This video from Cuiv, the Lazy Geek, a YouTuber with a popular following in the astrophotography community, brings up some considerations for photographers who are dipping their toes into astrophotography, including broad considerations and commentary on differences and difficulties traditional photographers may find as they explore astrophotography.
After five years, NASA’s space probe Juno arrived at Jupiter in 2016, carrying with it Junocam, a two-megapixel camera featuring a Kodak image sensor. This camera continues to reveal more mysteries about the red planet.
If you are at all interested in astrophotography, you may have wondered if your current lenses are up to the task of capturing sharp, distortion-free images of the stars. Something most modern digital lenses weren’t intended for.
Fall tends to be a “transitional” season for the astrophotographer. Summer constellations are still visible for early evening, but are quickly fading into the sunset. Late in the evening, some of the prominent Winter constellations are starting to come into view. In a few months these winter constellations will be high in the sky and well placed for astrophotography, so now is the time to do some planning.
Astrophotography has some specific and often more demanding requirements when it comes to lenses, and as such, it takes careful evaluation of potential options to know which is right for your work. For astrophotographers on a budget, there is the Viltrox 35mm f/1.8 AF, and this great video review takes a look at the sort of image quality and performance you can expect from it in practice.
As we transition from summer to fall, two of the most photogenic planets, Jupiter and Saturn, have passed the point of closest approach (opposition) to the Earth for the year. Yet, they still make great targets for planetary astrophotography, especially since they are now high in the sky soon after sunset. As another bonus, photographing these planets does not require traveling to a dark sky site. This kind of astrophotography can be done from our backyards.
Astrophotography has quickly become incredibly popular these days, with the advent of increasingly smaller and affordable star trackers, and not to mention the global pandemic, which has forced people to make do with photographing what is immediately around them, or above them.
Night photography isn't all about astrophotography and in fact, there are a lot of great shots out there waiting to be captured. In this video, see how night images of varying difficulties are made and use them as inspiration for your own shoots.
Two successful SpaceX missions last week, one on each coast, prompted me to review my rocket launch photo procedures, particularly since the Monday (Sept. 13) launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base was the first after a long hiatus. For those of us in southern California, it was a photo op we were eagerly awaiting since it was scheduled for after sunset.
For any landscape photographer who prioritizes getting the money shot over serendipitously stumbling on a picturesque scene, using apps to predict the weather and to visualize an image is a foundational aspect of their workflow. While there are some incredibly useful apps out there, there isn't much that could beat being able to virtually travel to a location and time.
Astrophotography is one of the most rewarding but complex genres of photography. There are a lot of steps that go into creating a great image of the night sky and Milky Way, and what better way to learn than to watch somebody do it from start to finish.
It takes more than a wide aperture and the right focal length to make a good astrophotography lens. Sigma's 40mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art lens offers a slightly longer but still reasonable focal length paired with that wide aperture, making it a potentially useful candidate for astro work. This great video review takes a look at the lens from an astrophotographer's perspective and the sort of image quality and performance you can expect from it.
In a previous article (Easing into Astrophotography with a Telescope), I listed a few resources for stepping up to telescopic astrophotography. Beyond learning the basics of sky navigation and learning to extend your photographic equipment knowledge into long exposures, an introductory overview of astronomy is a good idea so that you are aware of the photographic possibilities available to you and the wide array of equipment that may be needed.
Editing astrophotographs can be tricky as there's a lot to go wrong, especially when working with the Milky Way. Thankfully, Lightroom has some powerful features that can help transform drab snaps to galactic masterpieces.
Astrophotography is a tremendously challenging genre that requires some specialized techniques and knowledge, but when you nail a shot, the results can be jaw-dropping. If you are looking to improve your astro images, this excellent video tutorial will show you five great tips that will help you take better photos of the night sky.
There is not a more confounding and mysterious element of digital photography than ISO. And just when we've all thought we've figured it out and it starts to make sense, another wrinkle appears and threatens our conceptions all over again.
Jupiter is one of the most stunning objects in the night sky, and while it is relatively close to us are far as objects in space go, it is still a mind-bogglingly far distance from our home planet, making it a real challenge to photograph. This neat video goes behind the scenes to show the process an astrophotographer went through to get a photo of the biggest planet.
The Perseid Meteor Shower peak has come and gone for 2021. This year the Moon’s interference was minimal, setting early in the evening around the predicted peak days, but luck always plays a major role in anyone’s success.
Aside from the Perseid meteor shower, the summer hype is on for viewing Saturn. Indeed, Saturn is a great target for visual observers, especially if it’s your very first view through a telescope. But for astrophotographers, it’s a tough target. A bit of an easier target is Jupiter, which is “following” Saturn across the summer sky.
Astrophotography is a genre that takes a lot of specialized knowledge, techniques, and equipment, but when you get things right, the results can be stunning. If you are new to the genre, this great video tutorial features five tips to help you get on the right track and produce better images.
Like many photographers, I love to see interesting astrophotography. There are plenty of stunning examples out there, usually featuring the Milky Way over a dramatic landscape. Also, like many photographers, I've tried my hand at astrophotography and have not quite gotten the same results. Unlike many other wannabe astrophotographers, my images make me feel happy.
Some genres almost require post-processing of images to fully finish them, astrophotography being one of them. The post-processing techniques involved are rather particular, and this excellent video tutorial will show you how to edit an image with the Milky Way combined with a light-painted landscape, all using Photoshop.
For me, August is a great month. The nights become longer and the Milky Way core is rising above the horizon again. But the highlight is the Perseid meteor shower. I have 10 tips for planning and photographing this annual event.
As you’re probably aware from the level of hype in your news feed, the Perseid meteor shower is approaching and you should get outside to see it now! Technically in late July, it is already active in our skies, but the reality is that there is a fairly narrow window of high activity only around the peak time. My own experience is that the number of meteors drops off dramatically a day before or after the peak evening.
One of the Holy Grail quests for astrophotographers is the search for dark skies. Few of us are fortunate enough to live in ideal dark skies, but most of us are mobile enough to get to somewhere better than the center of an urban area.
One of the biggest confusions that you might notice as you venture into astrophotography is that photographers and astronomers measure their equipment differently. Photographers tend to refer to their lenses in terms of their focal length, while astronomers refer to their telescopes by the diameter of their opening. Thus, a 75mm f/6 telescope has a focal length of 450mm. Meanwhile, a 75mm camera lens at f/6 has an aperture of 12.5mm. If a photographer is told that someone is shooting a 155mm lens hand-held, it would not raise an eyebrow, but an astronomer told the same thing would be incredulous! I can only barely lift my 155mm telescope onto its mount!
It might seem like a strange thing to reduce the size of stars in a night sky photo, but if you want to better show off deep-sky objects, it can help bring them to the fore. With so many stars in the sky, it can be a bit of a tedious task, however. This great video tutorial will show you three different methods for reducing the size of stars both easily and efficiently.
Astrophotography is by far one of the most specialized genres out there, requiring quite a bit of specific equipment, software, and technique, but capturing things that are unfathomable distances away can be really rewarding. If you are new to the genre or looking to improve your work, check out this awesome video tutorial that answers 10 of the most common questions people have about astrophotography.
If you’ve viewed deep-sky astrophotos (not landscape astrophotos), you may have noticed that extremely long exposures (not counting mosaics) are used. In extreme cases, exposures may run over 12 hours. Unless you have a space telescope, it should be obvious that multiple exposures have been used.
A nighttime landscape shot with the Milky Way over the earth below can be dramatic and eye-catching, but they almost always require two separate exposures for the foreground and the sky to get the best image quality. Once you have your two images, you will need to blend them to create a single final frame, and this great video tutorial will show you how to do it using Photoshop.
