I’m pleased to announce that after a year in production, our video tutorial series, Nightscapes and Time-Lapses: From Field to Photoshop, is now available.
It’s been quite a project! Over the last few years I’ve presented annual astrophoto workshops in conjunction with our local telescope dealer All-Star Telescope to great success.
However, we always had requests for the workshops on video. Attempts to video the actual workshops never produced satisfactory results. So we spent a year shooting in the field and in the studio to produce a “purpose-built” series of programs.
They are available now as a set of three programs, totalling 4 hours of instruction, for purchase and download at Vimeo at
Or go directly to Vimeo’s sales page.
The programs can be purchased as downloads.
For those wanting “hard copies” we will also be selling the programs on mailed USB sticks. See All-Star Telescope for info and prices. The downloaded version can also be ordered from there.
This series deals with the basics of capturing, then processing nightscape still images and time-lapse movies of the night sky and landscapes lit by moonlight and starlight.
Here’s the content outline:
Program 1 – Choosing Equipment (1 Hour)
• Tips for Getting Started
• Essential Gear
• Choosing A Camera
• Photo 101 – Exposure Triangle
• Setting Exposure
• Expose to the Right
• Setting a Camera – File Types
• Photo 101 – Noise Sources
• Setting a Camera – Noise Reduction
• Setting a Camera – Focusing
• Setting a Camera – Other Menus
• Choosing Lenses
• Choosing an IntervalometerSummary and Tips
Program 2 – Shooting in the Field (1 hour)
• Climbing the Learning Curve
• Twilights
• Astronomy 101 – Conjunctions
• Shooting Conjunctions
• Moonrises
• Shooting Auroras
• Astronomy 101 – Auroras
• Photo 101 – Composing
• Moonlit Nightscapes
• Astronomy 101 – Where is the Moon?
• Choosing a Location
• Shooting the Milky Way
• Astronomy 101 – Where is the Milky Way?
• Astronomy 101 – Daily Sky Motion
• Tracking the Sky
• Shooting Star Trails
• Shooting Time-Lapses
• Calculating Time-Lapses
• A Pre-Flight Checklist
• Summary and Tips
Program 3 – Processing Nightscapes and Time-Lapses (2 hours)
• Workflows
• Using Adobe Bridge – Importing and Selecting
• Photo 101 – File Formats
• Using Adobe Lightroom – Importing and Selecting
• Adobe Camera Raw – Essential Settings
• Adobe Camera Raw – Developing Raw Images
• Adobe Lightroom – Develop Module
• Adobe Photoshop – Introduction
• Photoshop – Setup
• Photoshop – Smart Filters
• Photoshop – Adjustment Layers
• Photoshop – Masking
• Photoshop – Processing Star Trails & Time-Lapses
• Stacking Star Trails
• Assembling Time-Lapse Movies
• Archiving
• Summary & Finale
If this first introductory series is successful we may produce follow-up programs on more advanced techniques.
Thanks for looking!
— Alan, October 18, 2016 / © 2016 Alan Dyer / amazingsky.com
The Amazing Sky 