Anyone interested in astronomy in Canada will eventually come across Alan Dyer and his work as an astrophotographer, planetarium show producer and media appearances. So when Dyer started a Kickstarter campaign a few days ago it’s worth noting.
Dyer is looking to raise $15,000 to create a Nightscapes and Time-Lapses tutorial video series. Each tutorial video would to be at least 60 to 90 minutes long with a total of 3 to 4.5 hours of instruction.
If you’ve ever wanted to do astrophotography these videos will no doubt be very useful.
You can back the project starting at an early bird of $55 which will be 25% off the final retail price. For that you get a digital download of the full tutorial.
Here’s what’s expected to be in the tutorial:
PROGRAM 1 – Choosing and Using the Right Gear
– The best cameras to buy
– Choosing the best lenses
– Choosing zooms vs. primes
– Choosing automatic vs. manual lenses
– How to choose and use intervalometers
– How to set the best exposure
– How to balance aperture, shutter and ISO speeds
– How to minimize noise
– When to use, and not use, noise reduction
– Canon vs. Nikon – pros and cons
– How to focus at night
– How to set all other key camera menu functions!
– Plus Photo 101 segments on: Exposure basics, File types, Noise sources
PROGRAM 2 – Shooting Stills and Time-Lapses in the Field
– Shooting at urban sites: moonrises, twilights and conjunctions
– Software for finding locations and planning shoots
– How to shoot auroras
– Software for forecasting auroras
– How to compose scenes
– How to make use of moonlight
– Taking multiple images for focus stacking
– How to plan a moonlit shoot
– How to capture the Milky Way
– How to add local lighting – carefully!
– How to prevent – and create – star trails
– How to track the sky for maximum detail
– How to calculate and shoot basic time-lapses
– Software for aiding time-lapse calculation
– plus Astro 101 segments on: aurora, Milky Way, moon phases, sky motion
PROGRAM 3 – Processing Stills and Time-Lapses
– Choosing a processing workflow
– How to employ non-destructive editing at all stages
– Importing and selecting images in Adobe Bridge and Lightroom
– How to develop Raw files in Adobe Camera Raw and Lightroom
– How to apply advanced settings such as Dehaze, Lens Correction, and HSL sliders
– How to apply masked Local Adjustments and Graduated Filters
– How to use Photoshop for advanced editing
– How to use Smart Filters and Adjustment Layers
– How to mask the ground and sky for separate editing
– How to layer and mask multiple exposures
– How to subtract a dark frame
– How to layer tracked and untracked exposures
– How to stack star trails using Photoshop and specialized programs
– How to export intermediate sets for time-lapses
– How to assemble time-lapse movies using Photoshop and other programs
– How to create an “accumulating” star trail movie