Moon Set at the Fire Hole

JimFox · Monday at 12:38 PM

This is from a week ago up in Yellowstone National Park. It's a nice mostly quiet spot along the Firehole River. It had been crazy weather, ferocious winds and rain, peaceful rainbows, and at the beginning of the night, a sweet moon set.

The Milky Way will show up, it's currently covered by the clouds to the left, though it would be pretty weak anyway with the moon still in the sky. So the clouds framed the scene well, and I liked how they reflected the moon light.

Nikon D850
Sigma 14mm f1.8

20 secs
ISO 3200
f1.8

All comments are welcome,

Jim

AlanLichty · Monday at 1:15 PM

Remarkably warm color temps for a moonset but you likely have some wildfire smoke to the west from all the fire we have in OR and WA. The reflections on the water look really nice.

Jameel Hyder · Monday at 4:47 PM

Beautiful image. Looks more like sunset than a night image due to the warm lights on the horizon.

John Holbrook · Monday at 7:20 PM

Beauty captured!!!

JimFox · Monday at 8:20 PM

AlanLichty said:
Remarkably warm color temps for a moonset but you likely have some wildfire smoke to the west from all the fire we have in OR and WA. The reflections on the water look really nice.

Thanks Alan!

No smoke, it's the moon, which is just like a mini sun, so when the moon sets at night like this, it's gold just like a sun set.

JimFox · Monday at 8:21 PM

Jameel Hyder said:
Beautiful image. Looks more like sunset than a night image due to the warm lights on the horizon.

Thanks Jameel. You are correct, it does feel like a sunset, which is appropriate since the moon is just a mirror of the sun.

JimFox · Monday at 8:21 PM

John Holbrook said:
Beauty captured!!!

Really appreciate that John! Thanks!

Peter Michal · Monday at 11:56 PM

Amazing scene, Jim, beautiful warm colors. I've never seen it like this before, the glow of the moon with the night sky full of stars and the clouds even in the water.. very nice.

JimFox · Tuesday at 7:52 PM

Peter Michal said:
Amazing scene, Jim, beautiful warm colors. I've never seen it like this before, the glow of the moon with the night sky full of stars and the clouds even in the water.. very nice.

Thanks Peter! I usually avoid the night sky once the moon gets this large, but it looks like I need to go catch it some more. I am guessing the clouds really helped to reflect the light from the moon.

Mike Lewis · Tuesday at 7:58 PM

OK, that's a killer capture. I actually think the clouds are more interesting than just the Milky Way would have been, especially with the Moon influence, as you say. Great job, love it!

ML

Kyle Jones · Wednesday at 10:24 AM

I really like this Jim - better than a sunset since you get stars also.

JimFox · Wednesday at 1:55 PM

Mike Lewis said:
OK, that's a killer capture. I actually think the clouds are more interesting than just the Milky Way would have been, especially with the Moon influence, as you say. Great job, love it!

ML

Thanks Mike. For years I tried to avoid clouds at night, but about 12 years ago I was in Yosemite capturing the Perseids but had to suffere with some clouds, but when I processed that timelapse I realized that clouds can add a real magical touch to the night sky.

So now? I love clouds at night.

JimFox · Wednesday at 1:56 PM

Kyle Jones said:
I really like this Jim - better than a sunset since you get stars also.

Thanks Kyle, I totally agree. And sunset was okay that night, the killer was the Rainbow over Old Faithful I got!

BlackRockArt · Wednesday at 7:09 PM

JimFox said:
This is from a week ago up in Yellowstone National Park. It's a nice mostly quiet spot along the Firehole River. It had been crazy weather, ferocious winds and rain, peaceful rainbows, and at the beginning of the night, a sweet moon set.

The Milky Way will show up, it's currently covered by the clouds to the left, though it would be pretty weak anyway with the moon still in the sky. So the clouds framed the scene well, and I liked how they reflected the moon light.

Nikon D850
Sigma 14mm f1.8

20 secs
ISO 3200
f1.8

All comments are welcome,

Jim

View attachment 90874

Oh Jim, I was watching the weather & I knew you would come with something gorgeous, as unpredictable weather as it is in Yellowstone, it's great for us photographers.

I love this surreal scene.

Thanks for sharing.

Oliver

JimFox · 2026-08-27T01:59:13-0700

BlackRockArt said:
Oh Jim, I was watching the weather & I knew you would come with something gorgeous, as unpredictable weather as it is in Yellowstone, it's great for us photographers.

I love this surreal scene.

Thanks for sharing.

Oliver

Thanks so much Oliver! I appreciate it, and it's great to see my grandkids having such a love for Yellowstone as well.

Kyle Jones · 2026-08-27T13:39:50-0700

JimFox said:
Thanks Mike. For years I tried to avoid clouds at night, but about 12 years ago I was in Yosemite capturing the Perseids but had to suffere with some clouds, but when I processed that timelapse I realized that clouds can add a real magical touch to the night sky.

So now? I love clouds at night.

The challenge with clouds at night is that the same processing that makes the stars stand out in the night sky makes the clouds REALLY dark. I agree they are great once you work through that.

Moon Set at the Fire Hole

JimFox

Moderator

AlanLichty

Moderator

Jameel Hyder

Moderator

John Holbrook

Well-Known Member

JimFox

Moderator

JimFox

Moderator

JimFox

Moderator

Peter Michal

Well-Known Member

JimFox

Moderator

Mike Lewis

Staff Member

Kyle Jones

Moderator

JimFox

Moderator

JimFox

Moderator

BlackRockArt

Staff

JimFox

Moderator

Kyle Jones

Moderator