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Fine Art Light Painting

18/1/2017

For this blog post I've made a video describing the techniques involved in producing images like this lovely old ute taken at a farm at Kyneton in Central Victoria. The glow from Melbourne is in the background as well as the Mt Macedon ranges in the distance.

I describe these images as "Fine Art Light Painted" as I take quite a bit more time to produce them. The main difference between these to my standard nightscapes is that I take multiple images and combine them as layers together whilst incorporating focus stacking techniques to get everything sharp and clear.

This technique helps overcome some perennial problems facing any night shooter .... high iso noise, blurry images & trailing stars.

The above image was created by taking 12 shots. One for the background and the rest for various parts of the ute & foreground.

Background shot: Nikon D750 Nikon 20mm f1.8 @ f2.5 20 second exposure iso2000
Foreground shots: Nikon D750 Nikon 20mm f1.8 @ f5.6 11 x 20 second exposures iso500

As with most of my images, it's the lighting that makes all the difference.

Feel free to ask any questions regarding these images as it takes a fair bit to get your head around the process sometimes.
It's like everything else related to night photography ... practice makes perfect.

Below are some more examples of this technique:

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The Creative Process

23/12/2016

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"The Living & the Dead" 14 Shot Panorama Nikon D750 Nikon 20mm f1.8 @ f2.2 20 second exposures iso2000

There are many difficult aspects to night photography and even though it embraces many similarities to it's daylight cousin, if you go out expecting the camera to do all the work for you ... well, you'll be discouraged pretty quickly. Probably the greatest learning curve we face when pursuing this form of photography is getting an understanding of the manual adjustments on our cameras.
For some people this is a daunting task which can seem like a mountain too steep to climb. For others it's a challenge they are happy to embrace with both hands. Either way however, it's not until we develop a sense of what our cameras are capable of that we will see our image quality improve.

When knowledge of our camera intersects with an intuition of how the camera will render the scene that confronts us ... well that's when the magic happens. Let's take the above image as an example of what I'm talking about.

As listed above this is a panorama consisting of 14 individual shots. When I arrived at this location I knew I wanted to capture the full expanse of the milky way stretching across the sky from North to South. To do that I had to calculate which lens would be best to use and the camera settings for each exposure. I decided on the Nikon 20mm f1.8 because this lens is sharp and even though not an ultra wide lens it still gives plenty of scope to overlap the images enough to get a "good stitch" in the panorama software.

Just to clarify why I needed 14 shots to get this perspective because some of you may be thinking why not use a wider angle lens ..?
Well, the reality is that even with an ultra wide lens such as a 14mm this width of shot is impossible to achieve with just one shot. Yes, I could have used a 14mm lens and possibly only needed half the amount of shots to achieve the same image. That would probably work but my experience with extreme wide angle lenses is that they introduce a lot of distortion by nature of the wide optics which can interfere with stitching software. Anyone whose experienced a stitch that just wont join properly knows what I'm talking about. A lot of people use 24mm, 35, or even 50mm lenses when doing panoramas .... like lots of things associated with night photography, it becomes a creative choice but I'd like to emphasise that this choice must come from at least a basic knowledge of what each focal length does to an image.

Anyway, I've included some straight out of camera images (obviously not all 14) below to show you that each shot is pretty narrow when compared to the final compilation. The other thing you'll notice is how much brighter the final image looks compared to these ... thanks to the fabulous Nikon D750 dynamic range. I could have shot these at iso 3200 or even 6400 but I don't really have to as i can easily retain shadow detail in the Nikon raw files and simply bring the exposure up in Lightroom.

I'm sure I've mentioned in previous writings that to be really successful in night photography you have to develop a "sense of feel" for operating the camera in the dark. Yes we use torches and headlamps, yes we have illuminated screens, yes we have all kind of gear to help us, but in the end it comes down to feel. Once again it becomes intuitive and automatic. One thing I'd suggest is practice making manual camera adjustments, in the daytime, without looking at the camera ... because this is exactly what we have to do in a night shoot. It may seem silly to others but it works as we retain the muscle memory for where buttons are located and how they feel to the touch.

Another factor I've mentioned before is the ability to pre-visualise a scene. Most of us tend to do this via a kind of second hand approach .... that is, we look at what others are doing and try to get similar results ourselves. This is a completely valid approach to the learning process and gives us a solid launching pad to understand how to achieve a particular type of image based on tried and true camera settings and techniques.

As an extension of this however I strongly encourage you to spend some time when you arrive at your shooting location and simply look at the scene before you. Let your eyes become accustomed to the dark and soak in every detail. Look at the stars, the silhouetted trees, the foreground objects ... whatever you see. You may well find an opportunity to "improvise" and include elements that weren't in your initial planning. This happens to me all the time, even though I've done a scouting trip beforehand in the daylight there is always something else that will catch your eye under the cover of darkness.

The images above illustrate my point. Spend time soaking in the elements in the scene. Immediately the orange glow on the horizon stands out. Obviously this wouldn't be there during the daylight hours but in this night scene it becomes a lovely point of interest. So my quest to capture a milky way panorama now includes this yellow glow and reflection ... an added bonus, but I had to re-position from my original shooting angle to capture it.

One further point on these shots. To the naked eye the yellow reflection wasn't very bright so I had to dig into my previous experience with such scenes to even know that it would show this way. The camera sensor during a long exposure at high iso is so much more sensitive than our naked eye and it will always capture even more detail than what we can actually see.

Anyone who follows my work will know that I make use of extensive light painting in my nightscapes. This obviously requires a lot of improvising to achieve the image that may have been pre-visualised.

Persistance and determination are the key factors in achieving success in night shooting. There are infinitely more frustrations in this form of photography and these must be countered by a positive, determined approach. This is certainly not limited to the actual shooting on location however. We need to persist in our learning of post production skills as well as a disciplined approach to planning and preparation.

And finally I strongly encourage anyone who takes the time to go shooting at night to enjoy the process. Get the odd selfie, take some food and drink and take in the view. The majority of people living in our cities never get to experience the awesome night sky in all it's splendour. Take some like minded photographers with you .... even if they don't know what to do at first, I guarantee they'll thoroughly enjoy the experience.

So the creative process relies on a number of factors:
* An intuitive understanding of your camera
* The ability to pre-visualise a scene
* Persistence & determination
* A love of what you do

All of these elements are related and revolve around our ability to connect our senses and imagination with the reality of what our camera equipment can technically deliver.

Nothing beats actually getting out there and giving it a go. You can develop your ability in these areas but it will take time. Listen to those who have experience in the field, ask for assistance if necessary. Learn by trial and error, encourage yourself to try something new, it doesn't matter if it doesn't work out the first time ... persist and you'll be surprised at the awesome work you will begin to produce.

Just remember that it's a process, a series of creative/technical decisions that we embed into our minds, into our hands and eventually into our hearts. When the process becomes intuitive yet somehow natural we are well on our way travelling the journey of a lifetime.

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Light Painting Magic

13/9/2016

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Old Truck Mt Hope Victoria: Nikon D750 Nikon 14-24 f2.8 Total of 15 images combined with Light Painted Foreground

When I venture out for a night photography shoot one of my first priorities is to establish how I intend to light my subjects. This isn't as straight forward as you may imagine. Many of you will probably think that you don't need to light the subject at all ... after all, it's meant to be a night image ...? Well my response to that is that whilst the stars themselves give off enough light to be seen in the shot, the foreground usually is captured as a black blob, sometimes silhouetting trees or hills and other times giving the faint outline of a building or perhaps an old car or truck.

The star trail image of the old truck above is a classic example of what I'm talking about. If you look closely you'll see that it is lit from every direction and this is almost impossible in a single shot. To put this into perspective you have to understand that this scene was in the middle of a paddock nestled between two rocky hill faces. There was absolutely no light coming from anywhere except the stars above. See the images below to get an understanding of what I'm talking about.

The 3 images above are 3 minute exposures and are a few of the images combined to produce the star trails in the final picture. As you can see there isn't any detail in the foreground. All you can see is an outline of the roof on the truck.
Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with silhouettes but in this case I reckon the detail in the truck is what makes the image stand out.

So once the star trail images were captured, which involves taking a number of "Medium Duration" shots to be blended into the final length star trails, I then proceed to capture images that show the detail in the foreground. In this case I took particular care and effort to get it right and in doing so captured 6 images lit from every angle, including inside the cabin of the truck.

One other detail which is incredibly important in an image like this is to change the focus point on these foreground images to make the detail in the truck sharp and clean. This is a process known as "Focus Stacking".

Once again I am describing a process that is required to get an image of quality that will stand out as something special. The creative process here isn't simply limited to knowing how to take a photograph ... it extends to being able to pre-visualise what each of these shots needs to look like before you even begin.

Of course when all of these single images are edited they are then carefully blended to create the one final photograph. Is this a difficult process ... ? Not really, but it can certainly be time consuming .... start with a few shots and give it a go. Current software gives us all the necessary tools to achieve whatever we can see in our mind. I'll say it again, pre-visualisation is the key.

Now I must stress that you don't have to go to these lengths with every photo to get something awesome, but there are times when a simple point and shoot just doesn't cut it. As with any photograph taken during the day or night the craft and skill is in how it is lit. Lighting is everything in image making and the more we study how light works and how to create it when it isn't present, the more we will produce stunning work.

The below image is a single shot of the truck with stars in the background with a bit of light painting to bring out some detail. It's a good shot but I think you'll agree that it isn't in the same class as the first image on this page.

If you look closely you'll notice that the focus on the truck is a bit soft. Not such a problem unless you zoom in on the image or decide to make an enlargement of the photo.

With ultra wide angle lenses you can often get away with these shots as the focus plane is very broad. But as the focal length increases the soft focus becomes a real issue.

Nikon D750 Nikon 14-24 f2.8 20 sec exp iso3200

So, as with most of my nightscape photography, there is so much more to an image than initially meets the eye. I'm not deliberately trying to complicate the process, but night photography is not easy and we have to utilise every technique possible to transform the dream into reality. To create a wonderful image there needs to be a delicate balance of creative input coupled with solid technical ability.

I regularly have this discussion with fellow night photography enthusiasts and it becomes obvious that the majority of photographers fall into one of two categories. They are either creative or technical in their initial leaning. During daylight shooting this is less obvious as the camera can make very smart decisions for the photographer and mask a lot of flaws in technical understanding. Lets face it, we've all shot in auto camera modes haven't we ...??

On the other hand there are countless people who can pretty much pull a camera apart and put it back together again blindfolded but when it comes to producing an image of creative beauty they are often left wanting.

My advice is to force ourselves to learn something that we don't know. Initially this can be very painful but in the long run it will pay off big time. Our images will improve technically and eventually we'll begin to "see" things we didn't notice before.

So we began this post discussing light painting, and that's because light painting is one of the most creative things we can add to our night photography arsenal. Is it difficult ... ? It certainly can be. Is it something that requires a lot of practice ... ? It sure does.
But you'll be surprised how a little light in the right places, at the right angles will lift a lifeless image and make it something unique.

Give it a try, you'll be absolutely surprised with the results.

I'll leave you with a few of my favourite images showing the techniques described above. Hopefully you are inspired by them.

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One Night Under The Stars

20/5/2016

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Lots of people ask me how I approach a night photo shoot, so I thought I'd go through the process here. The first thing I always do is scout a location during the daytime to familiarize myself with a particular location before I go back in the dark of night. If you think about it there is really no other option ... believe me, I've tried it.

Wandering about in the dark searching for an old car or tree can be a very frustrating experience.
In this post I'd like to walk you through my search and subsequent night shoot of this beautiful old stone ruin on the shores of Cairn Curran Reservoir in Central Victoria.

"The Lake House" Nikon D750 Sigma 35mm f1.4 @ f2.2 10 second exposure ISO 2500

As you can see from the image on the right, the old ruin looks quite different during the light of day. But that isn't where this journey actually started. I'd seen lots of great images taken of this old house previously but even though I'd traveled this district a lot over the years I still wasn't sure of the exact location of this place.

Enter Google Maps.
This is usually my first stop when trying to locate something like this.
But it isn't as easy as you may think ... especially when you're not real sure of the exact spot.

The maps shown below illustrate how this looks when searching.

OK ... I do need to come clean about this particular search however. A couple of weeks earlier I had been travelling in the district after scouting an old railway bridge on the Joyce's Creek end of Cairn Curran. I was driving along the road on the opposite side of the lake when I gazed across the water and lo and behold there it was ... beautifully lit by the setting sun.

This was the catalyst for my google search when I got home, and of course that's when I located the building as per the above maps. So my next step was to drive to the location during the day and see what the site looked like and how easy it would be to access during the night.

When I got to the location of the house the first thing I did was check the angles and compass direction so I could line up the milky way in the night sky. Also, I was planning on doing a star trail image so I needed to see how the southerly perspective would look.
I use a simple compass app on my smartphone to work out the directions and from there I work out the composition with a given focal length lens.

If you follow my work you will see that my style is to always get low and let the foreground object stand out against the starry sky background. That's pretty easy with a large structure such as this house. But I'm sure a lot of you will be wondering how to work out how to get the milky way into the background of the shot. Well I can tell you that this is certainly not left to chance.

When you've been studying the night sky for as long as I have you tend to know where things are but I also use a fantastic piece of software called Stellarium. It's available for desktop and mobile devices and it's a tremendous help in finding your way around the night sky.

If you look at the screen shot of the stellarium software below left and compare to the image on the right it's obvious how well they match. It's simply a matter of working out the angles ...!!!

I knew I wanted to take a star trail image from this location as it was pretty open facing south, and as you can see from the shots below it basically comes down to working out the composition you want and then getting the technique right whilst shooting.

Just before I wrap up this post I'd like to mention another important aspect. I basically use 3 lenses for ny nightscapes.

1. Nikon 14-24 f2.8
2. Nikon 20mm f1.8
3. Sigma 35mm f1.4

As a Nikon shooter I feel so privileged to be able to use the fabulous 14-24 f2.8. This lens is a beast, it's huge, heavy and absolutely awesome. I usually shoot with this lens at 14mm and wide open at f2.8. The star trail image above is taken with this lens.
The Nikon 20mm f1.8 is a new lens to me but I wanted to have something wider than 24mm and faster than f2.8 and this lens, whilst not quite as optically accurate as the 14-24, is still pretty good and fits in that mid focal length range.

The final lens I use is the almost perfect Sigma Art series 35mm f1.4 What can i say about this lens that hasn't already been said. It's sharp, sharp and more sharp ... even wide open at f1.4 The first image at the beginning of this article was taken with this lens. In a lot of ways it's my favourite lens, but it's not my most used lens ... that goes to the 14-24 f2.8.

One thing I do use the Sigma 35mm lens for is creating wider panoramic images as per the image below.

"The Lake House Panorama" Nikon D750 Sigma 35mm f1.4 @ f2.8 20 exposures at 10 seconds each ISO 2500

These wide panoramic images are a little more complex to both shoot and process, but they certainly give a rather expansive perspective to a night sky shoot. As you can see from the description above, this is a composite of 20 images.

So as you can see, what appears at first to be a simple night shooting under the stars is actually quite a comprehensive exercise beginning sometimes many days before the actual shoot. There are lots of other tips and tricks required to succeed in this genre of photography but from my perspective it's worth the effort and I wouldn't want to spend my time doing anything else.

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Under the Southern Cross

20/4/2016

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This Anzac Day as we begin to contemplate the courage and dedication of the brave men and women who have fought and died in the defence of our great country, we sometimes wonder what has happened in the short space of time since these soldiers went to battle in far away lands. Our society has been enveloped in so much change, and indeed the communities that were so simple and uniquely "Aussie" whilst they still exist, in some cases may well bear little resemblance to how they would have looked to our young troops who left our shores for battle.

We all know and remember the tales of the veterans who survived the horrors of war. Most of them very much valued the letters and images from home, a land so far removed that had they not been constantly reminded of this great south land where they grew up, they could lose all hope and give in to a relentless enemy.
Obviously we owe a tremendous debt to these men and women and rightly so we remember them with honour and solemn reflection every year at this time.

The image on the left is that of a soldier saluting a fallen comrade under the Southern Cross constellation. This star cluster is proudly displayed on the Australian flag and is given pride of place in Australian folk lore. Every Australian upon finding themselves outside on a cloudless night looks carefully for this iconic pattern in the heavens. It is easy to find in the Southern sky as it never sets below the horizon.

"The Last Post" Nikon D750 Sigma 35mm @ f2.2 10 sec exposure ISO 2500

The irony is that in the midst of the vast majority of conflicts on foreign soil, the Southern Cross is not visible at all in the night sky.

In the Northern Hemisphere, the Southern Cross may only be seen at certain times of year and usually very low in the sky. This in itself would be a concern to the keen star gazers in the armed forces in times of battle. In fact the northern stars appear quite different to what we have become accustomed to in our beautiful part of the world.

As the Australian flag waved in the breeze of war torn battles, the stars emblazoned on it's face would be the only reminder of a much loved and treasured land and the loved ones waiting anxiously at home.

"Dawn Service" Nikon D750 Sigma 35mm @ f2 6 sec exposure ISO 2500

In many parts of the world today we hear of strife and conflict. Thankfully, we live in a land that is at relative peace and every day we enjoy the freedom that has been bought at a huge price. As we ponder the sacrifice of our service men and women this year at Anzac Day services around the country, take some time out, perhaps before a dawn service and set your gaze upon the Southern Cross hovering majestically overhead.

It's a comforting and familiar sight which in some small way I'm sure helps us to reflect with great pride in our Aussie spirit, and our ability to keep our eyes on the prize ... the prize of liberty and freedom ... bought with a price for each and every one of us.

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Practice makes Perfect

5/2/2016

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We often hear the saying that "Practice makes Perfect" and this is no more evident than in night photography. If you've ever tried to shoot any type of photograph after sunset you will be instantly aware of the challenges involved.

"An Old Friend" Nikon D750 50mm f2 10 sec exposure ISO 1600

The above image is a selfie taken recently at the venue for our Night Photography Workshops near Tarnagulla in Central Victoria. I've shot plenty of frames at this beautiful farmhouse, but I feel that to give the best possible experience to the participants I need to keep on top of my own game.

Night photography is hard and we can't afford to become complacent in our approach. On this particular occasion I wanted to test some new ideas and concepts, as well as try using some different focal length lenses. The bonus for me was to spend some relaxing time out under the stars ... just me with a few sheep and possums.

The difficult part of perfecting night photography is making the time to actually get out and shoot. There are just so many other things to do during the evenings and so it has to be prioritized. Plan ahead and make time to scout out prospective locations during the daylight hours. Then when you go out at night you won't be wasting valuable time trying to decide what and where to shoot.

Try to stretch yourself with your night photography, learn all you can about the subject, find like minded people who can help you along the way. Sometimes we fall into patterns with photography. This can be a good thing, we know what to do and therefore know how to achieve a certain image. On the other hand we can find ourselves frustrated when we don't get the results we'd hoped for and this is the main reason for people giving up on the night photography dream.

I know from first hand experience that persistence and practice are the best character traits to demonstrate, especially in the early stages on the nightscape journey. Persistence will drive us to succeed, we don't want it to beat us ... no matter what.

But practice is the key to success ... if we learn as we go along. Once we begin to capture great images we need to keep getting out there, keep taking shots, try different settings and lens combinations. Research what others are doing and see if this fits your personal style ... it may not, and that's ok but the point here is to keep trying to improve on your work as time goes by.

Compare this years work to what you produced last year and assess what improvements you have made.

"On Location" Nikon D750 85mm f2 10 second exposure ISO 2000

Nightscape photography tends to get into your blood, it can even become obsessive, a bit like lightning or aurora chasing. Whatever your motivation to shoot the night sky, the methodology remains the same ... practice, practice and then practice some more. Keep researching, learn your equipment and choose locations during the daylight hours. Be creative and always look for fresh ideas and subjects ... anything can come alive at night given the right conditions.

But be warned, you may just get hooked ... I know I am.

A few more shots from the same venue which is where we run our Night Photograhy Workshops.

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A Journey of Passion

6/1/2016

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Sometimes when I'm thinking about embarking on a late night photo shoot, usually at a remote location I take the time to simply stop and re-engage with the things that motivated me in the first place to get out under the stars and take photographs.

As I've mentioned plenty of times before, you should never go out to shoot at night in a random fashion, that is, without any idea of where you are going or what you will do when you get there. If we approach night photography in that manner we will be very disappointed in our resulting images. Not only that, but the enjoyment factor will be dramatically reduced as well. There is certainly no fun wandering about aimlessly in the dark without a plan.

For me night photography is a journey of passion. In more recent years I've
re-acquainted myself with my younger self's love of the night sky. I still remember looking up at the magnificent milky way all those years ago wondering what it was all about. I quickly aspired to trying my hand at photographing the stars ... it was almost impossible in those days due to the inability of the cameras of the day to work at such low light levels.

However I knew then that I was hooked but it would take me a number of years to begin the journey once again.

Walk the Line Nikon D750 Sigma 35mm f1.4 @ f2.8 10 second exposure ISO 1250 (Off camera flash on left side and at rear.) Rear curtain sync

Even though I plan my trips out into the field at night I always take time out to look at the view ahead of me. I realized long ago that without that passion to explore and enjoy the night sky I probably wouldn't ever bother to take the car out of the garage.

The image at the left illustrates this beautifully. During a long shoot on a freezing cold night I wanted to capture an image that reflects my passion and dedication to what I love doing. As I said at the time, this image shows what I spend an awful lot of my time doing ... and i wouldn't have it any other way.

Me and the Milky Way Nikon D750 50mm f2.2 8 second exposure ISO 2000

I'd like to share a few of my favourite nightscape images from the last couple of years. My hope is that you see the love and passion I have for this form of photography. It's far more than capturing a nicely exposed image ... it's about the feeling it creates, the emotion and beauty attached to every scene and every subject. Things that are often considered ugly become an object of beauty under the stars. You can't help but stand there in awe and amazement.

When we take a group of people out on our night photography workshops it's always my desire that they catch a glimpse of the love and passion I have for this art form. Whatever your motivation to shoot the stars ... always remember to spend a moment to breathe deeply and take it all in. Like any great experience it's all about the journey.

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Goodbye Milky Way

1/11/2015

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Milky Way setting behind Windmill in South West in November Nikon D610 14mm @ f3.5 20 sec exp ISO 2500

As we begin the month of November here in the Southern Sky we begin to say goodbye to the beautiful milky way. As the year progresses and the days become longer the core of the milky way gets lower and lower in the western sky until it catches up with the sun and is no longer visible in the night sky.

I must admit I get a little bit sad when this happens as it means a long wait until it appears again in the eastern sky to begin the whole process again sometime in the early hours of February/March. This re-appearance is certainly a true test of the dedication of the nightscape photographer. Seeing the bright core of the milky way rising vertically in the south east at about 4am in late February may be too much for some but I have to admit that some of my most treasured times under the stars have happened at such early hours.

Milky Way Rising in the South East in February
Nikon D610 14mm @ f2.8 20 sec exposure ISO 2500

This image was taken on February 18th 2015 at 4.18am and perfectly illustrates my point. It was one of the quietest and most serene scenes imaginable. Obviously there are very few people out and about at that early hour, but I found myself quietly pondering the simple but somehow important things in life whilst taking in the view.

We are truly blessed in our part of the world with fantastic viewing opportunities for the best part of 9 months through our Autumn, Winter & Spring night skies. Many folks in the Northern Hemisphere only see a portion of what we enjoy.

It takes a bit of time to understand the unique aspects of the night sky, especially the way the stars appear to travel through the sky as the year rolls on. It is a challenge, but it's certainly one worth taking on. Once we understand the way it all works we have no trouble locating this magnificent sight no matter what time of year we are out stargazing.

The above images show different perspectives of the milky way because they were taken at different times of year and at different times of the night. The final star trail picture clearly illustrates the point in the southern sky around which all the stars including the milky way rotate. The milky way core can be seen as a blurry cloud on the right side of the image. As the earth rotates, the stars rise in the East and set in the West ... just like the sun and moon. Quite fascinating isn't it ....!!!

So my suggestion is to go outside, look somewhere in the south western night sky and wave goodbye for another year to the milky way. Summer is upon us with it's long hot days and short mild nights. Of course there are always great things to see in the sky whatever the season, but I for one am counting down the days until the beautiful, majestic milky way core once again rises in all it's glory in the eastern sky.

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It's all about light.

24/7/2015

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"Beam me up Scotty" Sigma 35mm f1.4 @ f1.8 10 seconds ISO 2000

When we think about photography generally the first thing that comes into our mind is, "I wonder what the light will be like ... ?"
Today I'd like us to consider what that means to those of us who endeavour to take photos of the night landscape when there is pretty much no light at all. When you begin to spend a bit of time out at night under the stars you quickly realise that there is always some form of light available. Once your eyes adjust to the dark conditions you begin to see shapes and silhouettes all around. Even the stars themselves provide light especially in a very remote location far from city lights.

Still, the challenge remains ... How do we best light our subjects at night and enable our camera to expose to our satisfaction ..?
I want to use the image above to demonstrate how the addition of an artificial light source can dramatically bring life, drama and dimension to a photograph.

This image was taken late one cold July night in Country Victoria in Australia. The fog had descended and it was pretty hard to see the stars in the sky because of it. I decided to add 3 lights into the mix to provide both foreground and back lighting on this abandoned homestead. There was one torch placed on the ground on the far left of the image gently shining diagonally across the brick chimney stacks. Another light was placed inside the building itself to provide some internal detail to the structure. Finally, once the self timer had been set on the camera I ran around to the back of the building and during the 10 seconds of the exposure I shone my torch through the opening at the rear of the structure and also into the sky to attempt to silhouette the roofline. (By the way, without the thick fog this wouldn't have been so effective.)

This is a single exposure but to give you some idea of how it might look with each of the lights in place on their own, check out the images below.

So the next question people generally ask is .... what is this style of lighting called and what type of light do you use ...?
This is called light painting, but the answer to this question is both simple and complex. Simple, because as you will see I use very standard "off the shelf" torches to light paint my subjects. Complex because I also like to use any light source that is available to me at the time ... many times this is completely out of my control.

Firstly I will show you some of the equipment I use to light images like those displayed above.

This is a collection of the main lights that I use to create nearly all my Nightscape images. These were all purchased on ebay at very reasonable prices.

From left to right:
* Z96 LED Video light Dimmable with filter gel
* 5000 lm LED torch non dimmable but zoomable
* 2000 lm led torch high/low brightness zoomable
* 300 lm mini torch on/off only but zoomable

Because most LED lights are balanced to more of a blue colour I like to use coloured gels to add some yellow into the mix. Added to this is the fact that I almost always manually set the white balance on my camera to a rather cold 3450k. This has the effect of exposing more to the blue end of the colour spectrum. I do this so that I can keep a nice deep blue night sky colour.
During post processing of raw image files it's quite easy to adjust the white balance of the image to bring out the warmer yellow colours so it makes sense to give the light source a bit more yellow to start with.

Just to illustrate my point, check out the two images below. Left image standard led torch, Right image with yellow filter.

I did make mention of a more complex side to this light painting process and that is using available light sources to light the scene. This is somewhat complex due to the unpredictable nature of this method. I'm not really talking about available light such as the moon or perhaps street lighting. These are always viable and quite effective, but one of my prefered methods of lighting a scene is with random passing car or truck headlights. These are bright and powerful enough to light a large scene from a great distance, and as a bonus they usually have a nice yellow tint.

You may laugh but check some examples of this unusual technique.

All of the above images were totally lit using passing traffic. As suggested, this method is totally unpredictable but as you can see it has the potential to produce stunning results.

In practice a successful outing to capture a collection of nightscape images often encompasses many lighting methods. Sometimes a simple silhouette of the night sky is enough, other times we need to make use of one or more of the methods mentioned in this article. The most important thing to remember during our preparation in the lead up to a shoot is to always be looking for a creative and inspiring way to feature the beauty and majesty of the night sky and landscape.

Imagine the first image at the beginning of this article without the fog .... nice but not spectacular. There was no fog to be found when I left home. Sometimes things just happen, circumstances unfold before our eyes. Be ready, look for the unusual and make the most of every opportunity. Bring your lights but always look for other lighting options.

But above all else never forget to take a moment and breathe in the silent but awesome glory of the night sky, you'll be glad you did.

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What do you see ... ???

19/6/2015

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Country Railway Crossing: Nikon D610 28mm @ F9 1/320 second exposure ISO 100

Ok it's a scene we see just about every day living in Country Victoria, nothing particularly special you might say.
When searching for locations for nightscape images, the most difficult thing is to pre-visualize what a particular scene will look at night under the stars.
Compare the image above to the lower image of exactly the same railway crossing at night.

Milky Way Railway Crossing: Nikon D610 14mm @ F2.8 20 second exposure ISO 2500

It just goes to show that with a little planning just about any scene can be transformed into a beautiful nightscape. The trick is to be able to see it in your mind before you can actually see it.

Many people ask me how I find these lovely spots to shoot at night .... my response is simply that I am of the opinion that pretty much any scene can be made to look great at night. Photography is all about light. Tone and shadow, subtle reflections and texture.

The first image is exposed ok but doesn't particularly stand out ... it's a snapshot really. The second image however has so much more depth and character ... this is the great thing about night photography. The night image takes us to a place of mystery and intrigue, the average has the potential to be spectacular.

So why don't we all get out and take "spectacular" night photos .... ???

There are many reasons people don't shoot at night often but I would say the main reason is that we can't pre-visualize the shot .... it's just too dark to see anything clearly after dark. In fact most of us drive straight past many potentially awesome subjects all the time in the everyday journey of life. During the day, it's just another railway crossing, or another tree or another whatever ....

The facts of the matter are that it's a whole lot more difficult to shoot at night ... so we don't. But the rewards are there for those who are willing to push the boundaries and see something ordinary in a different light.

Here are a few more examples to illustrate what I am saying.

Malmsbury Railway Bridge: Before and after.

Maldon Dredge: Before and after

Country Road: Before and after

You will notice that all of the night images are uniquely lit which adds to the mystery of the photograph. Light painting is a complete subject in itself and I will get around to that sometime, but for now I'd like to leave you with the thought that from a photographic perspective, everything, given the right conditions can be a fine subject for a nightscape image.
All it requires is a little pre-visualization ... and perhaps a dash of good old fashioned imagination.

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Fine Art Light Painting

The Creative Process

Light Painting Magic

One Night Under The Stars

"The Lake House" Nikon D750 Sigma 35mm f1.4 @ f2.2 10 second exposure ISO 2500

"The Lake House Panorama" Nikon D750 Sigma 35mm f1.4 @ f2.8 20 exposures at 10 seconds each ISO 2500

Under the Southern Cross

Practice makes Perfect

A Journey of Passion

Goodbye Milky Way

It's all about light.

What do you see ... ???

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"The Lake House" Nikon D750 Sigma 35mm f1.4 @ f2.2 10 second exposure ISO 2500