Registration CLOSED Thursday, December 13th, 5:00 PM: includes optional preceding and following night

Minimum Attendance: 4 photographers (met!)
Maximum Attendance: 12 photographers

Join Astronomy Photographer of the Year winner, Steven Christenson and world class photographer and storm chaser Matt Granz for one or three nights (your choice) in the eerily other-worldly desert landscape of Trona Pinnacles. This group will be kept small so it will be a fun hands on experience for all! We know where to go to get the most interesting foreground formations paired with constellations, or your favorite Star Trail, and of course capturing Geminid Meteors - the most energetic meteor shower of the year. We'll have plenty of time after sunset and before moonset to collect star trails and Astrophotography Landscapes. We will finally retire for slumber in the wee hours - if you can sleep, that is given the celestial fireworks that will be occurring. We don't guarantee you'll see flaming fireballs but you will undoubtedly spy a few bits of flaming space dust. In Trona Pinnacles it may be warm to freezing in winter. We suggest you book a room in Ridgecrest (the nearest major town). Trona Pinnacles, however is BLM land and you CAN camp there for a small donation if you are prepared and wish to do so.

This Field Expedition is not for beginning night photographers. You will need to know how to operate your camera and be comfortable walking around in the dark with minimal light. However we will teach you the rest. To attend you also must sign and return a Waiver of Liability. There is no formal classroom instruction for this Field Expedition, but we will meet informally at lunch time in Ridgecrest the following day to compare notes and catch up!

Cancellation Policy
Please read our cancellation policy. In brief there are no refunds except for the conditions listed.

About Weather
Weather is unpredictable. We feel confident that we can show you compelling photography opportunities in all but the worst weather.  Since we cannot control the weather, however, we cannot be responsible for the result.

NEXT EVENT: Thu, June 27, 6:00 PM PDT (7 MDT / 8 CDT / 9 EDT)

Duration: 120 minutes This is the big bundle with AdvancedStacker PLUS (a $41.99 value), installation instructions, videos, notes and files for practice. Also includes bonus notes from Introduction to Night Photography. NOTE: The plugin only works with specific versions of Operating System and Photoshop version (see selections below).
Learn how to create star trails using a variety of free and low cost tools.

What You'll Learn

1. Equipment recommendations.
2. Camera settings for shooting star trails
3. Recommended workflow
4. What "Stacking Is"
5. How to create star trail images using free tools - StarStax (free)
6. How Moonlight affects your shot(s).
7. Some sneaky processing tips
8. How to overcome common problems
9. How to do Advanced Processing using the StarCircleAcademy Stacking Action(s).
10. Links to great resources
11. Choose this option to get AdvancedStacker Plus - and a special surprise which we can't reveal just yet!

It is interactive. Ask questions, get answers! NOTE: Includes recorded Video AND Advanced Stacker Plus (at a substantial discount!). See our Other bundle if you just want the webinar.

Timezone : Pacific US -8Mountain US -7Central US -6Eastern US -5Atlantic -4Brazil -3West Africa -1GMTCentral Europe +1Eastern European +2Baghdad +3Western Asia +4India +5.5China Coast +8Japan
OS : Mac 10.14 (Mojave)Mac 10.13 (High Sierra)Mac 10.12 (Sierra) NOT SUPPORTEDMac 10.11 (Capitan) NOT SUPPORTEDMac 10.10 (Yosemite) NOT SUPPORTEDMac Other NOT SUPPORTEDPC Win 10PC Win 8.xPC Win 8PC Win 7PC Win Other NOT SUPPORTED
Photoshop Version : CC 2019CC 2018CC 2017C 2016CC 2015.5CC 2015CC 2014CCCS6CS5None

NEXT EVENT: Thu, June 27 6:00 PM PDT (7 MDT / 8 CDT / 9 EDT)

Duration: 120 minutes
Learn how to create star trails using a variety of free and low cost tools.

What You'll Learn

1. Equipment recommendations.
2. Camera settings for shooting star trails
3. Recommended workflow
4. What "Stacking Is"
5. How to create star trail images using free tools - StarStax (free)
6. How Moonlight affects your shot(s).
7. Some sneaky processing tips
8. How to overcome common problems
9. How to do Advanced Processing using the StarCircleAcademy Stacking Action(s).
10. Links to great resources

It is interactive. Ask questions, get answers! NOTE: This live Webinar also includes extensive notes, and a link to a pre-recorded video. Save more with our other bundle that also includes AdvancedStacker Plus

Timezone : Pacific US -8Mountain US -7Central US -6Eastern US -5Atlantic -4Brazil -3West Africa -1GMTCentral Europe +1Eastern European +2Baghdad +3Western Asia +4India +5.5China Coast +8Japan

This action is power. You can create star trails and stack images with a minimum of effort and a maximum of control. You can create "comets", "midgets" streaks and much more. And you can create intermediate files along the way to put interesting motion effects into your timelapse. Version 14e also preserves EXIF data, includes Ultra Long Streaks and more! Compatible with Adobe Photoshop CS5 through CC including CC 2018. Not compatible with any other version of Photoshop, particularly not compatible with Photoshop Elements or Photoshop Lightroom.
**NOTE: MAC Users with Sierra, Yosemite or El Capitan and PS CC 2015-2018 are reporting installation problems. We recommend you do NOT purchase this product until we have been able to resolve this issue. Operation with High Sierra and Photoshop CS6, and CC 2018 is believed to work fine.
Indicate your operating system and Photoshop version. If you have more than one, please indicate which you use the most. You will be sent links for BOTH the Mac and Windows versions.

NEXT EVENT: Not Scheduled

Astrophotography is a sub species of night photography that requires more specialized knowledge, more discipline, and usually more investment in time and equipment (i.e. cost!). In this event Steven will take you to a relatively dark sky site. We will generally meet at about sunset and then cover the following topics:

1. Using a Planisphere
2. What is an Equatorial Mount? How do they work?
3. Setting up an Equatorial Mount - polar alignment.
4. Learning to navigate the night sky
5. Using an Intervalometer (or) an automation program to capture images.
6. Focusing stellar images
7. Choosing a target.
8. Tips to make the whole process easier.
9. Getting all the image types needed (light frames, dark frames, flats, bias frames)
10. Image capture.
11. Image Processing primer
12. Q&A

Note: It is not necessary that you have already attended Astrophotography 101, but it is recommended. By registering for this event, you'll get access to the next Astrophotography 101 Webinar and an online video for only $12 more.

Notes from the StarCircleAcademy Astrophotography 101 Webinar.

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Unlimited online viewable Video and Notes from the Astrophotography 101 Webinar (total time is 107 minutes) Astrophotography is a sub species of night photography that requires more specialized knowledge, more discipline, and usually more investment in time and equipment (i.e. cost!). Those super cool pictures of nebula and galaxies do not happen by accident.  Astrophotographers also have developed their own curious language with terms like guiding, tracking, mounts, GEM, integration time, flats, bias, and dark frames. The goal of this course is to provide the background information a potential astrophotographer will need to get started on the best foot - at the lowest investment.

1. Theory of astrophotography (long exposures, multiple exposures, integration time)
2. Tracking (what and why)
3. Lenses and cameras.
4. Inexpensive solutions for equipment, mounts, software.
5. Dark vs suburban skies
6. Proper exposure(s) - with visual examples
7. The top 3 challenges
8. Recommendations, costs and summary.
9. Q&A
10. Resources (Clubs, Books, Web Sites)

Note: If you're even moderately interested in Astrophotography, this class might save you from making 100s of dollars worth of bad investments.

Here is a photo taken with a cheap equatorial mount, a Canon 40D, a 1.4 tele-extender and a 70-200mm f/4 lens (cost of the equatorial mount < $350). Note this image was taken in town with an 80% illuminated moon.

SORRY, Workshop is canceled Please see our Field Event which begins on Sunday, August 12th. Friday, August 10, 5:00 PM through Sunday August 12, noon
Registration closes on July 16. Discounted sign up until June 7, thereafter base rate is $625 for one photographer
Minimum class 3 photographers.
Maximum 8 photographers.
Two or three nights chasing the Milky Way, Star Trails, Perseid Meteors and amazing landscapes. The nearest town is Lone Pine, California. Indeed, it is very conveniently close. We recommend that you book a room in the Dow Villa which will be our base of operations. Mention "StarCircleAcademy" when you book! Lodging not included.

Notes from the NP150 Photo Manipulation Webinar: Luminous Photos Covers specific topics in Photoshop (PS), Photoshop Elements (PS), Adobe Premiere Elements (PE) and/or Lightroom(LR)

 

1. Workflow Tips
2. Adobe Camera Raw (ACR = LR, PS, PSE) Tricks
3. Turn down Milky Way noise and turn UP the wonder (PS, plugin)
4. The "Dust" Technique for Creating Star Masks (PS)
5. Three time saving features of CS6
6. Luminosity masks - targeting those adjustments.  (PS) - going farther.
7. Batching in Adobe Bridge

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These are the Notes for the Introduction to Night Photography Freebinar. Each image contains a link where you can view more details. Plus there are links to notes and references, and of course details on how to focus, what kinds of equipment we recommend and more. If you attended a recent Introduction to Night Photography these are the notes you saw - except that these are expanded to include more images and more questions and answers.

So why are you asking for payment for notes on a "free" event? Good question. First it's free to YOU, but we have to pay for the website, storage, and the cost of hosting the webinar. And we feel that the compilation of notes took days (and days) of time and are worth something.

In short, for about the cost of a fancy coffee you help us keep the server running, and the webinar hosting funded. We appreciate your support!

Last updated May 4. 2019!

The price includes notes and unlimited views of an online 1 hour and 7 minute video featuring Steven Christenson, Astronomy Photographer of the Year and founder of StarCircleAcademy presenting Photoshop and Adobe Camera Raw processing techniques.

This recording is from the February 19 StarCircleAcademy webinar entitled "Salvaging Night Shots" and demonstrates several Photoshop techniques for correcting or repairing photos.

1. An out of focus star trail is saved by using an in-focus foreground element.
2. Using the Move tool to put Meteor streaks in their proper sky location
3. A star trail that suffered alignment problems due to an unstable tripod is salvaged.
4. Fixing star (or meteor) brightness using two different techniques.
5. And plenty of Photoshop tips, tricks and shortcuts.

Price: $12.00

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The price includes notes and unlimited views of an online 78 minute video featuring Steven Christenson, Astronomy Photographer of the Year and founder of StarCircleAcademy presenting Photoshop and Adobe Camera Raw processing techniques.

Luminous Photos covers

1. Workflow Tips
2. Adobe Camera Raw (ACR = LR, PS, PSE) Tricks
3. Turn down Milky Way noise and turn UP the wonder (PS, plugin)
4. The "Dust" Technique for Creating Star Masks (PS) so you can make those stars pop.
5. Three time saving features of PS CS6
6. Luminosity masks - targeting highlight and shadow adjustments (PS)

Price: $15.00

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Unlimited online viewable Video and Notes from the NP150e Webinar

1. How to mix differently lit foreground and background scenes using advanced masking techniques. [PS]
2. Many different ways to create masks using channels, selections, copying and pasting of images, Luminosity, and more.
3. How to use Curves, Thresholds and filters to adjust and enhance masks - and your image. [PS]
4. A quick revisit of a powerful method for reducing noise: image averaging. [PS]
5. Useful tips for managing file sets in Lightroom and Adobe Bridge [PS,LR]
6. How to exploit the Power of Actions [PS] to save tedium. (Automating tasks)

Email me if the Video is UpdatedEmail if a new video is releasedDo Not Contact Me

The price includes notes and unlimited views of an online 95 minute video featuring Eric Harness, Mr Panorama of StarCircleAcademy presenting Comprehensive Instructions on techniques, equipment and software for creating Panoramas and Vertoramas.

Panorama Extravaganza covers

1. Types of Panoramas
2. Equipment (with recommendations)
3. Compositional Tips
4. Set-up and shooting tips
5. Recommended Software
6. Stitching and Blending
7. Extensive information about PT GUI, Microsoft ICE and Photoshop Photomerge
8. Printing, Web Display and more...

Price: $25.00

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Undergoing Revisions due to new tools

TWO Videos and class notes from the Catching the Moon (and the Sun) Webinar. Shows how to use various tools to plan to catch the sun or moon rising or setting near a landmark, also includes notes (PDF reader required). Unlimited online viewing. Includes access to the MoonChaseTool. Total time is 3 hour, 20 minutes. Have you wanted to capture the moon "right where you want it" but weren't sure how? If you know you could resort to photo editing and fake it but you'd rather get the real deal then this class is for you.

Steven demonstrates how to determine when and where to go to capture an image like the Moon over Lick Observatory (below), or the moon at the Transamerica Building (left) or the sun shining through a portal in the Pacific Ocean (below).

In this video, you will be introduced to several free (and almost free) tools that you can use to plan a moon (or sun) shot. One indispensable tool covered in detail is the Photographer's Ephemeris by Stephen Trainor.

Steven shows how to plan a moon or solar "contact" shot. How to use the moon to illuminate your foreground, how the presence of the moon affects photos of the night sky, how to find information about interesting celestial events, how to find compelling locations for "alignment" images, and what camera settings you need to get it all exposed just right.

How many of these questions can you answer? The answers will tremendously help you capture the moon when and where you want it.

1. By definition a new moon is when what occurs?
2. What time of day is it when the Full moon rises?
3. How big (in angular degrees) is the moon? What focal length lens would you need to fill the frame with a shot of the moon?
4. How many days are there in a lunar cycle?
5. By approximately how much does the moonrise time change from one day to the next?
8. A full moon, directly overhead in the sky requires approximately what length of exposure at f/9, ISO 200 to preserve detail? How long would that exposure need to be for a fully eclipsed moon?
9. How long does it take for the moon to move it's full diameter in the sky?

Live Videos from the NP105 Creating Star Trails Webinar. Includes notes (PDF reader required) from the presentation. In the notes you will find a link and password allowing unlimited online viewing. Total time is 1 hour, 45 minutes.

What You'll Learn

1. Equipment recommendations
2. Camera settings for shooting star trails
3. Recommended workflow
4. What "Stacking" Is
5. How to create star trail images using free tools - StarStax (free)
6. Special tips and hints about where to point the camera and when.
7. How Moonlight affects your shot(s).
8. Some sneaky processing tips
9. How to overcome some common problems
10. Learn about the Advanced Stacker capabilities
11. Links to great resources

This video and notes are included in the Advanced Stacker PLUS bundle.

Notes from the NP150c Photo Manipulation Webinar on Salvaging night shots.

Email me if the Notes are UpdatedEmail if a new action is releasedNever Contact Me

Notes on Using an Intervalometer by Eric Harness. 17 pages. Is your intervalometer driving you nuts? Having trouble understanding the manual? These tips cover many different types of intervalometers - though none are covered in detail. From these notes you may figure out why your attempt to program your intervalometer to take repeated shots fails. You may also be interested in our article on Intervalometer Tricks.

Video: 1 hour, 15 minutes. Unlimited online viewing. Harold Davis, author, professional photographer, and workshop leader presents his approach to Post Processing Night Photos. Includes stacking using the statistics capabilities of Photoshop Extended; An explanation of color space - and why you do not want to work in sRGB (default space) Creative sharpening of night images using LAB color, and a look at a workflow to make a New Jersey night scene stand out by applying multi-raw processing, and a handful of filters and special effects. Many of these techniques are covered in his books, particularly
The Photoshop Darkroom: Creative Digital Post-Processing

Next Event: Not Scheduled Total Time: About 2 hours

Astrophotography is a sub species of night photography that requires more specialized knowledge, more discipline, and usually more investment in time and equipment (i.e. cost!). Those super cool pictures of nebula and galaxies do not happen by accident.  Astrophotographers also have developed their own curious language with terms like guiding, tracking, mounts, GEM, integration time, flats, bias, and dark frames. The goal of this course is to provide the background information a potential astrophotographer will need to get started on the best foot - at the lowest investment.

What You'll Learn

1. Theory of astrophotography (long exposures, multiple exposures, integration time)
2. Tracking (what and why)
3. Lenses and cameras.
4. Inexpensive solutions for equipment, mounts, software.
5. Dark vs suburban skies
6. Proper exposure(s) - with visual examples
7. The top 3 challenges
8. Recommendations, costs and summary.
9. Q&A
10. Resources (Clubs, Books, Web Sites)

Note: If you're even moderately interested in Astrophotography, this class might save you from making 100s of dollars worth of bad investments.