NPAN's Very First Video: 10 Photo Scouting Tips for National Parks

I’m pretty big on the scouting thing. I wrote a whole chapter about it in my book Photographing National Parks, and it’s always a part of my lectures, and it’s certainly an important part of our National Parks at Night workshop experiences.

Jumping into a new place without knowing anything about it can be a fun way to vacation, but it’s not the best way to maximize creative potential on a photography project.

Not scouting—just wandering a place hoping that you’ll stumble upon good photo opportunities—is a reactive approach to photography. Scouting—doing some research about the subject, and looking around at different times of day and during different sorts of weather—is a proactive approach. And as with many other things in life, proactive is usually more productive than reactive.

On any national park shoot, I’m always researching, scouting and making a plan. I leave room for serendipity, but 90 percent of the work I end up being happy with comes from the ideas I prepared for, not from the ones I found by chance.

The idea of scouting a location becomes even more important with night photography. It helps in terms of creativity, technical details and safety:

• Creativity. You can see better in the day than at night (I don’t need to provide evidence for that premise, right?). It’s much easier to construct a composition when you can actually see what’s in front of you.
• Technical details. Where to put your tripod? How to focus your lens? Positions to stand when light painting? All of these are easier to determine in daylight.
• Safety. Working near a cliff? How about in a forest of cactus? At the edge of a river? On a field of boulders? Areas such as these are much easier to navigate safely in the dark if you’ve gotten familiar with them in the light.

With all that in mind, fellow NPAN instructor Matt Hill and I got together to produce a video about the topic. Titled “10 Photo Scouting Tips for National Parks,” it contains … well, you know.

We'd love to hear about some the scouting tools that you use, too! How do you prepare for shooting a location at night? Feel free to share tips for other photographers in the Comments section below.

Chris Nicholson is the author of Photographing National Parks (Sidelight Books, 2015). Learn more about national parks as photography destinations, subscribe to Chris' free e-newsletter, and more at www.PhotographingNationalParks.com.

---

Upcoming workshops from National Parks at Night

Mastering the Intervalometer for Night Photography and Long Exposures

If you've ever scratched your head, bamboozled by an intervalometer, then scratch no more! Well, at least watch this video first ...

You may not know I also have another job in the photo industry. I created a presentation about using an intervalometer to support a smaller technique class at the 2016 OPTIC Imaging Conference held by B&H Photo and Lindblad Expeditions. And it was so fun (and useful!) that I decided to make a video out of it so even more people could benefit.

For the TL;DR crowd:

Vello Intervalometers work from left to right. When configuring, make sure you check every one of them and keep in mind that they run in sequence:

1. Delay
2. Long
3. Interval
4. Number (Qty)

If something is awry, then chances are something was set in a screen you may not expect. Check out the video above for the full rundown and lots of examples.

See more about Matt's photography, art, workshops and writing at MattHillArt.com. Follow Matt on Twitter Instagram Facebook.

---

UPCOMING WORKSHOPS FROM NATIONAL PARKS AT NIGHT

NPAN to Teach 'Night Photography Week' with CreativeLive 9/12-16

We're so stoked to announce that we are collaborating with CreativeLive on producing "Night Photography Week" this September. And all five National Parks at Night instructors—Gabriel Biderman, Chris Nicholson, Lance Keimig, Tim Cooper and Matt Hill—will be on screen to help you plan and execute awesome night photography projects and experiences.

This brand new CreativeLive course will premiere as a free broadcast from September 12 to 16, 2016. If you want to get a reminder about when to view, RSVP today:

A fireball story

My segment of the course will cover Astro-Landscape Photography—that is, photographing in dark sky conditions for star trails or star points and Milky Way imagery. While recording an in-the-field segment, the crew and I had an amazing unexpected celestial experience.

I had just taught a workshop in Bodie State Historic Park in California’s Eastern Sierra, and since I was already in California, and CreativeLive has a base in San Francisco, we decided to film in the Alabama Hills. This great night location is also in the Eastern Sierra, about 100 miles south along the Highway 395 corridor. This turned out to be a serendipitous decision for several reasons.

The Alabama Hills in California's Eastern Sierra are a great location for night photography and light painting.

If you are not familiar with the Alabama Hills, it’s a unique geologic area in the foothills below Mt. Whitney, the tallest mountain in the continental United States. There are dozens of unique rock formations, most notably the famous Mobius Arch. It’s a fantastic place for night photography, and a place where I often teach workshops (including one this October). The eastern Sierra in general is somewhat of a Mecca for night photography, with many great attractions such as Mono Lake and nearby Yosemite National Park.

On Wednesday, July 27, the CreativeLive team and I were scouting the location to prepare for our shoot the next night, hoping to see a few meteors from the impending Delta Aquarids meteor shower. We were not disappointed, but the highlight of the night had nothing to do with the Delta Aquarids! At 9:38 p.m., we witnessed a tremendous fireball streaking across the sky. It turned out to be 8 tons of aluminum, the remnants of a Chinese CZ-7 rocket disintegrating as it re-entered the atmosphere!

View fullsize

View fullsize

As luck would have it, the CreativeLive crew was set up with their Sony a7S cameras and were able to record the fireball slowly traveling across the sky. We witnessed this awesome spectacle for over a minute. It was slow-moving (or appeared so to us), varied in intensity and color, and we could see multiple trails as pieces broke off as it descended further into the atmosphere. Check out the video:

While our CreativeLive crew was filming a star photography course for Night Photography Week in the Alabama Hills, we saw something amazing, and were able to capture it on film. The fireball streaking across the sky was the largest, brightest, and longest that any of us had ever seen.

In addition to the pyrotechnics, Ian Norman from LonelySpeck.com was on-site with us, talking about his infinity focusing aid, the SharpStar2. The SS2 is based on a device used by astronomers, called a Bahtinov Mask. SharpStar uses the properties of optical diffraction to create a set of three fine spike lines around a bright star. These diffraction spikes shift position as you focus your camera; adjusting focus so the central diffraction spike sits evenly between the other two diffraction spikes ensures perfect focus.

I have been following Ian’s work for the last couple of years, and have been mightily impressed by his work in the field of Astro-Landscape Photography. He has a huge following, and was about to lead a meetup two nights later at Trona Pinnacles where over 100 people would come together to photograph the night sky. Ian also had a Sony a7S trained on the sky, and produced his own video, which can be seen on his YouTube channel:

The CreativeLive course

While the fireball made news across the several states where it was seen that night, we took it as a sign that Night Photography Week was off to a roaring early start. Working with the crew from CreativeLive was fantastic—they were enthusiastic, fun and professional, and we spent two long nights filming the content for my upcoming segment of the course.

Here is an overview of what you can expect from the entire endeavor, to air on CreativeLive in September:

Basics of Night Photography

Gabriel Biderman will be teaching the fundamentals for all the night-photography beginners out there, exploring gear, how to catch the stars and the dynamic landscapes when photographing in national parks, and also when capturing in urban settings.

Shoot Preparation

Chris Nicholson, the author of Photographing National Parks, will help photographers prepare for their night shoots, from planning which parks to photograph, to fundamentals of safety, and how to scout locations for night photography shoots.

Astro-Landscapes

Again, I will cover how to capture truly out-of-this-world imagery, including how to capture the Milky Way and star trails.

Light Painting

Tim Cooper will introduce both the basics and the finer points of light painting, adding a dynamic element to your landscapes with light writing or accenting different elements of your compositions.

Portraits At Night

Lastly, Matt Hill will teach how to do night portraits. Using your friends or models, discover how you can capture amazing portraits in urban environments and national parks, without losing the amazing sky as a background.

The program airs September 12 to 16, and will be free during the initial broadcast. Afterward, lifetime access to the entire series can be purchased for $199. Join us to uncover and capture the night sky. RSVP now!

NPAN is thrilled to be working with CreativeLive on what we hope will be the first of many collaborative efforts together!

Lance Keimig has been photographing at night for 30 years, and is the author of Night Photography and Light Painting: Finding Your Way in the Dark (Focal Press, 2015). Learn more about his images and workshops at www.thenightskye.com.

---

UPCOMING WORKSHOPS FROM NATIONAL PARKS AT NIGHT

Talks & Walks: Visit us at two great NYC conferences this October!

In October, we have two events in NYC where you can come meet us in person, chat and see some lectures:

Out of New York 2016

When: Friday, October 14, 2016 - Sunday, October 16, 2016

We're very excited to be a part of this conference that has been operating in Chicago for a few very successful years, and is now offering a weekend of spectacular educational opportunities in New York City.

National Parks at Night will have a booth on the vendor floor, where you can come chat with us in-person about all the adventures we're planning for 2017 and beyond. It's also an opportunity to pick up any or all of the several books published by our team, on topics such as night photography, HDR and photographing the national parks.

Additionally, our instructors Gabriel Biderman and Chris Nicholson will be presenting talks ("Night Photography: From Snapshots to Great Shots" and "Photographing National Parks," respectively) and offering two night-photography walks in New York City.

More information: ny.outofchicago.com.

---

Photo Plus Expo 2016

When: Saturday October 22 from 10:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.

We are also very excited to be back at PhotoPlus, where we officially went public with the National Parks at Night program last year. (1st birthday! Yay!) Four of the five of us will be present and on stage for "Night Photography—Master the Night," a panel presentation about our favorite subject!

Gabe, Chris, Lance Keimig and I will share a ton of tips on shooting under the stars in beautiful places. We'd love to see you there, at one of the industry's premier events! 

Bring a friend—or two!

Register: www.photoplusexpo.com

More info / add to your expo planner: n2b.goexposoftware.com/events/ppe16/goExpo/user/listSeminars.php?ci=91

See more about Matt's photography, art, workshops and writing at MattHillArt.com. Follow Matt on Twitter Instagram Facebook.

---

UPCOMING WORKSHOPS FROM NATIONAL PARKS AT NIGHT

Finding Your Focal Length: Use Metadata To Divulge Your Tendencies

How do you see the world?

Is your view wide, expansive and open, or do you like getting right into the action? Do you often look up or down on your subjects? Are you a people person or do you prefer collaborating with the trees?

The better you understand who you are and how you communicate with the world, the stronger your photographic vision will become.

When I have clear night skies and lots of stars, like on this night at Crater Lake National Park, I try to shoot as wide as possible to include as many stars as I can—in this case with a 15mm.

I’m a Pisces, a dreamer, I love to see the unseen—it excites me. Night photography is a natural fit—I can start with an idea—experiment with time and create something that makes people react. I prefer bold compositions, I often combine the night sky against man-made objects, and something that has changed from my darkroom days is that I love the many colors of the night.

But the most important thing in recent years that has helped me hone my night vision has been finding and focusing on my focal length.

We all make folders on our computers with our favorite images. If you take a little time and really study why these images resonate with you, then you’ll keep fueling the fire.

This can be done easily in the Library module of Lightroom. First, if you haven’t already, create a collection of your favorite photographs. In my example (below) I have my 5-star night shots in a collection called “Best of the Night.”

With a few keystrokes, you can easily see the data of all the images in your collection. First, press the backslash key (or select View-Show Filter Bar) to unveil the Library Filter options at the top of the Grid View.

In that bar, click “Metadata” and you’ll be able to see the dates, cameras and lenses used for the photos in that collection. Click on the upper-right hand corner to open the Library Filter presets, and select “Camera Info”—now you can see camera, lenses and exact focal lengths. This is especially helpful with zoom lenses, because Lightroom will show you the exact focal length you were zoomed to when you shot the photo.

Often the first lens new photographers choose is an all-in-one, such as a 28-200mm or 16-300mm. These are great travel lenses, as they give you a wide variety of focal lengths to choose from without the worry of changing lenses or weighing your bag down with multiple lenses. But pay attention to any trends in regards to where you might be frequently stopping with these zoom lenses. If, for example, you are always shooting your 14-24mm lens at 21mm—that is your focal length! And perhaps you should invest in a 21mm prime lens.

One of my go-to daytime/travel lens combinations is the Nikon 28-200mm lens and a Nikon 35mm f/1.4 lens. This gives me zoom versatility as well as a fast, low-light lens in one of my favorite focal lengths.

Finding a fast prime lens is very important for night photographers who want to shoot the Milky Way or dark sky, or under little to no moon. The f/2.8 zooms are nice, but gaining at least 1 stop with an f/2 lens or 2 stops with an f/1.4 lens will let you use cleaner ISOs such as 3200 or 1600. On our recent workshop in Acadia, I was able to try out the Nikon 20mm f/1.8 lens, which is a very nice, compact and fast lens that I’ll be adding to my arsenal.

Once you find your focal length—own it. I used to be a 50mm guy but over the last two years I’ve found myself reaching for the 35mm more and more. When you become comfortable with how you see the world—challenge it. I often default to shooting super-wide at night, but I’m trying to look for more detail images that a 35mm, 50mm or even a 100mm will help me achieve.

I was scouting with my 28-200mm lens during the day in Crater Lake National Park and zoomed in to 100mm to frame this shot.

So take some time, really get to know your work, find your focal length, and most of all—keep on clicking!

For more information about the equipment mentioned in this post, see the Our Gear page and the following links:

Gabriel Biderman is a Brooklyn-based fine art and travel photographer, and author of Night Photography: From Snapshots to Great Shots (Peachpit, 2014). During the daytime hours you'll often find Gabe at one of many photo events around the world working for B&H Photo’s road marketing team. See his portfolio and workshop lineup at www.ruinism.com.

---

UPCOMING WORKSHOPS FROM NATIONAL PARKS AT NIGHT