summit trip). Anyway, regardless of the type of your vehicle, shortly after sunset, you are kindly but firmly informed by a ranger to leave the summit.
NIKON D750 + 14mm f/2.8 @ 14mm, ISO 4000, 30/1, f/2.8
Photographing below the summit is possible and definitely worthwhile, but since there is an observatory running star-gazing programs that have become very popular, you will encounter crowds and ceaseless traffic. Car headlights can thwart any of your dark-sky shots at any time. I found this very distracting when shooting below Mauna Kea.
NIKON D7000 + 11-16mm f/2.8 @ 11mm, ISO 1000, 30/1, f/3.5
Shooting in the Atacama Desert is difficult in other aspects. The Atacama Desert is vast and, unlike at Mauna Kea, there is no problem in finding a dark spot to shoot from without any permit. You might have to travel long distances to find an interesting foreground for a good composition. The vastness also makes it a bit dangerous (especially the high-altitude Atacama Desert near the Argentina-Bolivian border) when far from larger cities – the closest town being San Pedro de Atacama. Many surrounding areas do not have any GSM coverage. Running out of gas or water might be a big problem. Furthermore, for a reason I could not understand, when traveling into and out of the town of San Pedro de Atacama, one has to pass through something like Customs control every single time – which can be a very lengthy and rather unpleasant procedure for those who have not mastered the Spanish language.
That is why I find Haleakala Summit on the Hawaiian Island of Maui to be a much more convenient site for amateur photographers. Here are the exact reasons why:
- The conditions for great night photos are no less perfect; you still get the great combination of dark sky and high altitude.
NIKON D750 + 20mm f/1.8 @ 20mm, ISO 6400, 15/1, f/2.0 - There is zero light pollution to the east and south, very little pollution to the west and north.
- Interesting foregrounds are to be found in all directions. There are two parking lots. The lower one is located near the Visitors’ Center, which has a perfect viewpoint to the east over the Haleakala Crater. Here you may take perfect compositions in early March and April. At the very top, there is one more parking lot with another summit building. From here, you can see the observatories to the south. These function primarily during the day, so restrictions here are not so strict and it is possible to get closer to the telescopes and have them in the foreground. They are perfect for compositions from May to September. Moreover, at the parking place, there are many silversword plants that also fit nicely as foreground.
NIKON D7100 + 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5 @ 24mm, ISO 100, 1/60, f/9.0 
NIKON D750 + 14mm f/2.8 @ 14mm, ISO 6400, 30/1, f/2.8 
NIKON D750 + 14mm f/2.8 @ 14mm, ISO 10000, 30/1, f/2.8 
NIKON D750 + 20mm f/1.8 @ 20mm, ISO 10000, 25/1, f/3.5 - Haleakala Summit is easy to access on an asphalt paved road, an off-road vehicle is not needed. There is no problem with the insurance of hired cars, unlike in the case of ascending Mauna Kea.
- You are 54 km (33.5 miles) away from the sea (and what a beautiful one) and the city of Kahului with all the services, restaurants, shops. There is also a very limited capacity of accommodation in the hotels and motels along the Haleakala road.
Magnetic Peak is just next to the very summit of Haleakala where the upper parking place is located
NIKON D7100 + 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 16mm, ISO 100, 1/160, f/6.3 - Even if you get up to 3 055 meters (10 023 feet) above sea level, which is high enough for crisp air, you will most likely not suffer from high-altitude sickness.
- At night, there are no crowds; I saw some cars with organized groups but they were gone after 11 p.m. There are no rangers, no controls.
- No special permit to stay overnight is needed; you only have to pay the entrance fee of 15 USD (valid for 3 days) to the Haleakala National Park.
- It is possible to stay overnight. There are rough and ready conditions in the Visitors’ Center booths at the summit – you need to have your own mattress and a warm sleeping bag. A few miles below the summit, you can sleep in a tent in the Hosmer Grove Campground (no permit needed, on a first-come, first-served basis).
- If you stay overnight at the summit, you get a very spectacular Haleakala Crater sunrise from the lower Visitors’ Center as a bonus.
Sunrise above the Haleakala Crater is spectacular, just do not expect to be alone there, crowds are coming to watch this spectacle
NIKON D750 + 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5 @ 17mm, ISO 100, 1/50, f/4.5
NIKON D750 + 70-200mm f/4 @ 116mm, ISO 100, 1/250, f/4.5 - Maui offers even more locations for good night photography; theoretically you can shoot the Milky Way both from the seaside and the volcano summit in one night.
Milky Way as shot from Olawalu Campground at the south coast of Maui
NIKON D750 + 14mm f/2.8 @ 14mm, ISO 10000, 30/1, f/2.8
But I should also warn you, even here the conditions may get very rough:
- It is usually very windy up there; keeping my tripod stable in a gale-force wind was the biggest challenge for me.
- Needless to say, it gets bitterly cold overnight (freezing temperatures even in summer). Wearing many warm layers of good clothing is crucial.
- Even if the road is in top quality, it is still a demanding drive – driving the 54-km (33.5-mile) route from Kahului with all the bends takes at least 1.5 hours.
- The night may not be completely cloudless. The middle layer of clouds is usually below the highest peak, yet there are nights with high clouds (around 10 km / 6 miles), so there is no guarantee of perfect weather (you do not get this at Mauna Kea or the Atacama Desert either).
NIKON D750 + 20mm f/1.8 @ 20mm, ISO 10000, 15/1, f/2.5
Last but not least, let me point out that I do not want to tell you guys that, in order to get great astrophotography images, you have to go to Haleakala Summit.
NIKON D750 + 14mm f/2.8 @ 14mm, ISO 3200, 30/1, f/2.8
I enjoy shooting night images in the Bohemian Paradise in Central Europe, where there is a moderate to high level of light pollution according to this map. The conditions are incomparably worse there, yet I immensely enjoy the process of taking the photos. But if night photography becomes your passion or even obsession (as it is in my case), Haleakala Summit in Maui should be on your bucket list.
This guest post was submitted by Vaclav Bacovsky, a photographer from the Czech Republic (in the very heart of Europe). He loves shooting landscapes, architecture, macro and wildlife (see his 500px page). He blogs at www.krasnesvetlo.cz (in Czech language only though). And his infrared photographs are published on his Instagram account.
There is a place called Ladakh in the Indian state of Jammu & Kashmir which may be great for amateur photographers. The place is linked by air and also by road, which of course is a long drive. The place has hotels and resorts. It is situated at an altitude of between 12000- 13000 feet. There are many places in the area with no or very little light pollution. There are few restricted places where photography is not allowed but most areas do not require permission. The clarity as far as celestial bodies are concerned is superb. The best time to visit is from May to Early October. Before May and after October the place can become pretty cold. It is recommended that after arrival to acclimatize for a couple of days especially if you arrive by air.
Regards,
I am sure this must be an incredible experience there, with all those majestic peaks. A Czeh photographers recently posted a night image from under K2 peak and it was stunning. But I guess Karakoram and Ladakh have some extreme conditions, or?
As difficult as Alaska or Mauna Kea!
While I don’t contest that Haleakala might be one of the finest astrophotography locations there is, the outset of this article – and definitely the title! – feels a little contrived to me. I’d have made no such remarks had the author stated that Haleakala was arguable the best spot on Hawaii, but to say “in the World” is without doubt extremely narrow-minded.
The Atacama desert alone already has much more to offer than ALMA – the famous Arenal Observatory area for instance hosts the Very Large Telescope and the under-construction Extremely Large Telescope assemblies, at very accessible altitudes (2000-2600m). The Arenal area lies ~400km SW of San Pedro(*), underlining that the entire Atacama desert offers crisp clear skies as soon as you get away from the coastal fog, from near-see levels up to 5000m of altitude (or higher if you’re a climber).
Looking further, there’s plenty of places around the globe that combine pristine night-sky conditions with good ease of access (the latter often depending on where one lives around the globe!). For Europeans, Tenerife springs to mind, but there’s so many other areas of interest as well, like some areas in mainland Spain, many of the less-populated areas around the Mediterranean, and of course Tromso/Abisko/Iceland for northern lights.
I’d say that the “best place in the world for amateur night sky photographers” is NOT an expensive once-in-a-lifetime travel destination at the other side of the world, but the place closest to home that permits regular astronomy outings in acceptable conditions!
(*Btw, I visited San Pedro in 2007 and back then there were no checks to enter/leave the town, only the regular customs checks when travelling to and from Bolivia)
Hi Greg, I know the name is a bit of a stretch – I wanted to be little bit provocative and spur some discussion. I would actually love to hear other passionate astro-photographers’ suggestions.
Anyway, I definitely do not claim that there is not an abundance of many great places for night shooting. You are right about Arenal and Tenerife. These are on my list too.
Btw. Atacama desert had one of the worst sky observing seasons this year with many covered nights allegedly due to El Nino effect.
Vaclav
P.S. There should have been a question-mark at the end of the title, it was there when I was writing it, I do not remember why I deleted it or if it somehow disappeared unintentionally.
Thank you very much for the interesting article.
Do you have/bring a telescope with you?
Eric, actually not, I consider buying one now . Any suggestion?
For those who do not want to go all the way down the Chile, Arches National Park in Utah has the darkest sky I have ever seen. The humidity conditions, altitude and absence of agglomeration in a rather large radius, make it for amazing shots.
Felix
Also Canyonlands – that is supposed to have the darkest skies in the continental US and I got some great shots there.
I wish I could photograph there, both in Canyonlands and in Arches NP.
If you’re in the UK (especially the south) I can recommend Durdle Door on the south coast. There is some distant light pollution but it’s nice to have the Door (and a girl) in the shot. Also great to chill on the beach with a girl at midnight and….relax. ;)
Hi Alpha Whiskey, yes, this place is on my list. Your captures are very nice!
I love Utah for night sky, Canyonlands, Escalante Grand staircase, arches is good but some parts are ran over by light painters so it’s hard to get a decent shot without someone turning on their flashlights. New Mexico Bisti badlands is great too.
500px.com/photo…ohn-daniel
500px.com/photo…ohn-daniel
For color accurate folks read a little online on accurate colors of night sky. Don’t blindly follow YouTube Milky Way video editors.
Vaclav,
I saw several exposure and ISO combinations shown with your star shots. Which ISO/aperture/shutter setting would you recommend to start with (I know it varies from place to place). Were your shutter settings 1/15 sec.–or 15 seconds?
Very nice Milky Way shots and I like the Silver Sword idea too, if I ever travel to Maui.
Hi, this all depends on the camera ISO performance, max. aperture and focal length. There are also other variables. Anyway, I try my best to answer your question:
When I shoot with Nikon D750 I typically use ISO 3200-8000. D750 is a low-noise machine, so going over 6400 is not a problem, this also the reason why I used ISO 10000 in on one of the images.
With DX cameras or FX D8x0 it is different, there you try not to go over 3200.
Sutter speed – here I follow the rule of thumb that with 14mm, I can afford 30s exposure, with growing focal length you have to shorten the exposure time in order to prevent star-trail effect (the exact rule is called “500-rule” – basically dividing this number with your focal length and you get the maximum shutter time before star-trails effect kicks-in). For the shots with 14mm Samayang I used 30sec, with Nikkor 20mm I used speeds between 15-25seconds.
Aperture: usually f2.8 is the maximum you have, with Nikon 200mm f1.8 I can play a bit more – so I realized f1.8 is not the best, as the sharpness drops tiny bit and there is lot of vigneting (darker corners), so I tried to use f2.5 or 2.8 values instead.
To sum it up: If you are in a very dark spot and have f2,8 lens, I would recommend starting with f2.8, 30sec (for wide angle) and ISO 3200. With longer lens it would be f 2.8, 15sec and ISO6400. Then I check it out and see on the display whether the contrast between stars and the rest of the sky is good. In general I learned not to fear high ISO setting since these yield a bit more colours with my D750.
But remember – how much light you may let in also depends on the level of light pollution – if there is none you can experiment more – which is my case in Haleakala.
I hope this helps, Vaclav
The D810 is not far behind the D750 honestly. The sweet spot for me is ISO 5000, though I push it to 6400 quite often. I won’t go to 10000 without stacking though with the D810. The D810A is just a little bit better than the D750 on the other hand as far as ISO noise goes. You do have to use shorter shutter speeds with a denser sensor though, stars will appear to streak faster when zoomed in.
Aron, thanks for your insights – I have no experience with Nikon D810, I hope to try some night photography with D810A next year. Vaclav