2021 NightScaper Conference goes virtual

 

The 2nd annual 2021 NightScaper Conference is now virtual. After having been postponed for almost a year due to the covid pandemic, 150 held-over registrants from the 2020 conference will meet in the Kanab Center and be joined virtually by hundreds more on May 10-12. Join us by registering today. For a limited time, save $200 by using the VIRTUAL200 discount coupon code at checkout (net ticket cost of $399).

BREAKING NEWS (April 26, 2021): Several in-person tickets are now available due to recent cancellations. If you'd like one of these spots in the Kanab Center, just register now and pay the regular $599 registration price. Once you place your order, you will receive a confirmation, and you can then book your travel and lodging.

IN-PERSON TICKETS NOW AVAILABLE

Over 40 night photography speakers will be presenting at the conference. Most will be presenting live and in-person. All speakers programs will also appear virtually and be video archived (up to one year) for your review. Additional international nightscape legends will be joining us virtually, i.e.:

• Paul Wilson - New Zealand
• Gavin Hardcastle ~ aka "fototripper" - Canada
• Stefan Liebermann - Germany
• Michael Zayne ~ aka "blntpencil" - Australia
• Ralf Rohner ~ aka "skypointer2000" - Switzerland
• Alyn Wallace - UK
• Manish Mamtani - Boston / India
• Amir Shahcheraghian - Iran

Over 70 night photography programs and panel discussions — something for every interest and learning level, from beginner to advanced. "Deepscapes" is just one example — a new genre of night photography that combines deep space objects and an earthly landscape foreground, all taken from the same tripod position! This program will be taught by the trio of Paul Schmit, Ralf Rohner and Dheera Venkatraman. Below this are 5 more program examples...

Miles Morgan - “Twilight Photography
and Photoshop Techniques”

Wayne Pinkston - “Low Level Lighting
Step-by-Step”

Michael Zayne - aka blntpencil
"Milky Way Seasons"

Brad Goldpaint - "Photographing
the Milky Way with Moonlight”

Mike Shaw - "Astronomy 101 for Nightscapers:
Navigating the Night Sky" (this is a pre-conference
interview video interview with Mike)

See the complete program schedule HERE

Your Virtual Conference Ticket Registration includes:

• 3 days of LIVE, virtual "NightScape" photography seminar instruction
• LIVE, virtual access to 40 speakers ~ over 70 programs
• LIVE, virtual round table and panel discussions
• Networking with like-minded photographers
• Video recorded access to ALL programs — archived in the "cloud" for one year
• Ability to review all archived programs, including the ones you missed LIVE, because they were scheduled during the same time slot

REGISTER TODAY ~ For a limited time, save $200 by using the VIRTUAL200 discount coupon code at checkout (net ticket cost of $399).

2021 NightScaper Conference Schedule

Page 1 of 7 (click to view and download all 7)

View and Download our 7-page Conference Schedule PDF.  More information about the 2021 NightScaper Conference can be found on our conference website. This conference is slated to be the most comprehensive, diverse and knowledgeable group of nightscape speakers ever assembled for an event!

Virtual Attendees will be able to see live broadcasts from all 6 rooms: Ballrooms A, B,  & C, the Sage Room, the Ponderosa Room and the Virtual Track "room".

COVID-19 Adjustments: The Kanab Center is currently limited to 150 people (following social distancing and mask wearing guidelines) These tickets have already been sold. All new new ticket sales to the conference are for virtual attendance only. This will be a "hybrid" conference (in-person and virtual attendees).

Video Recordings of all conference programs and will be available in the "cloud" (for one year) to ALL conference ticket holders shortly after the conference. This will allow you to review speaker programs and see other programs that were scheduled during the same time slot.

Kanab Conference Center map (Sage, Juniper and Ponderosa rooms are for overflow):

Click to enlarge

Conference parking and location in Kanab, Utah:

Click to enlarge

Creating Natural NightScape Photographs

Creating Natural NightScape Photographs is a free 90-minute seminar I presented with the help of some of my friends, Ralf Rohner, Manish Mamtani, Eric Benedetti and Clarence Spencer. It was given on March 14, 2017 in the West Jordan, Utah Viridian Special Events Center before a group of 240 people. The tips in this tutorial will expand the knowledge you've gained from my Milky Way NightScapes eBook. For the best experience, go full screen and change the video settings to the highest quality. You can also share this YouTube video, using this link: youtu.be/2zRAFZr1pBg

Our thanks to Adobe Systems for their generous sponsorship for this free event.

5 Ways to Produce More Even Artificial Lighting was discussed, but the main presentation was about techniques to Reduce NightScape Noise, increase image resolution and quality.

One of five ways to produce more even and natural NightScape lighting is to increase the lighting distance in order to reduce light fall-off. Four other techniques are presented in the seminar.

Most of the seminar was about using these 6 techniques to decrease digital noise and increase NightScape image quality and resolution.

MULTIPLE IMAGE STITCHING: Instead of shooting ONE wide angle image (24mm on left), you can use a 50mm lens (with the camera in the vertical position) and shoot several overlapping images to create a simple panorama that can be cropped into an image that looks like the 24mm image, but now has about twice as many pixels, greater detail, and less noise.

Enlarged detail from the above two images. Even though the 24mm image was a stack of 8 exposures (which greatly reduced its noise), the 7-stitch image on the right has much more detail and resolution. See the next two images below to see how "exposure stacking" reduces noise. Click image to enlarge for detail.

EXPOSURE STACKING is another method of reducing digital noise and improving image quality. Instead of taking just one exposure of a night scene, you can increase your ISO by 33% to 100% and take many shorter exposures and then combine or "stack" these exposures together into one final image —using Photoshop or a variety of free or inexpensive stacking apps. Click image to enlarge for detail.

Exposure stacking not only reduces noise, but allows you to use shorter exposure times, producing sharper stars and revealing smaller stars that were obscured by noise! Click image to enlarge for detail.

Guest presenters, Eric Benedetti and Clarence Spencer finished the seminar with additional information about tracking and astro modification options for your camera's digital sensor.

Resources, Products and Software mentioned in this seminar presentation:

Star Stacking Resources:
Starry Landscape Stacker app (Mac) used by Royce & Manish Mamtani
Fitswork (Windows) app use by Ralf Rohner
Photoshop tutorial for stacking
Sequator is a new PC software (not mentioned in the video) that compares very favorably with Starry Landscape Stacker

Star Trackers:
Sky-Watcher Star Adventure used by Eric Benedetti
Vixon Polarie Star Tracker used by Royce
iOptron SkyTracker - most popular & least expense
Low Level Landscape Lighting organization
Astro camera modification by Spencer Camera

Royce's "Milky Way NightScapes" eBook
Photog Adventures - produced & edited the video of this presentation

Future Video Tutorials: This seminar is a spring-board for the future production of many short and highly concentrated video tutorials on specific topics, i.e. exposure stacking, tracking, multiple image panoramas and advanced lighting techniques. Each 10-minute video will move along quickly, with plenty of detailed and illustrated information on that topic. Your feedback and suggestions are appreciated in the comments below...

Popular Links: How to Shoot the Milky Way • Post Processing NightScapes • Workshops and PhotoWalks • Tutorials and Tips • Overcoming Lens Coma • Video Hangout with my Friends

Free Milky Way NightScapes Photography Lectures - MultiCity Tour

In January 2015, I begin my multi-city tour of free Milky Way NightScape photography lectures. If your camera club or photo organization would like me to give a free NightScape presentation in your area, contact me: RoyceBairPhoto@gmail.com. In every city, these free seminars have boasted local club attendance, and most fill up in 48 hours or less (example in San Francisco).

"Starry Night at Devil's Garden" (Metate Arch), Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument ~ © Royce Bair

What I Cover: These free NightScape presentations are about how to photograph starry night landscapes. Many of my photos are shot as one exposure with very little digital manipulation. My digital slide presentations are loaded with lots of technical, how-to information, such as: planning when and where to shoot the Milky Way, forecasting, finding dark skies, calculating star alignment, choosing the right lens, exposure calculation, noise reduction techniques, light painting, and exposure blending. Many people, who come to my free lectures, are able to go out and capture very acceptable starry NightScapes without ever needing to take a paid workshop.

My presentations last about one hour, plus 15-30 minutes for Q&A's, but can easily be extended at the club's request. My only compensation is that some in attendance may wish to attend one of my paid workshops or do an online purchase of my Milky Way NightScapes ebook (available late March 2015). I rarely spend more than two minutes talking about my workshops or ebook.

2015 Workshop Schedule: All of my workshops next year are being produced and co-sponsored by IMAGE10 Photography Workshops. Click on the dates for more details about each workshop:

• Arches National Park: April 21-24
• Zion National Park: May 12-15
• Escalante: May 19-22 (Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument)
• Grand Teton National Park: July 14-17 and July 20-23
• Bryce Canyon National Park: Aug 11-14 and Aug 17-20

Milky Way over the John Moulton Barn, Grand Teton National Park, with light painting ~ © Royce Bair

Milky Way over Zion's "Little Tree", Zion National Park, with light painting ~ © Royce Bair

RoyalCanvas is currently doing 16x20 canvas printing, starting at under $25.