CAPTURING THE MUSIC OF THE : AN INTRODUCTION TO NIGHT Steven E. Labkoff, MD LuminantPix.com OUTLINE

• Equipment • Planning your shoot • The Right Settings for the Venue • Specific shoot considerations • Subjects • • The • The & the Milky Way • The • Other subjects • Techniques • THE FIRST THING YOU NEED… DARK SKIES

• Dark Skies Tools • http://Darkskies.net • https://www.lightpollutionmap.info

• Closest locations to NYC Metro area are in Up State New York or Connecitcut, Western Massachusetts or Upper VT or NH and inland Maine • http://intothenightphoto.blogspot.com/ • iPhone and Android Apps: • Photographer’s Ephemeris • Walk • PhotoPills • QDSLR Dashboard (for nighttime time lapse of the moon) EQUIPMENT: YOUR AND ACCESSORIES

• DSLR, mirrorless, or camera generally best • Point-and-shoots do not generally have the dynamic range and may not have the manual settings needed • Need a sensor that can handle long exposures • ISO 1600-6400 for night photography • Cable Release • Timer / • Dew Heater • (essential) • light w/ gels EQUIPMENT: THE REMOTE /INTERVALOMETER Type Pro Con Wired Extremely accurate • Need Fresh Battery • Need to attach to tripod Wireless Accurate • Interference can skip shots -based It’s always with you • Battery life always an issue • If your phone rings, what happens to your sequence? Built-in Camera Always with your • Not always Firmware camera accurate on the interval EQUIPMENT: YOUR TRIPOD

• The Tripod • Aside from the camera, THE most important part of the set up • Stability is key • Your setup CAN NOT MOVE at all • Use weights/sand bags on bottom for maximum stability • Make sure your Tripod can support all the weight of your kit – a DSLR w/ 24- 70mm f2.8 lens can top out at over 4.5 lbs or 2 kg. EQUIPMENT: LIGHT MODIFIERS

• Flash lights • Tea candles • Gels • • Glow Sticks EQUIPMENT: LIGHT MODIFIERS

• This shot was done with a Nikon D750, ISO 1600, 17 mm, f2.8, 30seconds.

• Light on cabin was a small hand held flash light

• Light INSIDE cabin were 2 tea candles WHAT’S IN MY CAMERA BAG

• Nikon D750 • Intervalometer • 17-35mm f2.8 Wide Angle Zoom • Intervalometer cable tips (Nikon, Olympus • 70-200mm f2.8 Zoom • Olympus OM-D 5 Mark II • 50 mm f1.8 prime • Olympus 7-14 mm zoom Pro Lens • 24-300 mm f3.5-5.6 Zoom • Olympus 14-150 mm zoom • Flash Light (with different colored gels) • Olympus 9-18 mm f 4.5-5.6 mm zoom • Dew Heater • Olympus 75-300 mm f 5.6-6.7 mm zoom • Lens Cleaning Rags • Manfrotto carbon fiber tripod w/ • USB Battery Pack Manfrotto plates for each camera • iPad w/ assorted software titles • Polarie Clock Drive PLANNING YOUR SHOT: MANUAL IS THE WORD

All your camera settings should be set to MANUAL

ISO Exposure ( / ) White Balance Shooting mode: RAW PLANNING YOUR SHOOT: VENUE

Mind the Gap (Times Square, NY by night) • Planning your shoot is critical to success • Think about your subject, location, foreground, background, etc. • Are Tripods allowed? • Are YOU allowed? • Considerations • Movement vs no movement: eg: Star Trails • One light source or many (or none) • Do you need filters? • Time of year (hot, cold, dew) • Long or short exposure • Light painting • Set the Camera Image Quality to RAW – DON’T FORGET!

Olympus OM-D 5 Mark 2, 7-14mm @ 7mm, ISO 100, 2.0 sec f 20 PLANNING YOUR SHOOT: EXPOSURE SETTINGS: WHITE BALANCE & ISO • White Balance

Subject/Setting White Balance City-scape, City-Walk Incandescent / Tungsten, Moon Auto or Stars Auto or Sunlight Sun Sunlight

• ISO Subject/Setting ISO City-scape, City-Walk 100-1600 Moon 100-800 Stars 1600-6400 Sun As low as your camera goes PLANNING YOUR SHOOT: SETTINGS – NOISE REDUCTION

• In Camera Noise Reduction • High ISO Noise Reduction – GENERALLY DO NOT USE – do NR in Post production • Advise: Turn it off and use Photoshop or Lightroom • Long Exposure Noise Reduction – Can use, but it will double the time needed for an exposure - if a 30 min exposure, it will shoot a second long exposure for a “Dark Frame” to be shot to then digitally subtract from the main image in the camera • Advise: TURN IT OFF and use Postproduction or Lightroom DON’T FORGET TO SET THE CAMERA TO RAW SETTINGS – VARY BY SUBJECT

• ALWAYS SHOOT RAW (did we mention that already?) • STARS: Widest Aperture possible • Highest ISO sensitivity that does not yield noise on the sensor (usually ISO 1600-3200 on later DSLRs or mirrorless • Exposures of 20-30 seconds • Dark Skies are essential • Cityscapes: use an incident light meter • Moon – Full moon 1/250, f 5.6, ISO 800 SETTINGS: FOCUSING IN THE DARK; LENS SETTINGS

• Focusing in the Dark • Sent to just short of infinity • Some cameras have focus assist – use it when possible • Night Vision – be careful of introducing too much light into your eyes – ruins your night vision • Turn Vibration Reduction to OFF SETTINGS: LENS CHOICE

Moonstruck: San Diego When you wish upon a star… • Fast Glass helps • Wide angle vs Narrow Angle zooms • Star fields generally demand wide angle lenses • The Moon requires super zoom lenses for best quality Olympus OMD 5MII, 75-300mm Nikon D750, ISO 1600, 30 sec, f2.8, (300-600mm) Zoom, ISO 1600, 300 mm, f6.7, 1/10th second EQUIPMENT FOR CITY-SCAPES AND CITY WALKS: YOUR CAMERA

Mobile Phone Mirrorless DSLR ✓ ✓ ✓ PHOTOGRAPHING EARTH Nighttime in the Windy City • Cityscapes – lots of • Neon • Street lights, car lights • Downtowns aura • Houses • Light trails • Cars • Amusement Rides • Boats • Trade off of aperture and shutter speed • ISO 1600-6400 (higher will yield noise) • Consider using auto-timer to avoid moving camera early in shot

iPhone 6+ using “MANUAL” app PHOTOGRAPHING THE EARTH • Shutter speed and exposure settings can give dramatically different results of the identical subject. Motion vs no motion

Olympus OM-D 5MII, ISO 100, 7mm, 2 sec, f 13 Olympus OM-D 5MII, ISO 100, 7mm, 1/20, f2.8 PHOTOGRAPHING THE EARTH: PICKING THE RIGHT WHITE BALANCE

Olympus OM-D 5MII, ISO 1600, 19mm, ISO 1600 Olympus OM-D 5MII, ISO 1600, 19mm, ISO 1600 1/10, f 2.8 White Balance : Warmer 1/10, f 2.8 White Balance : Cooler PHOTOGRAPHING THE EARTH: WHITE BALANCE CHANGES IN POST PHOTOGRAPHING THE EARTH: MOTION OR NO MOTION

EQUIPMENT FOR SHOOTING THE MOON: YOUR CAMERA

Mobile Phone Mirrorless DSLR ? ✓ ✓ PHOTOGRAPHING THE MOON: SIZE MATTERS

• Photos of the moon can vary in size • A LONG lens is essential to get lunar details • Anything shorter than 200mm will yield a very small disk for the moon • The longer the lens, the bigger the moon • May need to make more than one shot to get moon in right position and size (i.e.: you may need to leverage PhotoShop)

Olympus OM-D 5MII, ISO 800, 47mm (94mm eq), 1/100, f 6.3, PHOTOGRAPHING THE MOON: PLAN YOUR SHOT; PICK THE RIGHT LENS • The moon in the sky • The moon is orders of magnitude brighter than the stars • Full vs partial phase • More definition of craters during crescent or quarter phase • Moon movement – you may want a tracker • Size matters – Lens vs Position • Exposures • Manual Settings • Full moon – ISO 800, 1/250th, f 5.6 – Nikon D300s (cropped sensor) 400mm as a starting point (600 mm eq) 1/125, f/20 ISO 200 • Adjust focus in LIVE VIEW PHOTOGRAPHING THE MOON: LUNAR ECLIPSES

• Tremendous movement across iOptron SkyTracker Pro Sky-Watcher Star the sky during the Lunar Eclipse Camera Mount with Polar Adventurer Motorized Scope Mount Astro • Have to continually re-align the subject to center the image • Exposure will vary during the shoot dramatically – consider QDSLR Dashboard • Sky Tracker Device helpful • Keeps the moon or stars in perfect alignment during a long exposure Nikon D300s, 70-200mm with 2x tele-converter : 600mm equivalent EQUIPMENT FOR SHOOTING THE STARS AND MILKY WAY: YOUR CAMERA

Mobile Phone Mirrorless DSLR ? ✓ THE STARS (AND THE MILKY WAY)

• General rule of thumb: • Plan for Long exposures • Post processing WILL be needed • Light painting foreground can add to the result • The Tripod: A MUST! • WEIGHT down the TRIPOD • Consider using self timer THE STARS AND THE MILKY WAY

Decide if you are interested in star trails or point stars… Nikon D300s, 24-70mm @ 24 mm wide angle, f2.8, ISO 1600, ~500 frames stacked in Photoshop THE MILKY WAY THE FORMULA FOR SHOOTING THE (POINT) STARS AND MILKY WAY • Sharp images of stars & Milky Way • Star Trails • ISO 1600 • ISO 1600 • Shutter speed : 20-30 seconds • Shutter Speed : 20-30 seconds • Aperture: f 2.8 or lower • Aperture f2.8 or lower • Wide angle lens essential • Long exposures have beset effect • Remember the rule of 500 – longest looking NORTH with Polaris in the exposure that will not yield star trails filed of view – sharp images of stars SHOOTING THE STARS (AS POINTS): THE RULE OF 500

500 / 17 mm = 29.4 – thus 30 Take 500/ of seconds will be THE ABSOLUTE LONGEST you can shoot with no the lens you are shooting strar Trails on a 17-35mm @ f2.8 with – that will yeild the longest exposure you can 500/200 mm = 2.5 seconds will be have and NOT get star the longest you can shoot with no trails. star trails with a 70-200 mm lens – requires a star tracker TIME LAPSE OF STARS

• Same as above – but take a fresh shot immediately after each image • 30 second exposure on 17mm lens, ISO 1600 – • obey rule of 500 • 1 second between shots • Quicktime 7 Pro or LR Time Lapse needed to render the clip Time Lapse: Orion’s Chase INDIVIDUAL STARS, CLUSTERS AND GALAXIES

• Must have a star tracker • Matters • Capturing good color starts with proper exposure • Better color comes from working in Photoshop or Lightroom • Techniques can be imported at Actions for either PS or LR POST PROCESSING – A MUST FOR STAR OF THE MILKY WAY

• For best resutls always shoot RAW • Tools • Photoshop Camera RAW filter • Lightroom

• Plug-ins for developing Star Photos Raw, No processing Post processing in Adobe Lightroom

LIGHT PAINTING

LIGHT PAINTING

• Using a flashlight, candle, or other external light source to illuminate sections of a subject at night. • Think of this like burning in the - exposing the sensor to additional light in order to enhance the foreground or other subject matter • Size of the flashlight and output will determine the amount of time to expose the subject during the exposure • There is no real formula for this – it’s trial and error PHOTOGRAPHING THE SUN

• CAUTION! When photographing the sun proper eye protection and filters are needed to protect your eyes and your equipment. • Solar imaging is not very difficult with the proper filters. • ND100,000 or special solar filter is needed. Must provide protection from UV light. • A star tracker might be needed to keep sun in the same location in frame • Time lapse set up might be desirable for images of a total or partial eclipse • A star tracker, like the Vixen Polarie, is needed to keep the sun in frame for the entire event (similar to lunar eclipse setting) PROPER EYEWARE AND CAMERA FILTERS ARE NEEDED FOR SAFE SOLAR PHOTOGRAPHY

Images shot with varying Exposures.

Auto exposure was used for keeping changing exposures correct. Constant aperture was used at f16. Because on a tripod, varying shutter speeds were used by the camera ESSENTIAL TOOLS TO HELP

• PhotoPills – a great app that has times for celestial events • Tips for exposures, lens choices • Calculators built in to the iPhone/Android app for exposure • Rule of 500 and more

• www.photopills.com ESSENTIAL TOOLS TO HELP

• Photographers Ephemeris • Augmented reality • Locations on Google Maps of celestial events • Shows the direction of sunrise/set, moonrise/set and other celestial events • Helps in planning a shoot OTHER TOOLS AND WEBSITES

Domain Tool/Company Website Night Photography Blog http://intothenightphoto.blogspot.com/ Night Photography Blog https://www.thenightskye.com How to the Tutorial https://iso.500px.com/night-sky-photo-tutorial/ Calculators PhotoPills https://www.photopills.com/ Calculators Photographers http://photoephemeris.com/ Ephemeris Books Night Photography, Gabriel Biderman

THANKS! www.LuminantPix.com