At the time of writing this Halemaʻumaʻu is currently an active vent of the Kilauea Volcano located in Volcano National Park on the Big Island of Hawaii. In this image, I wanted to capture a variety of elements that required advanced planning. For one, I wanted to capture the Milky Way over Halemaʻumaʻu in which I knew would be over the crater around 1 a.m. Another important factor for me was to have the moon set in the background while illuminating the foreground. This also required a moon that was not too bright that it would wash out the stars and Milky Way. Lastly, I had to make sure there were no clouds in the sky during that time. With some luck on my side, all the elements came together, and I was able to come up with this photo of Halemaʻumaʻu.
Photo © copyright by Wade Morales.