Visited some Star Wars filming sites

I just got back from a long roadtrip and one of the places I wanted to visit was Death Valley. Very cool place if you like the outdoors. But, as most of you know, it is also the filming location of several Star Wars and Jedi shots. I so wish I couldve been about 11 or 12 instead of my age now. But alas, im older now and it still was very neat to actually stand on Tatooine, so to speak. After looking at the photo of Artoo headed away, I realized the actual shot was a bit further to my left due to the angle of a few of the peaks in the distance. But, I was still there. I cut and paste Artoo just for the heck of it into my photo. I tried to adjust the color to closer match the actual movie. If any of you ever get the chance to go out there, it is a very neat park to visit. Most folks dont care about going there because of the heat, but its tolerable and a very, very cool place to explore. There are very view people there, so you pretty much have free reign of the place . Just make sure you have a reliable vehicle though. Getting in and out is really hard on your car. The temps range quite a bit too. At the Mos Eisley overlook, it was 84 while down in the valley, it was 118! Also, the one thing to consider is that the dunes are ever changing, and it has been 40 years since the Artoo scene was filmed. So you have to do a little exploring to find the dunes that match the shot as close as possible.
Looks like the Mos Eisley overlook shot was taken from a higher angle with a longer focal length. My shot just isnt high enough and not shallow enough in DOF to match properly. The sandcrawler shot was tough. I dont know if the terrain had changed that much, or in addition to the sandcrawler being a matte painting on glass, did they superimpose the Jawas onto the scene? IDK. Still the spot of the shot though.

BobaJett said:

I just got back from a long roadtrip and one of the places I wanted to visit was Death Valley. Very cool place if you like the outdoors. But, it also was the location of several filming locations of Star Wars and Jedi. I so wish I couldve been about 11 or 12 instead of my age now. But alas, im older now and it still was very neat to actually stand on Tatooine, so to speak. Ill add some more pics later, but heres one place I visited. After looking at the photos, I realized the actual shot was a bit further to my left due to the angle of a few of the peaks in the distance. But, I was still there. I cut and paste Artoo just for the heck of it into my photo. I tried to adjust the color to closer match the actual movie. If any of you ever get the chance to go out there, it is a very neat park to visit. Most folks dont care about going there because of the heat, but its tolerable and a very, very cool place to explore. There are very view people there, so you pretty much have free reign of the place to do as you please. Just make sure you have a reliable vehicle though. Getting in and out is really hard on your car. The temps range quite a bit too. At the Mos Eisley overlook, it was 84 while down in the valley, it was 118! Also, the one thing to consider is that the dunes are ever changing, and it has been 40 years since this scene was filmed. So you have to do a little exploring to find the dunes that match the shot as close as possible.

The sand got worse with time.

I think if I had gone out farther, where the dunes were more prevalent, I couldve got a better shot. Plus I was using the wrong focal length for the shot.

Ive got a few more to add, so check back periodically if you want to see them. Thanks. I do plan on going back next year for a more extensive trek around the park and to find all of the filming locations. This was more of a recon trip to familiarize myself with the park. I want to do some hiking and off-roading also.

HansiG said:

BobaJett said:

I just got back from a long roadtrip and one of the places I wanted to visit was Death Valley. Very cool place if you like the outdoors. But, it also was the location of several filming locations of Star Wars and Jedi. I so wish I couldve been about 11 or 12 instead of my age now. But alas, im older now and it still was very neat to actually stand on Tatooine, so to speak. Ill add some more pics later, but heres one place I visited. After looking at the photos, I realized the actual shot was a bit further to my left due to the angle of a few of the peaks in the distance. But, I was still there. I cut and paste Artoo just for the heck of it into my photo. I tried to adjust the color to closer match the actual movie. If any of you ever get the chance to go out there, it is a very neat park to visit. Most folks dont care about going there because of the heat, but its tolerable and a very, very cool place to explore. There are very view people there, so you pretty much have free reign of the place to do as you please. Just make sure you have a reliable vehicle though. Getting in and out is really hard on your car. The temps range quite a bit too. At the Mos Eisley overlook, it was 84 while down in the valley, it was 118! Also, the one thing to consider is that the dunes are ever changing, and it has been 40 years since this scene was filmed. So you have to do a little exploring to find the dunes that match the shot as close as possible.

The sand got worse with time.

Cool, thanks for sharing! It’s interesting to see how little has changed. At least less than I would have expected.

Did you have GPS coordinates or did you visually figure it out?

Theres a guy that has a Death Valley tour page of all the sights and places in the park, and just so happens to be a big Star Wars fan. He has a section on his page that details how to get to all the filming locations, even for the deleted scenes. Theyre all pretty easy to get to, albeit you have to drive a bit to see them all. I took printed screenshots for reference. They are must if you want to get the shots as close to perfect. The sandcrawler spot was the most difficult to pin down. I think the foreground terrain has changed drastically since filming. There really is no bbig hill to frame the shot from. I skipped several of them this go around and just hit the really neat scenes. I plan on going back to spend a few days there hiking and whatnot and will visit all the locations, including the Tusken Raider valley where Luke is attacked.

This is the stuff of my dreams, one day I hope I’ll find a way to do this for myself! Thanks so much for sharing and please keep posting more photos.

Mark’s Down On Your Syntax said:

This is the stuff of my dreams, one day I hope I’ll find a way to do this for myself! Thanks so much for sharing and please keep posting more photos.

Trust me, even at my age, it was uber-cool to stand where Artoo and 3PO stood. Not to sound too geeky, but I even had the soundtrack playing as I drove from spot to spot.

This post was really cool! Coincidentally, I also visited these locations just a few months ago during my Spring break! I have some pictures and I will be posting them soon 😄

Here are my pictures! The perspective is off on a few of them because I was unable to screen-match them while I was there. I also loved the color correction on your pics, so I tried on a few of mine!

http://i.imgur.com/yl7CPN6.jpg
Mos Eisley overlook

http://i.imgur.com/CltQ46h.jpg
Path to Jabba’s Palace

http://i.imgur.com/Yw3FQ19.jpg
Another angle from that scene

http://i.imgur.com/srxwTPt.jpg
Me messing around with an action figure

http://i.imgur.com/0fr1ZoC.jpg
Shot with my Sandcrawler model in front of the mountains (It was really hard to position my model, so I’m pretty sure the scene was shot, and then a picture of the model was placed over it in the actual film)

http://i.imgur.com/Ba7YtEs.jpg
R2-D2 Canyon (I photoshopped a picture of him into this one just like you did with the one of him in the dunes)

Great photos. I would love to visit these locations.
The nearest Star Wars locations to me in the UK are Phantom Menace locations. So you can see I am quite jealous! I have been to Matmata location in Tunisia though.

Booman said:

Here are my pictures! The perspective is off on a few of them because I was unable to screen-match them while I was there. I also loved the color correction on your pics, so I tried on a few of mine!

http://i.imgur.com/yl7CPN6.jpg
Mos Eisley overlook

http://i.imgur.com/CltQ46h.jpg
Path to Jabba’s Palace

http://i.imgur.com/Yw3FQ19.jpg
Another angle from that scene

http://i.imgur.com/srxwTPt.jpg
Me messing around with an action figure

http://i.imgur.com/0fr1ZoC.jpg
Shot with my Sandcrawler model in front of the mountains (It was really hard to position my model, so I’m pretty sure the scene was shot, and then a picture of the model was placed over it in the actual film)

http://i.imgur.com/Ba7YtEs.jpg
R2-D2 Canyon (I photoshopped a picture of him into this one just like you did with the one of him in the dunes)

Great pics. You had a much clearer day than when I was there. It was very hazy while I was there. I had intended on taking some figures for fun, but just didnt get around to it. I plan on going next summer for a more extended stay and hopefully Ill take a few then.😃
Your Mos Eisley shot is much better than mine.

Wolfman said:

Great photos. I would love to visit these locations.
The nearest Star Wars locations to me in the UK are Phantom Menace locations. So you can see I am quite jealous! I have been to Matmata location in Tunisia though.

Which scene is that?

Booman said:

Here are my pictures! The perspective is off on a few of them because I was unable to screen-match them while I was there. I also loved the color correction on your pics, so I tried on a few of mine!

http://i.imgur.com/yl7CPN6.jpg
Mos Eisley overlook

http://i.imgur.com/CltQ46h.jpg
Path to Jabba’s Palace

http://i.imgur.com/Yw3FQ19.jpg
Another angle from that scene

http://i.imgur.com/srxwTPt.jpg
Me messing around with an action figure

http://i.imgur.com/0fr1ZoC.jpg
Shot with my Sandcrawler model in front of the mountains (It was really hard to position my model, so I’m pretty sure the scene was shot, and then a picture of the model was placed over it in the actual film)

http://i.imgur.com/Ba7YtEs.jpg
R2-D2 Canyon (I photoshopped a picture of him into this one just like you did with the one of him in the dunes)

Where did you shoot your pic for the Overlook? Also, the sandcrawler shot as well? There really was no big hill like portrayed in the movie for the Jawas to walk up. It was all small hills and whatnot. I had to really work to make the shot look right.

For the overlook shot, I stood at the edge of the parking lot. I used the hills at the bottom right for reference. Matching this shot was pretty easy because I printed out a picture of the shot and brought it along with me. For the scene with the Sandcrawler, there are multiple places that the scene could have been shot because the hills are so far off in the distance. I’m sure if you walked around enough you would be able to find the exact hill they walked up. Another possibility is that they may have placed the camera on the ground to make the hill appear larger. For my picture, I just put my model on top of the hill behind the viewing area for the R2-D2 canyon. I was losing the lighting conditions and people were leaving, so I just rushed to take the picture. For the shot in the movie, I think they had the camera further off to the right judging off of the mountains in the distance. You definitely were able to capture the scene better than I was able to!

Here is the hill I walked up to take my picture of the Sandcrawler:
http://imgur.com/a/CJ2n6

I think that you were closer to the actual location because the hills have rougher terrain compared to mine. Also keep in mind that it has been around 40 years (wow that surprised me) since the scene was shot so the landscape may have changed a bit.