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Showing posts with label Royce Bair. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Royce Bair. Show all posts

Monday, May 2, 2022

Private Night Photography Workshops by Royce Bair



Private Night Photography Lessons in the Field. For years I've done up to 10 group workshops a year. These 5-day group workshops typically cost about $1,995 (or about $400 a day). In 2019, I went into semi-retirement, doing only one group workshop a year (my group workshops often fill up in 48 hours or less). For the rest of the year, I only do private workshops. Private instruction allows greater flexibility for teaching and offers many additional opportunities for my clients! We can sometimes do as much photography in two or three nights than you can do in a group situation during four or five nights. Of course, we can also do as much daytime photography as you want (depending on how much sleep you require).

One of the biggest advantage of a private workshop is that my time is shared only with you and the friend(s) you choose to attend with you (I cannot tell you how many times I have seen one "bad apple" in a group workshop try to monopolize my time at the expense of others in the group).

Private instruction is only a little more expensive than a group workshop, but it can actually be equal to or less expensive, when you invite a friend or two to share the costs. A maximum of three photographers are allowed in a private group (you and up to two of your friends). Let me illustrate...

Day rate: I charge $1,200 for the first day of instruction and $950 for each additional day (some photographers book just one day). "Weather" days are $500. Here's a typical fee cost EXAMPLE for two or three photographers:

 1st Day/night .......... $1,200.00
 2nd Day/night ..........    950.00
 3rd Day/night ..........    950.00
                          ---------
   Total fee cost ....... $3,100.00
   Cost/photog (when 2).. $1,550.00
   Cost/photog (when 3).. $1,033.33
   (This is less than $345/day!)       

Definitions: A "Day/night" of photography includes up to 8 hours of my time in guiding and teaching. At least two (2) of those hours will be doing starry night photography. The daytime instruction can be in the field or in the classroom (i.e. image post processing). A tag-along spouse or friend, without a camera, is not considered a "photographer".

Weather Days: In many of the workshop I've ever conducted, there are nights where we have so much cloud cover that few stars can be seen or photographed. Although we always try to make good use of the night with "Blue Hour" photography and demonstrating light painting (or Low Level Lighting) techniques, this is probably not what you signed up for. When this happens in my private workshops, we just call it a night and rest up for better nights. If I cannot give you at least 30 minutes of starry night photography, I will charge you a flat $500 fee to cover my expenses for that day. Note: This "weather day" discount does not apply to the first day. The "weather day" discount is also NOT something I offer in my group workshops.

Travel Expenses: You will cover your own travel expenses for transportation, lodging and meals.

Locations for private workshop lessons can be any place in the world! Any workshop location within 350 miles of my residence includes my travel expenses in the first day rate fee. Examples of workshops that are within this 350-mile radius: Arches National Park, Grand Teton N.P., Yellowstone N.P., Zion N.P., Bryce Canyon N.P., Capitol Reef N.P., Canyonlands N.P. and Grand Staircase-Escalante N.M.

You will also cover my travel expenses for any workshop that is greater than 350 miles from my residence in Salt Lake City, Utah. I will cover my own lodging and meals. For distances greater than 350 miles, you will be charged the following travel expenses, in addition to my day rates:

 351-800 miles (car travel one 
    way): $0.95 per mile*
 Over 800 miles: Actual airfare
    charges + actual car rental
    fees (we can share this
    vehicle).
   
*Example: One of my favorite places in eastern California are the Alabama Hills, near Lone Pine. From this area, you can also visit Mono Lake and the ancient Bristlecone Pines. Google says it's 582 miles from Salt Lake City to Lone Pine —that's 232 miles over my free base distance of 350 miles. At 95 cents per mile, that would be a travel expense of $220. As for your own travel expenses, you would want to fly into Las Vegas and rent a car for driving to Lone Pine (232 miles).

Reserving your date: I charge a $300 deposit to reserve a date. You can reserve up to a six days at a time. There is a deposit fee of $300 for each day you wish to reserve. This one deposit covers all the photographers in your group. I am happy to help you with your travel arrangements and hotel recommendations.

CALL: 801-558-2701 to make your reservations, or EMAIL me at royce.bair[AT]gmail[DOT]com (to prevent spam email, I ask you to substitute the "[AT]" with the "@" symbol and the "[DOT]" with the "." character).

Final payment: I request the balance of my fees (and any travel expenses) 90 days prior to the starting day of your private workshop.

Cancellations and Refunds: You can cancel and receive a full refund (less credit card fees), up to 90 days prior to the event. If you cancel between 60 and 89 days prior to the event, I will refund all but $100.00 of the fees you have paid. If you cancel between 30 and 59 days prior to the event, I will refund 50% of your fees, unless we can find a replacement attendee to take your place. If you cancel less than 30 days prior to the event, none of your fees will refunded, unless we can find a replacement attendee to take your place. The workshop participant acknowledges that if Royce Bair cancels this event, all fees paid will be refunded. Other than this refund, no guarantee or warranty is given or implied.

Eliminating days from your scheduled event: If, after completing at least two of your reserved workshop days, it is decided that you no longer need one or more of your additional reserved days, you will be refunded up to $450.00 for each of those unused days (less credit card processing fees). Travel expenses cannot be refunded.

Extending your workshop: If we are less than two weeks away from your workshop, and you wish to extend the length of the workshop (and I can make arrangements to do so), you will pay my first day rate ($1,200/day) for each additional day. You may also be required to pay my lodging expenses for any extra days (as last-minute lodging costs are often at a higher rate).

Recommendations: Read what others have said about my workshops.


PRIVATE INSTRUCTION: In addition to private workshops, I also offer:

This is currently priced at $75.00/hour. Please text me at 801-558-2701 or email me at royce.bairATgmailDOTcom for details.


My photography expertise goes beyond astrophotography: three decades of full-time magazine and commercial photography.












Monday, January 13, 2020

A Podcast Conversation with Royce Bair on F-Stop Collaborate and Listen


A Conversation with Royce Bair on the F-Stop Collaborate and Listen PODCAST - January 15, 2020.

Just a few of the topics discussed are:

  • How to make your nightscapes more creative
  • Learning how to say "no"—means saying "yes" to what you really want!
  • Nightscape ethics and artificial lighting


A Milky Way nightscape of Rainbow Bridge mixed with moonlight ~ © Royce Bair

Friday, October 26, 2018

NightScaper Conference scheduled for May 1-3, 2019 in Moab, Utah




A Love Letter to the Night Sky from Ron Risman.
Many of these scenes were shot near Moab, Utah.



The first annual NightScaper Conference has been scheduled for May 1-3, 2019 in Moab, Utah - gateway to Arches and Canyonlands.

Network and socialize with
150 NightScape photographers
3 days of seminars
3 nights of shooting
$399.00
Optional field trips each night
Plus, optional workshops
before and after the conference

More information and online registration at our official


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Thursday, October 25, 2018

NightScaper Conference Schedule

Day and Night activities scheduled each day.

Conference Schedule:

Tuesday, April 30, 2019 - check into any Moab hotel, or stay at the Marriott Springhill Suites and Fairfield Inn Suites (right next to each other). These are our conference hotels and they are also closest hotels to Arches and Canyonlands National Parks. We've reserved a block of rooms for our conference guests at a special discounted rate. Book your room now, as these rooms will go fast (you have until March 15, 2019 to cancel, should your plans change). The average rate for national brand hotel rooms in Moab is about $249/night. Your special rate for these beautiful Marriott rooms are $199 and $189 per night, respectively (normal rates in May are $293 and $273 per night)!

Wednesday, May 1, 2019

  • 8:00 AM - Conference Room Opens - Receive Registration lanyard
  • 8:00 AM - Vendor tables/booths open
  • 9:30 AM - Christine Kenyon ~ Answers to Common Nightscape Questions
  • 10:30 AM - Clarence Spencer ~ Astro-Modified Cameras
  • 11:30 PM - Break for lunch
  • 12:00 PM - Free Luncheon ~ Sponsored by Pictureline
  • 1:30 PM - Conference Room Opens ~ Bring your Lanyard
  • 2:00 PM - Wayne Pinkston ~ Putting the Landscape Back in Landscape Astrophotography
  • 3:00 PM - Wayne Pinkston ~ Putting the Landscape Back in Landscape Astrophotography - Part II
  • 4:00 PM - Mike Shaw ~ Nightscape Composites and Blends – A How-To Guide
  • 5:00 PM - Photog Adventures - Brendon Porter & Aaron King ~ How to plan your next Milky Way adventure with PhotoPills
  • 6:00 PM - Break for dinner
  • 6:30 PM - Vendor Tables/Booths close
  • 7:00 PM - Eric Gail ~ Maximizing Your Return Using GaiaGPS and Global Positioning
  • 8:00 PM - Personal shooting on your own or optional Paid Field Trips


Thursday, May 2, 2019

  • Midnight - Personal shooting on your own or optional Paid Field Trips
  • 5:00 AM - Return to hotel for rest and personal time (breakfast & lunch on your own)*
  • 11:45 AM - Conference Room Opens ~ Bring your Lanyard
  • 12:00 PM - Vendor tables/booths open
  • 12:00 PM - Vince Warner ~ The Right Tripod for NightScape Photography
  • 1:00 PM - Eric Gail ~ Pre scouting any location “Day or Night” using Google Earth
  • 2:00 PM - Royce Bair ~ Six ways to improve the quality of your NightScapes images
  • 3:00 PM - Mike Berenson ~ Stacking, Tracking and Blending, Oh My!
  • 4:00 PM - Ron Risman ~ Tracking the Night Sky with Motion Control Gear for Timelapse
  • 5:00 PM - Photog Adventures - Brendon Porter & Aaron King ~ Five features in PhotoPills you are using wrong
  • 6:00 PM - Break for dinner
  • 6:30 PM - Vendor Tables/Booths close
  • 7:00 PM - Joyce HarmanSaving Dark Skies Locally
  • 8:00 PM - Personal shooting on your own or optional Paid Field Trips


Friday, May 3, 2019

  • Midnight - Personal shooting on your own or optional Paid Field Trips
  • 5:00 AM - Return to hotel for rest and personal time (breakfast & lunch on your own)*
  • 12:30 PM - Vendor tables/booths open
  • 12:30 PM - Conference Room Opens ~ Bring your Lanyard
  • 1:00 PM - Shreenivasan Manievannan ~ Into the Night with GoPro
  • 2:00 PM - Bettymaya Foott ~ Guest speaker from the International Dark-Sky Association
  • 3:00 PM - Eric Benedetti ~ Tracking Mount Based Nightscape Photography
  • 4:00 PM - David Swindler ~ Post-Processing Methods to Achieve the Highest Quality Night Photos
  • 5:00 PM - Ryan Smith ~ A picture is worth a thousand ……$$$ DOLLARS $$$
  • 6:00 PM - Break for dinner
  • 6:30 PM - Vendor Tables/Booths close
  • 8:00 PM - Personal shooting on your own or optional Paid Field Trips


Saturday, May 4, 2019

  • Midnight - Personal shooting on your own or optional Paid Field Trips
  • 5:00 AM - Return to hotel for rest and personal time - Conference ends*
  • 11:00 AM - Hotel checkout time, unless you wish to extend for private workshops


*The Milk Way core first appears each night at about 1:10 AM and remains visible until about 4:35 AM.

Learn more about the speakers and their programs

More information and online registration at our official


Poster design by Phill Monson / Entrada Outdoor Company.

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Monday, January 19, 2015

Milky Way NightScapes eBook

The Milky Way over Lower Yellowstone Falls is the cover on Royce Bair's new "Milky Way NightScapes" eBook.
My original ebook, "Milky Way NightScapes" (Version 1.1) is available in PDF format (53MB), 140 pages, over 33,000 words of text, with over 490 illustrative images. $19.99 USD. Please scroll to the bottom of this post to place your order.

Note: My newly updated Version 2.0 is now available. Price is $39.99 .

Because my NightScapes have been widely published for three decades, many have copied my style. Although I'm not the first person to have ever used that label to describe my style of night photography, I was one of the first to use it extensively for starry night skies, with a landscape feature that has been enhanced by extra starlight, moonlight, or artificial light. Unlike other ebooks on night photography, Milky Way NightScapes concentrates almost exclusively on photographing starry night skies as points of light. There is only one page on star trails, and no instruction on how to photograph the moon, meteor showers, or other night sky features. This is book is very narrow-minded, and I think many will appreciate that.

The book is divided into four chapters: 1. Planning and Scouting, 2. Shooting NightScapes, 3. Lighting the Foreground (using starlight, moonlight, and artificial light), and 4. Post Processing. Here are some sample pages (Copyright Royce Bair 2015, All Rights Reserved):









What others are saying: "This is the only book you'll ever need for nightscapes. It is easy to read, easy to use and written by the world's foremost authority on night photography. The recipe on page 50 of how to set up the shot with clear step by step instructions is alone worth the price. Highly recommended for everyone who ever thought of doing this type of photography." — Jeff Clow

"Very helpful! I attended a weekend workshop last winter on night photography and I wish I had your ebook prior to that. I have some other books on the topic, and I find yours to be the most complete and best presentation of information on the topic. Your ebook has also filled in some gaps and is quite helpful with processing the raw files I have." — Donnie Fulks

"The book is well written, chock full of information and an inspiration for all of us doing “nightscape” photography.  Thank you for sharing your years of knowledge and experience."  — Bill Zombeck

Kindle warning: "Your original PDF is too large for folks to upload to their Kindle or Kindle app on iPad (my preferred method for reading ebooks).  The file size limit is 50 meg [the Milky Way NightScapes PDF is 53MB].  I was able to compress it a bit using Acrobat so I'm fine, but not everyone has access to Acrobat. It's a great read so far and your images are breathtakingly beautiful!" — J. Scott Crist

"This book is terrific. Royce, you've taken all the work out of pre-planning. I highly recommend this book it to anyone with only the slightest interest in night sky photography. I've purchased a few ebooks on photography, and this one is by far and away the most informative and best value. The layout is absolutely gorgeous. I appreciated all the information on lenses, and I’m so happy to have all the knowledge in one place." — Barbara am Ende

The Best Testimonials  come from the amazing images of actual eBook users. This is our NightScaper group on Facebook.

ORDER HERE: To place your order for my new ebook, click the ADD TO CART button below. You will be asked to pay $19.99 for each ebook (a 53MB PDF download). Payment is via PayPal. After payment you'll be allowed to download the PDF file to your computer. You'll also receive a email with the same download link, giving you five chances to download the file. Your license allows you to make one backup copy, and to make one printed copy of this copyrighted ebook. Do not share the PDF with others who have not purchased a license. Please email me if you have any questions or concerns.
Add to Cart View Cart



Monday, November 4, 2013

Royce Bair's 2016 Photography Workshop Schedule

Photographers at our 2013 Bryce "NightScape" Workshop
shooting a midnight moonrise next to the light painted "Fortress" formation. 
Milky Way above the Grand Canyon (this workshop location is offered in Sept. 2016).

2016 NightScape Photography Workshop Schedule  is available here.

2015 Lecture and Seminar TourMy free NightScape lectures (12 cities) and half-day advanced seminars (3 cities) can be found on Meetup.com.

2015 Workshop Schedule: All of my workshops are being produced and co-sponsored by IMAGE10 Photography Workshops. Some of my workshop attendees have returned multiple times and their testimonials speak for themselves. Click on the dates for more details about each workshop:

NEW eBookYou can review and purchase a copy of my new Milky Way NightScapes ebook, "A Guide to Photographing Starry Night Skies".

Podcast interview with Royce BairYou can listen to a podcast interview with Royce and BlackRapid founder, Ron Henry, starting February 27th.


2014 Workshop History: My NightScape workshops will teach you how to photograph the starry night sky with stunning landscape features. Click on each workshop title for more information:

 Milky Way over 3 Sisters and Moonrise between the Mittens in Monument Valley ~ © Royce Bair

Produced by IMAGE10 - Instructed/Directed by Royce Bair
4 Day Workshop ~ March 26-29, 2014 ~ $1,195 COMPLETED

FREE NightScape Technical Workshop - hosted by the
Wasatch Camera Club - Register HERE
2-Hour Workshop ~ April 8, 2014 ~ FREE COMPLETED

Light painting Cyclops Arch with the Milky Way - Alabama Hills ~ © Royce Bair
Milky Way Over Alabama Hills and Eastern Sierras Workshop
3 Day Workshop ~ April 22-25, 2014 ~ $899 COMPLETED

Milky Way over The Watchman - Zion N.P. ~ © Royce Bair
Milky Way Zion Workshop (Zion National Park)
2 Day Workshop ~ May 27-29, 2014 ~ $599 COMPLETED

Milky Way over the light-painted John Moulton homestead - Grand Teton N.P.  ~ © Royce Bair
Milky Way Tetons Workshop #1 (Grand Teton National Park)
NOTE: All four Teton workshops have a similar venue of locations and instruction.
3 Day Workshop ~ June 24-27, 2014 ~ $899 COMPLETED

Milky Way over Teton Range from Cascade Canyon Overlook ~ © Royce Bair
Milky Way Tetons Workshop #2 (Grand Teton National Park)
3 Day Workshop ~ July 22-25, 2014 ~ $899 COMPLETED

 Milky Way views over Teton Range, Jenny Lake and String Lake ~ © Royce Bair

Milky Way Tetons Workshop #3 (Grand Teton National Park)
3 Day Workshop ~ July 28-31, 2014 ~ $899 COMPLETED

Milky Way over "Wall Street" in Bryce Canyon N.P. ~ © Royce Bair
Milky Way Bryce Workshop #1 (Bryce Canyon National Park)
3 Day Workshop ~ August 19-22, 2014 ~ $899 COMPLETED

Stars over light painted Thor's Hammer - Bryce Canyon N.P. ~ © Royce Bair
Milky Way Bryce Workshop #2 (Bryce Canyon National Park)
3 Day Workshop ~ August 25-28, 2014 ~ $899 COMPLETED

Milky Way behind light painted Delicate Arch - Arches N.P. ~ © Royce Bair
Milky Way Arches Workshop (Arches National Park)
3 Day Workshop ~ September 16-19, 2014 ~ $899 1 SPOT LEFT

Sparkling Eiffel Tower, Paris, from opposite bank of Seine River ~ © Moyan Brenn
Two Nights in Paris (France)
Produced by Italy Workshops - Instructed by Drake Busath & Royce Bair
2 Day Workshop ~ September 25-27, 2014 ~ $675 SOLD OUT


Château de Chambord, Chambord, Loir-et-Cher, France
Loire Valley (France)
Produced by Italy Workshops - Instructed by Drake Busath & Royce Bair
7 Days, 6 Nights Workshop ~ September 28 - October 3, 2014 ~ $3250 SOLD OUT


The Italian Lakes Como, Lugano, Orta S.Giulio
The Italian Lakes (Italy)
Produced by Italy Workshops - Instructed by Drake Busath & Royce Bair
7 Days, 6 Nights Workshop ~ October 5-11, 2014 ~ $3250 SOLD OUT

Join my NightScape Photography Meetup Group and you'll automatically be notified of all my NightScape events, i.e. free lectures, free photo walks, video conferences, ebooks, and new workshops.

Photographers from our 2013 Arches Workshop,
waiting for the moon to set and the Milky Way to be revealed.

Photographers from the July 2013 Teton Workshop gathered at the John Moulton homestead outhouse.

Questions? Email Royce: orida70 [AT] gmail [DOT] com





Monday, September 16, 2013

Light Painting Delicate Arch

Milky Way and light-painted Delicate Arch ~ © Royce Bair
Last week I conducted a 'NightScape' photography workshop at Arches National Park. We had crazy, wet weather! However, patient and persistent efforts by our group members allowed us to pull off some amazing shots during the windows of partial clearing that we were given.

The arch is lighted with a large, stationary, diffused light from the right (about 300 feet away). I'm providing an accent light from behind the arch with a small, hand-held, quartz halogen spotlight.

Our 'NightScape' workshop group photographing a moonscape behind a light-painted Delicate Arch ~ © Royce Bair
Earlier, we photographed a moonscape behind a light-painted Delicate Arch that my lighting assistant (my son, Chris) and I had arranged. (This is a totally different lighting setup than we used in the top photo with the Milky Way. Here, the stationary key light is coming from the left, and we are using small, moving spotlights on the right side to fill in harsh shadows.) A couple of hours after the moon had set, the clouds finally cleared enough to get the Milky Way shot (top) we had been waiting for.

Note: This ultra-wide angle shot, with the people in the foreground, makes the arch look smaller than it really is. Here's a better size comparison by Jaromir Dzialo.

Monday, September 10, 2012

Overcoming Coma in Starry Night Photography


A night photographer must learn how to control lens aberrations, like coma, in order to produce great photos of a star-filled sky that includes landscape features. (Click on above image for more information and a larger view.)

Those who are familiar with my recent style of NightScape work know that I'm photographing the stars as points of light, rather than as star trials. To do this, I must keep my exposures under 30 seconds, and often as short as eight seconds, depending on the focal length of the lens. In order to get the proper sky exposure, I must use high ISO's (typically above 6400), and large lens apertures, such as f/2.8 or wider.

The problem with shooting a lens wide open is that stars can really show off the faults or aberrations of a lens, especially coma. Comatic aberration causes point sources, such as stars, to appear distorted --appearing to have a tail (coma) like a comet. These coma "tails" are most apparent near the edges of a photo. The good news is that 50% of the distortion goes away when a well-designed lens is stopped down by one stop, and about 80% goes away by two stops. Unfortunately, with my night photography, I can't afford the light loss that comes with stopping down from f/2.8 to f/4.0 or f/5.6!

This is the reason I purchased the Canon EF 24mm f/1.4 L USM II Wide Angle Lens. This lens was used to photographed the above photo of the Milky Way over the Watchman, in Zion National Park. As you can (below) from my own tests on point sources of light, this lens is fairly well-corrected by f/2.8 (click on the image for a larger view):


You'll notice that by closing down two more stops, to f/5.6, does not produce as significant of an improvement! If I get in a pinch, and need more light, I can get acceptable results at f/2.0. But the real beauty of this lens is the bright image it gives you in the viewfinder. You can imagine that composing in near pitch black is made so much easier with this brilliant, f/1.4 lens!

I get similar results with my Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM Standard Lens. By stopping down to f/2.8, I've been able to make print enlargements up to 24x36 inches (and 30x40) with very pleasing results. Stopping down to f/2.0 reduces my print quality to about 18x24 inches (or 16x20). Shooting wide open (f/1.4) means I cannot enlarge my prints much beyond 8x10 or 11x14 inches (unless I don't want my name associated with them)!

Royce Bair is the editor of this blog and the photographer of the above images. Here is my gallery of NightScape images. My schedule of workshops, tutorials, and other events is available here

UPDATE - Inexpensive prime lenses with almost NO coma: Check out part II about the Samyang / Rokinon lenses. These lenses can be used wide open (at f/1.4), and have very little coma!