Chasing The Stars: A Night Photography Tutorial I

Part I – Introduction & Tools

INTRODUCTION
I believe that night photography is one of the best ways to learn about photography. There are many reasons for this. One of the most important is that it forces you to learn the mathematical relationships between exposure variables (shutter speed, aperture, and ISO). These relationships are become ingrained in your mind and are eventually transferred to other types of photography. Knowing how to manipulate these variables to create the perfect exposure for a situation is one of the keys to photography. Night photography also requires that you know how to operate your camera in the dark. You should be able to change modes, shutter speed, aperture, ISO, focus mode, etc. all by touch. Finally, since night photography with digital techniques is still in its relative infancy, it is still very exciting to see your results. You will rarely find people with the same images which encourages you to take more!

In this three part series I will cover some of the basic concepts and techniques of night photography. This will include everything from gathering the necessary tools for a shoot, to taking images at night, to post-processing the images. I will also discuss some frequently asked questions such as:

• When do I use a single exposure versus stacked exposures?
  
• How do I find the right exposure?
  
• How do I create the circular star effect?

SINGLE EXPOSURES VS. STACKED EXPOSURES
The question I receive most often is, "How do you decide when to use a single long exposure and when to use stacked long exposures?" First we need to know what the differences are. A single long exposure is exactly what it sounds like, just a standard exposure with a shutter speed measured in minutes (or hours). Whereas a stacked image is one where many long exposures (say, 30 seconds - 10 minutes each) are stacked together with software to create a single image. These two methods can give you very different results and both have associated pros and cons.

Single Exposures
Single long exposures have been the standard in night photography since the days of film. It simply requires a shutter (cable) release and some patience.

Advantages over stacked exposures:

• You can get a properly exposed image with very little ambient light without using a high ISO value
  
• Great for cloud motion images
  
• Takes up little space on a memory card
  
• Fast post-processing

Disadvantages:

• Will overexpose quickly with too much ambient light (e.g. cities, full moon, dusk/dawn, etc.)
  
• More long exposure noise to be subtracted from image (can severely detract from image for shutter speeds greater than 2 hours)
  
• Total time for exposure is two times the shutter speed with long exposure noise reduction on (a must for shutter speeds over 30 seconds)
  
• Eats battery life. You risk losing the image if the battery dies in the middle of processing

Stacked Exposures
Stacked exposures are relatively new with the advent of digital photography. They require special software to stack several exposures together to create a composite image.

Advantages over single exposures:

• Great for startrails when there is moderate to bright ambient light (e.g. cites, full moon, dusk/dawn, etc.)
  
• No long exposure noise reduction is necessary
  
• You can use a higher ISO value since ISO noise and long exposure noise will be averaged out in the resulting image
  
• Easier on battery life. You can just shoot until the battery dies or until you're out of memory

Disadvantages

• Typically doesn't handle clouds well
  
• Takes up a lot of memory card space
  
• Takes much longer and is more work during post-processing since the images must be stacked (computers with a lot of memory are very helpful here)
  
• Really only useful for startrails
  

TOOLS
This tutorial is written for dSLR users, but almost all cameras have the capacity to take night photographs in one form or another. Here we will discuss certain tools that will make life much easier.

Cameras
Most dSLR's will work for night photography. Newer cameras though, generally have better noise properties and built-in noise reduction than older ones. It is important that you know how to access and change the settings in your camera by touch or memory. These settings include: shooting mode, shutter speed, aperture, ISO, and long exposure noise reduction. Furthermore, you should also learn where the cable (shutter) release port is and how to plug this in by feel (not a trivial matter on some cameras).

Lenses
Choosing a lens for shooting night images is really a personal choice dependent on the composition you want. I generally like shooting wide angle (12mm - 24mm on a full frame camera) images to get more sky. You should know how to switch your lens from auto focus to manual focus and how to turn image stabilization on and off. Finally, since the goal of many night images it to capture what little light is available, having a wide maximum aperture (f/4 or wider) is very helpful as it reduces the need to use a higher ISO.

Other Gear
Other necessary pieces gear for night photography include:

• Sturdy tripod
  
• Cable (shutter) release (with timer, interval, delay settings if possible)
  
• Battery grip
  
• Extra (fully charged) batteries
  
• Calculator (if you don't like doing math in your head)
  
• Warm clothes (it gets cold at night)
  
• Headlamp/flashlight

I use a timer release since it allows me to program the delay, number of shots, interval between shots, and any shutter speed I want. Without a timer you are forced to use either the longest built-in shutter speed (usually 30 seconds) or time the exposures manually (which means you have to babysit the camera).

Applications
There are a lot of software choices out there for processing digital images. The basic necessities include a RAW converter such as Adobe Camera RAW (ACR) and image editing software such as Adobe Photoshop (PS). Additionally, several vendors sell plug-ins for these programs which can enhance your editing capabilities. I really like Nik Software's Viveza 2 (global and selective editing) and Dfine 2.0 (noise reduction).

In order to stack images some special software is required. If you already own Adobe Photoshop there is action that you can download (here) that will allow you to simple stack all the images in a folder. Otherwise, if you are a Windows user there is the Startrails program which can be used. I have never found another option for Mac users.

Finally, there are hundreds of other small tools out there to enhance your photographic experience, including applications for your smartphones. I've written an Android application that allows you to calculate equivalent exposures, which as we will see in Part II, is an essential part of finding the proper night exposure. To check it out search for "Exposure Calculator" (by RAWapps) in the Android Market.

Coming up next in Part II - Trip Planning & The Night
Trip Planning - What, Where, When, & How Long?
Composition - Polaris, Stars, & Foreground
Test Shots - Default Settings (custom settings)
ISO & Aperture Considerations
The Shot - What to do?

Coming Soon!

Chasing The Stars: A Night Photography Tutorial

Part I - Introduction & Tools
Introduction - My Philosphy
Single Exposures vs. Stacked - When, Why?
Tools - Cameras, Lenses, Gear, & Applications

Part II - Trip Planning & The Night
Trip Planning - What, Where, When, & How Long?
Composition - Polaris, Stars, & Foreground
Test Shots - Default Settings (custom settings)
ISO & Aperture Considerations
The Shot - What to do?

Part III - Post Processing
RAW Processing - ACR/Lightroom/Aperture/etc.
Startails - Stacking & Foreground Replacement
Viveza 2 - General Ideas for Night Photography
Dfine 2.0 - General Ideas for Night Photography


Please let me know if there are any specific aspects of night photography that you'd like to hear about that I may have missed here!

Cheers!

Feedback?

I haven't forgotten! I'm just busy right now...

I would like to get some feedback from some photographers on what they'd like to see here. Here are some ideas on possible posts in the near future:

• How night photography (noctography as I like to call it) helps you learn faster
  
• Multi-part tutorial series on night photography (noctography). From gear, to shooting, to general post-processing
  
• Tutorial on using Viveza 2
  
• A "What's in my bag?" post discussing my gear and the reasoning (or lack thereof) behind having it
  
• Review of the Sigma 12-24mm f/4.5-5.6 EX DG IF HSM
  
• Multi-part series on how to use weather tools to catch the right scene

Of course there are many other possibilities and at some point I'll probably hit all of these topics, but for now I'd like to know what YOU want to read about!

Cheers for now!

Crowning Jewel - from my most recent photography outing

Back by popular demand!

It's been forever since I've blogged and I've had a lot of great learning experiences in the past few months that I'd like to share. In the coming weeks/months I hope to post several new reviews, tutorials, and trip logs.

In the meantime, if you live in the Pacific Northwest and are on Facebook I would encourage you to stop by our new photography group PNW Photography. We are constantly planning photography outings and trips, and the more the merrier!

Stay tuned!

Making a Photograph using Adobe Camera Raw and Viveza 2

Photography is much more than taking the shot these day with the advancement of digital camera and post processing software. I want to show you how you can transform a seemingly useless shot into something great using Adobe Photoshop CS4's Camera Raw (ACR) and Nik Software's Viveza 2 plug-in.

First we'll start with our photograph straight out of the camera.



As you can tell this is a very high contrast scene with potentially a lot of detail in the highlights. When I took this shot I was very careful not to overexpose the highlights because that is where much of the interest in the image lies. You can view this on most dSLR's by enabling the histogram view when you're in playback mode. The shadow regions are indicated on the left while the highlights are on the right. You can see the histogram for this photograph as shot in the first panel below.

Here we have screen shots from the sidebar in ACR. The panel on the left shows where the sliders are by default under the first tab (which is where 90% of your adjustments will happen). The right panel shows the same sliders with the adjustments I made. Some of these changes are made to even out the image, for instance increasing the Recovery brings out some detail in the highlights, increasing Fill Light increases the detail and brightness in shadowed regions. I also warmed up the image by moving the Temperature slider to the right (this image was taken shortly before sunset). Finally I increased the Clarity and Vibrance to give the image a little more pop.



Next we have the sliders from the second tab. Again before is shown in the left panel. Here I have increased the contrast between the highlights and the lights enhancing the appearance of the clouds. I've also increase the brightness of the darks to bring out a bit more detail in the shadows.



Saturation Tab - giving the sky and grass a little boost.


Luminance Tab - reducing the luminance of the blues really helps to bring out a nice rich blue sky that can sometimes make the image look as if a polarizing filter was used.


Here is the result of these edits in ACR.
Mouse over the image to see the unedited image.



Now we'll open this image in Viveza 2. Here I applied a slight structure and warmth enhancement to the entire image. I then added a control point in the sky and further enhanced the structure in the sky. I added a second control point near the door and enhanced the brightness. A third control point was placed in the grass where I also increased the brightness. A final control point was placed in the lower right region of bright cloud where I reduced the brightness slightly so it did not over power the image.

These type of selective edits are very quick and easy in Viveza 2. The same could be done with layer masks in Photoshop but much more time, effort and patience would have been required. I highly recommend trying the free 14-day trial version of Viveza 2 if you are using Photoshop, Lightroom or Aperture.

Here is the result of these edits in Viveza 2.
Mouse over the image to see the imported image.



Just for final comparison here is final result compared with the initial image.
Mouse over the image to see the unedited image.

Mukilteo Lighthouse

I really had an itch to get out last night and shoot a startrails image because it had been quite some time. I decided that the Mukilteo Lighthouse was a good candidate. I was very pleased with the results. The image is made up of 20 exposures with the following characteristics:
Canon 5D
Sigma 12-24 @ 12mm
3.5 min., f/4.5, ISO 50

Mouse over image to see a single unedited photo

Mukilteo Lighthouse Startrails

New Flashes

A couple weeks ago I picked up to used Vivitar 285hv flashes and have had a great time experimenting with them. Many of my latest photos have employed the use of them including one of my new favorite photos. Melissa got her hair trimmed and dyed a few days ago and wanted some photos taken, I took that as an opportunity to also use the flashes in a creative way. This photo uses just one 285hv pointed at the wall behind a white sheet to get a nice silhouette.

Move you mouse over the image to see the unedited image.

Aimless Driving

It was rainy/misty, cloudy and chilly last night but I decided to go out anyway and try to capture SOMETHING. I drove around for a bit until I ended up at the Space Needle where the lights on the Needle illuminated the passing clouds very nicely. I only had one shot to get this before my lens was speckled with mist.

Light in the Clouds


I left the Space Needle and drove around downtown more until I came across the Seattle Public Library. It's a gem of a building, and at night it actually looks like a gem.

Seattle Public Library


SPL Structure


I finished the night off by heading to Pike Place Market, which is really quite cool looking at night.

Pike Place, After Hours

Happy New Year

Yesterday I received my Sigma 12-24mm lens to pair with my 5D. So last night I met up with Kelly, Ed and Tommy at Gasworks Park for some night photography. This lens is SO WIDE!





Afterward I went over to Log Boom Park and took a couple shots.

Steely Night




Today I went over to Kubota Garden south of Seattle, I had never been there. It was very nice, but it'll be great during the spring and summer.

I love Seattle!

I went to the Jose Rizal Bridge last night just after sunset. I met another photographer, Raj, there and we walked down and through a hole in the fence that separates the dog park and the freeway so we could get a closer and slightly different view from this wonderful location.

This is the last image taken with my buddy's 5D, now I am just waiting to sell my 40D and 17-55mm lens so I can get myself a new camera!

Dusk