Into The Night Photography

Free Milky Way NightScapes Photography Lectures

2024-12-14T17:47:00.000-08:00

Free Milky Way NightScapes Photography Lectures for Camera Clubs and Local Photography Groups.

Next presentation at:

Christ Lutheran Church, 25 Chapel Road, Sedona, AZ 86336

Feb 23, 2026 • 6:00pm • In-person

(One-time visitor's fee of $5.00 if you're not a club member)

Although I've been paid handsomely to give dozens of presentations over the years at photography conferences throughout the world, I often "give back" to our photography community with free lectures to local photography groups and camera clubs.

A typical astro-landscape photography presentation, with PowerPoint slides, runs about 45 minutes to an hour, followed by up to 30 minutes of Questions and Answers from the audience. My only pay-back is that the hosting organization allow me a 2-minute advertisement about my Milky Way NightScapes eBook, which can be purchased online (often with a special discount code for members of the hosting organization).

Typical Presentation Methods to Your Group. Your Choice Between:

Zoom option 1: You provide the live Zoom connection. You are free to record the presentation and share it later to members who could not attend. Cost: No charge from me.
Zoom option 2: I provide the live Zoom connection. I will also record it and post it to YouTube, where your member can access it after the live Zoom meeting. Cost: No charge for my presentation; however, there is a fee of fifty dollars to help pay for Zoom and uploading costs.
In-person: I will come to your club or organization and make my presentation. Cost: No charge for my presentation; however, you must pay for my round trip transportation costs from Salt Lake City, UT USA; and lodging costs in your city.

Email to inquire about my available dates or to ask questions: orida70@gmail.com

Here are a few recorded examples of presentations I've given:

Creating Natural NightScape Photos (a free presentation to a photo group)
Low-Level-lighting techniques for Milky Way Photography (A live Zoom class for PhotoPills)
'Simply Stunning' Single Exposures for 'Nightscape' Astro-landscape Photography (recorded for the 2023 Nightscaper Photo Conference)
6 Ways to Improve Your Nightscapes (recorded at the 2021 Nightscaper Conference)

Promoting Your Camera Club

Royce promoting a camera club lecture via a local TV show in Florida

When I come to your area, I often help promote your local organization or camera club. Here, I'm on a local TV program in Florida promoting a presentation I'm going to give that weekend at a local camera club. My lecture was free to camera club members. The club charged a nominal fee to the general public—helping to bring in money to support the club's future programs. I also use my domain name "NightScapeEvents.com" to link up to the club's website or any other local astrophotography event I'm trying to help promote (that domain name goes to this blog page when there is not a current event scheduled).

Royce promoting a local event in Seattle, WA via a KING5 TV interview

Image Critiques - Portfolio Reviews - Judging

When I do photography lectures I’m often asked to do image critiques as well. This is where each of the club or group members can submit a few digital images beforehand and have me critique the images in front of the whole group. The group usually benefits just as much as the photographers being critiqued.

More than nightscapes: In some gatherings I’m asked to do competition judging or portfolio reviews. In all cases, these images cover a wide variety of subjects and genres. That’s because I’ve not only had experience in nightscape photography, but I’ve spoken and judged multiple times for the Professional Photographers of America (and Canada), the PSA, and for the American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP).

My professional photography career has spanned over three decades in magazine, commercial, industrial, portrait and fine art photography. Besides being a full-time photographer, over the years, I've also been the CEO of a stock photo agency, a fine art printing company and an art gallery.

Royce has been doing magazine and commercial photography for over three decades.

Here are some of the places where where I'm already scheduled to appear:

Mar 6 • 7:00pm • via Zoom
Albuquerque, NM USA
Enchanted Lens Camera Club
enchantedlens.org
Membership required

March 11 • 6:30pm MDT • via Zoom
Fort Collins, CO USA
Fort Collins Digital Camera Club
fcdcc.com
Membership required

March 18 • 6:30pm MDT • via Zoom
Littleton, CO USA
Metro Denver Photography Group
Meetup group event webpage
Free online Zoom registration

March 27 • 6:30pm PDT • via Zoom
Los Angeles, CA USA
Professional Photographers of Los Angeles County
pplac.org
Membership required

April 8 • time to be announced • via Zoom
Paso Robles, CA USA
North Country Camera Club
Facebook group page
Membership required

April 19 • 10:00 CT • via Zoom
McKinney, TX USA
Heard Nature Photographers
heardnaturephotographers.com
Membership required

May 6 • 7:00pm • In-person
West Jordan, UT USA
SL County Library - Viridian
thecountylibrary.org < register here
FREE to the public

June 4 • 7:00pm PDT • via Zoom
Scotts Valley, CA USA
Community of Digital Artists
CODAsantacruz.com
Membership required

August 11 • 7:00pm EDT • via Zoom
Statesville, NC USA
Iredell Photography Club
Facebook group page
Membership required

Feb 23, 2026 • 6:00pm MST • In-person
Sedona, AZ USA
Sedona Camera Club
sedonacamera.club
Non-members can enter with a $5 visitor's fee

What people are saying about my lectures:

"Wonderful presentation last night. I learned a lot of inside info that I haven't encountered before. Thank you! Could you please pass on the mini flashlight brand and model for that 1-lumen mini light you showed?" - TomM

"Thank you very much for your presentation last night. I and, I'm sure, the rest of the club members appreciated your in-depth information. I'm going to spend some serious time sorting thru my notes..." - Keith Hill

Tips for taking Nightscapes from a drone

2024-03-05T09:31:00.000-08:00

A DJI Mavic 3 drone photo, taken above the Outeniqua Pass foothills in South Africa by Agnieszka Taggart

Written by Agnieszka Taggart

Agnies is a licensed drone pilot and instructor in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Drones are becoming more popular among photographers so it’s no surprise that with the improving specifications, they are also becoming usable in night sky photography.

There are couple things to consider though.

One is the legal side of flying drones at night as some countries only allow drones during the day or with special permissions.

The second one is drone capability to take long exposure photos. Modern drones are quite good at holding the position, but what’s considered good in the world of drones, may not always be good enough in terms of optics and photography.

Typically, the longest exposure from a drone is 8 seconds, but it does not mean that all your exposures taken at 8s will be usable - this is to the fact that even within this rime, the drone will have some movement, usually caused by wind.

Drones typically use the below systems to hold the position:

GPS: modern drones use as many satelites as they can detect, 12-15 satelites is needed for good position lock, sometimes even more. Accuracy increases with number of available satellites
Compass/ gyroscope: this defines which way the drone is pointing
Visual sensors: many drones are equipped with visual sensors for position hold. The sensors scan the ground and register the image - the more contrast and illumination, the better the visual position hold.

In order to get good position lock, hover over something bright and with good contrast - you might want to put a torch on a landing pad.

Accuracy of visual sensors decreases with height, so do not fly high if you don’t have to. In most cases, you only need to clear the height of the roof and trees, so 10-15m above the ground should be enough. Wind is also weaker close to the ground and increases and often changes direction as you mice up.

* Do not take off from a car roof, there is a lot of interference from car electronics that might affect the accuracy of the drone compass. If you chose to hover above a car, take off from a different spot and move over once you reach required height.

Based on the above, you might need to adjust your regular work flow for all types of night time photography.

1) Single exposures

As mentioned, you will be limited to 8 seconds. That’s short, so in order to have usable image, you will need to dial up your ISO. I typically use ISO3200 on my Mavic 3. In case of single exposures, sensor size is the key. You might get away with 1 inch sensor, but 4/3 will produce better results. Take many shots and choose best - they will not all be usable. The types of photos that work well in this situation are naturally contrasty and well illuminating landscapes (snow, sand, water, pale rocks such as sandstone and dolomites), landscape with busy road to capture the trailing lights and non-aggressive light painting

2) Blending and stacking

Typically you would take some shots at “blue hour” and then some night sky shots later. With this technique, it is critical to keep the drone in same position. It is extremely unlikely that you will do this with a single battery, so you will have to record the exact drone position, direction and height. You may want to create a waypoint if your drone app has this function.

3) Composites

Using drone for night time photography is challenging and you may be left with no option than to create composite. If you do, make sure that it is true to nature - check the directions and star positions. It is useful to take a shot with most prominent stars and combine it with shots from the ground. And of course ALWAYS reveal the technique.

Calculating Your Low Level Lighting Exposure

2024-03-01T16:21:00.000-08:00

LED Panel lights at Fairyland Point, Bryce Canyon

How to Calculate the Proper Intensity of Your Low Level Lighting

Calculating Your Exposure: Your exposure is actually determined by your sky exposure, which is often something like f/2.8 for 30 seconds at ISO 6400. Since you want your foreground landscape to match that exposure, what you are really trying to do is place an amount of illumination on the foreground that will look natural with your sky exposure. Because it is a night scene, your foreground should be about two stops darker than a daytime foreground.

LED panel lights are one of the most popular Low Level Lighting sources. Because of the “Inverse Square Law” of light, a non-focused light, like a panel light, will significantly lose illuminance (the amount of light reaching the subject) the further it is placed from the landscape foreground. For instance, a typical panel light might give you a 500 lux reading one meter from the light, but place it only two meters and the illuminance drops to only 125 lux, or 1/4 as much (500 divided by the square of 2). Move the light 328 feet away (100 meters) and the luminance drops to 0.05 lux (500 divided the product of 100 times 100). At this distance, you are going to have to rotate the power dimmer switch to about 1/4 power or less to get a proper exposure. A Low Level Lighting of about 0.01 lux illuminance (which is about halfway between 0.008 lux and 0.02 lux) is a good starting point.

Is there an exact method to getting the right exposure for each landscape location? Yes and no. Lux light meters that can take accurate readings in the 0.1 to 0.001 range are scientific instruments that can cost thousands of dollars. Even if you bought and used one in the field, each landscape situation is different and will still require some exposure adjustments to suit your tastes. Using one of the following three methods, I rarely have to make more than one or two light intensity adjustments before I am satisfied with my results:

Lighting Intensity Adjustment Method #1: The Visual Method. Once you have placed your lights at the proper angle and distance away from your landscape foreground, begin to lower the power adjustment switch until you can barely see features against the night sky (remember, you’re trying to mimic weak moonlight, not the light of a full moon). Due to glare from the light, you’ll want to shield your eyes with your other hand, or even better, stand about 30 feet (about 10 meters) to the side of the light and have a partner adjust the light intensity while you call out the adjustments. This visual adjustment is the fastest and easiest method, and you’ll find it to be quite accurate as you gain experience—so accurate that you’ll rarely have to go back and fine tune the intensity more than once or twice.

Lighting Intensity Adjustment Method #2: The Distance Method. This method requires you to have had some verified experience with the visual method. Once you have had success with the first method, record the power setting and the distance. Keep a record of other distance and power setting combinations. Eventually, you will have power settings for several distances and can interpolate the settings for in between distances. For instance, if your first successful light set up was at 100 paces, and you used the 10% power setting, and your new foreground distance is 200 paces away, you would need four times more light intensity, or 40% power. Undoubtedly, you will still need to make one or two fine tune adjustments.

Lighting Intensity Adjustment Method #3: Inexpensive Light Meter Method. There are inexpensive lux light meters (about $15-25) that are fairly accurate within to 20 to 2000 lux range. These can be used to measure the light close to light source (within the meter’s range of accuracy) and then interpolated for the distance at the landscape foreground. For example, let’s say your light is 200 paces from the foreground landscape, and you want to obtain a good LLL starting point of about 0.01 lux illuminance at the landscape. To get an accurate meter reading, I suggest you move about 1/50 of your total distance away from the light, which in this case would be four paces (200 divided by 50 is 4). Now, hold your meter in the light path, facing the light and check the meter value. Since the distance from the landscape at your meter reading is 50 times greater than the distance from the meter reading position to the light, the meter reading at four paces needs to be 2500 times greater (50 squared) than at the landscape or 25 lux (2500 x 0.01). In summary, to get that 0.01 lux value at the landscape, adjust your light’s power until your meter reads 25 lux at the four paces position. After making a test exposure, you can make any additional adjustments to your tastes.
Please note that you could have chosen a meter reading position that was only two paces from the light (or 100th of the total distance from the landscape). In this case, the meter reading would need to be 100 lux (100 squared [10,000] times 0.01).

Low Level Landscape Lighting (LLL)

2023-09-01T10:26:00.065-07:00

Palouse Falls (eastern Washington state) with and without Low Level Lighting (LLL) • 20 sec, f/2.8, ISO 6400, with a 15mm ultra-wide lens on a full-frame DSLR camera • Copyright Royce Bair • Click image to enlarge

Low Level Landscape Lighting (LLL) public service webpage, provided by Royce Bair and Wayne Pinkston.

LLL VIDEO: Low-Level-Lighting presentation with PhotoPills

What is Low Level Lighting (LLL)?

LLL is NOT light painting — which is moving, momentary and difficult to repeat. Light painting is usually a very bright form of artificial lighting, which is jarring to your eyes and others around you.
LLL is a form of "stationary lighting" (on a light stand, tripod or lying on the ground).
LLL is constantly on during all camera exposures — making it ideal for stacking, panoramas, time-lapse and group settings.
LLL has a very low level brightness on the foreground surface that is less than or equal to the light from a Quarter Moon. LLL adds very little light pollution, allowing the stars to be easily seen.

Comparing LLL Intensity with Natural Light

A Comparison of Natural Light Intensity on Earth Coming From the Sun:

The measurement of light falling on the earth from the overhead Sun (90º) is 129,000 Lux. At sunset this drops to 759 Lux. At the start of the Astronomical Dusk (-18.0º), illumination from the sun drops to 0.000645 Lux! This is the darkest period of the night and the best time to photograph the Milky Way stars.

Photo courtesy of PhotoPills

Sun Position Intensity Time of Day

90 degrees 129,000 lux Noonday Sun
0 759 At Sunset
-4 29.9 Start of Blue Hour
-6 3.41 End of Blue Hour
-12 0.00806 Start Astro Twilight
-18 0.000645 During Astro Dusk

Add to the Astronomical Dusk illumination and you get the following:

Total Starlight only 0.0002 lux
Total Starlight + airglow 0.002
Typical LLL "base" intensity 0.008
Quarter Moon phase at 30º 0.00958
Quarter Moon phase at 45º 0.01602
Typical LLL "accent" intensity 0.024
Quarter Moon phase overhead (90º) 0.0267
Full Moon phase at 30º 0.09583
Full Moon phase at 45º 0.1602
Full Moon phase overhead (90º) 0.267

Click image to enlarge - ©Royce Bair

CONCLUSION: The typical intensity of LLL base lighting is only about 4 times brighter than starlight, and even the intensity of LLL accent lighting is less that Quarter Phase Moonlight!

Here's another example of Low Level Lighting in practice:

Rainbow Bridge (290 feet/88 meters tall, in Utah) photographed with and without Low Level Lighting. The "base" light (an LED panel light dimmed to only 5%) is about 500 feet (154 m.) from the bridge, and producing about 0.008 lux on the surface of the bridge (about 4X greater than the lux from starlight and airglow). Another panel light is behind the bridge, and is dimmed to about 15%. This produces an "accent" illumination under the bridge (about 0.024 lux on the surface), giving more character, shading and dimension. All single exposures were 25 seconds each @ f/2.8, ISO 6400, with a 15mm ultra-wide lens on a full-frame DSLR camera. © Royce Bair. • Click image to enlarge.

How Does Low Level Lighting Compare to Starlight Blends and Twilight Blends?

Low Level Lighting at "Temple of the Moon" ~ Capitol Reef Nat'l Park. © Royce Bair • Click image to enlarge

1. A single exposure (15mm lens on a Canon 6D • f/2.8, 15 sec, ISO 8000)

2. Same EXIF, but with my LLL, and stacked 18 times to reduce noise. I like the drama and "character" one can achieve with LLL — it's similar to moonlight, but you get to control the direction of the light, and it doesn't wash out or lower the contrast of your Milky Way sky.

3. Longer foreground exposure, using overhead starlight (f/4, 120 sec, ISO 6400, with Long Exposure Noise Reduction turned on), then blended with the sky exposure in number one. I like the detail I get in the foreground, but I often do not like the "flat" lighting this technique gives you. One remedy is to do a Blue Hour blend rather than a starlight blend, as these twilight blends have more of from-the-side directional light (see the bottom of this blend page for more details).

4. My LLL exposure (from 2.) blended with the foreground exposure from number 3. This gives me the best on both techniques: more foreground detail (from the longer starlight exposure) AND more "character" from the LLL.

Artificial Light Restrictions in some national parks: As of May 25, 2021 there is no longer any artificial lighting allowed in Capitol Reef National Park due to a new Superintendent’s Compendium.

Capitol Reef now joins Arches, Canyonlands, Zion and Grand Teton National Park (and Natural Bridges Nat'l Mon.) in this artificial light restriction (Bryce has an artificial light restriction, but it only pertains to the viewing of wildlife). Currently, there are only five of the 63 national parks with this restriction, and only one of the 133 national monuments have this restriction. None of the BLM lands have this restriction (that's 245 million acres compared to the 50 million ares of National Parks land). I don't know of any state parks that have an artificial light restriction, but some like the Valley of Fire in Nevada do not allow photography after sunset.

HOW TO SET UP YOUR LOW LEVEL LIGHTING

CALCULATING YOUR EXPOSURE

Updated ''Milky Way NightScape'' eBook Version 2.0

2023-08-08T07:01:00.003-07:00

My NEW, updated eBook premiered March 30, 2024

My original "Milky Way NightScapes" version 1.1 ebook, published in 2015, has been an astro-landscape photography standard reference book, worldwide. The late Alyn Wallace called me the "founding father of landscape astrophotography."

This expanded edition has 198 pages and 725 illustrative images and includes tutorials from 33 "Guest Artists" experts that cover the latest tracking, stacking, blending and panorama techniques, and much more. Some are calling this "the Holy Grail of astrophotography" and the "nightscape photography encyclopedia."

SAMPLE pages. HERE are six (6) sample pages from my new eBook:

Sample pages - Click to view individually

TWO WAYS to GET my NEW eBOOK: You can do a one-time PURCHASE and download for $39.99, or you can become a supporting PATREON for as little as $3/month and get my eBook as one of your benefits of support.

Smartphones for Nightscape Photography

2023-08-07T18:02:00.142-07:00

"A photo of Me with the Arch and Starry Sky" by Wu Zhengjie. Taken with a vivo X90 Pro+ ~ Night Category 1st Place winner in the vivo VISION+ Mobile PhotoAwards 2023 (click image to enlarge).

The technology for smartphone cameras is changing rapidly! When I published version 1.1 of my Milky Way NightScapes ebook there were no mobile phone cameras that could decently capture blue hour twilight photographs, let alone photograph the Milky Way stars during the Astronomical Dusk!

Currently, there are are over a dozen smartphone cameras that can do a fairly good job of photographing starry night skies. I will list them below, in order of my preference (based on my research and some of the reviews listed at the bottom of this blog). This list will be updated periodically, so please come back.

MY BEST SMARTPHONE PICKS FOR NIGHTSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHY

Vivo X90 Pro+
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra
Google Pixel 7 Pro
Apple iPhone 14 Pro
Samsung Galaxy S23
Google Pixel 6 Pro
Apple iPhone 13 Pro
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra
HUAWEI P50 Pro
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra
Huawei P40 Pro+
Xiaomi 13 Pro
OnePlus 11
Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro
OnePlus 10 Pro

REVIEWS:

Best camera phone 2023: Smartphones with stargazing capabilities (March 2023)

The 10 Best Phones for Astrophotography (Apr 20, 2023)

5 Best Smartphones For Night Photography! (July 5, 2023)

Night Photography with vivo X90 Pro! - (May 10, 2023) Note: This YouTube video starts at the "Astro Shooting" — you may wish to rewind to the beginning, to see all the features

The Best Smartphones for Astrophotography in 2023 (April 25, 2023)

Setting Up Low Level Landscape Lighting

2023-08-04T15:34:00.620-07:00

Low Level Landscape Lighting (LLL) at Fairyland Point, Bryce Canyon Nat'l Park • Lights off in top photo • Two LED panel lights turned on (each at about 5%) in middle photo • Camera moved to left in bottom photo, and pointed up to show more sky. Post processing contrast added to sky (orange light pollution reflecting on clouds from nearby town) • © Royce Bair • Click on image to enlarge

How I Set Up My Low Level Landscape Lighting (LLL)

for Nightscape Photography

Return to LLL BASICS Home Page

I've been using the F&V Z96 LED Panel Lights for about a decade in my Low Level Lighting. They use five AA batteries, come with magnetic diffusion and warming filters, and have an analog off/on dimmer switch on the back. The Lume Cube LED panel lights are smaller, lighter, have built in Li-on rechargeable batteries, and have digital dimmer switches that show the exact light intensity output (1% to 100%) and the amount of power that is left in the battery. The light color is also digitally controlled from 5600ºK to 3200ºK. You can read my reviews on all three of these lights via the above links.

I use the Lume Cube Panel MINI as the main (base) light source in most of my LLL set ups where the foreground landscape that I'm lighting is less than 300 feet (91 meters) away. Even at this distance, I'm typically using a light intensity of less than 40% power. For distances greater than 300 feet (91 meters), I use the larger Lume Cube RGB Panel Go (which replaced the original Lume Cube Panel).

Omni-directional "camp" lanterns compared

Camp lanterns put out an omni-directional light that are great for use as "accent" lights — putting a warm glow behind a landscape feature, or under an arch. The top photo shows six different digital LED lanterns I have used over the years. Number 1 has the digital likeness and size of a Coleman gas lantern. Number 6 is the one I now use the most. It is the Goal Zero Lighthouse Micro. Its On/Off/Dimmer Button can control whether two LED lights are used (180º light coverage) or four LED lights are used (360º light coverage). It can also control the intensity of those lights. Wrapping semi-translucent cloth (or tissue paper) and colored filters around the lanterns can added additional controls for diffusion and warming the color of the lights.

Two filtered camp lanterns were placed under Sunset Arch, in the top photo. A single panel light from the left side provided the dramatic "base" or main illumination. A single filtered camp lantern lighted the underside of Mesa Arch in the bottom photo. The lantern is hanging from a string about 50 feet (15 meters) below the arch (the string is tied to a rock). The intensity of the lantern is easily controlled by raising or lowering the lantern. Two panel lights provided the "base" or main illumination — one on either side of the arch. The panel light on the right side was set at twice the intensity as the panel on the left side, in order to provide shading on the rocks, but with some shadow detail.

LIGHTING TUTORIAL ~ 5 Ways to Produce More Even Lighting

Increase lighting distance
Scrim the foreground
Place the light higher
Feather the light
Use a 2nd light for "fill"

CLICK for a 4-minute video tutorial

LIGHT STANDS

The Impact brand is one of my inexpensive favorites because they are so sturdy and tall (they can rise to a height of 9.5 feet, which makes them great for item #3, above), and they have a wide footprint (52") for greater stability—you'll appreciate that on windy nights. Disadvantages: They are all aluminum, so they are a little heavier than the carbon stands, which are better for backpacking into a location. They are also not as compact (42" when folded), which makes them more suitable for locations close to your vehicle.

The Manfrotto MS0490C Carbon Fiber Nanopole light stand costs about four times as much as the Impact light stands, but your back will appreciate the weight difference, if you have to backpack into your location. Although the stand only goes to 6.5 feet (77.5" / 196.8 cm) height, I can usually make up for that by finding higher ground (and it comes with a leveling leg, so that you can keep your stand vertical on uneven surfaces). For backpacking, you'll like the weight of only 1.65 lb / 0.75 kg and a compact folded length of only 20" / 50.8 cm.

MINI BALL HEADS

Mini Ball Heads are placed between your panel lights and your light stands. The mini ball heads allow you better lighting control (to "4. Feather the light"). The top ball head is a Lube Cube product ($24.99). It's well made, but a little overpriced for your needs, in my opinion. The DSLR shoe mount at the bottom (which also has a female 1/4"-20 thread for tripod or light stand mounting) is not need for our stationary type of lighting. I think the Oben BD-0 Mini Ball Head (via B&H for $12.71) is just as well built, and accepts both 1/4"-20 and 3/8"-16 studs at the bottom, but without the DSLR shoe mount. The bottom mini ball head is a ripoff of the Terra Firma design that you can get from B&H for $15 — or you can get this cheap mini ball head on Amazon for only $3.50! (This product is more than adequate for holding and positioning a light weight LED panel on top of a light stand.) Note: If this product link disappears, just search on Amazon for "Swivel Mini Ball Head 1/4 Screw Tripod Mount" and you should find several similar products.

NOTE: This page is currently under construction. Until it is finished, please refer to this webpage about additional lighting equipment from my friend, Wayne Pinkston.

Focus Stacking Nightscapes with Marybeth Kiczenski

2023-06-24T14:51:00.292-07:00

Big Stable Lighthouse by Marybeth Kiczenski • Foreground taken during the blue hour, using several 15 second "focus stacked" exposures at f/8, ISO 800 • Sky is a 90 seconds tracked exposure, ISO 1000, f/2.8 • Sony a7iv camera, with a Sony 24-70mm lens at 50mm.

Winter blooms at Anza Borrego by Marybeth Kiczenski • Foreground taken during the blue hour, using several 6 second "focus stacked" exposures at f/8, ISO 800 • Sky is five 1-minute tracked exposures (a total data stack of 5 minutes), f/2.8, ISO 800 • Sony a7iv astro modified camera (to visible + H-alpha), with a Sony 12-24mm lens at 14mm.

Step-by-Step Tutorial

A 3-image focus stack taken during the blue hour by Marybeth Kiczenski.

Focus stacking your night images is a great way to improve the overall image quality. Much of the process is akin to daytime focus stacking – but with a twist. Depending on if you are blue hour blending, or using true night images, the process may include further post processing.

One of the most popular case uses for focus stacking involves flowers. Flowers make beautiful foreground subjects, but with wide-angle images at F/16 – the depth of field rarely is enough for these small, yet mighty, subjects.

Before we dive in, also note that flowers move. They move A LOT. The slightest of breezes can move these delicate subjects. You may find yourself either giving up, OR doing your focus stack of the flower in blue hour – sometimes VERY early blue hour. Basically, as soon as the directional light from the sun disappears. The reason is you’ll need those faster shutter speeds to freeze the blooms.

Pay attention to the weather considerations and wind. You don’t want to miss that small window to capture still flowers!

With that out of the way, let’s get to the task at hand. You’ll notice here that the flowers here were taken not long after the sunset. While I had the tripod set up in this spot from sunset to milky way, the sharpest stack was from this early evening time frame.

Another point to consider: what is your minimum focus distance of your lens? As you can see here, the Sigma 14-24mm F/2.8 ART lens failed to catch the focus on the nearest flower to the lens. But to be fair, it was basically on top of it. If this is the type of thing that bothers you, then you’ll want to adjust accordingly. I loved having the flowers frame the scene, so I creatively chose to live with this flaw rather than losing the top anchor flower.

The yellow dots indicate the approximate focus points the camera chose in each of the three focus stack exposures. The lens aperture was set at f/8. An aperture of f/16 would have given greater depth of focus, but the exposure would have needed to be four times as long, which can cause flower movement, if there is any wind. If focus stacking had been done in total darkness (using an aperture of f/2.8), then a much great number of exposures would be needed to create the focus stack depth of focus (and focus for each would have been done manually).

The actual focus stacking process involves you starting on the nearest subject, and progressively shifting the focus until you reach the infinity point. You can pick subjects from the scene to focus on, shift your lens step by step, or utilize some camera’s ability to in-camera focus stack. This image was done with a Nikon D850 – the first camera from Nikon to have this feature built in. The number of images you’ll need also depends on the aperture you choose. In other words, you’ll need a lot more images to complete the stack at F/2.8 vs. F/16. You may have to play around (if your camera doesn’t have the auto feature) to make sure you get everything in focus.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you are doing your focus stacking in the dark – you’ll have to manually focus on your different points. This can be an issue if you are with a group, as the “easy” way to focus on the subject is to shine a light on it, set the focus, then turn it off. Communication is key! For this reason, (as well as the aforementioned weather issues), 95% of all my own complex foreground will likely be blue hour foregrounds. There are times where this just isn’t possible, so you just deal with the parameters dealt!

After you collect all your in-field data (focus stack images and your starry night sky exposure), it’s time to do the process the focus stack:

Open your best sequence in the editing software of your choice.
Apply your basic edits.
Save the edited images.
From here, you can use Adobe Photoshop, or software such as Helicon Focus. For images that Photoshop has issues with, I will use Helicon. [Update: recent Photoshop updates drastically improved its built in focus stacking algorithm.]
Open the files as a stack.
Click on “attempt to align layers”
Once the images are loaded into layers, I will then Auto-Align them. This just insures to me that they are aligned to the best of the computer’s ability to do so.
Select all the aligned layers, then click “Auto-Blend” The Auto function typically will suffice.

The computer will then apply masking as it sees fit to make a seamless blend. Photoshop uses depth mapping for this type of stacking. When that doesn’t work correctly, that’s where Helicon Focus comes into play. This program features different algorithms to figure out the focus shifting beyond the scope of Photoshop. You can pick between these algorithms and see how it changes the stack.

Once you are happy with your focus stacked image, save that file out. From here we will now go into adding in the sky, and color matching the two assets to make a final composition!

PUTTING IT ALTOGETHER

At this point, you should have two main images to work with:

Focus stacked foreground image
Single exposure / a Stacked exposure / or a Tracked sky image

Open the focus stacked image. From here you’ll want to apply a mask to remove the sky. This can be a number of ways. The easiest of which is using Photoshop’s new “Select Sky” function. This works remarkably well for well defined horizons. I find that it starts to struggle with trees. Sometimes it will remove too much detail in these complex areas. It’s always worth a try, though! As it's the easiest method!

If this fails, you can deploy the very powerful color-channel masking method. This is a bit advanced, but it's remarkable – especially when dealing with trees. Here’s the simplified process:

In the layers panel, navigate to the color channels tab.
Click on each channel until you find the one that separates the foreground from the sky the best. Usually this ends up being the blue channel, but not always.
Copy that color channel into its own new layer. This step is IMPORTANT, as if you don’t copy it, any changes you make will affect the master image.
Use brightness/contrast to create more separation. You want a black and white image.
Use the dodge and burn tool to define the edges.
Once happy, then select one of the colors – either black or white.
Click back to the full color image – and click on “apply mask”.

Masked Focus-stacked foreground — ready to be blended with starry night sky image

Once the sky is masked out, then you can open your sky image. Copy that image over to the foreground image into its own layer. I always put the sky under the foreground.

Now save this master file out as a new file. This way you still have an unaltered focus stacked image, in case things go drastically wrong.

Initial blend of foreground focus-stack and sky exposure

COLOR BLENDING

Here’s where your creativity begins to take flight! Using the Hue/Saturation, Color Balance, and Selective color under Adjustments, start working the colors until the foreground begins to match the sky, or vice versa. This is really a personal preference. Blue hour images – as the name implies – are heavy in the blue/magenta tones. Some will choose to keep with this theme, and make the night sky match the blue tones. However, the colors of the natural night sky are not blue. So you have to make this creative choice.

The magic is really in the color matching for creating convincing compositions. It can take a lot of small finessing and adjustments, and practice.

Once you are happy with the color matching, then you can take the editing further with curves, brightness, contrast, using the Nik collection, and more!

Final post-processed blend

Remote Utah Nightscape Workshop

2023-06-05T06:27:00.001-07:00

Natural Obelisks "Mom, Pop and Henry" in Capitol Reef National Park

The same Cathedral Valley spires photographed, using a Blue Hour blend. These features were first photographed in 1854 by Solomon Carvalho, during a John C. Fremont expedition to the area. The spires have since been largely ignored by modern photographers due to their remote location in the park.

Utah Badlands and Capitol Reef Nightscape Workshop - led by Royce Bair and Robert McKendrick - September 11-15, 2023 - limited to only 6 participants.

Why this remote area of Utah? The "badlands" between Hanksville and Cainesville, and the "Cathedral Valley" area of Capitol Reef National Park are far away from the crowds you see in other popular central and southern Utah locations, yet they have stunning beauty and some of the darkest skies in the world. There may be some days you will not see another person, other than our group!

Why in September? September 11-15 is during a new moon period. The temperatures are more moderate. May and September are the two best months for this area. The Milky Way is more diagonal in May, whereas it is more vertical in September. The core of the MW doesn't rise until about midnight in May, with the best images during 1:00 to 3:00 in the morning (allowing for very little sleep)! In September the MW core is ready for photography by 9:10 PM and stays up for two hours — allowing for both great nightscapes and better sleeping cycles (as well as sunrise photography)!

A November Milky Way "erupting" over Factory Butte, Utah badlands

A November Milky Way over "Thumb Butte" - Utah badlands

Spring panorama over Needle Mountain in Upper Cathedral Valley by R. McKendrick (Note: October Milky Ways do not arch like this, but remain vertical; however, skies are so dark in this area, that very little post-processing is required for either season!)

Why only 6 participants? Robert and I want your experience to feel very personal and not crowded. Our attention will be on you and your needs. We will only use our cameras when it necessary for instructive examples.

Will we be doing any daytime photography? Absolutely! Because of the October night cycles, we will be able to do photography before and during the sunset periods; and we'll have several sunrise opportunities for photography. If you have a drone, you may wish to bring it, as there will be several opportunities to fly and photograph with it.

Factory Butte at dawn by R. McKendrick (yes, this sky is real!)

Skyline Overlook (Utah badlands) by R. McKendrick

Temple of the Moon and Sun, Capitol Reef National Park by R. McKendrick. This is a drone photo. Note that truck in bottom right corner is just outside park boundaries.

Drone aerial abstract of bentonite hills near Mars Research Station by R. Bair

North Cainesville Mesa by R. McKendrick

Upper Cathedral Valley sunrise by R. McKendrick

What is the physical exertion level for this workshop? Moderate. Most photography locations will be within 1/4 mile of your car or less.

Will transportation be provided? No. We suggest that each workshop attendee bring or rent a high-clearance vehicle. 4-wheel drive is usually not necessary, but preferred. Much of our daily workshop travel will be on gravel or dirt roads. Your airline flights can be into Grand Junction, CO (2.5 hours/159 miles to Hanksville), Salt Lake City (3.5 hours/231 miles to Hanksville) or Las Vegas (6 hours/370 miles to Hanksville).

Will lodging be provided? No. You will need to arrange lodging in Hanksville, Utah (our base). We suggest you book at least 5 nights (September 11-15, checking out on Sept. 16). We recommend Duke's Luxury Cabins (about $169/night) or the Whispering Sands Motel (about $149/night, with a 10% discount for AAA or AARP/seniors).

Will meals be provided? No. There is at least one good restaurant in Hanksville, a fast food burger spot, a grocery store (The Bull Market), a pizza spot (inside the grocery store) and a couple of convenience stores. We will be providing snacks and bottled water.

Daytime post-processing sessions will be included for those who want this instruction.

The cost of this workshop is $1995 per person, with a deposit of $900 to hold your spot. Full payment is due at least 30 days before the workshop. You may cancel by July 10th and receive a full refund. You may cancel by August 10th and receive a 50% refund. There are no refunds after August 10, 2023.

To REGISTER for the workshop, eMAIL ME and I will send you an invoice for $900 to secure your workshop spot. You can use this same email to ask any questions.

Sample Pages from my New eBook

2023-03-07T14:25:00.123-08:00

Here are six (6) random sample pages from my new Milky Way NightScapes Version 2.0 eBook:

Click on image to enlarge

Click on image to enlage

Click on image to enlarge

MORE SAMPLE PAGES: Here are eight (8) more sample pages from the eBook (double-click on each PDF to view).

Update 2.0 covers the NEW ADVANCES in:

Astro-modification to Camera Sensors
Filters to increase nebulosity (giving that "deep space" look)
New Tracking options
Stacking for noise reduction & reduced star movement
Software for Noise Reduction
Deepscapes (a new nightscape genre)
Low Level Lighting techniques & equipment
Mixing Moonlight with the Milky Way
Twilight Blends vs. Starlight Blends
Obtaining High Quality Single Exposure NightScapes

TWO WAYS to GET my NEW eBOOK: You can do a one-time PURCHASE and download for $39.99 (act now for a limited-time $5 off), or you can become a supporting PATREON for as little as $3/month and get my eBook as one of your benefits of support.

Camera Sensor Astro Modification and Conversion Recommendations

2023-03-04T11:39:00.065-08:00

A Full Spectrum conversion done by Spencer's Camera to the Canon R6 (I also bought the Irix 15mm lens from Spencer's).

Here's a list of recommendations for camera sensor "astro modification" and conversion:

I recommend Spencer's Camera & Photo. You can watch a video on how Clarence does his conversions, the various types of conversions, how they differ, including his personal recommendations. Here is a list of other nightscapers who recommend Clarence:

Paul Wilson - New Zealand
Dan Zafra (@capturetheatlas)
Larryn (@shadowandshadenz) - New Zealand
Brandt Ryder
MaryBeth Kiczenski (@shelbydiamondstar)
@blntpencild - Australia

Here's a list of recommendations from my "nightscape" friends:

Benjamin Barakat recommends Markus Meel in Germany. Benjamin also gives some great camera and lens recommendations in this Milky Way Photography Gear Guide.

Ralf Rohner recommends Richard Galli in France. ""Richard works with high quality Astrodon replacement filters. That's why his modifications are a bit more pricy. He modifies [various] brands. Another excellent and cheaper alternative for Canon only is Germany based Markus Meel."

(Please return for updates, as other global recommendations are added.)

Winter Milky Way by Ralf Rohner

2023-02-04T08:19:00.016-08:00

Winter Milky Way at a "Secret Beach" on the Oregon Coast © Ralf Rohner (click to enlarge)

Nightscape photographers in the Northern Hemisphere often talk about the "Milky Way season", and bemoan that the season is "over" when winter comes. Actually, this is a misnomer. The Milky Way is always with us—summer or winter, as you can see in Ralf Rohner's beautiful panoramic view of the winter night sky.

What some less informed photographers are referring to is the absence of the "core" or galactic center of the Milky Way during the winter months. A better term might be: The "Milky Way core season" is over during the winter months. (The opposite is true in the Southern Hemisphere, when the core disappears below the horizon during some of their summer months).

"The Astrophotographer's Yin and Yang" at Mobius Arch © Ralf Rohner (click to enlarge)

This panoramic photo blend is a wonderful example of how our view of the Milky Way changes during the seasons. The photo is a blend of both Milky Way seasons, taken from the same location (Mobius Arch, in the Alabama Hills of eastern California). Ralf had this to say about the image:

Do you prefer winter or summer? Cold or warm? Dark or bright? Yin or Yang?
Yin is the dark side of our Milky Way, dominated by Orion, the hunter. As northern hemisphere dwellers, we associate this dimmer part of our galaxy with long, cold nights, but it also contains some of the most beautiful gems in the night sky, as the light fights its way back in the form of stunning red hydrogen emission nebulae, dotting the whole Milky Way band.

For bright Yang, you have to look for Sagittarius, the steaming teapot, which points towards the galactic center, the brightest part of the Milky Way. In the northern hemisphere, this is associated with warmer but shorter spring and summer nights. Adjacent to the Milky Way core, in the border area of Scorpius and Ophiuchi, lies one of the most colorful parts of the night sky, the Rho Ophichui region. Despite all this light, one can not ignore the looming dark cloud of the Great Rift, blocking the starlight and colors in the constellations Serpens, Aquila and part of Cygnus. Ironically, this seemingly star-eating molecular cloud is home to some of the most active regions of star formation. The light once again gains the upper hand in the bright hydrogen emission nebulae of Cygnus, around the stars Sadr and Deneb.
Thereafter, we enter the transition zone between the bright and the dark side, which is ruled by King Cepheus and his vain wife Cassiopeia.
During a short period in spring and autumn, it is possible to see both sides in a single night. I had the privilege to be able to capture this at Mobius Arch in California.

The Yin-panorama was captured after nightfall, facing westward, and showing the winter Milky Way with setting Orion. The east facing Yang-panorama shows the rising galactic core and Cygnus, shortly before dawn. Both were merged to create this 'Yin-Yang' image, showing the entire Milky Way visible from mid northern latitudes. [The bright area in the sky, just to the right of the arch is Zodiacal Light.]

Ralf's technical information for the top photo of the "Secret Beach" will give you an idea of how he creates his nightscape panoramas:

Camera: Canon EOS-R, astro-modified
Lens: Tamron 15-30mm f/2.8
Narrowband filter: IDAS NBZ filter
Tracker: iOptron SkyTracker Pro
Sky: 6 panel panorama, each a stack of 6x 60s @ ISO1600 & 3 x 150s @ ISO6400
Foreground: 6 panel panorama of 5s @ ISO400 during blue hour

Check out Ralf's informative blog on how to do landscape astrophotography.

Private Night Photography Workshops by Royce Bair

2022-05-02T09:00:00.005-07:00

Private Night Photography Lessons in the Field. For years I've done up to 10 group workshops a year. These 5-day group workshops typically cost about $1,995 (or about $400 a day). In 2019, I went into semi-retirement, doing only one group workshop a year (my group workshops often fill up in 48 hours or less). For the rest of the year, I only do private workshops. Private instruction allows greater flexibility for teaching and offers many additional opportunities for my clients! We can sometimes do as much photography in two or three nights than you can do in a group situation during four or five nights. Of course, we can also do as much daytime photography as you want (depending on how much sleep you require).

One of the biggest advantage of a private workshop is that my time is shared only with you and the friend(s) you choose to attend with you (I cannot tell you how many times I have seen one "bad apple" in a group workshop try to monopolize my time at the expense of others in the group).

Private instruction is only a little more expensive than a group workshop, but it can actually be equal to or less expensive, when you invite a friend or two to share the costs. A maximum of three photographers are allowed in a private group (you and up to two of your friends). Let me illustrate...

Day rate: I charge $1,200 for the first day of instruction and $950 for each additional day (some photographers book just one day). "Weather" days are $500. Here's a typical fee cost EXAMPLE for two or three photographers:

1st Day/night .......... $1,200.00
2nd Day/night .......... 950.00
3rd Day/night .......... 950.00

---------

Total fee cost ....... $3,100.00

Cost/photog (when 2).. $1,550.00

Cost/photog (when 3).. $1,033.33

(This is less than $345/day!)

Definitions: A "Day/night" of photography includes up to 8 hours of my time in guiding and teaching. At least two (2) of those hours will be doing starry night photography. The daytime instruction can be in the field or in the classroom (i.e. image post processing). A tag-along spouse or friend, without a camera, is not considered a "photographer".

Weather Days: In many of the workshop I've ever conducted, there are nights where we have so much cloud cover that few stars can be seen or photographed. Although we always try to make good use of the night with "Blue Hour" photography and demonstrating light painting (or Low Level Lighting) techniques, this is probably not what you signed up for. When this happens in my private workshops, we just call it a night and rest up for better nights. If I cannot give you at least 30 minutes of starry night photography, I will charge you a flat $500 fee to cover my expenses for that day. Note: This "weather day" discount does not apply to the first day. The "weather day" discount is also NOT something I offer in my group workshops.

Travel Expenses: You will cover your own travel expenses for transportation, lodging and meals.

Locations for private workshop lessons can be any place in the world! Any workshop location within 350 miles of my residence includes my travel expenses in the first day rate fee. Examples of workshops that are within this 350-mile radius: Arches National Park, Grand Teton N.P., Yellowstone N.P., Zion N.P., Bryce Canyon N.P., Capitol Reef N.P., Canyonlands N.P. and Grand Staircase-Escalante N.M.

You will also cover my travel expenses for any workshop that is greater than 350 miles from my residence in Salt Lake City, Utah. I will cover my own lodging and meals. For distances greater than 350 miles, you will be charged the following travel expenses, in addition to my day rates:

351-800 miles (car travel one

way): $0.95 per mile*
Over 800 miles: Actual airfare

charges + actual car rental

fees (we can share this

vehicle).

*Example: One of my favorite places in eastern California are the Alabama Hills, near Lone Pine. From this area, you can also visit Mono Lake and the ancient Bristlecone Pines. Google says it's 582 miles from Salt Lake City to Lone Pine —that's 232 miles over my free base distance of 350 miles. At 95 cents per mile, that would be a travel expense of $220. As for your own travel expenses, you would want to fly into Las Vegas and rent a car for driving to Lone Pine (232 miles).

Reserving your date: I charge a $300 deposit to reserve a date. You can reserve up to a six days at a time. There is a deposit fee of $300 for each day you wish to reserve. This one deposit covers all the photographers in your group. I am happy to help you with your travel arrangements and hotel recommendations.

CALL: 801-558-2701 to make your reservations, or EMAIL me at royce.bair[AT]gmail[DOT]com (to prevent spam email, I ask you to substitute the "[AT]" with the "@" symbol and the "[DOT]" with the "." character).

Final payment: I request the balance of my fees (and any travel expenses) 90 days prior to the starting day of your private workshop.

Cancellations and Refunds: You can cancel and receive a full refund (less credit card fees), up to 90 days prior to the event. If you cancel between 60 and 89 days prior to the event, I will refund all but $100.00 of the fees you have paid. If you cancel between 30 and 59 days prior to the event, I will refund 50% of your fees, unless we can find a replacement attendee to take your place. If you cancel less than 30 days prior to the event, none of your fees will refunded, unless we can find a replacement attendee to take your place. The workshop participant acknowledges that if Royce Bair cancels this event, all fees paid will be refunded. Other than this refund, no guarantee or warranty is given or implied.

Eliminating days from your scheduled event: If, after completing at least two of your reserved workshop days, it is decided that you no longer need one or more of your additional reserved days, you will be refunded up to $450.00 for each of those unused days (less credit card processing fees). Travel expenses cannot be refunded.

Extending your workshop: If we are less than two weeks away from your workshop, and you wish to extend the length of the workshop (and I can make arrangements to do so), you will pay my first day rate ($1,200/day) for each additional day. You may also be required to pay my lodging expenses for any extra days (as last-minute lodging costs are often at a higher rate).

Recommendations: Read what others have said about my workshops.

PRIVATE INSTRUCTION: In addition to private workshops, I also offer:

This is currently priced at $75.00/hour. Please text me at 801-558-2701 or email me at royce.bairATgmailDOTcom for details.

My photography expertise goes beyond astrophotography: three decades of full-time magazine and commercial photography.

1-Night Workshops in the Kanab Area

2022-02-02T10:26:00.012-08:00

"Zion's Little Tree" is only about 35 miles from Kanab, Utah. Photo by Royce Bair

NOTICE: Even though the NightScaper Conference has been postponed to 2023, we plan to continue our Kanab area workshops! Instead of just one-nighters, you will also be able to book a 5-day/night workshop; however, we will limit attendance now to just six (6) people, instead of 8/night.

March 18 update: this workshop is now full. However, you may eMail to get on our waiting list.

We had originally planned our workshops of 1-nighters around the 2022 NightScaper Conference (April 26-29). Robert McKendrick and I will now be conducting a full 5-day/night (April 25-29) workshop and also offering several 1-night workshops in the Kanab, Utah area. Each workshop includes a daytime outing(s) with two hours of classroom style instruction. Each day, we will go to one or more of the following locations (eMail me below for our planned itinerary):

A large chamber, about 80 minutes from Kanab. Photo by Robert McKendrick

Zion's "The Watchman" and Virgin River. Photo by Robert McKendrick

Toadstool Hoodoos - about 45 miles from Kanab. Photo by Royce Bair

More hoodoos, about an hour from Kanab. Photo by Robert McKendrick

"The Fortress" by Royce Bair

Alstrom Point - Lake Powell is 82 miles from Kanab. Photo by Robert McKendrick

Sunrise on Pardue Bay / Lake Powell. Photo by Robert McKendrick

Photo by Royce Bair

Each 1-day/night workshop costs $425/person. The full 5-day/night workshop is $1995. For more information, or to reserve your spot, eMail Me.

Get my eBook for only $3

2021-11-16T08:31:00.031-08:00

Limited Time Offer: Get my $19.99 Milky Way NightScapes eBook for only $3.00* by becoming a Patreon NightScaper Supporting Member!

The eBook that has taught thousands how to photograph Milky Way nightscapes. "Your eBook is the 'Bible' of NightScape photography!" - Ralf Rohner

*Although this a monthly patron membership subscription, you can cancel at anytime. But, I don't think you'll want to because of these added patron BENEFITS:

"Finding Your Photo Vision" Video

Access to the 49-minute "Finding Your Photo Vision" presentation I gave at the 2021 NightScaper Conference (the content in this video has helped to redirected and change many photographer's lives).
Access to the 29-minute "6 Ways to Improve Your Nightscapes" presentation (also from the conference).
Access to 2 other NightScaper Conference videos of YOUR choice (choose from 65 other video tutorials).
Exclusive chapter updates: Each week I reveal new pages to my NEW 2.0 eBook version, that is coming out the end of this year (2023). HERE's a SAMPLE of what those updates look like.
When the version 2.0 eBook is finished, my dedicated patron supporters will receive the edited and compiled edition for FREE.
Even if you already have my original (version 1.1) eBook, you can be a hero by gifting it to a friend, and retain the above benefits for yourself!
You'll be supporting my efforts to showcase the some of the world's best nightscape photographs and photographers on my 480,000 Instagram following, and our 97,000 member NightScaper Facebook group — both of which strive to teach good how-to techniques.

Become a NightScaper Supporting Patron Member

for only $3/month - JOIN NOW!

...and I'll send you a download for my eBook

and a link to the "Finding Your Photo Vision" video.

Receive a 16% discount from Patreon when you join for 1-year ($30.24 annual).

- - -

$5.00 DISCOUNT. If you don't like subscription memberships (even with all the added benefits listed above), and you just want to pay a one-time $14.99 price for my eBook, then click the banner below and place your order for an immediate download of my eBook. Use the Promo Code TWAN at checkout to reduce your final cost from the regular $19.99 price to $14.99:

Video Access to the 2021 NightScaper Conference

2021-09-22T10:29:00.021-07:00

Defining Nightscapes. When you combine landscape photography with the cosmos, you get astro-landscapes or nightcapes — one of the newest and most exciting genres of landscape photography! Imagine the challenge and satisfaction of bringing together a starry night sky and an interesting foreground into a single landscape composition! The above image was taken in a single exposure, with a 15mm lens on a Canon 5D Mark III, using Low Level Landscape Lighting (photo by Royce Bair in the White Pocket area of northern Arizona).

38 Hours of Nightscape instruction. The 2nd annual NightScaper Conference brought together 40 legendary nightscape speakers from nine nations. These photography experts gave 69 program presentations for every skill level, from beginner to advanced. All this was recorded; over 38 hours of video content.

SAMPLE videos: Here's a video program example from our 2019 conference and a similar program example from an earlier conference. Many video programs are similar to entertaining learning tutorials, presented to a live audience, with Q&A's at the end.

Get access to the recorded conference videos for as little as $14/month — Read on...

Scenes from the 2021 NightScaper Conference
Photos by Bethany Blair & Saunders Clark

Program Examples. You'll receive instruction on such things as "Making Panoramic Images of the Milky Way" by Yuri Beletsky. "The Importance of Planning" by Alyn Wallace. "Editing Techniques for Blue Hour Blends" by Jess Santos. "Photographing the Milky Way with Moonlight" by Brad Goldpaint. "Low Level Landscape Lighting by Wayne Pinkston.

ORDER ACCESS TO ALL THE VIDEOS: Those who attended the 2021 NightScaper Conference paid $599 for an in person ticket (or $399 for a virtual ticket). You can ORDER access to the conference videos for $14 per month (cancel at any time).

Hear what others are saying about the conference and the video programs.

Get access to the recorded conference videos for as little as $14/month — Read on...

Our PATREON Access to the Conference Videos

GET VIDEO ACCESS via my Royce Bair PATREON account: Instead of paying $399 upfront to get access to all the program videos at once, you can select either my $14/month or $19/month membership.

NOTE: You can cancel your membership at any time, and still RETAIN ACCESS to ALL the VIDEOS your membership originally allowed you to view!

FREE eBook Gift. With either level of Royce Bair "NightScaper" PATREON membership, you get free access to my Milky Way NightScapes eBook (a $19.99 value.)

The $14/month membership gives you access to up to 33 videos of your choice (see the list below). The $19/month membership gives you access to all 69 video programs. JOIN my PATREON now, and select your membership level.

A Quick Topic List of the video programs:

The Colors of the Night Sky by Yuri Beletsky
Mastering panoramic images of the Milky Way by Yuri Beletsky
More than the Milky Way by Alyn Wallace (here's a similar video on Alyn's YT channel)
The Importance and Joy of Planning by Alyn Wallace
Perceiving and Portraying Reality by Derek Sturman
Know Your Cosmos! by Aaron King
Astrophotography in our National Parks by Matt Dieterich (here's a preview of his program)
Astronomy 101 for Nightscapers ("Navigating the Night Sky") ~ Block I by Mike Shaw (here's a pre-conference interview with Mike)
The Wonders of all Things Mobile by Russell Preston Brown
Photographing the Milky Way with Moonlight by Brad Goldpaint (here's a preview of his program)
Illusion of Lights: A Journey Into the Unseen (time-lapse) by Brad Goldpaint
How to capture more detail using Single Exposure Imaging by Amir Shahcheraghian
Tracking Mounts - Block I by Eric Benedetti (here's a preview of his program)
Saving Dark Skies Locally by Joyce Harman
9 Ways to Improve Your Astro Photography with Timelapse by Ron Risman (here's a sample of his timelapse work)
Tracking Mounts - Block II ~ Dispelling the Myth by Eric Benedetti
Humans in Night Photos – Yourself or Others by Ben Canales
Ancient Skies by Marc Toso
Nightscapes and Science: what stories are your photos hiding? by Bryony Richards (here's a preview of her program)
The Southern Australian Milky Way by blntpencil
Round Table Discussion - Women in Astro
Low Level Lighting - Step-by-Step by Wayne Pinkston (here's a preview of his program)
DEEPSCAPES ~ Deepscape Photography: What, Why, and How? by Paul Schmit
DEEPSCAPES ~ Landscape Astrophotography Going Deep by Ralf Rohner
DEEPSCAPES ~ final session by Dheera Venkatraman - with Q&A's
Natural colors in the night sky by Roger Clark
Post processing to preserve star and nebula colors by Roger Clark
A revolution is coming to photography by Roger Clark
New England Night Photography by Mike Taylor
Astronomy 101 for Nightscapers ~ Block II - "Mastering the Moon" by Mike Shaw
6 Ways to Improve Your NightScapes by Royce Bair (here's a preview of Royce's program)
Planning Night Photography in an Easy Way ~ Block I by Wenjie Qiao
Adding the Moon to Milky Way Photos ~ Block II by Wenjie Qiao
How to Plan Your Nightscapes in Seconds by Rafael Pons
Creating Extraordinary Night Panoramics by David Swindler
Save the Stars by Bettymaya Foott
Milky way Panoramas! by Aaron King
Being Creative With Your Nightscapes - Forget The Milky Way by Gavin Hardcastle
Meet Our Youth Scholarship Winners
Photography, the Perfect Side Hustle by Ryan Smith (here's a preview of his program)
Moonscapes by Manish Mamtani
Telling Stories Using Composition by Jess Santos (here's a preview of her program)
Editing techniques for blue hour blends by Jess Santos
Maximizing & pushing the limits with GoPro cameras by Shreeni Manievannan
Chasing the Northern Lights by Alan Dyer
Diving into Deep-Sky Photography by Alan Dyer
Introduction to Making Milky Way Portraits by Ken Childress
Round Table Discussion - What Makes a Good Nightscape Location?
The Art of Chasing the Shot by Jack Fusco
Capturing vs. Creating by Jack Fusco
Nightscaping on Tour by Stefan Liebermann
Know Your Cosmos & Milky Way Panos - Extended with Q&A's by Aaron King
Finding Variety in Night Sky Photography by Miles Morgan
Twilight Photography and Photoshop Techniques by Miles Morgan
Light Painting with Tubes by Jaime Amaya
Understanding Exposure for the Moon Time-lapse ~ Block III by Wenjie Qiao
Come Along on a Virtual Nightscaper Adventure by Christine Kenyon
The Night Sky Variety Show by Christine Kenyon (here's a preview of her program)
Capturing Starscapes on a Budget by Shreeni Manievannan
Photographer or Artist? by Ryan Smith
Photography Life is a journey, not a competition by Ryan Smith
Blending Blue Hour Photos with Night Sky Images by David Soldano
Deepscapes: Discovering Deep Sky Nightscapes - Block III by Mike Shaw
Leaving the Herd and Finding Your Photo Vision by Royce Bair
Heavens on Earth (time-lapse) by Vikas Chander
Art in Nightscape by Mohammad S. Hayati
Round Table Discussion - Popular Location Shooting Etiquette

ORDER ACCESS TO THE ABOVE VIDEOS: You can ORDER immediate access to the conference videos for $14 per month (cancel at any time) through your Royce Bair PATREON membership.

Check out the 2023 NightScaper Conference (May 18-21): Nightscaper.com

Low Level Lighting BLENDS

2021-07-27T06:34:00.013-07:00

The Milky Way above Temple of the Moon in Capitol Reef National Park, photographed with Low Level Lighting, and then blended with an additional foreground exposure (using overhead starlight) to increase foreground detail in the shadow areas.

I love doing both Low Level Lighting and starlight blends. My colleague, Wayne Pinkston and I co-authored the Low Level Lighting technique (or LLL). LLL gives one the drama or character that one can achieve with moonlight, but without washing out or lower the contrast of your Milky Way sky. Starlight blends allow you to increase foreground detail (especially in the background areas) that one cannot achieve with LLL, and many think that starlight blends look more natural, even though they are "flat" due to the overhead lighting effect of starlight. By blending my LLL exposures with the foreground portion of a longer starlight exposure, one can achieve the best from both techniques. Let me explain in this tutorial...

1. A single exposure (15mm lens on a Canon 6D • f/2.8, 15 sec, ISO 8000)

3. Longer foreground exposure, using overhead starlight (f/4, 120 sec, ISO 6400, with Long Exposure Noise Reduction turned on), then blended with the sky exposure in number one. I like the detail I get in the foreground, but I often do not like the "flat" lighting this technique gives you. (One remedy is to do a Blue Hour blend rather than a starlight blend, as these twilight blends have more of from-the-side directional light.)

NOTE: As of May 25, 2021 there is no longer any artificial lighting allowed in Capitol Reef National Park due to a new Superintendent’s Compendium.

This includes LLL (Low Level Lighting) — even though the intensity of LLL on the monument is equal to the light coming from a Quarter Moon that is about to set.

Capitol Reef now joins Arches, Canyonlands and Grand Teton National Park (and Natural Bridges Nat'l Mon.) in this artificial light restriction.

ALTERNATIVE BLENDS: Where LLL is not allowed, a blended exposure of the starry night sky (as in #1), with a longer exposure of the foreground lit by overhead starlight (as in #3), produces beautiful results. Many feel this has a very natural look. I agree; but I also think it has a flat, and somewhat drab look.

An alternative is to use a Blue-Hour blend from a twilight exposure that is taken about 30 minutes to an hour after sunset, or a similar period prior to sunrise. The advantage of a twilight exposure is that it has directional light: the west side of the sky (after sunset) is brighter than the rest of the sky, and the opposite is true for a morning twilight. When these brighter portions of the sky are perpendicular to your foreground landscape features, they produce shading and sculpturing to your landscape, giving it more interesting "character." The disadvantage of this technique is the waiting: You have to shoot your Blue-Hour exposure and wait until the Astronomical Dusk to shoot your starry night sky exposure (or shoot your starry night exposure and then wait for the morning twilight exposure). With a starlight foreground exposure, you can take that foreground shot immediately after doing your starry sky exposure. Here is a tutorial for doing a Twilight Blend...

A Blue-Hour exposure of three obelisk spires in Capitol Reef National Park. Photo taken about an hour after sunset with a Canon 6D, using a 15mm Irix lens • f/4.5, 25 seconds, ISO 800, Daylight White Balance.

Same image processed to a warmer, more natural color balance. (Some people like to keep the bluish or purplish color balance that come with a twilight or Blue-Hour exposure. I do not.)

Milky Way sky exposure taken about 1-hour later, during the Astronomical Dusk: f/2.8, 15 seconds, ISO 8,000 • 8 exposures stacked to reduce noise.

Last two images blended together in Photoshop layers. Click on any image to enlarge.

Solving the nightscape ''bathroom'' issue for women

2021-05-24T16:21:00.000-07:00

An example of a "FUD" or Female Urination Device in use

Let me get right to the point. Women have a much harder time dealing with the outdoors than men do when it comes to "bathroom" issues.

I noticed a long time ago in my astro-landscape workshops that my women attendees were often nearing the end of our night sessions with more fatigue and headaches than the men. I discussed this with my wife one day and she explained that these women were probably dehydrating themselves — not drinking enough liquids because they didn't want to embarrass themselves with having to go to the "bathroom" in the outdoors or do it in foul-smelling, filthy, public restrooms.

From that day on, I've added two things to my workshops:

More frequent restroom stops (hey, older men have issues, too)! This includes doing research to find more restroom locations.
Giving out information on female urination devices prior to my workshops.

I've even given out, in emergencies, one of the most popular FUD's the Go Girl. These devices allow women to urinate standing up. It also allows them the freedom to avoid sitting on dirty toilet seats. If you've never used an FUD, do a search on Amazon.com, using the term "female urination device," and get better prepared for your next outdoor adventure.

2021 NightScaper Conference goes virtual

2021-04-14T07:44:00.004-07:00

The 2nd annual 2021 NightScaper Conference is now virtual. After having been postponed for almost a year due to the covid pandemic, 150 held-over registrants from the 2020 conference will meet in the Kanab Center and be joined virtually by hundreds more on May 10-12. Join us by registering today. For a limited time, save $200 by using the VIRTUAL200 discount coupon code at checkout (net ticket cost of $399).

BREAKING NEWS (April 26, 2021): Several in-person tickets are now available due to recent cancellations. If you'd like one of these spots in the Kanab Center, just register now and pay the regular $599 registration price. Once you place your order, you will receive a confirmation, and you can then book your travel and lodging.

IN-PERSON TICKETS NOW AVAILABLE

Over 40 night photography speakers will be presenting at the conference. Most will be presenting live and in-person. All speakers programs will also appear virtually and be video archived (up to one year) for your review. Additional international nightscape legends will be joining us virtually, i.e.:

Paul Wilson - New Zealand
Gavin Hardcastle ~ aka "fototripper" - Canada
Stefan Liebermann - Germany
Michael Zayne ~ aka "blntpencil" - Australia
Ralf Rohner ~ aka "skypointer2000" - Switzerland
Alyn Wallace - UK
Manish Mamtani - Boston / India
Amir Shahcheraghian - Iran

Over 70 night photography programs and panel discussions — something for every interest and learning level, from beginner to advanced. "Deepscapes" is just one example — a new genre of night photography that combines deep space objects and an earthly landscape foreground, all taken from the same tripod position! This program will be taught by the trio of Paul Schmit, Ralf Rohner and Dheera Venkatraman. Below this are 5 more program examples...

Miles Morgan - “Twilight Photography
and Photoshop Techniques”

Wayne Pinkston - “Low Level Lighting
Step-by-Step”

Michael Zayne - aka blntpencil
"Milky Way Seasons"

Brad Goldpaint - "Photographing
the Milky Way with Moonlight”


Mike Shaw - "Astronomy 101 for Nightscapers: Navigating the Night Sky" (this is a pre-conference interview video interview with Mike)

See the complete program schedule HERE

Your Virtual Conference Ticket Registration includes:

3 days of LIVE, virtual "NightScape" photography seminar instruction
LIVE, virtual access to 40 speakers ~ over 70 programs
LIVE, virtual round table and panel discussions
Networking with like-minded photographers
Video recorded access to ALL programs — archived in the "cloud" for one year
Ability to review all archived programs, including the ones you missed LIVE, because they were scheduled during the same time slot

REGISTER TODAY ~ For a limited time, save $200 by using the VIRTUAL200 discount coupon code at checkout (net ticket cost of $399).

2021 NightScaper Conference Schedule

2021-04-13T14:00:00.003-07:00

Page 1 of 7 (click to view and download all 7)

View and Download our 7-page Conference Schedule PDF. More information about the 2021 NightScaper Conference can be found on our conference website. This conference is slated to be the most comprehensive, diverse and knowledgeable group of nightscape speakers ever assembled for an event!

Virtual Attendees will be able to see live broadcasts from all 6 rooms: Ballrooms A, B, & C, the Sage Room, the Ponderosa Room and the Virtual Track "room".

COVID-19 Adjustments: The Kanab Center is currently limited to 150 people (following social distancing and mask wearing guidelines) These tickets have already been sold. All new new ticket sales to the conference are for virtual attendance only. This will be a "hybrid" conference (in-person and virtual attendees).

Video Recordings of all conference programs and will be available in the "cloud" (for one year) to ALL conference ticket holders shortly after the conference. This will allow you to review speaker programs and see other programs that were scheduled during the same time slot.

Kanab Conference Center map (Sage, Juniper and Ponderosa rooms are for overflow):

Click to enlarge

Conference parking and location in Kanab, Utah:

Click to enlarge

"Thumb Butte" CONTEST

2021-02-09T23:30:00.006-08:00

"Thumb Butte" ~ Utah Badlands - photo by Royce Bair

A Contest sponsored by the NightScaper Conference

1 PRIZE: One (1) virtual ticket to the May 10-12, 2021 NightScaper Conference, valued at $399.

This view of the Thumb Butte is about 170 miles from our May 10-12, 2021 NightScaper Conference in Kanab, Utah—where 190 pre-registered in-person attendees and speakers will meet and broadcast to hundreds more attending virtually across the world.

eMail Your Name. to be entered into a random drawing to WIN one (1) free virtual ticket to the conference.

HOW TO ENTER the CONTEST:

Email to orida70@gmail.com.
Use "THUMB BUTTE" as your email subject.
Include your name.
Your email entry must be received not later than Midnight Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2021 Mountain Standard Time (UTC -7).

NOTE: Submitting your email address means you agree to receive occasional email offers from Royce Bair about night photography. You may unsubscribe at any time.

A Random Drawing will be done by Royce Bair, director of the conference. One (1) randomly selected contest winner will be announced on the @roycebairphoto Instagram account on February25 (the winner will also be emailed, directly).

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Contest begins at 12:01 AM MST on February 23, 2021 and ends at 11:59 PM MST on February 24, 2021.
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Improving Your NightScapes Through Tracking

2020-11-17T14:35:00.056-08:00

November Milky Way "erupting" over Factory Butte, in the Utah Badlands. Although the core of the MW is gone until Spring, there is a lot of MW still left to shoot!

Improving Your NightScapes Through Tracking

Photographing astro-landscapes is both exciting and challenging because of the extremes this type of night photography presents to the photographer. For over a decade, 30-seconds, at f/2.8 and ISO 6400 has been the "gold standard" in nightscape style photography:

Enlarged segment of a high ISO image

The NightScape Exposure Standard: Although these exposure settings may not be optimum, they will almost always produce acceptable starry night sky during the darkest period of the night. Many photographers start with these settings to confirm their composition, then continue their in-the-field tweaking processing to improve quality. Those improvements can include exposure stacking, panorama exposures and star tracking.

Reducing ISO speeds: High ISO speeds can produce noisy, grainy and pixelated images, where the noise patterns are almost as large as the smaller stars! High ISO's reduce dynamic range and lower image resolution. Although modern DSLR and mirrorless cameras have sensors that can easily handle high ISO speeds and produce acceptable results, lowering the ISO speed will always produce better images. The two ways to reduce high ISO speeds are to either lengthen your exposure time or increase your aperture size, such as going from f/2.8 to f/2.0—both of which can cause other problems, which must then be addressed.

Same stars, with and without coma aberrations
Changing the aperture: f/2.8 is often the fastest (largest aperture size or smallest number) on most high-quality lenses. Increasing the aperture size is usually not an option, unless you purchase a much more expense lens that is highly corrected at f/2.0, f/1.8 or f/1.4. Even these very expense lenses can suffer from some lens aberrations and light fall off (vignetting) near the edges of the image. Stopping down to a smaller aperture will eliminate most of these "wide open" aperture problems, but that requires either an increase in ISO speed or exposure time.

Click to enlarge and compare star trailing
Changing the exposure time: When using a wide angle lens, 30 seconds is an acceptable exposure time for small to medium size prints or images displayed on social media. At these smaller sizes, most people will not notice that the stars are slightly blurred or trailing due to the rotation of the earth during the exposure. When printing to larger sizes, most wide angle (14mm to 24mm) images will benefit greatly from a shorter exposure, such as 20 to 13 second exposures. 35mm to 50mm lenses will do better at 10 to 6 second exposures. These changes will require wider apertures or higher ISO speeds.

And, so the "dance" continues! Changing one of the three effects the other two. Exposure stacking will solve some of these problems. Tracking will solve all of these issues, as I will explain...

Exposure Stacking is referred to by some as the "poor man's solution to tracking" as it costs little to nothing (zero to about $40 for the software app), compared to a star tracker. I find the Mac app, Starry Landscape Stacker, to give me the best results (see my tutorial here). With stacking, you use shorter exposures and higher ISO speeds to make up for shorter exposure times, in order to obtain proper histogram levels. In practice, you take about a dozen exposures as quickly as the images will write to your memory card. Back home, those images are "stacked" by the software to significantly reduce the noise between the stars. This is because every exposure has a different noise pattern. The patterns cancel each other out (smooth) via what is called "median filtration". The software (especially SLS) aligns all the stars (which move with each exposure), masks out the foreground (which does not move), and then brings both the sky and the foreground back into the final stacked image! The previous image (8 seconds @ ISO 10,000) was a 12 exposure stack. Here's another example of stacking's magic, using only 8 exposure stacks:

Each image enlarged to 200% to show detail. Click to enlarge further.

Why is Tracking is Better Than Stacking? With stacking you control only one of the exposure variables: the exposure time. You are allowed to reduce the exposure time by increasing the ISO, which noise is partially eliminated by the stacking of additional images. While stacking reduces high ISO noise, it does not recover the loss of dynamic range and sharpness due to the higher ISO speeds.

Tracking allows you to control all the exposure variables. Instead of reducing the exposure times as you do with stacking, tracking allows to increase the exposure time as long as you want, enabling you to lower your ISO speeds or stop down to better quality apertures, or both.

Trackers are not that expensive anymore. Many of the ones for astro-landscape photography are under $500. The one I recommend is typically under $300. Many photographers are purchasing trackers instead of upgrading to more expensive lenses and cameras, because the end results are better!

New tracker designs are smaller, lighter, more portable and less intimidating to set up. Some use a laser pointer for quick alignment, rather than a polar scope — which is only necessary for use with telephoto lenses (or for use in the Southern Hemisphere).

My basic MSM 2-in-1 tracker is about one-half the size and weight (1.01 lb / 450 g) as the basic Sky-Watcher Star Adventure tracker (2.2 lb / 1.0 kg), with its built in polar scope.

Note how my Move Shoot Move 2-in-1 tracker/rotator increases the number of smaller visible stars in this 30-second exposure track, which allowed an ISO drop from 8000 to 4000. Even more noticeable is how much star movement is still in the 15-second image, which is even more apparent in the 200% enlargement below it:

Increasing the tracked exposure time from 30 seconds to 120 seconds (2 minutes) allowed me to reduce my ISO from 4000 to 1000, for even less noise and more definition:

Here's my personal set-up, using the MSM 2-in1 Tracker/Rotator (see my review). I used my own MeFoto ballhead, but MSM's basic "Starter Kit" comes with a similar ballhead (actually better quality than my MeFoto Q1) and a laser Star Pointer for $310.00 (your special pricing is $259.00). Although you may already have a ballhead lying around like I did, I strongly recommend going with the "Starter Kit" option because these orders are shipped from a U.S. warehouse, and only take about 4 days to get to most continental U.S. locations. Other kit options ship directly from the factory in China and my first order took over two weeks to arrive to my Utah address.

Approaching deep space astro photography: The core of the Milky Way with the Dark Horse Nebula and the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex in the top right. Taken with a 50mm lens. Tracked on a MSM 2-in-1.

The compact and light weight Move Shoot Move 2-in-1 Tracker/Rotator is designed for portable astro-landscape photography. It is perfect for backpacking! It's laser pointer allows to quick and easy alignment when using wide angle to 50mm lenses for nightscape photography. It can also be used for deep space photography; however, alignment accuracy is improved if the laser pointer is replaced with the Polar Scope, when using telephoto lenses like the 70mm to 200mm. Longer telephoto lenses may be too heavy for the MSM's 6.6 pound (3 kg) load capacity. If you need a tracker that can carry heavier loads and has more available counter balance accessories, I'd recommend the Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer, with its 11 pound payload capacity—however, be prepared for a more intimidating set up (my first experience took me over half an hour).

The MSM 2-in-1 Tracker/Rotator use a green laser pointer (left) for fast and simple alignment with the North Star. It is quite accurate for lenses up to 50mm. Telephoto lenses will benefit from the increased alignment accuracy of a polar scope, but alignment is a little more complicated to perform, usually taking a couple of minutes (the laser pointer detaches from the tracker and the scope attaches via a nylon thumbscrew). The polar scope is also necessary for those living in the Southern Hemisphere where Polaris is not visible.

My STEP-by-STEP procedure for taking tracked astro-landscape images with the MSM tracker:

Take a few quick "NightScape Standard Exposures" to find the right position for your best composition with the foreground and sky. Do this without the tracker. I like to use two tripods—one for these quick set ups where I explore my composition, and another tripod that I can mount my tracker onto (one tripod for both is fine—it just takes a little more time for the setup).
Once your best composition is found, move your other tripod (with the tracker) into the same position—replacing the tripod that has your camera on it (leave the camera on the tripod for now).
Release the ballhead below the tracker and aim your laser pointer at Polaris (the North Star). Once the laser beam is on target, tighten your ballhead. (By the way, that pitch angle will be the same as your current latitude.) For best results, try to keep the tracker's "roll" as level as possible while pointing the laser up to Polaris.
Your tracker is now aligned with the North Star! With practice, you can do this step in about 30 seconds. The MSM tracker with a polar scope, instead of a laser pointer, can take about 3 minutes for alignment. The first time I used the scope on a Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer, it took me over half an hour. One of my friends was so intimidated by his, he gave up (and he's a commercial airline pilot). He has never used his tracker since!
The tracker should already have another ballhead (with a quick release) mounted to the rotator. Mount your camera's L-bracket to that quick release. The MSM's basic "Starter Kit" comes with a similar ballhead, if you don't already have one.
Loosen the controls on this second ballhead and aim your camera to your predetermined composition.
Tighten your ballhead controls and take a quick NightScape Standard Exposure. Make ballhead adjustments and repeat until you have duplicated your original composition.
Before you take you first tracked exposure, you'll want to take an exposure for the foreground (with the tracker still off). Since the foreground does not move, you can make your exposure as long as you want (with a lower ISO). Do not turn on your tracker until you are satisfied with your foreground; however, don't take too long or your Milky Way may move out of position. Remember, the stars are rotating at 15 degrees per hour!
You can now turn on your tracker and it will begin to rotate you camera in sync with the earth's rotation so that the stars stay perfectly still!
Adjust your camera's exposure for optimum quality. For instance, if you decide to reduce your ISO from 6400 to 1600 (two stops), and your original exposure was 30 seconds, you'll now need to expose for 120 seconds. If your original aperture setting was f/2.8 and you wish to stop down to f/4.0, you'll need to go another 120 seconds, for a total of 240 seconds (4 minutes).
Take your exposure! You are done, except for post processing. Total time for steps #3 thru #10 (not counting exposure time for the foreground and sky) will probably be less than three minutes. You can now shut off your tracker, so it doesn't run down the battery—which can typically run for about 5 hours of tracking.
Combining the non-tracked foreground and the tracked exposures in post: When you review your last exposure, you'll notice that the foreground has moved (rotated) and blurred, especially where it meets with the sky. That's because the tracker was tracking and rotating for the sky. It's also why you should alway photograph the foreground first, before turning on your tracker! In post, you will take your sharp foreground exposure (#8) and layer it over your tracked exposure for the sky. Note: you sometimes have to slightly enlarge the foreground to cover up the blurred foreground portion on the tracked exposure. This post processing procedure is usually done in Photoshop layers. Kamil Pekala has a great YouTube tutorial for this. Another tutorial from Milky Way Mike shows how to combine a foreground with stacked image —but, the procedures are similar to combining with a tracked image. Mike's Photoshop techniques are just slightly different than Kamil's (you decide which works best for you).

Enjoy!

MSM Sale Pricing!

on the MSM 2-in-1 Tracker/Rotator

(Use the Discount Code ROYCE at check out

for an additional 5% off your order)

Special Sale Price Savings

Focusing Aids for Astrophotography

2020-10-08T10:40:00.001-07:00

A review of focus magnification aids, including two Bahtinov (mask) filter products to achieve precise infinity focus for astrophotography or nightscapes.

Obtaining a sharp infinity focus is the keystone to good astro-landscape photography. If your stars are not in focus, your shot is ruined, no matter how beautiful and well planned! I cannot tell you how many times in my early nightscape adventures that I've come back from an amazing night photography shoot only to be disappointed when I enlarged my photos on the computer screen—discovering that the stars were slightly out of focus, and that I'd never be able to make a decent size print out of my efforts.

What do out-of-focus stars look light? These two beautiful photos were taken last month by R. Craig Lefebvre in Arches National Park (left) and Dead Horse Point (right), Utah. Because the Arches image was taken with a 15mm lens, the four stars shown below Jupiter, in the Sagittarius constellation, should be about 40% smaller than the same stars shot with the 24mm lens, yet they are actually larger. And, the reason they are bigger is because they are slightly out of focus. Unfortunately, it is almost impossible to see this problem until the images are projected to 100% on a computer monitor—or by using some of the advanced techniques below. Note: This image is only very slightly out of focus. It still can be used for social media and possibly for prints up to 16x20 inches. Out of focus stars that are twice this large (even blurrier "circles of confusion") are often not detected until it is too late. In these cases, the image is worthless for any practical use.

Start with You Camera's Live View: Miss-focus still happens to me occasionally, and I continue to see and hear about this disappointment and frustration from my fellow nightscapers, especially those who are just starting out. On page 53 of my Milky Way NightScapes eBook I use three paragraphs on how to manually focus and find your true infinity with the camera's Live View function. I then end with, "Once you’ve found your lens’ true infinity, mark it for future reference, or tape down the focus with a piece of gaffer’s tape. You’ll have one less thing to worry about in the dark."

Temperature Affects Focus: That advice works most of the time, but I've found that you can't always rely on it because the tape can loosen or the focus mark become meaningless due temperature changes. Changes in temperature can cause considerable focus shifts in your lens, so it is best to redo your focus each time you go out shooting at night. And, if temperatures are considerably different than the last time you were shooting, wait several minutes for your lens to adjust to the new outside temperature.

Zoom lenses often have a different infinity focus for each focal length, so no single infinity focus setting will give you accurate results throughout the zoom range of the lens.

Additional magnification to your Live View image: As we get older, it becomes much harder to see if a star is sharply focused on a 3-inch LCD camera monitor, even when the image has been magnified to 10X. For this reason, I carry an inexpensive pair of +3.0 diopter (power) reading glasses from my local drug store. This, or a Hoodman Loupe (with the Hoodman Cinema Strap) allows for hands-free, enlarged views of your little camera monitor.

Aaron King of Photog Adventures continues to promote his favorite focusing aid: The $5 Carson Lumiloupe 10X magnifier (shown in the above middle photo). Here's his 13-minute video tutorial. I've used this method for years, and I highly recommend it!

The Bahtinov mask focusing aid: The Bahtinov mask is a device used to accurately focus small astronomical telescopes. This distinctive pattern was invented by Russian amateur astrophotographer, Pavel Bahtinov, in 2005. The telescope is pointed at a bright star, and a mask is placed in front of the telescope's objective. The mask's three separate grids are positioned in such a way that they produce three angled diffraction spikes at the focal plane. As the telescope focus is changed, the central spike appears to move from one side of the star to the other. Optimal focus is achieved when the middle spike is centered between the other two spikes. If you like DIY projects, you can even make your own Bahtinov mask.

Bahtinov mask limitations and new product solutions: The problem with most Bahtinov masks is that they work well for small telescopes and medium to long telephoto lenses on cameras, but their use with wide angle lenses that are often used in astro-landscape photography is not as decisive.

Reviewing the SharpStar2 and the Focus on Stars filters

Improvements on the Bahtinov mask design: These two commercially available Bahtinov mask "filters" attempt to provide a more accurate and easier-to-use focusing tool for nightscape photographers. Unlike the typical Bahtinov grid or mask, these are more like true photographic filters. In the case of the SharpStar2 filter, the Bahtinov mask pattern is finely etched by laser into the clear plastic filter. The Focus on Stars filter goes even further with multiple Bahtinov mask patterns contained in a film that is sandwiched between tempered glass sheets.

Is a star focusing filter really necessary? Some may think there is no need for gadgets like this to aid photographers in getting a sharp focus on their stars, considering the available focusing tools I've already mentioned. I admit, that I was one of these people (I don't need more stuff cluttering my camera bag). However, as I've helped hundreds of students in my nightscape workshops over the years and seen them struggle to get a correct focus on the stars, even with these other tools, I'm beginning to think there is a need for a better focusing tool, and one or both filters of these might be it—especially as we get older and we struggle reading the small print (the stars on your LCD screen are even smaller, even at 10X!

Consider this: Many professional photographers resisted auto focus when it first appeared on pro SLR cameras back in the 80's—now, few of us would think of being without it! When articulating LCD camera screens first appeared a few years ago on low-end digital cameras, many scoffed at these as this gimmick. Now, they are fast becoming a "necessary"' feature in professional cameras.

PRODUCT PREVIEWS...

SharpStar2 by Lonely Speck

SharpStar is a simple tool created by Lonely Speck to help astrophotographers achieve critical focus on the stars with their camera lens and filter holder. SharpStar claims to help astrophotographers achieve perfect focus on the stars, every time.

SharpStar uses the properties of optical diffraction to create a set of three fine spike lines around a bright star. These diffraction spikes will shift position as you focus your camera. Adjusting focus so the central diffraction spike sits evenly between the other two diffraction spikes will ensure perfect focus. Once you’ve verified the focus pattern on your test shot, you can simply remove the SharpStar and shoot like normal — knowing that you have perfect focus. The diffraction spike pattern that SharpStar creates is a precise visual reference of focus success. If the central spike is off to the left, focus is too far, if it’s off to the right, focus is too near. If it’s in the center, it’s just right. Here's a 3-minute video tutorial.

Lonely Speck’s SharpStar2 is made of precision laser etched optical plastic and comes in a square filter shape, made to fit into the most popular square filter systems. SharpStar2 requires a square filter holder and the appropriately-sized system adapter ring to fit your lens (both items sold separately). The SharpStar2 works with the Lee, Cokin, Formatt-Hitech and other similar filter holders that come in 85mm, 100mm and 150mm sizes. If you don’t already have a filter system, Lonely Speck personally recommends the Formatt Hitech system because of its price and its modular design that works well with wide angle lenses. October 9 update from Lonely Speck: "The SharpStar2 is made in the USA. We offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee (refund or replacement if the customer isn't satisfied for any reason). All they need to do is email us." ~ Ian and Diana

PRICING (filter only - filter holder not included):

85mm $64.00
100mm $69.00
150mm $94.00

Filter Pouches are optional (soft-lined semi-rigid pouch with magnetic closure)

~ 85mm $12.00 • 100mm $14.00 • 150mm $20.00 ~

Focus on Stars

The Focus On Stars high precision device fits into standard size square filter holders available on the market. At first glance, it looks like a filter.

In fact, it has a grid structure based on the Bahtinov mask known in astronomy, but it is much more complex. A multitude of Bahtinov masks in a special mosaic layout ensures that all three diffraction spikes are obtained quickly and easily with a maximum of two small movements (horizontal rotation, vertical slide). You only need to place it in front of the lens to fine-tune the focus, and you can remove it before the final exposure. According to the rules of diffraction, 3 pairs of bright spots appear on the LCD live image around the brighter stars.

Focus On Stars developer, Gabor Takacs, claims that his filter works better with the wide angle lenses most commonly used in astro landscape photography: "During my research, I found a promising device that the manufacturer recommended also for lenses with shorter focal length. It is a plastic sheet in which the grid lines of the Bahtinov mask known from astronomy were densely etched with laser. I have tested it. Using wide-angle lenses common in astro landscape photography, I have found that this device gives me a diffraction pattern that is too faint and too small to ensure a sharp focus. ...After more than a year of research and development, I develop a device that works well even with ultra-wide-angle lenses."

The Focus On Stars diffraction pattern has some similarities to the typical Bahtinov mask, but is also has some unique differences that help the user determine focus with more precision. When focusing, the center spot around the targeted star moves between the lateral spots. When the center spot is just equidistant from the lateral ones, i.e., the resulting pattern is symmetrical, the focus adjustment is perfect. The position of the intermediate spots also shows the direction of the required correction: If the spot is shifted to the left, the focus is in front of the target, if it is shifted to the right, it is behind the target. October 12 update: "Focus On Stars is made in Hungary (EU) and we also offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee (refund or replacement if the customer is not satisfied for any reason)." ~ Gabor Takacs.

PRICING (filter only - filter holder not included):

100mm $113.00
150mm $154.00

Each filter comes with a protective, hand-sewn pouch with velcro closure :

My OUT OF THE BOX Experience

SharpStar2

I ordered the 100mm SharpStar2 for $69.00, with economy shipping from California (U.S.A.) to Utah (U.S.A.) for a cost of $3. I received a notification the next day that the product was out of stock. Two days later, the product was available and I received another notification that it was shipping. The package arrived three days later, and included a filter pouch (a $14 value) that I didn't order. When I questioned (via email) the inclusion of the pouch I didn't order, they said it was free because my order had been delayed due to stocking problems (nice gesture!). Total cost for filter with shipping to the U.S.A. was $72. However, if I lived in Australia, my USPS Priority Mail Express International shipping cost would be $82.75, for a total cost of $151.75.

All-in-all, the products were just as described, and nicely packaged. The filter was enclosed in a clear plastic envelope (blue product description printed on the outside), which could be used a storage pouch for a while, but the real filter pouch (made of suede leatherette material), with its magnetic enclosure, was much nicer and more substantial. The filter seems to be finely etched with the Bahtinov mask pattern into a sheet of clear plastic.

Focus On Stars

I ordered the 100mm Focus On Stars for $113.00, with DHL Express shipping from Hungary to Utah (U.S.A.) for a cost of $32. The FOS filter comes with its own padded pouch. I received a notification the next day that the product was shipping. The package arrived four days later. Total cost for filter with pouch and shipping to the U.S.A. was $145 — about twice as much as the SharpStar2 (however, you do get a pouch include). I noticed that high international shipping cost outside of the United States for the SharpStar2 tend to raise its total costs closer to that of the FOS filter. For instance, if I lived in Australia, my DHL Express shipping cost for the FOS filter would be $42, for a total cost of $155 (making it only about $2 more in total cost than the SharpStar2).

All-in-all, the FOS filter and pouch were just as described, and nicely packaged. Unlike the SharpStar2, the Focus On Stars filter is made of tempered Gorilla 3 Glass, not plastic, and claims to be very scratch resistant. It was also much easier to clean off my fingerprints and dust, due to a special coating that is applied to the glass.

150mm versions of SharpStar2 and Focus On Stars

I was also able to obtain the larger 150mm versions of these two filters, which I've hung on a clothes line for a visual comparison so you can quickly see the density differences of these two filters. Because of its complex mosaic pattern, the FOS filter is about one to two stops darker than the SharpStar2 (about 0.3 to 0.6 optical density). Will this extra density hinder in your ability to see its star focusing pattern at night, when compared to the more transparent SharpStar2 filter? It didn't seem to be a problem in my field tests (see below).

Actual Field Tests

Preparation

In order to use the SharpStar2 or the Focus On Stars filters, you need to have a filter holder. There are filter holder systems for 85mm, 100mm and 150mm square filters. The most common square filter size is the 100mm. I use the popular LEE100 Filter Holder. You'll also need a lens adapter ring. Many of my Canon and Rokinon astro lens take a 77mm filter size, so I use LEE's 77mm Wide-Angle Lens Adapter Ring for the 100mm System Holder (here are links for 82mm, 72mm, 67mm, 62mm, 58mm and 55mm filter sizes). The Formatt Hitech 100mm Aluminum Modular Filter Holder is also a good system, and is slightly less expensive than the LEE system.

Unless you already have a Cokin P or Formatt-Hitech filter holder system for 85mm square filters, I would avoid this system size, since it has limitations for the more serious amateur or professional photographer; and the Focus On Stars filter is also not available in this size.

Ultra wide-angle lenses in the 14mm, 15mm and 16mm focal lengths typically do not have filter threads because of their huge front elements. These lenses usually need 150mm square filters and special square filter holder systems like the LEE Filters SW150 Mark II Filter System Holder. Another popular solution for super-wide lenses is the Haida 150mm Filter Holder (which is often backordered). Here are Haida holders for the Tamron 15-30mm, Nikon 14-24mm and the Samyang-Rokinon 14mm.

Focusing Procedures with the Filters

The following steps were used in the field with both the SharpStar2 and Focus On Stars filters:

Turned off the autofocus and rotated the lens focusing ring to the infinity mark.
With the camera on a tripod, pointed it at the brightest star in the sky, so that it was in the center of the camera's field of view. The brightest "star" was often the planet Jupiter.
Turn on the camera's "live view" image and magnify the star to the maximum.
Insert the focusing filter into the filter holder.
Manually adjust the focus to cause the middle diffraction spike or diffraction spots (in the case of the Focus on Stars filter) to center between the outer spikes or spots. The symmetry of the pattern ensures perfect focus.
Take a "confirmation" test shot and review the image under magnification.
Make focus adjustments until perfect pattern symmetry is achieved.
When the center spikes or spots are evenly centered, remove the focusing filter and point the camera optics at the scene you want to capture.

These steps worked fine with my 70mm, 50mm, 35mm and 24mm lenses; however, with the 15mm and 14mm ultra wide-angle lenses, even the brightest stars were so small, I had to take these additional steps to get the best pattern symmetry:

I often had to rotate the camera a few degrees horizontally on the tripod head until I saw at least two pair of spikes or two rows of dots.
I then had to arbitrarily slide the focusing filter, in the holder, up and down until all three pairs of spikes or spots became visible.

Using these additional steps, with the 14mm and 15mm lenses, gave me beautiful diffraction pattern symmetry and perfect focus with the Focus On Stars filter. Seeing and achieving a good diffraction symmetry pattern with the SharpStar2 filter was much more difficult when using ultra wide-angle lenses, as you'll see in the following images.

Field Test Comparisons

Both the SharpStar2 and the Focus On Stars filters produced excellent symmetrical diffraction focusing patterns when using a 70mm lens (a 24-70mm zoom @ 70mm). They both produced good patterns using a 50mm lens (a Samyang/Rokinon 50mm f/1.4). The colorful Focus On Stars pattern is more distinct to my eyes, and easier to judge when it has reached symmetry (perfect focus). However, both products performed well in the 35mm through 70mm range.

Using a 24mm lens (Samyang/Rokinon 24mm f/1.4), symmetry was much easier to see with the Focus on Stars filter than the SharpStar2; however, the SharpStar2 was acceptable as long as you used a very bright star, i.e. the planet Jupiter, and you used a loupe to help you magnify the camera's LCD screen.

The Focus On Stars easily out performed the SharpStar2 when using an ultra wide-angle 14mm lens (Samyang/Rokinon 14mm f/2.8). Even with a 10-power loupe to magnify the back of the camera's LCD screen (already magnified to 10X), it was difficult to see when there was spike pattern symmetry using the SharpStar2. Several image confirmations and slight focus adjustments had to be made in order to get the best pattern. I had virtually the same frustrating results using a 15mm ultra wide-angle lens (Irix 15mm f/2.5).

You'll notice that with the same confirmation exposure, the Focus On Stars image is about a stop darker than the SharpStar2 image. As I mentioned earlier, the Focus On Stars filter is darker due to its complex mosaic pattern. I didn't find that this extra density hindered being able to see or obtain a good symmetrical focusing pattern. Besides, the filter is removed before starting your creative astro photography.

A Work-Around Method to Improve Your Results

The brighter the star (or planet) you use for your Live View focus, the better will be your results with both filters, especially when using the SharpStar2. Even though the SharpStar2 performed poorly with ultra wide-angle lenses like the 14mm, I discovered that using a brighter, man-made "star," such as a Lume Cube 2.0 light, allowed me to produce more acceptable results with the SharpStar2.

My procedure was to place the Lume Cube light about 100 paces from the camera (and aim the light back towards the camera). You can place the light on a rock or use a light stand. This creates a distance of at least 200 feet (61 meters) from the lens—more than enough for any wide angle lenses to optically be at an "infinity" distance. I use a diffuser filter over the light, so that it is no longer a focused light, and I reduce its intensity down to about 10% (go higher, if you still have trouble getting a good focusing pattern).

Because this artificial, man-made "star" is such a higher "magnitude" than real stars, your exposure will only need to be a few seconds, using a low ISO of about 200. This exposure will typically give you greater contrast (a darker background) than real stars in the sky, which should also produce a larger and crisper focusing pattern, even with the Focus On Stars filter—albeit this extra effort is something I find is rarely needed with the FOS filter.

My Conclusions

It may seem ridiculous to spend an average of $108 for a focusing aid (and even more if you don't already have a square filter holder system), but missing one great Milky Way shot due to inaccurate focus will cure you of this opinion, especially when you consider the travel costs you spent to get to a great location.

SharpStar2

PROS: Less expensive than the Focus On Stars filter. A good focusing aid for all lenses up through as wide as 24mm (or 16mm when using an APS-C cropped sensor).

CONS: It is difficult to achieve good results with ultra wide-angle lenses i.e. the 14mm and 15mm lenses (I suspect that 20mm and 18mm lens users will also have some difficulties). Plastic construction makes the filter more susceptible to scratches, and is harder to keep clean. A protective filter pouch will cost you an additional $12 to $20.

Focus On Stars

PROS: It is easy to obtain a decisive symmetrical focusing pattern with this focusing filter (apparently due to its more complex mosaic mask), especially with ultra wide-angle lenses in the 14-16mm range. Construction quality is excellent. The filter pattern is sandwiched and sealed between tempered Gorilla 3 glass, making it easier to resist scratches and to clean. A protective filter pouch is included.

CONS: More expensive than the SharpStar2 filter (U.S.A. purchasers will spend almost twice as much for the FOS, with shipping costs, than buyers of the SS2); however, pricing becomes closer for many international purchasers due to less expensive shipping costs (Australian FOS purchasers will pay almost the same total price as SS2 purchasers and European FOS buyers will actually spend less). The inclusion of filter pouch also helps to even out the price difference.

Disclosure: I am NOT receiving any income from the sales of the SharpStar2 or Focus On Stars filters. The links to the LEE filter holder systems are being monetized through B&H. Other than that, this blog post is purely for educational purposes.

Sony Alpha a7S III is THE Camera for Night Photography

2020-08-08T13:40:00.009-07:00

High Sensitivity: "Bigger pixels are better" has long been the motto of the a7S series. The original Sony a7S, which was first introduced in April 2014, has always been Sony's "High Sensitivity" digital camera, with native ISO up to 102,400 and expanded ISO up to 409,600. This camera can literally see in the dark, which also makes live-view focusing much easier than any other camera!

The a7S has been highly regarded in professional video production work as the low-light leader, where it has been used in many famous movies and documentary films that required high quality (low noise) night scenes.

Bigger Pixels mean better nightscapes: Except for knowledgeable "nightscape" photographers, only a limited number of still photographers use the a7S series because its full-frame sensor has a modest resolution of only 12.2 megapixels (4240x2832). Those that use this camera for their astro-landscape images claimed that those large pixels are so clean and free of noise that their 12MP images often looked better than other cameras with twice the resolution, when both cameras were shot at the same high ISO's needed for starry night photography.

Most Anticipated Upgrade: The a7S Mark II followed less than 18 months later (Sept 2015) with only a few improvements, i.e. better autofocus and a larger LCD monitor, but the main upgrade was from 1080p to 4K video, which had just become the industry standard. Almost 5 years later, the Mark III is the Sony a7S series' most anticipated upgrade, and most experts feel it was well worth the wait.

Articulating Touchscreen
Optimized for Video — amazing still camera performance, too: Although the new Sony Alpha a7S III is truly optimized for video, which is its primary application; the still photographer should consider its super fast autofocus performance, sharper viewfinder, articulating Touchscreen, improved noise reduction, wider dynamic range and better image stabilization — especially since the vast majority of still image uses today are for electronic media, not print.

Consider the new Mark III's fast 10 fps continuous shooting for up to 1000 consecutive raw frames and its 5-axis SteadyShot INSIDE sensor-shift image stabilization, which minimizes the appearance of camera shake by up to 5.5 stops. Combined with its increased low-noise sensitivity, and this new camera is capable of hand-held Milky Way photography! Imagine all the low-light night photography possibilities!

Watch this "Behind-The-Scenes" ~ Shot on a7S III

SEE it in action ~ Hands on review of the Sony a7S III.

Photos, Details and SPECS + Get on the Wait List

(Expected availability is Sept 24 at $3,498.00)

Interview with Nightscape Photographer Marybeth Kiczenski

2020-06-30T02:11:00.000-07:00

A tracked, pano-blend exposure in Zion National Park by Marybeth Kiczenski

I recently had a YouTube interview with nightscape photographer, Marybeth Kiczenski. This is my first installment in the "Your Photo Vision" series about how photographers discover their artistic strengths and hone their craft. Future YouTube videos will be behind-the-scenes introductions to some of our NightScaper Conference speakers, and will average about nine minutes in length. You can expect to see a new video at least once a month, so be sure to subscribe to my Royce Bair YouTube channel.