Outbound Collective logo

Photograph Star Trails at Silver Lake

Brighton, Utah

Details

Distance

1 miles

Route Type

Out-and-Back

Description

Added by Bryony Richards

A beautiful, easily accessible lake, surrounded by mountains, with skies dark enough to see and photograph the Milky Way.

Silver Lake is one of the easiest, most accessible hikes in the Wasatch, located at the top of Big Cottonwood Canyon, Utah, close to the ski resorts of Brighton and Solitude.

The lake is accessible all year; with a boardwalk or a well-signed path circling the lake through spring to fall. In the winter the lake become a frozen snowshoe and nordic skiing area.

A full hike around the lake takes about 30 minutes, with many vantage points along the boardwalk to make using a tripod even easier.

For Milky Way photos, start by find a good spot on the lake and angle you camera towards the south (to photograph the galactic core). At Silver Lake, due south happens to be looking towards the main area of Brighton Ski Resort.

For the single Milky Way images featured, a Canon 5D Mark III with a Rokinon 24 mm (f/1.4) lens was used, with the following settings:

  • ISO1000 to ISO2000
  • Shutter speeds/exposure times: 12 to 20 seconds
  • Aperture: f/2.0 f/2.0 (stopped down from f/1.4)
  • Other settings of note: Evaluative metering, automatic white balance

For the panoramic Milky Way image featured, 16 images were taken rotating the camera at a stationary mark and subsequently stitched together. For each frame of the panoramic image, a Canon 5D Mark III with a Rokinon 24 mm (f/1.4) lens was used with the same following settings:

  • ISO1000
  • Shutter speeds/exposure times: 20 seconds
  • Aperture: f/2.0 (stopped down from f/1.4)
  • Other settings of note: Evaluative metering, automatic white balance

For the star trail photos featured, a Canon 5D mark iii with a Rokinon 24 mm lens was used to take 50 individual photographs using the following settings and stacked using Photoshop:

  • ISO2000
  • Shutter speed: 20 seconds
  • Aperture: f/2.0 (stopped down from f/1.4)
  • Other settings of note: Evaluative metering, automatic white balance
Read More

Download the Outbound mobile app

Find adventures and camping on the go, share photos, use GPX tracks, and download maps for offline use.

Get the app

Features

Chillin
Photography
Skiing
Snowshoeing
Hiking
Easy Parking
Family Friendly
Food Nearby
Lake
Romantic
Scenic

Reviews

Have you done this adventure? Be the first to leave a review!

Leave No Trace

Always practice Leave No Trace ethics on your adventures and follow local regulations. Please explore responsibly!

Nearby

Hike and Camp at the Twin Lakes Reservoir

Cross-Country Ski at the Solitude Nordic Center

Silver Lake

Hike Lakes Mary, Martha and Catherine (Brighton Lakes)

Night Photography at Brighton

Photograph Guardsman Pass & The Alpine Loop