Night photography locations in Arizona, Update with photo in last post

I guess I should have put Italy in the title to get a response

I haven’t taken any night pics around Phoenix so I can’t help you with locations, but when I went to Budapest, etc. I got a few location ideas from locationscout.com. The Photographer’s Ephemeris photoephemeris.com will give you the location/path of sunrise, sunset and moon. I believe I used google earth to determine time and location of Milky Way. When I have been in dark areas, I didn’t have any trouble seeing Milky Way with my naked eyes. I used the above to plan a Milky Way shot rising over the sea stacks in Olympic National Park, but it was too cloudy. Lonelyspeck.com is a good site for more info. Hope this helps.

PNW's rec, Saguaro NP, is probably the 2nd most iconic AZ location after the Grand Canyon. Can't go wrong there, it is about 2 hours from Phoenix, give or take depending on your location. I don't now how dark the skies are there (pretty close to Tucson) but the sunsets are outstanding.

Going off of your link the closest blue spots are:

1. Sonoran Desert NM. A little over an hour drive SSW depending on your location. Easy access, you can just pull over on the side of I-8 wherever looks good. Not a ton of traffic, unless a Friday. This location is going to give you similar landscape to Saguaro NP but darker skies. (Keep an eye out for illegals, they move at night)



2. Saddle Mountain. About 90 minutes west of Phoenix, depending on location and traffic. I have only been within 10 miles of this location so I don't know how easy it is to access, they have BLM camping so it probably does not close. There is also an observatory according to the dark skies website. This location will offer a mountain backdrop with a few scattered saguaros and lots of scrub. The skies are DARK as frick out here though.

Green location:

3. Picacho Peak, about 75 minutes south of Phoenix heading towards Tucson. I-10 and access road are right next to the park so even if it has a gate you should be able to get close. I have never been here at night but the dark skies website gives it high ratings and this picture looks dope:




Depending on how much you want to drive and how late you want to be out, you could hit up one of these, spend an hour or two, then hit up another. Picacho Peak and Sonoran NM are fairly close, and Sonoran NM and Saddle Mountain are fairly close heading the other direction.


This dude has some awesome pics of AZ. Not really night shots but maybe they give you some ideas. LINK

you know everywhere ive lived people always preach that their sunsets and night skies are the most beautiful ever

judging by the pics they are full of shite..arizona beats them all

I ended up driving about an hour and a half west to Saddle Mountain and got this shot last night. Arizona definitely has the darkest, clearest skies. As soon as I stepped out of the jeep, I could see the milky way clearly from South to North with the naked eye. It was difficult to pick out constellations because all the stars were so bright.

Is that before or after lightroom?

Arizona is 1a, New Mexico is 1b (for sunsets)

Straight off the camera

Awesome pic..

What gear and settings did you use for that shot?