Astro-Landscape Photography by Jürgen M Lobert

JM Lobert Photography LLC Astro-Landscape Photography By Jürgen M Lobert

Astro-Landscape photography has be- capabilities of equipment and the Equipment come one of the most popular types of photographer alike. To do this well, it Astro-landscapes are created at night. photography over the past 20 years. takes more than the right equipment, The lack of light requires a tripod to be but also a few technical approaches to used. Exposure times are typically in In contrast to astro photography, the avoid pitfalls that will degrade the the 10-30 second range for Milky way deep-space imaging of distant planets, outcome. As with all variations of night and Aurora, and up to an hour for star galaxies, gas clouds and nebulae, as photography, this is a slow and very trails. This also requires a done so very well by the Hubble Space methodical type of imaging. Telescope, astro-landscape photo- programmable intervalometer or graphy is very much Earth-bound and, as the name suggests, always includes a Fantasia, a composite of two images. Aurora: 14mm, 6s, f/4.0 and ISO 800 during nautical twilight. landscape portion and a sky portion. When hearing the term, most people think “Milky Way”, but astro-landscapes include a variety of different things we can capture at night.

The reason for its recent popularity is that digital cameras are much more sensitive and have higher resolution than film ever did, and it is that sensitivity that allows us to easily see and capture the Milky Way, stars, aurora, and more rare effects like airglow and the Zodiacal light. And, of course, features like LiveView and instant replay help, both in focusing, composition and making this easier than with film.

Astro-landscape photography is, however, still an advanced topic and technique, which pushes the

Rev. 1 All content Copyright 2019 JM Lobert. Distribution, use, copying in part or full are not permitted. 1 Astro-Landscape Photography – Summary JM Lobert Photography LLC remote control and manual timing. And paradigms, where it is advised to shoot extend or shorten the star trail to most of this being done outdoors and in at a low ISO sensitivity of 100-400 to individual liking. remote, very dark places, adequate maximize dynamic range, minimize peripheral equipment, clothing and noise and also force longer exposures The other approach is to take single shoe wear are advised. for longer trails. Listening to the Stars exposures. One can easily take a single below was created from four images at frame at low ISO (50-100) and an For lenses, capturing wide views calls 8 min, f/5.6 ISO 100. aperture of f/6.3-7.1 that extends for for super-wide to wide angles, but up to an hour in dark locations, or 15 medium focal lengths can be used when minutes in moonlit settings, as in Fall imaging panoramas, an advanced at Alabama Hills below. technique.

For this type of photography, which pushes the limits of the camera, fast lenses, i.e. those with wide apertures of f/2.8 or lower, are required to get the best quality photos. Quality of lens, advanced coatings and especially a lack of coma, an optical aberration, are important and not all expensive lenses This author strongly cautions against perform as well as some more affor- advise given by too many other instruc- dable solutions. tors to simply set the ISO to 6400 and shoot 30 second images. Not only does this make for a very large number of This type of photography also uses all Exposure Settings – Star Points manual approaches, hence, auto-focus photos to be handled and stacked in is not needed and some inexpensive, post processing, but it also vastly redu- The second approach for astro- manual lenses can be found that ces dynamic range and increases noise. landscape exposure settings is used for perform well optically. Low ISO, longer exposures can produce the higher sensitivity photos to shoot stunningly smooth photos that can be the Milky Way, aurora, star points, Exposure Settings – Star Trails printed large for gallery exhibition. meteors, zodiacal light and others. There are two general approaches, one The above technique to shoot individual For this kind of photos, we want to for high sensitivity Milky Way, Aurora, images at around ISO 400, f/5.6 and 4 specifically avoid trails from forming meteor and Zodiacal light imaging, and minutes (the author’s favorite sweet and rather capture star points. This one for star trails. spot) has a number of advantages. The means short exposures; with the lack of most important one is that each image light and our aperture already wide The technique for star trail exposures is optimized for exposure and one can open, that means increasing the ISO to follows the normal night photo 1600 or higher.

To determine what exposure times we there is a choice between ISO 1600 and meteor and Cassiopeia, the W in the sky. A nice can use to avoid star trails, the 3200, to choose the 1600 setting. Even astronomy showcase. Nikon D850, 14 mm, ISO 3200, f/2.8. community has created a number of with the latest camera models, settings rules of thumb, you will find the rules higher than ISO 800 will very noticeably One advanced technique to combat of 600, 500, 400 and others on the web. degrade images through noise and foreground noise is to take two images, diminished dynamic range, the latter one at lower ISO, longer time, for the The Rule of 400 suggests that the producing blotchy shadows and foreground, and a shorter, higher ISO maximum exposure time to prevent unattractive foregrounds. photo for the sky, then combine the perceptible star trails is calculated by two in post processing. dividing the number 400 by the focal length of the lens: All techniques can use the High ISO Preview, which lets you figure out the 400 / focal length = exposure time correct exposure time for star trail For a 20 mm lens, for example, this images, or confirm the right choice of yields 400/20 mm = 20 seconds exposure time based on the Rule of exposure time. A super wide lens of 14 400, and also help in fine-tuning the mm would yield 28, or a rounded 30 composition. seconds and so forth. In contrast to daytime or regular night The author has created an in-depth photography, astro-landscapes do not article to explain the choices and in the call for “exposing to the right (ETTR)”, end, it comes down to what the as the outcome would look more like an photographer wants to do with the underexposed daytime image than a image. Posting on social media requires night time image, and would force star less resolution and a less stringent trails when we want to shoot star method for exposure time, but for the points. The paradigm rather changes to more discerning applications such as an “expose off of the left (EOTL?)” gallery prints, the rule of 400 is a good approach, which prevents too much approach and can be fine-tuned by black clipping by pushing the exposure using more advanced editing as much as we can, within the limits for techniques. exposure time and ISO noise.

For both approaches – star trails or star Tips &Tricks points - it is advised to shoot at the Franconia Notch, a composite of foreground Camera settings: the advise is to turn lowest possible ISO sensitivity for any and sky images. Light painting is used for the foreground, the sky shows the north end of the off anything with prefix “auto”, given context. That doesn’t mean to Milky Way, the Andromeda galaxy, Capella, a because auto-exposure (program shoot at ISO 100, but rather that, if

All content Copyright 2019 JM Lobert. Distribution, use, copying in part or full are not permitted. 3 Astro-Landscape Photography – Summary JM Lobert Photography LLC automatic), auto-focus and auto white visual feature. In some cases that ISO can be used to optimize balance will not work in the very dark works, as in the Full Circle at Ft composition. spaces that we need for astro- Jefferson image below, but in most landscapes. This type of photography cases, they add more interest to an Focusing at night is difficult, because needs a completely manual approach. image if they are the top third, and auto-focus doesn’t work. You will need with less star trails than your camera to focus by using your LiveView and, for Also consider turning off the Long can capture at ISO 6400. the best results, you absolutely have to Exposure Noise Reduction (LENR), focus on the stars. The Milky Way will which kicks in on most cameras after a look unattractive if not made up of few seconds of exposure time. You can very sharp stars. use this for short, high ISO exposures, but for star trails, it would cause gaps That also means that the depth of focus in the trail. at wide open apertures will not allow the close foreground objects to be Composition is as important as it is for reasonably sharp. If any close object is any other type of photography. In included, a focus stack is advised, particular, astro-landscapes have a where a separately focused foreground landscape and a sky portion and it is image is layered with the sky image (as strongly advised not to let the horizon shown on the previous page). split the image down the center. The rule of thirds works well here, and White balance is very important here, consider leading lines, Fibonacci rules because the stars actually have and other guidelines. beautiful colors, as seen on left, but they only come out if the correct white One other advice is to not let the balance is used. The sky between the appearance of the Milky Way – which stars is what our eyes perceive to be may overpower you the first times you black. Digital cameras see more than see and photograph it – also overpower we do and space is never black, but the composition. Vertical images with should be as close to a neutral grey, 80% Milky Way are not very intriguing. Composing an astro-landscape is best the lighter version of black, as possible. Find a good balance between done through the view finder, it usually Auto- or daytime white balance will foreground (landscape), middle ground shows more than the LCD screen. On render astro landscapes either in and background (the sky). some cameras, the video LiveView yellow/brown or blue, both of which allows you to see a lot when looks very unappealing. Finally, for star trails, this author maximizing ISO, exposure time and thinks that they should in most cases be aperture, but if that doesn’t work, the Many people follow the misleading the icing on top, rather than the main view finder or short images at extreme advise that white balance doesn’t

All content Copyright 2019 JM Lobert. Distribution, use, copying in part or full are not permitted. 4 Astro-Landscape Photography – Summary JM Lobert Photography LLC matter if you shoot RAW file format, or may become very short, sometimes not to overwhelm the viewer by adding that it is purely personal taste what only 10 seconds long, because of the too many points of interest into the white balance you used. brighter setting. same composition. Moderation works well here, unless the photographer Both notions are incorrect as explained The results are very satisfying, though, purposely wants to push limits. Red in the above links. Whatever you do, and guarantee many “how did you do Brick Road to the Milky Way below adds set your white balance manually so that that?” comments on social media. If subtle light to emphasize the path. the image on your LCD looks like what you can do this over New York City, you you see in person. can do it anywhere!

Urban Star Trails Star Points Natural landscape star trails can have a Shooting star point photos closely lot interest and, if done in a single follows the approach of imaging the exposure, do actually qualify for the Milky Way, settings are the same, PSA nature category. One of the more especially the short exposure times. unique approaches to star trails is to The only difference being that we shoot away from the Milky Way, which opens take them in or over a city. Most Moonscapes people don’t bother to look up when up another half of the sky for inter- roaming around the city, or think that esting compositions, often with strong The moon has special meaning to us you might actually see stars in a bright foreground objects that are the focal and can be captured in a number of city, but it can be done. point, rather than the night sky. ways. Astro-landscapes with the moon not clipping in the highlights need to be done when the moon just comes over the horizon, when the sun has just set. The contrast between sky and moon is low at that point, allowing to capture enough light for the landscape, without the moon being too bright.

Once the moon rises high, the sun is long gone and the contrast becomes too harsh to capture the features in the

moon, which is now clipping. Of course, ISO is usually low to accommodate the Light Painting one other technique is to layer a moon image taken with a long lens and very bright lights (also through the maxi- Light painting can be added to astro- short exposure time into a landscape mized dynamic range), an aperture of landscapes, but one has to be careful 5.6 still works well, but exposure times taken with a wide angle lens.

Composites like that can be very requires the use of neutral density Settings are similar as for Milky Way: playful and distinctive. And if you filters at night, not commonly done, high ISO, optimized to prevent star wanted to know how long you can but fun to try. trails in most cases. You simply set up expose the moon before it blurs, read your composition, focus on the stars, yet another bog entry. And, of course, lunar eclipses are a then let the camera click away at 30s more popular event to photograph, also exposure time all night. a technique that is primarily enabled by digital cameras. In post processing, find and select the photos that have a meteor in them and Meteors you can layer them into one Meteors, small pieces of intergalactic composition to make it look like they debris, create bright streaks when all came out of the radiant point, the entering our atmosphere. Whereas origin of the debris impact in the sky. these can be seen at any time of year, there are events called meteor Zodiacal Light showers, which have specific dates. The Zodiacal Light is sunlight scattered by an intergalactic dust field. Because of the incident angle, this light can

only be observed twice a year, in March An advanced technique is to capture a looking west 1-2 hours after sunset, and continuous moon streak without in October looking east, 1-2 hours clipping highlights, an approach that before sunrise.

Capturing meteors in a photo requires The ZL is brighter than the Milky Way, dark skies, as the moon will wash out and shaped like a triangle (above seen all but the very brightest events. on the left, with Venus rising, MW on

All content Copyright 2019 JM Lobert. Distribution, use, copying in part or full are not permitted. 6 Astro-Landscape Photography – Summary JM Lobert Photography LLC the right). Theoretically, it goes across of our atmosphere to create very Opal Skies, Iceland. 15 mm, f/2.8, ISO most of the sky, but to see it that way colorful curtains that appear very 3200, 8 s. For this shot, I set up a would require a very dark location close, but are 200 miles above. second camera with a 15mm fisheye without nearby cities. and let it click away the entire night. To best capture this, shoot at ISO 1600- The fisheye allowed me to capture as Airglow 3200, wide open aperture (except if much of the sky as possible, while I seen during twilight), focus on the stars An effect similar to the aurora, airglow roamed around with my first camera to and experiment with exposure times is an interaction with charged particles take more deliberately composed between 4 and 20 seconds. A rapidly coming from the sun, with the images. evolving and undulating aurora calls for atmosphere above us. In contrast to the shorter times, a slow moving aurora, or aurora, though, airglow does not have an averaged motion, is nicely captured vertical structures and often is only a with 15-30 seconds. diffuse, green or red glow that we cannot see well, but cameras pick up very nicely. The other difference to aurora is that airglow can be all around us, not just looking north. It is the very strong green color in the photo below, taken in Grand Teton National Park.

An astro-landscape with aurora and a setting 9% moon. 24mm, ISO 4500, f/2.8, 6s.

Where and when to shoot? For star trails: anytime, anywhere. For Milky Way, Zodiacal light and a lot of other faint events, you will need to search for dark locations. Urban areas allow you to capture stars, but you Aurora won’t see much of the Milky Way. Perhaps the most spectacular natural The best way to find dark spaces is to phenomenon in the night sky is the use apps or websites dedicated to that aurora, called Borealis in the north, purpose, see resources below for some Australis in the southern hemisphere. links. As with airglow, charged particles from the sun interact with the upper layers

All content Copyright 2019 JM Lobert. Distribution, use, copying in part or full are not permitted. 7 Astro-Landscape Photography – Summary JM Lobert Photography LLC To predict when the Milky Way is where Resources & Links The Author in the sky, an app names Stellarium is highly recommended, it runs on all Books & eBooks Jürgen Lobert (Ph.D.) is a scientist and self- platforms. You can simulate the night • Lance Keimig, Night Photography taught photographer. sky in any location and any date or time & Light Painting: Finding Your He specializes in night to see how it looks like. In general, in Way in the Dark. and daytime long the northern hemisphere, Milky Way • Royce Bair, Into the Night exposure photography, season is May through September, when • Grant Collier, Collier's Guide to light painting and it is most convenient to see. It can be Night Photography. astro-landscapes as seen at other times, but the core of our well as infrared and urban exploration • David Kingham, Nightscapes galaxy doesn’t come over the horizon imagery. Jürgen finds profound peace in much in the winter. roaming the nights and capturing the Websites serenity of strange places and the element To see aurora overhead, you need to be of time. He is a club officer of the Boston • http://darksitefinder.com around 55-65° of latitude (north or Camera Club, a member of the Stony Brook south), and it needs to be dark, hence, • http://ClearDarkSky.com/ CC, and the founder and organizer of the the summer in each hemisphere is not • Jürgen’s blog for ideas and more Greater Boston Night Photographers Meetup group. Jürgen teaches workshops suitable, as it never gets really dark. links. • Many Facebook and Instagram at the New England School of Photography Best times for the northern hemisphere and he organizes some 50 photo excursions are September through April, but keep groups, search for “astropho- tography” (which may include per year. Jürgen is also a lecturer, weather in mind, as you will also need instructor and judge for regional camera clear skies. deep space), or “astro- clubs and conferences. landscapes” Jürgen can be found online at:

https://LinkTr.ee/jmlobert https://www.patreon.com/jmlobert/ https://LeyeTscapes.com/ https://jmlobert.blogspot.com/ https://meetup.com/GBNight/ Instagram: @jmlobert