Seize the Night, Online! — Announcing the Second Annual Night Photo Summit

We are delighted to announce the second annual Night Photo Summit!

Last winter, we hosted and produced the first Night Photo Summit, a 3-day virtual conference to celebrate everything we love about night photography. It was intense. It was educational. It was fun!

We created the summit as a way to share our passion with you, the community of like-minded photographers who love the night.

Over 350 people joined together for a long weekend of inspiration and camaraderie, and it was such a blast that we knew, even before it was over, that we would do it again in 2022.

Join us from February 4-6, 2022, to experience 3 days of dynamic presentations from 30-plus world class photographers, authors, artists, rangers, an astronomer, and even a meteorologist.

Sessions and Speakers

There are sessions about creativity, dark skies and weather, and of course night photo techniques––image capture, lighting, time-lapse, post-processing and more.

There are classes for all levels, including a Night Photography Fundamentals track, as well as intermediate and advanced level courses, all totaling for over 45 hours of learning and virtual adventure. And we are thrilled to have our friend and world-renowned nature and cultural photographer Art Wolfe share his World at Night project turned book.

There will be panel discussions (including “Women in Night Photography—Challenges and Achievements Under the Stars”), a group image review with the National Parks at Night instructors, and opportunities to connect with the wider community of creative professionals who share a love of night photography.

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Our incredible lineup of speakers and talks includes:

• Adam Woodworth: “Milky Way Crash Course”

• Amir Shahcheraghian: “10 Years of Night Sky Photography in the Desert National Parks of Iran”

• Art Wolfe: “Art Wolfe Presents: Night on Earth”

• Autumn Schrock: “Process to Print: Making Your Night Photos Shine on the Wall”

• Chris Nicholson: “Oceans, Lakes, Rivers and Ponds: Working with Water at Night”

• Colleen Miniuk: “Finding Your Creative Voice”

• Erik Kuna: “Planning a Milky Way Adventure with PhotoPills”

• Forest Chaput de Saintonge: “Deep-Sky Astrophotography with a Telephoto Lens”

• Gabriel Biderman: “Out of this World: Beyond the Basics of Star Trail Photography”

• Gunther Wegner: “Day to Night Transitions: The Holy Grail of Time-lapse Photography”

• Hannu Huhtamo: “Drawing with Light”

• Imma Barrera: “Under the Night Sky as a National Park Artist in Residence”

• Jess Santos: “Building Your Instagram Presence”

• Kah-Wai Lin: “Photographing Auroras and Winter Landscapes”

• Ken Lee: “How to Use Light Painting Angles to Create Detail, Texture and Drama”

• Kevin Adams: “Fantastical Fireflies”

• Lance Keimig: “8 Lessons from Early Night Photographers That Will Make You Better Tonight”

• Matt Hill: “How to Capture and Edit Multirow Night Panoramas”

• Michael DeYoung: “Using the Best Weather Forecasts to Find Clear Skies and Perfect Clouds, Day or Night”

• Michael Frye: “Expressive Night Photography”

• Mike Mezeul II: “Extreme Nature in the Night”

• Nicole Mortillaro: “What to Look Forward to in the Night Skies of 2022”

• Ranger Rader Lane: “Night Skies in our National Parks”

• Rafael Pons: “How to Plan Your Night Sky Photos (Milky Way, Star Trails and Meteor Showers)”

• Royce Bair: “Low-Level Lighting: How to Create Stunning Nightscapes”

• Susan Magnano: “Luminescent Portraits: A Live Demo with Light Writing”

• Tim Cooper: “Creating Realistic Landscape/Milky Way Blends”

• … and more to be announced!

Sponsors & Giveaways

Every attendee will be automatically entered into drawings for a large number of giveaways from our generous sponsors, as well as amazing session-specific giveaways from speakers. Prizes include a Gitzo tripod, Vallerett photography gloves, a KelbyOne membership, a book and print from Art Wolfe, light painting tools, an Irix lens, a Move-Shoot-Move star tracker and more.

The Night Photo Summit is sponsored by Chimani, Coast Portland, Irix, Ledlenser, Manfrotto/Gitzo, Move-Shoot-Move, the NightScaper Conference, PhotoPills and Vallerret, with additional sponsors to be named soon.

How to Join Us

If you’re into night photography, or if you want to get into it, this is an event you absolutely do not want to miss.

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Tickets are $399, and include:

• 3 days, more than 25 instructors, over 45 hours of inspiration, instruction and fun

• 1 year of access to re-watch any of the courses

• a live image review session

• three panel discussions

• exclusive glow-in-the-dark summit T-shirt (mailed to attendees with U.S. addresses, and we may be able to help those from other countries too!)

• personal access to product experts from manufacturers and developers sponsoring the event

• giveaways throughout the duration of the summit

• an unprecedented opportunity to connect with like-minded photographers passionate about the night

Moreover, if you purchase your ticket before noon EST on January 14, you’ll get your shirt and a swag bag (USA only) before the summit!

Registration is available now, so sign up today and mark your calendars to join National Parks at Night for the world’s second online Night Photo Summit!

JOIN US ON SOCIAL MEDIA

As if that isn’t all enough, we’ll be releasing plenty more information over the next few weeks. To stay tuned in to it all, we invite you to follow the summit social media accounts on:

• Instagram: @nightphotosummit

• Facebook: @nightphotosummit

• Twitter: @nightsummit

We are very much looking forward to seeing you online next month. In the meantime, feel free to ask us any questions via the social media accounts above, in the comments below, or through the Night Photo Summit webpage.

Seize the night … online!

Lance Keimig is a partner and workshop leader with National Parks at Night. He has been photographing at night for 30 years, and is the author of Night Photography and Light Painting: Finding Your Way in the Dark (Focal Press, 2015). Learn more about his images and workshops at www.thenightskye.com.

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UPCOMING WORKSHOPS FROM NATIONAL PARKS AT NIGHT

10 Pictures, 10 Tales: Our Favorite Night Photos of 2021

2021 was a challenging year for all. But the overall themes that prevailed were hope and celebration, as many of us could finally rejoin the great outdoors with friends and family. At National Parks at Night, we were so thrilled to see our community in-person and to share sacred spaces under the stars.

Now, at the end of 2021, as in the past we look back on our year’s worth of images and note the ones that are most precious to us. Choosing your favorite photos can be a daunting project. What makes a 5-star image? Is it the technical work that went into creating it? Or the reminder of a very special night? Which photographs still continue to shine and what new gems have been uncovered?

As you read about each National Parks at Night instructor’s favorite two photographs of the year, the underlining theme is that each had the power to transport us back to that precise moment in time. The feelings that come rushing back can be a combination of everything that aligned to create the image. It transports us back and hopefully takes you on a similar journey.

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Chris Nicholson

Stars Over Zumwalt Meadows, Kings Canyon National Park

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Nikon D5 with a Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 lens. Two blended exposures shot at 30 seconds, f/5.6, ISO 400 (foreground) and 20 seconds, f/2.8, ISO 8000 (sky).

When I was writing my book Photographing National Parks a few years back, I spent a lot of time in coffee shops in Queens, New York, where I lived at the time—as well as in coffee shops in my hometown in Connecticut and in other places I traveled—researching and writing about various places, including some I’d never been to. I recall writing about fantastical-sounding spots such as Cinder Cone in Lassen Volcanic National Park, and Grand View Point in Canyonlands, and Artist Point in North Cascades, and hoping that someday I’d get to visit them.

In the following years I was fortunate that my book carried me to these places and more. On multiple occasions I’ve stood gazing at grand vistas, thinking back to my days leaning over my laptop in some random Starbucks learning and writing about these places, and marveling at the journey that brought me to be there in person.

Another such place was Zumwalt Meadow in Kings Canyon National Park, which I wrote about sometime around 2013 and finally was able to visit in 2021. From my book: “Zumwalt Meadow is easy to hike to and around, and is pleasant to photograph, as well. The meadow sits on the valley floor, with lush greenery providing a softer aesthetic than found in most other areas of the park. The Kings River flows through the grasses, framed by the distinctive granite walls of Grand Sentinel and North Dome.”

Zumwalt sits near the end of the furthest mile of paved road in Kings Canyon. Lance and I ventured out there, scrambled about 30 feet up some talus, set up our tripods for a dusk foreground exposure, then waited under a peaceful, spectacular night sky for a starry background exposure.

For a long time I sat on a boulder, just watching this beautiful space on Earth roll into darkness, once again remembering where I’d been and feeling grateful for where I’d come.

Tuolumne River and Meadows, Yosemite National Park

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Nikon D5 with an Irix 11mm f/4 lens. Two blended exposures shot at 4 minutes, f/4, ISO 2000 (foreground) and 25 seconds, f/4, ISO 8000 (sky).

My next favorite photo from 2021 is also a blue hour blend, which isn’t much of a coincidence because it’s a technique I deliberately tried to employ more during the year.

This time I was in Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite National Park. It’s a beautiful location in the High Sierra region of the park—an area that for many visitors is practically ignored in favor of the oft-visited valley.

At 8,600 feet, Tuolumne is one of the highest-elevation meadows in the Sierra Nevada. The Tuolumne River quietly bisects the glacier-carved meadow, meandering among erratics and past scattered lodgepole and Jeffrey pines, supporting a teeming riparian ecosystem that’s practically an oasis in the beautiful yet rugged and vast sub-alpine landscape.

I was again with Lance, and we hiked into the meadow to a beautiful view of the Tuolumne River flowing toward the distant mountains. The moon was new, so I knew the landscape would be completely dark once twilight was over. Phrased another way, it was a perfect situation for a blue hour blend.

I set up my tripod and used the ultrawide Irix 11mm f/4 lens to fill the foreground with the river. I made a few exposures during dusk, then left the setup while heading off to shoot with a second camera for awhile. I came back once the stars were shining, and made several exposures over the course of an hour or so, capturing the Milky Way in different spots as it drifted along the horizon. I later composited two of the frames in Photoshop to create the final image.

Gabriel Biderman

Officer’s Row, Sandy Hook

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Nikon Z 6 with a Nikon Z 24-70mm f/4 lens at 24mm. 30 seconds, f/11, ISO 1600.

My new year’s resolution for 2021 was a simple one: to get out more at night and photograph! I live in Brooklyn, New York, and spent most of 2020 indoors; I didn’t travel farther than my Vepsa could take me.

So in early January my wife and I decided to spend a weekend with a good friend of ours in New Jersey, right outside Sandy Hook. Part of Gateway National Recreation Area, Sandy Hook is a very popular spot in the warmer months, but in the winter when the temperature is below 20 F, not so much.

For the two nights I poked around with my camera, I was bundled up like an Arctic explorer. Everyone thought I was crazy for going out, but I would not be daunted. This was the first national park I had stepped into in over a year, and I was energized!

Officer’s Row is one of the most scenic spots at Sandy Hook, especially for the brilliant sunsets that light up the sky. I tried a variety of focal lengths, cropping in tight to one, three or five houses. It was nice, but almost too simple. I continued to move back to include more buildings and then I realized that the trees at the other end of the field stood in a row similar to the homes. By adding the trees, it created the perfect foreground to give a better sense of place. Officer’s Row is not just the homes they lived in, but the field where military folk played with their families.

It was a cold and lonely experience, but one that jump-started my 2021 relationship with national parks at night.

Reacquainted with the Night, Joshua Tree National Park

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Sony a7S III with a Sony FE 12-24mm f/2.8 lens at 18mm. 13 seconds, f/2.8, ISO 6400.

I was thrilled to have my first road trip of the year be to a familiar and always inspirational place, Joshua Tree National Park. I was also excited to be sharing the experience with my good friend and co-teacher, Matt Hill. We both packed our kitchen sinks for what would end up being a 3-week road trip. Not only did I bring trackers, tripods and time-lapse devices, but I also borrowed every Sony A7 and A9 camera and most of their wide and fast glass.

Matt and I had 3 days to scout and enjoy the night skies as we prepared for an upcoming workshop. But with so much gear, I got stuck in “testing” mode and created very few images for myself.

After the workshop we stayed an extra night to team with Chris and Tim to record our OPTIC Imaging Conference presentation for B&H Photo. That was a long, focused night that required the four of us to play multiple roles from creative to producer and grip!

During a break in the filming Matt went to lay on one of Joshua Tree’s many boulders. He was exhausted and needed to re-energize by taking a few moments to be one with the stars.

I immediately took one of our Luxli Fiddle LED panels and boomed it up and over him. I love the spotlight effect that made it seem like Matt was bathing in the moonlight. For the camera, I chose a low angle to create a new horizon line that makes it seem like Matt is floating on a wave of rocks.

This could be one of my favorite night portraits I have ever made, because to me Matt is experiencing something I have done and that we all need to remember: Take a break under the stars and get reacquainted with the night.

Lance Keimig

Julie at Bass Harbor

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Nikon D780 with a Tamron 15-30mm f/2.8 lens at 29mm. Six composited frames exposed at a range of 2 to 30 seconds, f/5.6, ISO 100.

This image was made more or less as a grab shot as the last twilight was fading at Bass Harbor, Maine, during our PhotoPills workshop in Acadia National Park.

We had arrived just as the light was fading, and by the time the group dispersed and got to work, it was too late to get it all in one exposure. Not to be deterred, I did a six-frame bracket at 1-stop intervals. I was struck by the scene, and even in the fading twilight the light was gorgeous. Our workshop participant Julie had set up on the pier, and at first I was bummed that she was in my frame, but in the end I think that she adds to the image.

I’m attracted to the cool blue colors punctuated with one sodium vapor streetlight and a few warm lights in the houses, plus the stillness and the simple architectural shape of the shack on the pier. Julie adds another element, and marks the context for my memory.

To me, it’s a great example of how a photograph has the power to transport me to a different place and time. As I sit here typing on a cold December evening in Vermont, I’m taken back to coastal Maine in the height of summer, and all of the places spent over the course of a week with a fine group of people making images. It’s personal, and I like that. The viewer will make whatever they want or nothing at all of the image, but for me it is a place-keeper for a boatload of memories.

Tanguy Key

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Nikon D750 with a Nikon 28mm PC f/3.5 lens. 15 seconds, f/5.6, ISO 6400.

After completing our Everglades National Park workshop in April, Chris and I took a couple of days to explore the Florida Keys. I am so out of my element in Florida. Culturally, geographically, meteorologically, Florida is just not in my wheelhouse. I admit, after a long New England winter it was nice to be wearing shorts and a Hawaiian shirt while those at home were still wearing down jackets, but still …

The drive from the Everglades into the Middle Keys took longer than we had anticipated, and longer than Google had promised, and the night-photo opps visible from the main drag were few and far between. I didn’t mind; I was just along for the ride and happy to experience this strange new environment.

This image was made at the foot of one of the causeways that connects the keys, where the setting comprised a vast expanse of sea and sky punctuated with sticks and stones and various synthetic detritus. The tropical colors and minimalist landscape reminded me of the French surrealist painter Yves Tanguy, and I made several compositions that night in his honor that had a similar feel.

I’m smitten with this composition—the repeating shapes of the stones, the sticks, the horizon and the wires, and the graduated turquoise hues of water fading into sky all work together to make this one of my surprise greatest hits of 2021.

Matt Hill

White Pocket

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Nikon Z 6 with an Irix Cine 11mm T4.3 lens, lit with a Luxli Fiddle. Eleven frames shot at 20 seconds, T4.3, ISO 12800, stitched in PTGui and post-processed in Lightroom.

Until this year, one of my bucket list experiences was an overnight at White Pocket in the Vermillion Cliffs National Monument of northern Arizona. Boy am I lucky to have scratched this one off the list!

This location is on BLM land, and you can camp there overnight without a permit. If planning a visit, always check ahead of time, as it’s a major commitment to drive out there (in deep, deep sand). You might also consider hiring a local guide, like we did. They provided camp gear and food, and we drove ourselves in a high-clearance vehicle.

All disclaimers aside, this area is precious, wild, remote and located in dark, dark skies. Being there seems like being on the surface of another planet. The various colors and textures of rock are mesmerizing, and a joy to light paint.

I had been imagining this pano for years. Ever since my first daytime-only visit I’d been wanting to photograph the Vortex and Castle Rock paired with a low Milky Way.

When the chance finally came, I was with Gabe and we interpreted this scene in different ways. But we both had our tripod legs on the precipice of the Vortex, which dips down much more precariously than this image suggests.

The final pano is a PTGui blend of 11 images made from an ultrawide 11mm Irix Cine lens, in vertical orientation. As usual, I aggressively overlapped the images for a seamless stitch. I shot at ISO 12,800 to balance out the native T4.3 maximum aperture. And each 20-second exposure was halfway between Accurate and Default NPF exposure durations for crispy star points.

Lighting the monumental landform was tricky. I used a Luxli Fiddle to bounce light off the stone wall behind us—literally the only option as my angle of view exceeded 200 degrees.

This now hangs on my wall as a 72-inch Xposer print.

Bethesda Fountain, Central Park

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Nikon Z 6II with a Nikon Z 24-70mm f/2.8 S lens at 34mm, lit with two Coast HP7R flashlights. 60 seconds, f/6.3, ISO 100.

During our New York City workshop with Gabe, it felt great to get back to my roots. Gabe and I had met and fostered our friendship over night photography in NYC, so returning to the noise and a cacophony of light sources was quite satisfying.

Bethesda Fountain is an icon within the world-famous Central Park. This was not my first time shooting here, but it was certainly the best lighting I’ve ever had. And that was due to teamwork!

Gabe and I placed our flashlights on the fountain’s edge to add sparkle to the gilded statuary. The light also filled in the dark areas in the water and under the body of the fountain. We placed the first light slightly left of camera, the second perpendicular and to the right. The result is, for me, a strong example of well-defined portrait lighting.

Of particular challenge was defining the falling water. The camera did capture all the info I needed, but some post-processing magic in Lightroom was required to render this version. Applying a Select Subject mask allowed me to control the highlights and contrast in the water. I added a Select Sky mask to darken the sky, and increased contrast. Finally, I darkened the bright clouds low to the horizon with a brush mask and emphasized the paths of the water cascading down to the final raised pool.

What you don’t see was the most “New York Moment” of all: the half-naked man collecting change from the bottom of the fountain during this exposure. Ah, New York, how I love you.

Tim Cooper

Desert Light, Joshua Tree National Park

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Nikon Z 6II with a Nikon Z 12-24mm f/2.8 lens at 24mm. Multiple blended exposures of 30 seconds, f/8, ISO 1600 (foreground) and 15 minutes, f/8, ISO 100 (sky).

With its amazing array of rock formations, desert flora and pure night skies, Joshua Tree National Park is a night photographer's paradise. I was fortunate enough to be there for the near simultaneous events of our PhotoPills workshop and our video production for B&H’s OPTIC Imaging conference.

While scouting, Chris showed me this narrow defile near Skull Rock and I knew it was not only a great spot for our PhotoPills workshop but also a perfect spot for me to do a light painting demo for the conference. The shoot was, however, going to be a challenge.

When first entering the narrow gorge I saw the desert scrub plant wedged between the rounded rocks and knew I wanted to backlight the plant so it would anchor the foreground and highlight the texture in the rock formations.

The first problem was that there was no way one exposure would give me enough time to light paint the foreground and the background. The second problem was that I was so close to foreground rocks that even an aperture of f/16 would not provide perfect sharpness throughout the scene. So I decided to break up the scene into several exposures.

On the first exposure I focused on the foreground rocks and painted from behind to bring out the texture and to backlight the scrub plant. On the second exposure I refocused on the middle ground and walked through the scene while illuminating the walls of the gorge. The light on the far peak was supplied by passing cars.

After many practice runs and several failed attempts I was finally able to light the entire scene as I’d imagined it. For the final exposure I focused on the sky to create the trailing stars.

While the bulk of time creating this image occurred in the field, I also spent a significant amount of time post-processing. The same scene taken with different focus points results in small changes to the size of the subjects within the scene. This means that I had to resize each frame in Photoshop so that all of the rocks were the same size in the final image. Then each frame had to be blended together to create the illusion of continuous lighting. The easiest part was blending the star trails with the foreground.

While many night images can be made with a single exposure, sometimes it's easy to envision a shot that requires a lot more work. I’m glad I took on this particular challenge as it turned out to be one of my favorite images of 2021.

Star Trails, Valley View, Yosemite National Park

Nikon Z 6II with a Nikon Z 12-24mm f/2.8 lens at 14mm. Foreground: three focus-stacked blue-hour images shot at 15 seconds, f/5, ISO 100. Sky: three exposures shot at 5 minutes, f/3.5, ISO 500.

Of the millions of photographs made in Yosemite National Park, some of my favorites are from the Valley View pull-off. The ever-changing volume of the Merced River revealing, hiding and reshaping the river's edge directly below the parking area has been fodder for an abundance of magical photographs. I was determined to add to that collection, hoping for an image that captured this view with the stars of the night sky.

My chance finally came in October when Matt and I led a group of night photographers for a workshop in Yosemite Valley. During our initial scout I was disappointed to find that the river had become so low from California's ongoing drought that this particular vantage point left much to be desired.

As luck would have it, our group experienced the break in California’s dry spell to a tune of over 6 inches of rain in less than 2 days. The aftermath of the rainfall was truly magical as all of the waterfalls were rejuvenated and the rivers sprung back to life.

After shuffling the schedule around a bit due to the rain, we were able to venture to the Valley View pull-off to begin a night of shooting. The swollen river produced a far more interesting foreground as it created new channels and connected the recently dried grass tussocks with the flow of the water.

Setting up near several of the workshop participants, we worked through the blue hour exposures (with focus stacking to accommodate the extreme depth of the scene) and waited for astronomical twilight to end.

Simply waiting and watching as the glow faded from the mountains was worth the whole excursion. After the show of color ended and we counted the lights of the climbers making camp on the vertical cliffs, darkness finally fell and we began our sky exposures. I chose to create star trails via a stack of three 5-minute exposures in the hopes of creating motion in the sky that would echo that of the river and that implied a mirror of the motion of the foreground grasses.

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Your Turn

What was your favorite night photograph of 2021? We’d love to see it! Share in the comments below, or on our Facebook page, or on Instagram (tag us @nationalparksatnight #nationalparksatnight #seizethenight). Be sure to tell a story too—the technical aspects, the challenge overcome, or a tale of the experience.

Then … have a Happy New Year!

Gabriel Biderman is a partner and workshop leader with National Parks at Night. He is a Brooklyn-based fine art and travel photographer, and author of Night Photography: From Snapshots to Great Shots (Peachpit, 2014). During the daytime hours you'll often find Gabe at one of many photo events around the world working for B&H Photo’s road marketing team. See his portfolio and workshop lineup at www.ruinism.com.

UPCOMING WORKSHOPS FROM NATIONAL PARKS AT NIGHT

Five Questions: Aurora Noise, Portable Stools, Moving Lightroom and More

Welcome to the 20th installment of our “Five Questions” series. Know what that means? We’re about to answer our 100th question for you!

This installment features inquiries about noise reduction with auroras, internal intervalometers, portable stools, Luxli lights and moving a Lightroom catalog to a new drive.

If you have any questions you would like to throw our way, please contact us anytime. Questions could be about gear, national parks and other photo locations, post-processing techniques, field etiquette, or anything related to night photography. #SeizeTheNight!

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1. No Noise in Auroras

Question:

Do you use long exposure noise reduction when shooting auroras? I was trying to shoot some in Minnesota and the person I was with had it enabled in her Canon. — Claron G.

Auroras over Westfjords, Iceland. Nikon D750 with a 14mm lens. 10 seconds, f/2.8, ISO 6400. © Gabriel Biderman.

Answer:

You shouldn’t need long exposure noise reduction (LENR) for shooting auroras in cold temperatures. Your Canon friend was probably taking advantage of Auto LENR, which is a feature available only in Canon cameras.

Most high-in-the-sky aurora shots should be exposed for 2 to 8 seconds, otherwise the waves of light can blur together and you lose their interesting shapes. At such short shutter speeds, I wouldn’t be concerned about long exposure noise with any digital camera made in the last 10 years—especially in the cold temperatures we’re usually shooting auroras in. In most cameras, LENR would even slow you down, because you wouldn’t be able to shoot when the noise reduction is processing between exposures. — Gabe

2. Ignoring Internal Intervalometers

Question:

Considering that the prosumer Nikon Z cameras have fairly good built-in intervalometers, why are you still using external intervalometers? Do they add capability or is it just a convenience thing? — Mark K.

Answer:

There are two issues we have with built-in intervalometers. The first is that most—no matter which camera brand—are terribly confusing. Even after using mine regularly I still make mistakes while setting it up.

The second is that even with a built-in intervalometer, you’re limited to the maximum shutter speed of the camera, and many cameras do not provide for timed exposures longer than 30 seconds. This means you can’t shoot a series of 1-, 2- or 4-minute exposures with the built-in intervalometer, but rather need to shoot a huge stack of 30-second exposures. (The Nikon Z 6II does have the ability to shoot at 15 minutes, so that’s a help if you use that particular camera.)

Using an external intervalometer can be inconvenient, but does have some benefits. For example, being able to look at the intervalometer and see where you are in the exposure count, being able to set odd exposure times (e.g., 45 seconds or 2.5 minutes), and being able to set the number of shots at infinity. — Tim

3. Oft-Folding Stool

Question:

In your e-book about meteor showers you mention the Walkstool Comfort chair. I have a similar (but cheaper) stool that I use when doing macro and insect photography. I find it very comfortable, but very annoying to move. If I pick it up with one hand, holding the camera with the other hand, I can’t move the stool without it collapsing, and then it’s just about impossible to reopen and reposition one-handed. Does the Walkstool have the same issue? — Judy L.

Answer:

Yes, the Walkstool (which I use and own) does collapse when you pick it up. That’s a nice feature for many situations, but I agree that it’s not ideal for the needs you describe. — Matt

4. a Luxli Buffet

Question:

I just went to B&H Photo’s website and looked at lights. There are lots more options than I could have imagined. I remember you mentioning a Viola at one point, but I didn’t catch the other you mentioned. Which lights would you recommend? — Mark K.

Answer:

At the moment Luxli has four lights worth considering, and two that we recommend for night work.

In the former category: The Cello and Timpani models are great for what they’re great at, but we don’t suggest them for what we do—both are too bright for most dark-sky night photography.

Which brings us to our favorites: The Viola is the tool we have loved since the very first time we tested one, in early 2017. It gives you accurate control over color temperature and the ability to illuminate a scene at very low power. The relatively new Fiddle has the ability to go dimmer still (to 0.1 percent power, when using the Conductor app), something we take advantage of quite a bit. — Lance

5. Migrating Lightroom Files

Question:

I bought a new 8 TB solid state drive to use for my images and Lightroom catalog, to replace my old 1 TB drive. What’s the best way to transfer all the files and catalog to the new drive without messing up Lightroom? Do I use the Move function within Lightroom or move them in Windows Explorer? I suspect this means I will need to update my preferences in Lightroom so it knows the new location of the catalog and files. — Roy B.

Answer:

As a PC user, you’re in luck, because you can trick Lightroom into seeing your new drive as its normal location.

1. Close Lighroom (important first step, otherwise you’ll also be copying a lock file, which will give you trouble later).

2. Copy everything from your old hard drive to your new one.

3. In Windows, change the drive letter of your new drive to whatever your old one was. (So if your old drive is G, change your new one to G.) You might need to unplug your old drive and reboot the computer in order to have access to the old drive letter.

4. Open Lightroom again and the catalog should load seamlessly.

The Lightroom program should never even know the difference. It will see everything exactly as it was before, not even knowing that it’s looking at a different physical location for the data. — Chris

Chris Nicholson is a partner and workshop leader with National Parks at Night, and author of Photographing National Parks (Sidelight Books, 2015). Learn more about national parks as photography destinations, subscribe to Chris' free e-newsletter, and more at www.PhotographingNationalParks.com.

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UPCOMING WORKSHOPS FROM NATIONAL PARKS AT NIGHT

A Few Favorite Things: Our 2021 Night Photography Holiday Gift Guide

Yes, it’s that time of year. Time for early nightfalls, time for northern lights, and time for thinking of the photographer in your life who’s looking for a little new cheer from a little new gear.

To help, for the sixth year in a row we bring you our National Parks at Night Holiday Gift Guide. It’s full of products that may or may not fit in stockings—or even, for that matter, might not even fit nicely in boxes and bows—but that are, regardless, sure to put a smile on any night photographer’s face.

The products we selected might help make that someone special’s photography better, or perhaps improve the experience of being outdoors at night. Or maybe one of these gifts will remind them of the amazing places they go, or help them showcase the images they made while there.

In addition to the blog post below, we’re also providing this gift guide as a free downloadable PDF e-book, so you can read it and reference it on any device, anytime, anywhere. Inside you’ll find products from major brands such as B&H Photo, BenQ, Bay Photo and Luxli, along with great little finds from smaller companies and even non-profits.

In addition to the product information, the e-book version includes a lot more photos, as well as special discount codes and offers.

Download your copy today by clicking here:

Note: If you decide to purchase any of the items in this gift guide, please consider using the links included, as many generate a small commission that helps us improve the National Parks at Night workshop program.

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1Zpresso

Q2 Travel Coffee Grinder

We are big fans of traveling with our portable Aeropress espresso maker. For the ultimate in freshness, it’s best to get those beans whole and grind them when you are ready. It might seem like a lot of work but the 1Zpresso Q2 makes it easy and fun! This incredibly compact burr grinder fits inside your Aeropress and is solidly built. The wooden handle makes for quick and comfortable grinding—typically in 20 to 30 seconds. So step up your coffee game and impress your local barista with your grinding skills!

Acratech

GPSS Ball Head

Tripod heads are one of the most important pieces of equipment a photographer can buy. The best of the best operate smoothly and with precision, as well as being comfortable to use and strong enough to withstand repeated use with quality cameras on top. The Acratech GPSS is certainly one that stands heads and shoulders above the crowd. Made in the USA, by photographers, its travel-tripod-friendly minimalist design weighs less than 1 pound but is rated to support up to 25 pounds! The GPSS also has gimbal and pano-base capability, as well as an Arca-Swiss quick-release clamp.

Adventure Responsibly

National Park Stickers

We love our national parks and public lands. So do the folks at Adventure Responsibly. They love them so much that they donate 5 percent of their proceeds to the National Park Foundation, and they also donate to, organize and assist in local and national litter cleanup efforts. Among lots of cool stuff, check out their line of retro-design National Park Stickers for awesome places such as Acadia, Arches, Grand Teton and more. You’ll be helping support a company whose mission it is to promote outdoor awareness and stewardship. Plus you get to sport the cool merch. It’s a win-win.

B&H Photo

Gift Card

Struggling with what to get the photographer friend in your life? There’s one thing that’s guaranteed to make them smile: anything at B&H! As in, the gift that gives more, a B&H gift card. The gift card comes in both electronic and physical formats, and is available in denominations ranging from $20 to $1,000. They never expire, so if the recipient also can’t decide what to get, there’s no pressure to use it in a hurry.

Bay Photo Lab

Face Mounted Acrylic Prints

We recently received some acrylic test prints from Bay Photo and were very impressed! Acrylic images are printed on metal or LexJet FineArt metallic (our favorite) or Lustre surfaces. Better resolution is achieved with LexJet’s FineArt Paper versus printing on metal. You can choose the thickness of the acrylic, and you’ll be amazed at the extra depth and clarity it gives an image. Acrylic blocks are a fun way to make a family tabletop display of loved ones, but the Face Mounted Acrylic prints are a great way to celebrate night images. Choose from sizes 4x4 inches to 43x96, and opt for the sturdier Dibond backing.

Special offer: 20 percent off one order of select wall display prints from Bay Photo Lab with promo code “NPAN21.” Valid until December 13, 2021.

BenQ

SW270c Monitor

What you see is what you get. Or at least it should be. The computer monitor is that all-important interface between what we see in the field and our final images. And with so many options out there, deciding on the right monitor can be a frustrating experience—until you see a BenQ. With 99 percent of the Adobe RGB color space covered and ample controls for calibrating the screen, their SW monitors are perfectly engineered for the discerning photographer. For a perfect balance between price and quality, we love the SW270C.

Special offer: $80 off the SW270C, $160 off the SW271C and $200 off the SW321C at B&H Photo with promo code “BHNIGHT21.” Valid until December 3, 2021.

Benro

Arcasmart Sidearm

Let’s agree that smartphones are here to stay for the foreseeable future. Given that, why not make it easier during a night photo shoot to use app-based software and mount it right alongside your camera? The Benro Arcasmart Sidearm has a fold-out, adjustable phone holder so you can operate PhotoPills, Stellarium or your camera’s control app right next to your camera.

Black Friday deal: 25 percent off at B&H Photo through November 29, 2021.

Bookshelf

Photography & Night Books

If there’s one thing we can never get enough of, it’s books. There have been some great releases this year for lovers of night photography and our national parks and monuments. From the legendary Art Wolfe to National Parks at Night’s good friend Ken Lee to renowned parks photographer QT Luong, here’s a sampling with a little something for all tastes.

• Abandoned Planes, Trains, and Automobiles: California Revealed, by Ken Lee

• Chasing Light, by Frank Ruggles

• Subpar Parks, by Amber Share

• Night on Earth, by Art Wolfe

• To Know a Starry Night, by Paul Bogard

• Our National Monuments: America’s Hidden Gems, by QT Luong

• Northern England 1983-1986, by Michael Kenna

Coast Portland

XP6R Flashlight

The Coast XP6R is a beast in miniature. At less than 4 inches long and only 2.6 ounces, the XP6R flashlight delivers brightest-in-class light and travels anywhere. With three output modes and Coast’s patented slide focus, this tiny giant is powered by a Zithion-X rechargeable battery (charging cable included) but can also run on a CR123 lithium battery. Big things do come in small packages!

Special offer: 35 percent off at Coast Portland with promo code “PARKSATNIGHT.”

Coffeify

Starry Night Coffee & Tea Cup

A beautiful, elegant, handmade mug ready for sipping a hot coffee or tea before a night out photographing the sky, or perhaps as a wake-up on the morning after. Made of fine ceramic, the Starry Night Coffee & Tea Cup is delicate but strong, gilded with vibrant gold details, and sits on a carved wooden saucer.

Cognitive Surplus

Night Sky Wine Glasses

For wine as dark as a night sky, what better way to indulge than with a glass full of stars? Night Sky Wine Glasses are designed with stars and constellations, and even the Milky Way stretching across the heavens, all above a landscape of shoreline and hills and trees. Available with or without stems, depicting either Northern or Southern Hemisphere.

Field Made Co

Lens & Camera Indicators

One of the problems with working in the dark is that it’s … well, dark. So when you’re poking around your bag to find a piece of gear, any assistance is welcome. Enter Lens & Camera Indicators—labels for body caps and lens caps that sleekly identify what’s what in a camera bag. Available individually for a wide range of gear, or in cost-saving combination packs of common, brand-specific lenses.

Firefly Books

Astronomy References

Most night photographers aren’t astronomers, but they sure rely a lot on astronomy. So a little astronomical knowledge can go a long way toward helping to make better images, or to at least know a little more about what we’re shooting. Firefly Books has two references to help: the Backyard Astronomer’s Guide, a 400-plus-page hardcover that details all the things we can see at night and how to see them best, and the 2022 Night Sky Almanac, a guide to what we can expect all year from the moon, the stars, auroras and more.

Focus on Stars

Focusing Filter

Achieving critical focus is the most persistent problem for many night photographers, and for those who are still struggling with it, the Focus on Stars filter is the best aid we’ve found for doing just what the name says: focusing on stars. It’s a specialized version of a Bahtinov mask, which was originally developed as a focusing aid for telescopes, but has been modified and enhanced for use with wide-angle lenses. Designed by Hungarian photographer Gábor Tákacs, Focus on Stars makes it easy to nail your focus—on stars or on any point light source—every time.

Special offer: 15 percent off at Focus on Stars with promo code “FOS_NPAN.” Valid until December 15, 2021.

Good & Well Supply Co

National Park Candles

We love taking pictures of all the national parks, but one thing we could never bring back was the scent of the park. Until now! Good & Well Supply Co’s National Park Candles collection features over 40 parks. Their well-crafted scents will take you from Acadia to Zion and all the wonderful places in between. Candles are available in pint or half-pint sizes, and will easily transport you back to those wild and pristine lands!

Hog Island Press

Adventure Map

This land is our land, and what better way to seek out your next trip than with the Hog Island Press Adventure Map? It features not only the major national parks but also Great Trails and State Peaks. Use pins to mark off the ones you’ve been to and keep track of the wonderful places to go!

ID My Stuff

Identification Labels

Camera gear is precious. Not to mention expensive. We never want to lose a piece, but things happen. Increase the chances of seeing a lost piece again by providing the finder with your contact info! ID My Stuff makes the perfect custom Identification Labels for camera equipment. They’re durable and weather-resistant, come in various sizes for discreet or in-your-face exposure, and are available in seven colors so you can color-code gear.

Image3D

RetroViewer

If you want to celebrate a trip or an anniversary—or just enjoy your photos in a crazy-unique format—then the RetroViewer could be the funnest way! Who among us older folks didn’t have a View-Master in the 1970s? Everyone had the “Seven Wonders of the World” reel, right? Now you can make your own wonders and nostalgically wow your family and friends. Easy to upload your photos and edit the result.

International Dark-Sky Association

Membership

Chances are that light pollution has some sort of impact on your life. As the world’s population grows, our access to dark, star-filled night skies shrinks. The International Dark-Sky Association is dedicated to increasing awareness and providing information, education and resources to combat this global creep of illumination. You can help the IDA and your favorite night photographer by giving the gift of membership. Includes standing in the giftee’s local chapter; timely, relevant news and updates about nighttime protection efforts nearby and around the world; and access to special member resources.

Irix

30mm f/1.4 Dragonfly

For anyone looking for a new point of view, Irix’s fast 30mm f/1.4 Dragonfly lens could be the ticket to monster photos of the galactic core, not to mention sweet, sweet pano stitches. Featuring ultralow distortion, electronic diaphragm control and the hallmark Irix focus locking mechanism. Available for full-frame cameras in Canon EF, Nikon F and Pentax K mounts.

Joshua Tree Coffee

Bali Kintamani

This limited-edition single-origin roast was carefully crafted to be enjoyed by a wide range of coffee drinkers. Grown in the Kintamani region of Bali at around 5,000 feet above sea level in volcanic loam soil, these beans have been naturally dry processed, lending to distinct earthy and fruity notes. Bali Kintamani is perfect for your Aeropress while on the road, or at home!

LaCie

D2 External Hard Drive

How many photos did we shoot this year? Do we all still have enough storage space to safely hold all those files? LaCie is one of the best hard drive companies out there and we feel confident storing our  hard-won images on their hard drives. Anyone looking to upgrade or add a backup external hard drive needs to look no further than the D2 Professional USB 3.2 Gen 2 Hard Drive that stores up to 18 TB.

Special offer: 10 percent off select LaCie Portable, Rugged and D2 external hard drives from B&H Photo with promo code “BHNIGHT21.” Valid until December 3, 2021.

Ledlenser

P6R Work

Earlier this year we were introduced to Ledlenser’s impressive line of flashlights. We especially like the P6R Work, which features a rechargeable battery, a color temperature of 4000 K and a CRI of 90, and four brightness settings ranging from 15 to 850 lumens. Especially useful is the “last used setting” memory: If you turn the light off from the low setting, it will come back on at low power. It’s one-stop shopping for all of your light painting needs!

Light Painting Brushes

Color Fiber Optics, Set of 4 Colors

This set of four Color Fiber Optics brushes (in pink, purple, blue and green) will delight the light writer seeking soft, electric lines in their creations. A unique effect is that you can artfully combine fiber optic colors with different flashlight colors to create nifty color mixing options. Comes with a plastic carrying case. Universal Connector required for use.

Luxli

Red Fiddle

Last year Luxli came out with our favorite low-level LED light, the Fiddle. It’s super compact, has a built-in and long-lasting internal battery and quickly charges with USB-C. Its capability to power down to .1 percent helps bring realistic lighting to night images. Originally released in black, a sharp-looking red Fiddle is now available. Use it in combination with a black Fiddle to quickly identify which is a main light and which is fill, or just use the red to be more festive!

Special offer: Special price of $199 at B&H Photo with promo code “BHNIGHT21.” Valid through December 3, 2021.

Manfrotto

Befree GT XPRO

For anyone in need of an entry-level or second tripod that is super stable and won’t break the bank, the Manfrotto Befree GT XPRO is a perfect answer. Available in aluminum and the half-pound-lighter carbon fiber versions. Both feature a maximum load capacity of 26.5 pounds with a maximum height of 64.6 inches and folded length of 16.9 inches, as well as a built-in 90-degree column mechanism that’s great for tabletop or macro photography.

Special offer: 10 percent off at B&H Photo with promo code “BHNIGHT21.” Valid through December 3, 2021.

Merrell

Night Sky Trail Shoes

A stellar shoe for the trailblazing stargazer—which is pretty much every night photographer. These trekkers are designed with us in mind. Night-sky pattern on the uppers, glow-in-the-dark outsole, and all the features you’d expect out of a quality trail shoe from a stand-up brand like Merrell. Night Sky Trail Shoes are available for only a limited time.

Midnight Society

Fake Park Patches

When we next ask you what your dream destination is, imagine … anyplace. And get an iron-on patch, sticker or pin to prove you’ve been there (even if it’s only in your imagination). Introducing Fake Park Patches! Tongue-in-cheek designs available for Tatooine National Park, Arrakis National Park, Fire Swamp National Park. Anyone presenting a Mordor National Park patch gets a free coffee from Matt on their next workshop with him.

My Bucket Journals

National Park Bucket Journal

Your friends love the national parks. You probably do too. To record adventures to the parks, or to make shooting notes about the photos being made or scouting notes for photos to be made in the future, the perfect travel companion is the National Park Bucket Journal. Each of the 63 U.S. national parks has its own two-page spread with info about the park, including geographical data, statistics and highlights to check out. Available in digital and 8.5x11-inch paper versions.

National Park Service

America the Beautiful Pass

In 1983 Wallace Stegner said, “National parks are the best idea we ever had. Absolutely American, absolutely democratic, they reflect us at our best rather than our worst.” The establishment of the national parks and the recognition of their importance are as meaningful today as the day they occurred. For only $80 you can purchase the America the Beautiful annual park pass to begin or continue an exploration of America’s greatest idea. The annual pass provides access to more than 2,000 recreation areas managed by five federal agencies, and the proceeds are used to improve and enhance visitor recreation services.

National Parks at Night

Instructor Books & e-Books

Looking for some national park and night photography inspiration and education that you can always have at your fingertips? Choose from one of the several written by members of the National Parks at Night team, available in both paperback and electronic formats.

• HDR Photography: From Snapshots to Great Shots, by Tim Cooper

• Magic of Light Painting, by Tim Cooper

• Night Photography: From Snapshots to Great Shots, by Gabriel Biderman & Tim Cooper

• Night Photography and Light Painting: Finding Your Way in the Dark, by Lance Keimig

• Photographing National Parks: A Guide to Scouting and Shooting America’s Most Cherished Lands, by Chris Nicholson

• Realistic HDR Image, by Tim Cooper

2022 Wall Calendar

National Parks at Night’s sixth annual wall calendar, titled Night Light, will help the photographer stay inspired by and for night photography throughout 2022. The

12x12-inch calendar is printed on heavy-stock photographic paper, and is coil-bound for easy flipping from month to month.

In addition to 14 photos by the National Parks at Night instructors, the calendar includes dates for:

• National Park Service events and holidays

• astronomy holidays (yes, they exist)

• equinoxes and solstices

• new and full moons

• meteor showers

• supermoons

• eclipses

Night Photography and Post-Processing Workshops

Send the photographer in your life on the adventure of a lifetime, crafting images under the night skies of some amazing destinations. Or get them online to learn how to better process their images. Tickets are available for several National Parks at Night courses and adventures:

• Iceland North Coast (April 7-17, 2023)

• Intro to Night Photography: Death Valley (November 8-13, 2022)

• Lightroom Live: Selections and Masks (online, December 11, 2021)

• Lofoten Islands (March 18-26, 2022)

• Morocco Atlantic Coast (November 13-22, 2022)

• PhotoPills Bootcamp: Bryce Canyon (June 24-29, 2022)

• Yosemite High Sierra (August 28-September 2, 2022)

Or if none of those sound like the perfect gift, then how about Online Tutoring?

Nisi

Soft Star Filter

Most night photographers have probably at least seen a “soft star” filter—one that makes bright stars and constellations more apparent in a night scene. We’ve always felt a little meh about them, but the new graduated Soft Star Filter by Nisi piqued our interest! Because it’s graduated, the effect can be kept away from the landscape and applied only to the stars. Definitely something a night photographer can have fun experimenting and getting creative with!

Special offer: 15 percent off select Nisi filters at B&H Photo with promo code “BHNIGHT21.” Valid through December 3, 2021.

Nomadix

National Parks Night Towels

“A towel … is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have.” — Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

These multipurpose towels pack small and light and make you wonder why you ever used any other towel. Seriously, it’s hard to go back to “normal towels,” so best to buy two. Micro terry cloth made from recycled materials. Soft, durable and sand-resistant. Comes in a wide range of national park designs, including four National Parks Night Towels: Sequoia, Rocky Mountain, Olympic, Yosemite.

Novoflex

VR-System Slim Panorama System

German-engineered and manufactured, precision VR-System Slim Panorama System rig will support any mirrorless system and smaller DSLRs. Create repeatable dusk blends with star fields by using the adjustable detents. Expand the field of view by making multirow or 360-degree spherical panos. Even better, it disassembles for easy travel.

Special offer: $50 off at B&H Photo with promo code “BHNIGHT21.” Valid until December 3, 2021.

Parks Project

Campfire Stories

We all love a great campfire story, and we all love a great national park. Parks Project brings those together in Campfire Stories: Tales from America's National Parks. Get immersed in tales from legendary voices such as John Muir, Bill Bryson and Terry Tempest Williams, as well as from pioneer and indigenous writers. Stories in this 224-page hardcover focus on Acadia, Great Smoky Mountains, Rocky Mountain, Yellowstone, Yosemite and Zion. And if you need something to wrap any of this guide’s gifts, pick up a few rolls of Iconic Parks Wrapping Paper!

PhotoPills

Lighthouse Shirt

Show your love for both lighthouses and the best scouting app in the photo world with a PhotoPills Lighthouse Shirt. It’s a classic-cut premium T-shirt available in eight sizes and four colors, cut separately for men and women. Double-stitched with reinforced seams at the shoulders, sleeves, collar and waist.

Rocky Talkie

Two-Way Radios

These are the radios we use on NPAN workshops to keep instructors and attendees all safe and in touch at night in vast natural spaces. Rocky Talkie radios were designed for skiers and climbers and anyone spending time in teams in the wilderness or in rugged environments. The specially designed lithium-ion battery lasts for 3 days, the LED display is shatterproof, the casing is weather-sealed, and despite being license-free, the radios have an effective range of 1 to 5 miles in rocky terrain.

Ruggard

EDC-80L Electronic Dry Cabinet

How do you care for your camera gear if your home is damp or humid? You could save all those desiccant packs from sneaker boxes, or you could get an EDC-80L Electronic Dry Cabinet. Avoid the awful consequences of mold growing in between lens elements, or even inside the camera. Store gear in a dry cabinet for both longevity and peace of mind.

She’s Birdie

Birdie Personal Safety Alarm

It’s designed by women, for women—but for anyone concerned about being out at night alone, a personal alarm can provide a touch of safety and security. Enter the Birdie, featuring a 130-decibel alarm and a flashing strobe light. The device doubles as a call for help and a deterrent from harm. Comes with a solid brass key chain and is available in 11 colors.

Shimoda 

Explore V2 Backpack 

Shimoda has revamped their popular compact backpack series with the Explore V2. Choose between a 25L, 30L or 35L version, as well as between a very nice army green or black. Shimoda is all about custom comfort, allowing the wearer to adjust their straps according to size, or even with a specialized women’s harness. Hike in comfort and still bring the core essentials!

Special offer: 10 percent off the full line of Shimoda Explore V2 bags at B&H Photo with promo code “BHNIGHT21.” Valid through December 3, 2021.

Starry Landscape Stacker

Stacking Software

While digital cameras have come a long way in reducing high ISO noise, we as night photographers still want to push that envelope. But high ISOs come at a cost: noisier images. Enter Starry Landscape Stacker. This piece of software allows you to shoot starry night sky images at higher ISO’s and then, through the software’s powerful magic, produce an image that exhibits substantially less noise. For those wanting the cleanest Milky Way images, this is must-have software. For Mac only.

Tether Tools

ONsite Relay C

Tether Tools has revamped the power game with the brand new ONsite Relay C. Now with a USB-C connection and a slimmer profile, a photographer can connect directly into USB-C-powered cameras such as the Z 6II (not the Z 6) or use a corresponding coupler to get enough power to keep clicking well into the night. Great way to avoid changing batteries for multihour time-lapses and long exposures.

Tiffen

Star Effect Filter

Like many of the things from the 1980s, Tiffen’s star effects are making a comeback! Available in sizes from 32mm to 105mm, a Star Effect Filter turns any direct and bright light source (such as streetlamps and planets) into dramatic stars. Choose a normal four-point star or get up to 14 spikes with the Hyper Star Filter, or get the North Star Effect, which creates the classic four large points in between eight smaller points.

Special offer: 10 percent off select Tiffen Star Filters at B&H Photo with promo code “BHNIGHT21.” Valid until December 3, 2021.

Vallerret

Markhof Pro V3

The Markhof Pro V3 is the next generation of Vallerret’s “take everywhere” photographer’s glove. The glove has some major improvements in its third iteration, with the most important being more insulation without compromising dexterity. The flip fingers have an improved design to keep the cold out, with better finishing at the openings and stronger magnets to hold them open. Two new sizes have been added for those with slim hands, while the original sizes have been updated to better align with other Vallerret gloves. And 1 percent of Vallerret’s global sales go directly to environmental nonprofits.

Special offer: 10 percent off at Vallerret with code “PARKSATNIGHT10.” Valid until December 31, 2021.

Wildcoat

Bear Coat

Why be afraid of bears when you can become one? These hip winter Bear Coat jackets repel water, and perhaps humans. They also have fun bear-faced hoods, soft claw mitts built in and tons of pockets. When you’re ready to shred a long exposure, don one of these fun jackets and do it in style. 

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Note: Remember, this gift guide is also available as a free downloadable PDF, with lots more photos and a ton of discount codes. Download yours today by clicking the image above.

Chris Nicholson is a partner and workshop leader with National Parks at Night, and author of Photographing National Parks (Sidelight Books, 2015). Learn more about national parks as photography destinations, subscribe to Chris' free e-newsletter, and more at www.PhotographingNationalParks.com.

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UPCOMING WORKSHOPS FROM NATIONAL PARKS AT NIGHT

How I Got the Shot: Star Circles Over West Quoddy Head Lighthouse

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West Quoddy Head Lighthouse. Nikon D780 with a Tamron 15-30mm f/2.8 lens at 18 mm. Five stacked frames shot at 10 minutes, f/3.2, ISO 800.

The Location

After our recently completed PhotoPills workshop in Acadia National Park, Chris and I took an extra day and night to visit Lubec, Maine, and the West Quoddy Head Lighthouse––the easternmost point in the continental United States and the light that warns ships of its rocky shores.

We both enjoy working out different strategies for photographing lighthouses with different types of beacons. Some beams are continuous, some pulse or flash, and some rotate. Each type requires a unique approach to get the best possible exposure (or exposures) for both the lighthouse and the surrounding landscape.

West Quoddy Head Light is among the most common in the category: those with a pulsing or flashing light. The beacon switches on and off every few seconds in a consistent, unique pattern (referred to as the lighthouse’s “characteristic”) that enables mariners to establish their location.

Seafaring folk just need to know what the colors and pattern are—they’re not concerned about anything else. But night photographers? We care. The longer that the light remains off (the “eclipse,” in lighthouse terminology), the easier it is to photograph, because the longer it’s on (the “flash”), the harder it is to control in a night exposure. West Quoddy Head’s characteristic is a white beam that flashes for 2 seconds, eclipses for 2 seconds, flashes for 2 seconds, eclipses for 9 seconds, then repeats (Figure 1).

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Figure 1. This animation depicts what the 2-2-2-9-second flash sequence of the West Quoddy Head Lighthouse looks like in-person. This is the drastic change in exposure you need to compensate for when shooting a flashing-beam lighthouse. © 2021 Chris Nicholson.

Even for lighthouses with long eclipses, exposure is still a challenge, because the lantern is so bright. The usual technique to keep the flash from blowing out in an exposure is to cover the lens while the light is on and expose when the light is off over an extended period of time until an adequate ambient exposure is achieved. You still want to see the light, of course, so you allow the camera to see just a single flash.

Now let’s get back to Lubec and West Quoddy Head Lighthouse. We had arranged for after-hours access to the grounds, which is in a state park that is normally closed at sunset. We’d had a long day of travel and arrived after darkness had already fallen. There was no moon that night, and we set up without the benefit of daytime scouting. (Chris had been there before, but almost 20 years earlier!)

The lighthouse is situated on a peninsula (Figure 2) at the mouth of the Bay of Fundy, making it accessible from all sides with lots of photographic opportunities. The candy-striped paint and classic keeper’s house are easy to work with, but what really makes this lighthouse fun to photograph is its characteristic—that flash pattern of 2, 2, 2, 9.

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Figure 2. Google Earth view of the West Quoddy Head Lighthouse.

The unusually long 9-second period of darkness makes it easier than most other lighthouses to get a good image without over-exposing the lantern. This was especially helpful on that moonless night, as there was almost no light source other than the stars to illuminate the overall scene. A few dim lights (an exit sign and a computer’s glow) inside the keeper’s house lit a couple of the windows, but did little to light the landscape.

The Composition

My initial inclination was to set up beneath the lighthouse on the north side to capture the vertical core of the late-season Milky Way behind it (Figure 3). This required using an ultrawide lens tilted significantly upward. The resulting composition was tight on the sides, had too much foreground and had too much perspective distortion for me to correct effectively in post-production.

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Figure 3. West Quoddy Head Lighthouse test shot. I wanted to get the Milky Way in the frame, but didn’t like the compositional options. Nikon D780 with a Tamron 15-30mm f/2.8 lens at 15mm. 8 seconds, f/2.8, ISO 12,800.

I moved around to the south side of the lighthouse and set up a horizontal composition that included the keeper’s house, the ocean and a great alignment to make star circles. I wished that we had at least a little moonlight for the landscape, but that was not the case.

I established my composition with the intention to keep the camera level (in order to minimize distortion) and to crop out some of the resulting dark grassy foreground.

Then I focused on an illuminated window in the keeper’s house. I was about 50 feet from the house, so I knew that with an 18mm lens I could safely focus on the foreground and still have the stars in focus. (See “Use Hyperfocal Distance to Maximize Depth of Field at Night.”) Since we had just finished the PhotoPills bootcamp and those skills were fresh in my mind, I confirmed my focus choice with the Advanced DoF pill and found that if I focused at 50 feet then my depth of field would be from 18 feet to infinity. That was plenty!

The Exposure

While we generally use a baseline of 20 seconds, f/2.8, ISO 6400 for starlit scenes, that’s really a compromise exposure that underexposes to keep the stars as points of light. I prefer to add at least a stop of extra exposure for my star trail images; my go-to baseline for star trails is 10 minutes, f/3.2, ISO 800.

I could have used the Six Stop Rule to extrapolate, but since I was changing all three exposure variables from my test shot, it was easier to use the Exposure pill in PhotoPills to translate from the test exposure to the final exposure. In this case, a successful test of 1 minute, f/2.8, ISO 6400 yielded a final exposure of 10 minutes, f/3.2, ISO 800 (Figure 4). Boom! My go-to baseline was almost exactly the same as that night’s perfect exposure.

Now that I had fixed the composition, focus and exposure, it was time to get down to the real task at hand. In order to get a good semblance of a star circle with a wide lens, I knew that I would have to do at least 30 minutes of exposures, and preferably more.

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Figure 4. Unadjusted frame from the series, showing the single-shot exposure. Nikon D780 with a Tamron 15-30mm f/2.8 lens at 18 mm. 10 minutes, f/3.2, ISO 800.

If you’ve been paying attention, you might be wondering at this point how I’d go about exposing long enough for a star circle while covering the lens whenever the light was flashing. The short answer can be summed up with two words: patience and determination.

That meant that I would have to stand behind the camera covering and uncovering the lens according to the flash sequence of the lighthouse for the entire series of exposures. I probably could have used the cover-the-lens technique for just one exposure and then masked out the lighthouse from the rest of the images in post, but that’s not how I roll. I wanted to do as much in-camera and as little in post as possible.

I practiced for a couple of minutes to get the rhythm of the flash sequence down, and then started my first exposure, not knowing how long I’d be able to keep it up without accidentally uncovering the lens at the wrong time. To keep my count, when I wasn’t covering the lens, I was waving the black card in time with my counting. As luck would have it, I managed to pull off five 10-minute exposures, each with good highlight detail, even keeping it together when Chris came over to see what I was up to and started chatting.

Counting, covering and uncovering while trying to hold a conversation is not an easy task. It was on the sixth exposure that I whacked the lens with my black card and moved the camera ever so slightly. So that was it. Fifty minutes of star trails behind a lighthouse with a well-exposed lantern. That was a record for me, but now I can’t wait to go back and do it under a full moon!

The Processing

Stacking the images in Photoshop was relatively easy because of the way I’d gone about capturing the raw materials. The light wasn’t blowing out in any of the exposures, so it was a simple matter of:

1. selecting the five frames in Lightroom

2. choosing Photo > Edit In > Open as Layers in Photoshop

3. selecting all five layers

4. changing the blend mode of the five layers to Lighten (Figure 5)

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Figure 5.

I made a few minor touch-ups, then saved and returned the image to Lightroom.

Wrapping Up

Lighthouses are a challenging and fun subject for night photography. Sometimes the approach is dictated by geography––like the charming Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse in Acadia National Park and how it demands certain compositional compromises—while others offer 360 degrees of access.

The technique to get the best images varies from one lighthouse to the next, but the biggest challenge is usually trying to manage overexposure in the lantern while getting enough exposure for the landscape. The solution to that challenge varies depending on the lighthouse, and in this case the particular set of challenges pushed me toward a final photograph (Figure 6) I was quite happy with.

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Figure 6. The final image of West Quoddy Head Lighthouse. Nikon D780 with a Tamron 15-30mm f/2.8 lens at 18 mm. Five stacked frames shot at 10 minutes, f/3.2, ISO 800. That was fun.

If you’d like to have a go at some of the best lighthouses in North America, sign up for the waitlist for our Lighthouses of the Outer Banks, Acadia National Park or Monhegan Island workshops, and keep an eye out for more lighthouse workshops in the future.

What lighthouses have you photographed at night? We’d love to see! Feel free to post your take on this towering genre in the comments, on our Facebook page or on Instagram (tag us @nationalparksatnight and/or hashtag us #nationalparksatnight).

Lance Keimig is a partner and workshop leader with National Parks at Night. He has been photographing at night for 30 years, and is the author of Night Photography and Light Painting: Finding Your Way in the Dark (Focal Press, 2015). Learn more about his images and workshops at www.thenightskye.com.

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UPCOMING WORKSHOPS FROM NATIONAL PARKS AT NIGHT