Tracking the Stars with Rick Parchen

"Mt. Shuksan Reflection" - Click image to enlarge and see the low-noise quality due to tracking ~ © Rick Parchen

Rick Parchen is one of several astro-landscape photographers who are using star trackers or equatorial tracking mounts to improve the quality of their night sky exposures. Tracking allows one to use longer exposures without producing star trails. Instead of using ultra high ISOs and large apertures to reduce their exposure time, photographers can use a tracker to lengthen the exposure time and use smaller apertures. With a tracker, a photographer is able to align his camera to Polaris, the North Star; and a built in servo motor keeps the camera tracking the stars at the same speed the earth rotates. Editor's Note: Rick was one of the early pioneers in astro-landscape "tracking" photography. This post originally appeared in October 2013. 

The old way: Astro-photographers have been using equatorial mounts for decades to photograph the stars through their telescopes, but early astro-landscape photographers who included a landscape feature in the foreground didn't use these mounts because tracking the stars cause the landscape to blur! The standard solution has been to keep exposures at 30 seconds or less, following the "600 Rule" —requiring very high ISO settings that produced noisy images. (Additionally, equatorial mounts for telescopes were expensive and too bulky to carry into remote areas.)

A new approach: Because of the recent popularity of nightscape photography, newer mount designs, just for cameras, have appeared that are smaller and less expensive. Using these smaller and cheaper trackers, a new breed of astro-landscape photographers are taking a tracked exposure for the sky (referred to as "wide-field astrophotography"), a second exposure for the landscape (without tracking), and then blending the two in post-processing.

SkyTracker

In "Mt. Shuksan Reflection", Rick used a SkyTracker camera mount for his sky exposure, then turned it off for the ground exposure. The photo is actually a 3-image composite panorama (three for the sky and three for the ground). Each sky exposure was 3 minutes @ f/4, ISO 800, using a Samyang 14mm f/2.8 lens on a Canon 6D, mounted to a SkyTracker. Each ground exposure was 3 minutes @ f/5.6, ISO 400, with the SkyTracker turned off. Lighting of the ground came from a little moonlight (about to set) and supplemented in the foreground with LED's from multiple headlamps, coming from different positions. Initial processing was in Lightroom 5. Sky and ground pano exposures were stitched together in PTGUI, with final processing and the alignment of the sky and ground in Photoshop CS6.

Editor's Note: Another inexpensive and compact tracker is the Polarie Star Tracker from Vixen Optics. And, if you're handy with tools, you can build your own "barn door" tracking platform. (I believe all of these trackers are accurate enough for tracking stars with a normal to wide angle lens, without the need of a spotting scope attachment —which is only necessary if you are using a telephoto lens on your camera.) Both the SkyTracker and the Polarie come with Polar sight holes. The SkyTrack includes a Polar scope for greater alignment accuracy, whereas the Polarie's Polar Axis Scope is a $129 add-on accessory. The instruction manuals for the SkyTracker and the Polarie should help you decide which unit is best for you. The Orion Telescope people produce two inexpensive equatorial mounts that are adaptable for astro-landscape photography. Their manual tabletop model is under $70, and their motorized unit is under $180. (You may wish to throw away their low-quality tripods and attach the units to your regular camera tripod.)

Another view: "Path to Mt. Shuksan" ~ © Rick Pachen

Rick Parchen is a Seattle-based landscape photographer who has an appetite to travel to the world and share the extraordinary view with others. "I started this adventure seven years ago and only find myself more enveloped in chasing light and setting my work apart from others. I'll travel for weeks at a time, research for months, drive thousands of miles, and walk to near exhaustion all for the potential of a perfect image. But my passion goes far beyond just seeking the sights; the real pleasure comes when viewing the art in print and putting it on display for others to enjoy." More of Rick's photography can be seen on his Facebook page, and at his website.

 

'Capturing the Night' by Greg Gibbs

"Beam Me Up" is a single 30-second exposure "selfie", using a low power head torch on a string to
spin around the photographer.  Canon 5D Mark II, 14mm, f/2.8, ISO 3200 ~ © Greg Gibbs

Greg Gibbs describes himself as an Australian based hobbyist photographer, who has a passion for capturing the beauty of the night sky.

"I'm not sure I have a particular style of night photography that is easily definable," says Greg. "If I do [have a style], it is constantly changing, depending on the mood I am in, or what I want to achieve in a particular image."

"The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy" is a 16 image panorama (25-second exposures). The road sign is only a
couple minutes drive from where Greg used to live. The sign was lit during one of his exposures with the light
from his mobile phone screen.  Canon 5D Mark II, 20mm lens, f/2.8, ISO 6400 ~ © Greg Gibbs (click to enlarge)

Early History: Ever since Greg witnessed Halley's Comet at the age of seven he has had a background interest in astronomy.  Growing up, he enjoyed seeing things like lunar eclipses, meteor showers, and other bright comets.  But, it wasn't until he purchased his first DSLR camera in 2010 that he discovered a passion for photographing the night sky.

"I was playing around with the camera one night and I thought to myself, 'what would happen if I just went outside and held the shutter button down for a long time?  Could I capture a couple of stars on camera?'  The resulting image whilst completely out of focus and riddled with noise, blew my mind so much that I started devouring as much information about astrophotography as I could, and I have been hooked ever since," says Gibbs.

"For The Past, Present and Future Explorers" is a 9-image panorama of 30-second exposures. South is at the top of
frame, the middle of the image is directly overhead and the bottom of the image is North.  (It was while Greg was
processing these images that he heard of the passing of Neil Armstrong so the title for this came from thinking
about all his achievements.) Canon 5D Mark II, 14mm lens, f/2.8, ISO 3200 ~ © Greg Gibbs

Keeping it simple: Although Greg enjoys experimenting with telescope based astrophotography, his real passion is doing what started it all —using nothing more than a camera and normal tripod to capture the beauty of the night sky that surrounds us all.

I certainly like to keep things as simple and real as possible.  With the exception of things like panoramas and star trails, I really like the challenge of capturing as many of my images in a single exposure where ever I can.  Out of necessity, I might occasionally exposure blend or focus stack, but that is about as far as I go.

"Field Of Dreams" is a 6-image panorama of 10-second exposures.  A diffusion filter was used in front of the lens
at the time of shooting to highlight the brighter stars.  "A lot of people think this is a daytime shot of the crop and
windmill, blended with a star shot, but this was taken at about 1:00 AM and a 70% illuminated Moon is lighting
up the foreground," says Greg.  Canon 5D Mark II, 50mm lens, f/3.5, ISO 1600 ~ © Greg Gibbs (click to enlarge)

Equipment and software: Gibb's most valuable equipment is actually his astrophotography telescope equipment and he doesn't even want to think about how much that has cost him!  For most fixed tripod night sky-scapes, he feels wide angles lenses with fast aperture lenses are very important.  His favorite pieces of equipment are are also his two main lenses — the Samyang (which also goes by the brands of Rokinon, Pro Optic, and Bower) 14mm f/2.8 and 24mm f/1.4.  Coupled to his two cameras (Canon 6D and 5D MkII) they are hard to beat for image quality.

"I must be getting close to the only person in the world who has not yet got a smart phone, so I am still firmly computer based at this stage," quips Greg.  "I use Google Maps, Stellarium, and The Photographers Ephemeris extensively for location scouting and image planning.  I have a whole host of weather prediction sites that I use to check conditions; and being just a little bit obsessed with chasing Aurora Australis from mainland Australia, I always keep an eye on a number of aurora forecast websites."

"Midnight Rainbow" is a 9-image panorama of 30-second exposures.
Canon 5D Mark II, 14mm, f/2.8, ISO 3200 ~ © Greg Gibbs (click to enlarge)

Challenges: Greg feels lucky to live in Australia where really dark skies are readily found, but this often involves long drives, and fuel is not cheap.  Coupled with the fact that he has a regular day job on top of this hobby —having enough spare time to actually travel and photograph locations at night is one of his biggest challenges.

Another challenge he has is finding good locations.  Greg prides himself on trying to find the best composition, but some locations just don't work with night sky images.  "I have found myself doing a lot more time lapse imaging lately, with the view to releasing something, hopefully, early this year; and that has been a really challenging project, with steep learning curves.  I take my hat off to the people doing night sky time lapses full time," reports Gibbs.

"Lookout" is an 8-image panorama of 30-second exposures, taken at Mt. Buffalo National Park.  Greg feels this
is the most amazing night he has yet to spend under the stars. "I had caught a few faint displays on camera before
but this was the first time I had ever seen the southern lights or Aurora Australis dancing in the sky with my own
eyes.  This panorama was originally only intended as a behind the scenes look for the multitude of other images
I took on the night, hence why you can see another camera in the hut and my car in the carpark, but when I
stitched the images together I fell in love with the result and it went on to win the David Malin Award
(Australia's largest astrophotography competition) in 2013 for best wide field image."
Canon 5D Mark II, 14mm, f/2.8, ISO 3200 ~ © Greg Gibbs (click to enlarge)

Self-portrait

Satisfaction: "It means the world to me that so many people seem to like what I do, says Greg.  "If through my images I can inspire just one person to look up with a greater appreciation of the night sky, then I would be completely satisfied.  I'm certainly not in it for fame or fortune, and any money I do make from my hobby goes straight back into doing it.  As a hobbyist, I am only out to please myself when it comes to photography.  I am only out taking images at all hours of the night, because I love taking images at all hours of the night."

Greg hopes that through his hobby of photographing the night sky he can inspire others to get away from artificial lights and just look up at the night sky. Halley’s Comet will return to our skies in 2061. If you're in Australia that year, keep an eye out for an 82 year old man standing next to a camera on a tripod with a huge smile on his face!

Greg Gibbs is a 36 year old resident of southern New South Wales, Australia.  He's a horticulturalist by day and hobbyist landscape astrophotographer by night.  More of Greg's photography can be found on his website, his Facebook page, Google+, or on 500px.

 

Electrifying Interview with Michael Shainblum

"Tesla Tower" - Lightning hits the world's tallest building (the Burj Khalifa in Dubai) ~ © Michael Shainblum

I've planned to do a feature on Michael Shainblum, a San Diego based professional photographer, for some time. Now I don't need to —Alexandra Kim, from the staff of 500px did that for me two days ago, with her wonderful blog interview, “Michael Shainblum and the Electrifying 'Tesla Tower'”. Alexandra was able to catch up with Michael via Skype during his trip to Dubai. I think you'll enjoy this in-depth discussion about his photography, his gear, and other relevant issues.

"The Galaxy Guides Us Home" - a panorama of 12 images (2 rows of 6)
taken near Santa Ynez, CA ~ © Michael Shainblum

 Although Michael is well known for his Milky Way "AstroPhotographs", in the past couple of weeks he has been lighting up the Internet with his daring aerial photos over San Francisco and his travels to Dubai and the Arabian Gulf area —where he recently captured his striking "Telsa Tower" image.

"Turbulence" - taken from a helicopter high above the San Francisco Bay ~ © Michael Shainblum

A recent "selfy" in Dubai

Michael Shainblum, 23, is a Brooks Institute graduate, and owner of Michael Shainblum Photography/Film/Timelapse. Ever since Michael can remember, he's wanted to be an artist. Not necessarily a photographer or a filmmaker or a director —just an artist. "I have a drive to create and a passion to show the world through my eyes," he says.

Michael continues, "I seek to capture the extraordinary and the unique. I find beauty in everything from the scale of our Galaxy to the way sunlight hits a glass of water from behind. In filmmaking and photography possibilities are endless. I strike with every project and photography to push the boundaries of what we think is achievable in these mediums."

You can view more of Michael's photography on his website, 500px page, and his personal Facebook page.

Meet Michael on-location in this documentary video: "The Art Of The Timelapse"




Royce's 2014 Workshop, Lecture & Video Conference Schedule: NightScapeEvents.com
  -  25% OFF savings on select "IMAGE10" workshops booked before April 1, 2014  -

A Laser Strike at the Galactic Center

A laser from the VLT site in Chile used to observe our Galaxy's center ~ © Yuri Beletsky

Why are these people shooting a powerful laser into the center of our Galaxy? Fortunately, this is not meant to be the first step in a Galactic war. Rather, astronomers at the Very Large Telescope (VLT) site in Chile are trying to measure the distortions of Earth's ever changing atmosphere. Constant imaging of high-altitude atoms excited by the laser -- which appear like an artificial star -- allow astronomers to instantly measure atmospheric blurring. This information is fed back to a VLT telescope mirror which is then slightly deformed to minimize this blurring. In this case, a VLT was observing our Galaxy's center, and so Earth's atmospheric blurring in that direction was needed. As for inter-galaxy warfare, when viewed from our Galaxy's center, no casualties are expected. In fact, the light from this powerful laser would combine with light from our Sun to together appear only as bright as a faint and distant star. (Click above image to see larger and on black.)

Our Photo of the Week (POTW) was taken by Yuri Beletsky, using a Canon 5D Mark II camera and a Canon 15mm/2.8 fisheye lens. The image is actually a panorama consisting of two stitched images. Exposure time for each panel was 30 seconds. The raw images were stitched using PtGui software, and further color processing was done in Photoshop CS5.

Yuri's biggest challenge was finding the proper shooting angle. "I've taken many images of the working laser guide star facility before, and this time I wanted something different. That night I was walking around the dome trying to find the right spot. At some point I approached the dome close enough that the laser beam, pointing directly in the direction of the Galactic center, was spanning far behind and over my head. The view angle was incredible and I realized that even a one shot with fisheye lens wouldn't be enough to cover it."

Because of the two-shot panoramic view, it looks like the laser strikes the Galactic center which appears to be at zenith. In reality, the Galactic center was setting over the ocean just behind the back of the photographer. One can also see another dome "hanging" in the upper left corner of the image.

A Lesson Learned: This image turned out to be unique in many aspects. Although Yuri had taken many images of the same laser at night, countless times before, this time the composition turned out to be very special. The lesson he learned is that one should never stop exploring new fresh ideas, even in the places which have become so familiar. The image has since been published in many magazines, books, posters, used by companies. The photo has also been an Astronomy Picture of the Day (NASA APOD), and it was selected as Picture of the Year (2010) by Wikimedia Commons.

Yuri Beletsky

Born in Belarus, Yuri now lives in Chile where he works as an astronomer at Las Campanas observatory of Carnegie Institution of Washington. Yuri has been an enthusiastic amateur stargazer since childhood. During his spare time at the observatory, Yuri likes take wide-field panoramic images of the Milky Way and other natural phenomena. Short snapshots deliver fascinating views of the surrounding landscape at dusk or dawn, while longer exposures produce breathtaking pictures of the starry sky. Images obtained by Yuri have been featured on popular websites, and in press releases, books and magazines. He continually shares his passions for astronomy and astrophotography with people around the world. You can see more of Yuri Beletsky's photography at his 500px website.

Best Air in the World: The dark skies above the Atacama Desert provide a unique opportunity to reveal the majesty of our cosmos. Las Campanas, which hosts two 6.5-m Magellan telescopes, is one of four large observatories located in Chile's Atacama desert, the driest place on Earth. The conditions are excellent for astronomy because of the exceptional quality of the atmosphere. Not only are there more than 300 clear nights per year here, but due to very low turbulence of the air, they can obtain very sharp images, which is impossible to get in other places. That is why Chile is often called as "astronomical paradise" or "astronomical capital" of the world.

Advertisement: Hot Weekly Photography Deals - Amazing discounts (updated twice a week).