Night Photography Fundamentals
Fundamentals 1: Where Do I Start?
Matt Hill
If you’re just starting out in night photography, or looking to brush up your skills, then this presentation is where to start.
Matt Hill will walk you through how to get out and get shooting at night with the goal of coming home with images you may not believe are possible. He will help you prepare for getting out to shoot. You’ll learn about why composing an image at night is different than composing in daylight.
Also: How long should an exposure be? Why should you care? You’ll get an overview of the difference between high ISO noise and long exposure noise, and tactics on how to work with (and around) both.
Do you have the right lenses and other gear? Matt will help you understand what’s good, not so good and great.
Fundamentals 2: Capturing and Processing the Milky Way
Tim Cooper
Have you photographed the Milky Way? Once you do, you’ll realize why it is so much fun to chase throughout the year.
In this presentation Tim Cooper will go over the fundamentals of finding the Milky Way and shooting it, as well as best practices for not over-processing the final image. He will also share basic capture considerations, including gear requirements, exposure guidelines, what to look for throughout the Milky Way season and more.
Fundamentals 3: Creating Star Trails
Gabriel Biderman
Gabriel Biderman will teach the basics of capturing, creating and processing star trail photographs.
Gabe will begin with an explanation of how to take your initial star point exposures and calculate the longer exposures necessary to create the star trail effect. Next he will talk about how different situations require different approaches to the initial capture. Long or short(er) exposures can be used to make these magical images and by the end of this talk you’ll have the confidence and knowledge to use either strategy.
In the last section of this presentation, Gabe will cover the necessary equipment (such as an intervalometer, or an external battery pack) for creating star trail photographs. He will then finish this info-packed session with a simple demonstration of how easy it is to use Photoshop to help create star trail imagery from a stack of photos.
Fundamentals 4: Introduction to Light Painting
Chris Nicholson
After learning from Matt, Tim and Gabe how to do everything from getting set up for a night shoot to how to capture star points and trails, you might wonder what to do with the dark foreground. In this presentation, Chris Nicholson will review the fundamentals of adding light to the shadows to reveal all the potential for a night composition.
Chris will discuss light painting tools, angles of light, proper technique, the amount of light to add and more.
By the end of this talk you’ll feel more confident getting into dark environments to start painting with light, opening up whole new worlds of photographic opportunities.
Fundamentals 5: How to Make an Image in Any Night Situation
Lance Keimig
Night photography is a broad genre that can be broken down into several specialized niches: urban or artificial light night photography, astro-landscape photography, long exposure and star trail photography, and light painting and writing. Each of those specialties requires a different approach to make successful images, and different factors need to be considered in order to make the best decisions about equipment, exposure, weather conditions and more.
Lance will share his system of simple, straightforward steps to help you focus on what is important in each scenario. Different conditions require different tactics and require prioritizing different exposure variables to get the best results. A methodical process to the technical aspects of photography can free your mind to concentrate on creativity.
