Learn how to photograph the night skies

Quick jump to:

• New nighttime photography class

• Free star party and astrophotography workshop hosted by the City of Newport Parks and Recreation

• Deeply discounted fine art

It's finally here! Many of you have asked for a course to learn how to photograph the night skies. Some of you don't have a camera yet and mainly use your smartphone. Some of you are well known and appreciated landscape and nature photographers but want to learn more about photographing scenes at night. Many of you are already doing nighttime photography and simply want to learn more and see improvements in the images you capture.

Nighttime Photography Course

I partnered with the Visual Arts Center in Newport to deliver a 4-week course on nighttime photography. My goal by the end of this course is that you will be successfully and confidently capturing jaw-dropping images of the Milky Way, star trails, meteor showers, or many of the other targets available at night. We will meet every Thursday night from 7pm until 9pm. The first part of the class will be lecture and presentation, the second will be hands on. It will be getting darker earlier, so we'll have opportunities to step outside of the VAC to practice techniques.

This 4-week class totaling 8 hours of sessions is being offered for just $225 - scholarships may be available, so if it's the cost that's stopping you, please reach out! You also should be prepared to bring your own camera or smartphone.

Here's a sampling of what we'll cover:

• Camera settings for nighttime photography

  • What is focal length, and which lenses are good for what types of photography?

  • How and why do you choose your F-stop for the shot?

  • How do you pick the best ISO?

  • How do you figure out the right exposure?

• How to properly focus stars and avoid chromatic aberrations

• How to take shots with a tripod

• What a "tracker" is and how to take shots with a tracker.

• What a mount is (vs. tracker and tripod) and how to take shots with a mount.

• How to plan your shot

  • Understanding field of view

  • Thoughts about composition

  • Tools to ensure the right rotation, focal length, etc. for the composition you want

  • How to plan shots of the moon, sun, Milky Way, and other phenomena, against landmarks (think: moon touching the top of the lighthouse)

  • The "trick" to make the moon look large against the landmark

• Techniques for star trails

• Understanding light pollution and the Bortle scale

• Taking Milky Way shots in urban and suburban areas

• Image processing techniques

  • Calibration to reduce defects and abnormalities

  • Exposure bracketing

  • Blue hour technique

  • Multi-processing a single frame

  • Processing multiple frames to raise signal or lengthen total exposure without stars stretching

  • Meteor showers and the radiant point

  • Special considerations for comets

  • Masking

• Preparing your photograph to print

  • Pixel resolution and DPI

  • Color scheme/RGB vs. CMYK

  • Contrast and brightness

  • Canvas, metal, and photo prints

I also welcome your feedback as I finalize the course material, so let me know if you are interested in other topics as well.

Click or tap here to reserve your spot before August 4th!

Free Workshop and Star Party

Last year, I partnered with the City of Newport Parks and Recreation to host a "star party" and it was a hit! This year, we're partnering again for several events. First, we're host another free star party at Frank Wade field. The tentative date is July 25th, 2025, so mark your calendars! Please let us know if you're going (or not) and follow the Facebook Star Party Event Page for updates as the date gets nearer. I'm especially excited that my good friend and retired professional astronomer Sifan Kahale will there with her 14" Celestron telescope!

On August 16th we plan to host a nighttime photography workshop. This will be a very abbreviated version of the course, going over just the basics. The course signup deadline is August 4th so if you can't make it, consider checking this one out too. I'll update date and location when they are available. This will have a nominal fee to cover costs for staff and venue.

Deeply discounted fine art

I have updated my pricing across the board to make fine art prints more accessible to everyone. Some pieces are more substantially discounted than others, but instead of calling it a "sale" or showing percentage reduction, I just updated the pricing. If you've been saving for a print, it might already be in your budget! Here are a few examples:

Here is my full fine art astrophotography catalog. I also will do custom prints and commissioned works, simply fill out a form to request your bespoke fine art print.

Thank you!