Category Archives: Techniques

How to Create a Stacked Image of the Night Sky

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Night sky with airplane lights, Fremont, California

Venus, Jupiter, stars, and airplane lights. Fremont, California. 27 separate images stacked together. Click to see a larger version.

It is a handy thing to know how to stack multiple night sky images into one photo. It allows you to create one stacked image covering a long period of time (using multiple photos) when it is not possible to make one long exposure of the night sky. What is a stacked image? Several images taken over a period of time which are combined to create one image fro the whole time period. This tutorial will show you how to create one.

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How to Photograph Stars from a Plane

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The Big Dipper from a Jet plane

The Big Dipper from a Jet Airplane. Click to see a larger version.

Theoretically, it is difficult if not impossible to photograph stars from a moving plane. And for most flights that is true. Star photography usually means a steady tripod (on the ground, of course), exposures that are around 15-30 seconds in length, and an ISO around 400-1600 depending on the amount of sky fog at your shooting location. That just won’t work on a plane. Plus most plane rides are just too bumpy or unsteady, not to mention engine vibrations that are transmitted through the airframe. But it can be done with just the right conditions.

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Create Great Yard and Garden Photos With A Camera Phone

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Balloon Flower Closeup, iPhone 4S with Olloclip closeup lens

Balloon Flower Closeup, iPhone 4S with Olloclip closeup lens

Fall is in the air and it isn’t too late to grab your camera phone and take some pictures in your garden. Here are some tips for creating some memorable photos. All of the images in this article were created with an iPhone 4S, which means more recent iPhones and Android phones should be capable of doing everything you see in this article (plus one simple accessory for a few of these photos). Continue reading →

October 7-8: Photograph the Northern Lights Tonight!

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Planetary Kp Index Map for the U.S. and Canada

Planetary Kp Index Map for the U.S. and Canada. Click for a larger version.

The planetary Kp index tonight (October 7 into the early hours of October 8) is projected to be 7. That is one of the highest readings in months. If you live north of the yellow line on the map above, your odds of seeing the Northern Lights are good. Of course you need clear, dark skies. That means little or no clouds, no moon, and you need to be far away from big city lights.

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POTD: The Maroon Bells by Moonlight

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The Maroon Bells and Maroon Lake by Moonlight with the Milky Way. Colorado.

The Maroon Bells and Maroon Lake by Moonlight with the Milky Way. Colorado. Click to see a larger version.

The Maroon Bells deserve their reputation as one of the best photo locations in the state of Colorado, especially in the fall. They look just as spectacular by moonlight. It is an added bonus if you get a hint of the Milky Way in the frame (left side of the image). It won’t be as sharp and defined as on a dark night without the moon, but it will be there.

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How to Photograph the Northern Lights

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Northern Lights over Lake Michigan

Northern Lights over Lake Michigan. Click to see a larger image.

It was an amazing night for Northern Lights in Northern Michigan, and I was leading a photography workshop. What a treat for all the photographers! I specifically picked this location on Lake Michigan so we would have the lake, some trees for framing the image and a good view in the expected direction of the Northern Lights.

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How to Photograph the International Space Station

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Light Path of the International Space Station

Light Path of the International Space Station. August 1, 2015. 10:05 – 10:09 pm EDT. Click to see a larger version.

The International Space Station (ISS) passes over Columbus Ohio. It isn’t that hard to find and it is relatively easy to photograph. In this photo the light path curves below the center of the frame from lower left to upper right (click to see a larger image). There are also airplane lights in the lower right corner of the frame. The stars are slightly streaked due to the motion of the earth during the long photograph.

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POTD: Wood Poppy

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Wood Poppy (Celandine Poppy), West Lake Nature Preserve.

Wood Poppy (Celandine Poppy), West Lake Nature Preserve.

On my way home from my photography workshop in Grand Rapids/Holland, another photographer and I stopped at West Lake Nature Preserve in Portage, Michigan. It is one of my favorite nature photography locations in southwest Michigan. Something is happening there most any time of year.

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Metering Nighttime Winter Scenes

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Twilight, Rocky Mountain National Park.

Twilight, Rocky Mountain National Park. Sirius, Canis Major, Orion, Taurus, the Hyades star cluster, and the Pleiades star cluster are all visible in the fading light. Click for a larger version.

You can photograph the night sky year around, but winter brings an added bonus: SNOW! Instead of the black, silhouetted skyline you get most of the year, in winter you have the possibility of including the highly reflective snow. That is why for many photographers winter is their favorite time of year to photograph the night sky.

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Metering Wildlife in the Snow, Part Two

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Cougar

Cougar

Most wildlife are medium to dark in tone, making them a challenge to meter properly in the bright, white tones of winter. If you trust your camera’s auto exposure modes, the odds are good you won’t get the best exposure. If you switch over to manual exposure and make the right decisions, you can get great exposures and better quality photos (more about that later).

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Metering Wildlife in the Snow, Part One

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Elk in the Snow, Rocky Mountain National Park

Elk in the Snow, Horseshoe Park, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado

Metering dark toned wildlife in the snow is a major exposure challenge. It is usually best to avoid large “burned out” areas (washed out, featureless white) in a nature or landscape photograph, but with properly exposed snow, the wildlife can be so dark as to lose all texture. On other hand, metering for the wildlife can burn out the snow.

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Metering Daytime Winter Scenes

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Mount Hunter from a Bush Plane. Denali National Park. Alaska.

Mount Hunter from a Bush Plane. Denali National Park. Alaska.

Metering for scenes with a lot of snow can be tricky since the bright snow fools the camera meter. I see a lot of winter photos with gray snow, which means the camera meter did exactly what it was designed to do and the camera owner didn’t know how to use exposure compensation. The solution is quite simple provided you know what to do.

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Getting Started with High Dynamic Range (HDR) Photography

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Sunset, Gibraltar Island. Combined images.

Sunrise, Gibraltar Island. HDR Image.

Compared to the human eye, digital cameras have a very limited dynamic range. Your digital camera simply can’t capture the range of tones from light to dark that your eyes can see. That is why HDR photography has become so popular with so many photographers, and absolutely essential for some commercial photographers.

Update, November 19, 2017: A revised version of this article is here.

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Authenticity in Civil War Photography

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Civil War Days, Lamoni, Iowa

Civil War Days, Lamoni, Iowa

Civil War reenactors go to great efforts to make sure their clothes and equipment are authentic to the era. So if you want your reenactment images to look authentic it is important that you pay attention to the background. Any large farm equipment, civilian clothes (including cargo shorts), small digital cameras, buildings, and paved streets need to be authentic to the 1860s. And of course if you want a really authentic look, convert your image to black & white.

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Simple Steps to Better Portraits

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Portrait in the Park

Portrait in the Park

This photo is pretty close to a “to do” list for portrait photography. Focus on the eyes. Shoot in soft light. Have the face at a slight angle. Use a short telephoto focal length. Have the camera lens just above eye level. Use a non-obtrusive background. Give the subject something to do. Move in close for extra impact. Portrait rules to be followed and broken. So when do you follow the rules and when do you break them?

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POTD: “A Moment of Discovery”

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A Moment of Discovery

A Moment of Discovery

When you are photographing very active children around 2 1/2 years of age, it is often best to just follow them around and let them do their thing, rather than try to “pose” them. I followed my grandson around my backyard for almost an hour, taking pictures and hoping to get just the right image. To get the best point of view I needed to be on my knees. Spending that much time on your knees is hard on the knees, but what else can you do? When you photograph children you need to be down on their level.

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