I would say these are the best instructional tutorials on capturing and editing the night sky. Your style is warm, clear and uncomplicated, and the enthusiasm is infectious. Thanks a million for another excellent video.
Mate you need to write a small flip card booklet so I can keep on me in the field 😂 such excellent produced videos mate with some excellent trips and step by step 👍
Haha ... thanks mate. I actually do have a cheat sheet of settings I give to all my workshop participants. But these videos are a little more detailed than what's possible on a card.
Thanks! At 71 years old I finally learned how to stack and merge images together. Can't wait for clear skies to apply my newly learned skills. Your presentation was spot on and easy to follow. This video is packed full with a lot of great information!
Hi Nightscape images, I was wondering if you have done multi row milky way pano? or 360 degree pano yet? Alyn Wallace has done so. Also: Lester Picker has unbelievable multi row pano equipment for landscapes: ua-cam.com/video/oL7rrZ81hCA/v-deo.html Do you use nodal points and do multi rows at all?
Thanks for watching Bill. I've done plenty of multi row panos but I'm not too fussed about 360 degree panos. Thanks for watching. I don't usually use nodal equipment for my panos but many people do.
Thanks for posting this. It helps a lot. One question I do haves, If I took multiple photos. ( say 6 ) does it matter if I start from the left or the right? as well if I took 2 rows of photos does it mater if I started from the left or right, top or bottom?
Very well explayned, now I have to wait Italy milky way season to try :-) I have one question, if I have understood in panoramas it's impossible use sequator for noise reduction, cause of the movement of the milky way may be too high for proper stitching, it's right? Love your channel, kind regards!
Thanks so much for watching. Well you can do stacked panoramas but they take a lot of time and you do have to be careful to keep the shutter speeds fairly quick. You may have time for about 4 images per panel with a wide angle lens.
I like your videos; they are very instructive. I think I am so far way down the knowledge scale that I’ll be happy with finding the milky way. I have a Fujifilm XT4 with an 8-16 mm f2.8. I use photopills to see the milky way, do far nothing; I have tried different light settings to the point where the sky looks as if it is morning; what am I doing wrong?
Thanks so much for watching. It sounds like you are shooting in a light polluted sky and that's why the sky is blowing out. If that's the case you have to lower the iso to get a good exposure.
Why wouldn't you use a 3-way head over a ball-head? Assuming you get your tripod level in the first place (which isn't particularly hard nor does it take any longer), a 3-way is going to be much faster and more accurate for shooting multiple shots in any pano- vertical, horizontal, or both.
Yes all very good points. A lot of people do use a 3 way head. I'm quite happy with a very light weight setup . .it hasn't hindered me up to this point. There are always many ways to achieve the same result. I suppose it comes down to what we enjoy using the most.
Hi Richard. I'm new to this astrophotography. For this, did you focus on the stars first and then tilt back down to tree and then tilt up for the 4? Hope my question makes sense. Love your channel
Thanks for watching. Yes all the images are at infinity focus. When I shoot panoramas I start at one end and go through to the other. In a vertical pano such as this I usually start at the ground and tilt up for the rest of the images.
Fantastic video! Is there any particular reason you took the file to Photoshop? Couldn't have used the curves in Lightroom to do the same thing? Thanks
Thanks a lot for watching Patrick. Yes I could have done the editing in Lightroom. Often I prefer the curves in photoshop because you can be more selective with the adjustments by using layer masks, which you can't do in Lightroom.
I recently got a Star Guider Pro and so far got some pretty good wide angle shots (14mm) the first time out. I was taking exposures at f2.8 for about 2 minutes. At that long of exposure time, would it still be possible to stitch a series together for a panorama or would the stars more too much to allow that to work? ( I would take a separate foreground picture to use in post processing as the SG Pro, while keeping the stars nice and sharp, also blurry the foreground). Have you ever done pano's while taking longer exposures with a tracker?
Thanks heaps for watching. Yes that would work although I don't use the tracker to do panoramas. Eric Benedetti does fantastic work using a tracker and longer focal length lenses for panos. Check his work here: www.ericbenedettiphotography.com/Stars-and-Nature/
A Uniqball ball head, allows you to level the horizon and lock it place, whilst separately allowing up/down and side to side movement, idea for this kind of panorama where you want to quickly reposition the camera and not have to repeatedly re-level the horizon.
Hi Richard, great video. I am a newbie into photography and just bought myself a Nikon D7500 and kit. I am looking at getting the Nikon AF-S 50mm f/1.8G prime lens, is this good for astrophotography? Thanks!
Hi Rod, the Nikon 50mm f1.8G is a great lens but you'll find it a little limited for nightscapes if you want to capture foreground subjects .. it's a little on the long side. Most people prefer something between 14mm and 24mm
Great video! Very informative! Ive never stacked or stitched but I might just try this with my sigma 50mm to give it that compression with a panoramic. Thanks again and feel free to check out my work on instagram. Everything is one shot and done in Lr. Cheers! @sam_kogan
I really wish we had better conditions over here in the UK for this kind of photography Richard, it is something I would love to add to my repertoire. Fantastically explained as usual, you always produce top video's. All the best Ben
Fantastic video with great explanations. I'm very jealous of the milky way you guys are able to see and capture. Here in Norway we only get the tail of the milky way which in comparison is quite underwhelming. Then again we have Northern Lights, so I guess it evens out 😅
I saw your post and went outside to take a picture. Apparently someone stole the Milky Way because I couldn't find a trace of it. How is that possible?
Hey mate love this video! Im trying to get into Night scape photography! Quick question, with the tone curve in Ps, could you not do that in Lr? I havent invested into Ps as yet but wondering if the same effect can be achieved with the tone curve in lightroom? Cheers mate
Thanks heaps for watching. You can achieve a similar thing with the tone curve in lightroom. The big advantage of the curve adjustment layer in photoshop is that you can edit any part of the image separately by brushing bits away or adding them back in .. in other words it's not a global adjustment. That's very handy.
Thanks heaps for watching Jake. I love using these longer focal length lenses for nightscapes. In fact I'm doing a couple of videos now about using different focal length lenses on the channel. Really appreciate your comments.
I think this is the second or third time I have watched this. As will all good teachers you have simplified the Milky Way panorama process for me. Question, is the light on the lower right hand corner from the sun or some other light source? I am finding the Milky Way difficult to photograph at sunset. Thanks.
Thanks so much for watching Nyall. The light is from light pollution .. a small town about 20 klms away. You won't get the milky way in the same shot as a sunset or sunrise. This image was taken in the middle of the night.
I prefer the photoshop adjustment layers because you can add a layer mask to them and therefore mask selected portions of the image adjustment .. so it's not necessarily a global setting.
Thanks a lot for watching Marc. I often stop down my lenses a bit to avoid the various aberrations that dwell at the outer edges of glass in lenses. f2.2 is still pretty fast and it gives me that slightly sharper image. You can certainly shoot wide open at f1.4 though if you like.
Loving your content! Quick question. Aside from flattening the final image in Photoshop, was there a particular reason why you worked in curves in Photoshop rather than in light room?
Hi Scott, I prefer the greater flexibility with adjustment layers in general in Photoshop, not just curves. Also I can see the whole image with all the layers intact whilst working in photoshop .. this gives me a better perception of how the final image will look. Apart from that I rarely use the curve adjustment in lightroom. Appreciate you watching.
What a brilliantly made film. Your instruction is absolutely wonderful. I've yet to process a single image, so I find myself glued watching every second of this. I am certain to return several times. So glad you included camera setting as well. Thanks ever so much Nightscape Images.
Yes you certainly can do panoramas in photoshop Gerd. Most people use the Adobe Camera Raw plug in for photoshop first which is basically very much like Lightroom.
@@nightscapeimages.richard Thank you for your answer, yes I know the panorama goes with Photoshop, at least with pictures that are taken next to each other, but I don't know whether it also goes vertically with pictures, that was my question :-) Greeting Gerd
Says right at the top of the video "Adobe Photoshop Lightroom classic" I'm thinking you might want to start practicing observation before trying to make images if you couldn't see that. ;P
Thank you . I've been going through a total loss of photo mojo for at least the last two years . I'm finding inspiration via great tutorials on youtube. So onwards and upwards .
@@martinnightingale6033 Yes it can certainly be like that Martin. Once you get a taste for nightscape photography it might just get you up and running again. Keep in touch, I'll be keen to see how you go.
Hey Mel. I've never used one. The main reason for the nodal rails is to alleviate parallax distortion when there are very close objects in the scene. Most of my panos don't have very close features.
For panoramas such as this you don't need fancy stuff. If you work a lot with foregrounds you might want to though. I however do not like the clumsy big panorigs and use a simple l-bracket, a longer mounting plate (for nodal adjustment) and if i go for high precision a leveling plate under my ballhead. cheaper, lighter, easier to handle ;)
@@nightscapeimages.richard ur vid was defenitly helpful why would i not watch it👌...which software brother? wont the foregrnd move while adjusting for bg
Well it's very difficult Rob because the camera is moving between shots. You could shoot multiple frames in each camera position but that would be very tedious and time consuming.
Always love your videos, learning a lot, thanks. I have a question : what is your reason for doing the S curve in photoshop rather than in Lightroom ? Thx !
Personal preference really Michael. Of course the other great advantage of photoshop is that when using a curve adjustment layer with a layer mask you can selectively rub out or add transparency over the curve thus making it more subtle in certain areas.
Very good video. I’m planning a trip, for which I will use my crop-sensor Fuji with both my 12mm f2, and perhaps as with this video, my 23mm f1.4, which is roughly equivalent to 35mm FF FoV.
Personally prefer to use 35-70 mm for panoramas and thus make additional shots to the right and to the left of the centre. İ.e. if İ want a 3 shots vertical panorama, İ make 9 shots - really helps to deal with distortion and cropping. Guess it's not going to work with the night sky though.
Good points aliskandari. You can use any lens really but of course milky way images are more difficult due to the movement of the stars. There are always plenty of creative options available to us.
Did I get that right? I think you mixed a few concepts there. To compress the scene and make the background appear larger, you actually use teles instead of wide angles of mid focal distance lenses. Yes, a 35mm would, of course, make the background (milky way) appear larger than when using a 14mm but this is a concept (background compression) that shouldn't be associated with short or even medium focal distances. To make it look even bigger, you actually walk away from the subject and use your longer focal distance possible while trying to maintain the same field of view as we had before.
Yes some cameras don't have the level feature. Some people use a simple bubble level which can be placed on the hot shoe of the camera. Have a look at the desktop or mobile app called Stellarium. It will show you where the milky way is for any location at any time of the year.
Hello Richard, thank you so much for sharing your workflow. I’m going to go back to some of my old MW photos and make some adjustments. Have a great day!
Hi Richard, You used 35mm for Milky way photo: Exposure time should be 14 sec for each shot (formula 500/focal length). Did you take 10 seconds for each shot or total of 4 shots? Thanks for sharing your panorama technique. Hao
Hi Rob, a lot of people ask that. The main reason is that the curve adjustment layer in photoshop enables the ability to brush sections out of the effect and I do that a lot.
Really enjoyed this video Richard. I have never tried shooting the Milky Way but you have inspired me to give it a try. How did focus this shot, did you focus on the tree or to infinity? Also do you use the "long exposure noise reduction" setting on your Nikon? Thanks, cheers.
Thanks a lot David. With this shot I focused on the stars but I could have focused on the tree as it was far enough away. I always turn long exposure noise reduction off.
Absolutely loved this. I have done a couple of astro shots but nothing like this. I love the way you take a complicated idea and make it simple for us. Your explanation of the post processing is superb too. Thanks Richard.
I'm so pleased you got to watch the video Chris and even more pleased that you took the time to comment. ... really appreciated. Always happy to help you along on your nightscape journey.
Thanks again Richard for another superb video! I appreciate you sharing your knowledge with us. I especially enjoyed the post processing piece. All the best to you sir, and I look forward to more of your videos.
Another wonderful lesson and end result. Could you have gotten the "S Curve" using the Tone Curve feature in Lightroom? Not suggesting......just wondering. Thanks for this video.
Awesome; Thank you so much for sharing, you have inspired this retired sole into experimenting with my Nikon D600. I'm in a location where night photography has lots of potential. Desert and subject are abundant. Light room and Photoshop are also going to be a challenge but with your tutorials I have a chance with creating something worthy. Again, Thank you very much.
I use a Bogen gear drive tripod head, which lets me easily rotate in any direction for multi image panoramas. I found with a ball head, I had trouble rotating vertical, leveling, etc between shots.
Great video Richard..... can I ask why not do the curves adjustment in lightroom rather than photoshop? Also how do you line up your shots....do you just eyeball it from the previous shot or does your camera have a guide?
Thanks for watching Alan. I much prefer the curves adjustment in photoshop because it also has the benefit of a separate layer mask. I typically just eyeball my shots by using the built in level on the camera with a large overlap.
Hi. I've just found your channel. You make it look so easy. I need to give this a try. I use a crop sensor ( Canon 7DMkII) what focal length lens would you suggest?
Wonderfully informative video. Thank you for sharing. I am currently using the d810 for milky photos and I find this camera to be very poor in low light high iso settings. What would you recommend as a better suited alternative?
Hi John, sorry for late response. You don't mention what lens you're using and that makes a lot of difference. I use the D750 and Z6 and they are both really good at high iso. I also think the D850 is excellent. But as I mentioned they all need good fast aperture lenses to get the best results.
First I must say your videos are informative, outstanding, not boring and are pushing me to finally do this. One silly question. I know to focus to infinity when shooting the stars and milky way. When you are doing panos, do you or should you have to refocus everytime for each pano shot or will everything be in focus because of the plane of field. I have been doing photography for 4 years now and finally feel that I am prepared for this but still sketchy on this detail. Thank you for the vids. Your images are spectacular.
Thanks a lot for watching David. No you don't have to re-focus for each shot. Of course that's assuming you don't move the focus ring between shots accidently.
You have me so excited to take my first Milky Way panoramas at the end of the month - I've got two nights in a Bortle 2 sky that I plan to make the most of. Deep Sky Object photography with my Redcat 51 and Nikon D7500 for the first part of the night, then it's all Milky Way until the morning. Thanks for a great video not only telling me but showing me how you take the four shots, and then how you post process them. Clear skies!
I've only shot astro once before. it was just a few single exposure shots. I've been itching to do a panorama ever since. this looks easy to follow and simple. Will be giving this a go soon! Thanks!
Thanks so much for producing such great videos - I especially appreciate your video production values, various angles, cut-away shots etc. I am wondering if you incorporate noise reduction stacking when doing panoramas or if time just does not permit that. Also, do you combine panoramas with light painting and if so, how is that done. Many thanks again.
Hi Anton, really appreciate your comments. When I shoot panoramas I don't usually do any extra stacking, I guess it's possible but obviously takes a lot more time. Yes I do incorporate light painting in most of my work. In this case I didn't have to though.
This makes me want to go back to reshoot my first attempts at nightscapes using a longer focal length; but of course I need to experiment with simple setups first before trying something like this. I think I’m ready to try this next step, as I’m happy with what I managed to get in my first 2 outings. Now all I have to do is convince my wife we need another holiday to Nora Head Lighthouse; won’t be hard, as she loved it there and wants to go back in whale season.
Is there a difference between using a tone curve in LR and the curves adjustment layer you used in Photoshop? I was wondering why you didn't used that. :)
Very helpful informative video. Thank you. Just one point. Would it not have been faster and easier to use a tilt-pan tripod head? No need to level between shots and easier to do combined horizontal and vertical panoramas.
Thanks for watching Phil. Yes a pan/tilt tripod head would make it easier for this .. but nothing else is easier with them .. believe me, I've used them before. The other difficulty with them is that you need an excellent level base or else they run crooked. With a ball head you can adjust easily on the fly, especially with a simple 4 shot pano like this one.
I have a question about the sigma lens i got a canon 6d mark 1 and i've been after a f1.4 lens for a long time and is the sigma 35mm f1.4 art lens worth buying thanks
I would say these are the best instructional tutorials on capturing and editing the night sky. Your style is warm, clear and uncomplicated, and the enthusiasm is infectious. Thanks a million for another excellent video.
Your comments are greatly valued Simon, I really appreciate the encouragement.
I agree with you. He has a great teaching "presence" and style.
Mate you need to write a small flip card booklet so I can keep on me in the field 😂 such excellent produced videos mate with some excellent trips and step by step 👍
Haha ... thanks mate. I actually do have a cheat sheet of settings I give to all my workshop participants. But these videos are a little more detailed than what's possible on a card.
Thanks! At 71 years old I finally learned how to stack and merge images together. Can't wait for clear skies to apply my newly learned skills. Your presentation was spot on and easy to follow. This video is packed full with a lot of great information!
Really appreciate you watching Nick
@@nightscapeimages.richard Took you long enough like this reply ;) lol......
@@strider00111 I have a lot of replies to get through, sometimes they slip through the cracks.
Absolutely LOVE your tutorials!!!
Cannot say thank you enough !!!!!!!!!
You're very welcome my friend.
Educational, and top above, it is entirely free. Just drop like, and say thx.
Thank you so much for your kind words.
Hi Nightscape images,
I was wondering if you have done multi row milky way pano? or 360 degree pano yet? Alyn Wallace has done so. Also: Lester Picker has unbelievable multi row pano equipment for landscapes:
ua-cam.com/video/oL7rrZ81hCA/v-deo.html
Do you use nodal points and do multi rows at all?
Thanks for watching Bill. I've done plenty of multi row panos but I'm not too fussed about 360 degree panos. Thanks for watching. I don't usually use nodal equipment for my panos but many people do.
Thanks for posting this. It helps a lot. One question I do haves, If I took multiple photos. ( say 6 ) does it matter if I start from the left or the right? as well if I took 2 rows of photos does it mater if I started from the left or right, top or bottom?
Thanks a lot Dave. From my experience it doesn't matter where you start and finish.
Very well explayned, now I have to wait Italy milky way season to try :-) I have one question, if I have understood in panoramas it's impossible use sequator for noise reduction, cause of the movement of the milky way may be too high for proper stitching, it's right? Love your channel, kind regards!
Thanks so much for watching. Well you can do stacked panoramas but they take a lot of time and you do have to be careful to keep the shutter speeds fairly quick. You may have time for about 4 images per panel with a wide angle lens.
I like your videos; they are very instructive. I think I am so far way down the knowledge scale that I’ll be happy with finding the milky way. I have a Fujifilm XT4 with an 8-16 mm f2.8. I use photopills to see the milky way, do far nothing; I have tried different light settings to the point where the sky looks as if it is morning; what am I doing wrong?
Thanks so much for watching. It sounds like you are shooting in a light polluted sky and that's why the sky is blowing out. If that's the case you have to lower the iso to get a good exposure.
Why wouldn't you use a 3-way head over a ball-head? Assuming you get your tripod level in the first place (which isn't particularly hard nor does it take any longer), a 3-way is going to be much faster and more accurate for shooting multiple shots in any pano- vertical, horizontal, or both.
Yes all very good points. A lot of people do use a 3 way head. I'm quite happy with a very light weight setup . .it hasn't hindered me up to this point. There are always many ways to achieve the same result. I suppose it comes down to what we enjoy using the most.
Hi Richard. I'm new to this astrophotography. For this, did you focus on the stars first and then tilt back down to tree and then tilt up for the 4? Hope my question makes sense. Love your channel
Thanks for watching. Yes all the images are at infinity focus. When I shoot panoramas I start at one end and go through to the other. In a vertical pano such as this I usually start at the ground and tilt up for the rest of the images.
Fantastic video! Is there any particular reason you took the file to Photoshop? Couldn't have used the curves in Lightroom to do the same thing? Thanks
Thanks a lot for watching Patrick. Yes I could have done the editing in Lightroom. Often I prefer the curves in photoshop because you can be more selective with the adjustments by using layer masks, which you can't do in Lightroom.
I recently got a Star Guider Pro and so far got some pretty good wide angle shots (14mm) the first time out. I was taking exposures at f2.8 for about 2 minutes. At that long of exposure time, would it still be possible to stitch a series together for a panorama or would the stars more too much to allow that to work? ( I would take a separate foreground picture to use in post processing as the SG Pro, while keeping the stars nice and sharp, also blurry the foreground). Have you ever done pano's while taking longer exposures with a tracker?
Thanks heaps for watching. Yes that would work although I don't use the tracker to do panoramas. Eric Benedetti does fantastic work using a tracker and longer focal length lenses for panos. Check his work here: www.ericbenedettiphotography.com/Stars-and-Nature/
Thanks for all your tips and ideas. I feel like make an attempt . Thanks
Always very pleased to help.
I can't stop watching your videos!! I'm learning so much more than all the other editing tutorials. Very cool shots!!
Thanks very much for your kind words of encouragement John, it means a lot my friend.
A Uniqball ball head, allows you to level the horizon and lock it place, whilst separately allowing up/down and side to side movement, idea for this kind of panorama where you want to quickly reposition the camera and not have to repeatedly re-level the horizon.
Thanks for watching Alan, really appreciate your insights.
Hi Richard, great video. I am a newbie into photography and just bought myself a Nikon D7500 and kit. I am looking at getting the Nikon AF-S 50mm f/1.8G prime lens, is this good for astrophotography? Thanks!
Hi Rod, the Nikon 50mm f1.8G is a great lens but you'll find it a little limited for nightscapes if you want to capture foreground subjects .. it's a little on the long side. Most people prefer something between 14mm and 24mm
Just amazing I will test it with my Nikon Z6 and the 28mm F1.8 lens
I'll be keen to see how you go Torsten. Thanks for watching.
Great video! Very informative! Ive never stacked or stitched but I might just try this with my sigma 50mm to give it that compression with a panoramic. Thanks again and feel free to check out my work on instagram. Everything is one shot and done in Lr. Cheers!
@sam_kogan
Thanks so much for having a look Sam
I really wish we had better conditions over here in the UK for this kind of photography Richard, it is something I would love to add to my repertoire. Fantastically explained as usual, you always produce top video's. All the best Ben
Thanks so much Ben ... one thing we do have here in this part of the world are beautiful night skies
Fantastic video with great explanations. I'm very jealous of the milky way you guys are able to see and capture. Here in Norway we only get the tail of the milky way which in comparison is quite underwhelming. Then again we have Northern Lights, so I guess it evens out 😅
Yes I suppose you are right. There are always trade offs where ever we live. Appreciate you watching.
Imagine having milky way core with northern lights, that would be awesome!
@@wesleyanismlucas8816 It's a bit hard in the Northern Hemisphere. It can happen in the Southern Hemisphere though.
I saw your post and went outside to take a picture. Apparently someone stole the Milky Way because I couldn't find a trace of it. How is that possible?
Haha, yes that seems to happen all the time William. Thanks for watching.
Hey mate love this video! Im trying to get into Night scape photography! Quick question, with the tone curve in Ps, could you not do that in Lr? I havent invested into Ps as yet but wondering if the same effect can be achieved with the tone curve in lightroom? Cheers mate
Thanks heaps for watching. You can achieve a similar thing with the tone curve in lightroom. The big advantage of the curve adjustment layer in photoshop is that you can edit any part of the image separately by brushing bits away or adding them back in .. in other words it's not a global adjustment. That's very handy.
Excellent video. I thought my 35mm would be too close but now I am excited! Thanks a bunch!
Thanks heaps for watching Jake. I love using these longer focal length lenses for nightscapes. In fact I'm doing a couple of videos now about using different focal length lenses on the channel. Really appreciate your comments.
I think this is the second or third time I have watched this. As will all good teachers you have simplified the Milky Way panorama process for me. Question, is the light on the lower right hand corner from the sun or some other light source? I am finding the Milky Way difficult to photograph at sunset. Thanks.
Thanks so much for watching Nyall. The light is from light pollution .. a small town about 20 klms away. You won't get the milky way in the same shot as a sunset or sunrise. This image was taken in the middle of the night.
@@nightscapeimages.richard Thank you, Richard. Your photos are just amazing.
How many sec did you have on you'r exposure?
You'll see at 4:52 10 sec exposures. Thanks for watching.
Very helpful, thanks so much!
I'm really pleased you liked it Bojan, thanks so much for watching.
Out of curiosity, is there a reason you decide to use Photoshop's curve adjustment tool and not Lightroom's?
I prefer the photoshop adjustment layers because you can add a layer mask to them and therefore mask selected portions of the image adjustment .. so it's not necessarily a global setting.
Great video,Thankyou.
Many thanks indeed John.
Cool. Why did you shoot at f2.2 and not open up to f1.4? I am about to start trying this and I have the same Sigma 35 mm Art lens.
Thanks a lot for watching Marc. I often stop down my lenses a bit to avoid the various aberrations that dwell at the outer edges of glass in lenses. f2.2 is still pretty fast and it gives me that slightly sharper image. You can certainly shoot wide open at f1.4 though if you like.
Nightscape Images thanks for the advice. I’ll experiment with both.
Loving your content! Quick question. Aside from flattening the final image in Photoshop, was there a particular reason why you worked in curves in Photoshop rather than in light room?
Hi Scott, I prefer the greater flexibility with adjustment layers in general in Photoshop, not just curves. Also I can see the whole image with all the layers intact whilst working in photoshop .. this gives me a better perception of how the final image will look. Apart from that I rarely use the curve adjustment in lightroom. Appreciate you watching.
The super ultimate bestest. Cheers man 🙏
Thanks so much for having a look Osama, all the best my friend.
So the stars were aligned automatically in panorama?
Thank you so much for this tutorial.
Yes they are Maddy, that's what Panorama software does.
@@nightscapeimages.richard Thank you 🙌
PHOTOGRAPHY
What a brilliantly made film. Your instruction is absolutely wonderful. I've yet to process a single image, so I find myself glued watching every second of this. I am certain to return several times. So glad you included camera setting as well. Thanks ever so much Nightscape Images.
Really appreciate your comments Charles .. thank you
Fire
Thanks for watching.
Amazing tutorial! Thanks!
Thanks very much for watching Diulio, really appreciate it.
Congratulations for the excellent photographic work. I'm learning a lot from your videos ...
Thanks!
Thank you very much for watching Lutero
great picture and video, unfortunately I only have Photoshop, can you create this portrait panorama in Photoshop? greetings Gerd
Yes you certainly can do panoramas in photoshop Gerd. Most people use the Adobe Camera Raw plug in for photoshop first which is basically very much like Lightroom.
@@nightscapeimages.richard
Thank you for your answer, yes I know the panorama goes with Photoshop, at least with pictures that are taken next to each other, but I don't know whether it also goes vertically with pictures, that was my question :-) Greeting Gerd
Yes no problem with vertical
what lightroom soft wear you used to stitched the photos together??
I use the current edition of Adobe Lightroom .. "Lightroom Classic"
Says right at the top of the video "Adobe Photoshop Lightroom classic" I'm thinking you might want to start practicing observation before trying to make images if you couldn't see that. ;P
Excellent and motivating!
Thanks so much for watching Tony, always appreciated.
Hi, I love your pictures. I was just wondering what you do to calibrate your screen so what you see on the screen is what gets printed. Many thanks
Hi Chris, I don't ever calibrate my screen but i use a very high quality monitor to begin with.
Great Tutorial . I'm aiming to have a go at Nightscape / Milkyway photography this year in the UK .
Fantastic Martin, that's great. I hope you find clear skies and good conditions.
Thank you .
I've been going through a total loss of photo mojo for at least the last two years .
I'm finding inspiration via great tutorials on youtube.
So onwards and upwards .
@@martinnightingale6033 Yes it can certainly be like that Martin. Once you get a taste for nightscape photography it might just get you up and running again. Keep in touch, I'll be keen to see how you go.
Nightscape Images Thank you .
crazy how strong the milky way is visible even with that light pollution from the town.
Thanks a lot for watching Mike. Yes it's quite bright here. Although the town in the distance isn't huge.
Lovely! So do you not buy into nodal ninja etc pano stuff at all? I was gonna by 1 but it seems we dont really need it. Or perhaps its scene specific?
Hey Mel. I've never used one. The main reason for the nodal rails is to alleviate parallax distortion when there are very close objects in the scene. Most of my panos don't have very close features.
For panoramas such as this you don't need fancy stuff. If you work a lot with foregrounds you might want to though. I however do not like the clumsy big panorigs and use a simple l-bracket, a longer mounting plate (for nodal adjustment) and if i go for high precision a leveling plate under my ballhead. cheaper, lighter, easier to handle ;)
u used a 10 sec exposure and still no movement in starrs whatso ever? and no problemin stiching? damnnn
Yes the panorama software sorts out the movement. Thanks for watching.
@@nightscapeimages.richard ur vid was defenitly helpful why would i not watch it👌...which software brother? wont the foregrnd move while adjusting for bg
@@ameenahsan9696 No the software sorts out all the alignment details. I tend to use Lightroom and photoshop for panos.
he looks like the male version of carol Baskin lol but great video!
Never heard of her but thanks anyway.
Hey Richard great tutorial! Is there away to blend light painted frames in the panoramas ! Kind regards Rob
Well it's very difficult Rob because the camera is moving between shots. You could shoot multiple frames in each camera position but that would be very tedious and time consuming.
@@nightscapeimages.richard yea thought so but would thought id ask ! Thanks heaps mate 👍
Always love your videos, learning a lot, thanks. I have a question : what is your reason for doing the S curve in photoshop rather than in Lightroom ? Thx !
Personal preference really Michael. Of course the other great advantage of photoshop is that when using a curve adjustment layer with a layer mask you can selectively rub out or add transparency over the curve thus making it more subtle in certain areas.
@@nightscapeimages.richard Ah yes for sure. Ok was just curious why you got out of Lightroom just for that step 😛 Thanks !
Very good video. I’m planning a trip, for which I will use my crop-sensor Fuji with both my 12mm f2, and perhaps as with this video, my 23mm f1.4, which is roughly equivalent to 35mm FF FoV.
Thanks Martin. Both those lens combinations will be wonderful on your Fuji.
Thanks - terrific teaching
Thanks so much for having a look Penny
Personally prefer to use 35-70 mm for panoramas and thus make additional shots to the right and to the left of the centre. İ.e. if İ want a 3 shots vertical panorama, İ make 9 shots - really helps to deal with distortion and cropping. Guess it's not going to work with the night sky though.
Good points aliskandari. You can use any lens really but of course milky way images are more difficult due to the movement of the stars. There are always plenty of creative options available to us.
Thank you so much for the great tutorial! Found this extremely helpful! Keep up the great work!
Really pleased you like it, thanks for watching.
Did I get that right? I think you mixed a few concepts there. To compress the scene and make the background appear larger, you actually use teles instead of wide angles of mid focal distance lenses. Yes, a 35mm would, of course, make the background (milky way) appear larger than when using a 14mm but this is a concept (background compression) that shouldn't be associated with short or even medium focal distances.
To make it look even bigger, you actually walk away from the subject and use your longer focal distance possible while trying to maintain the same field of view as we had before.
Yes you are right of course that the 35mm does indeed make the background look larger and closer than a 14mm lens. Appreciate you watching.
I use a D5300 and have no auto leveling = will use my Gimbal head to rotate = How do I know where the Milkyway is? I live in BFE Louisiana
Yes some cameras don't have the level feature. Some people use a simple bubble level which can be placed on the hot shoe of the camera. Have a look at the desktop or mobile app called Stellarium. It will show you where the milky way is for any location at any time of the year.
Hello Richard, thank you so much for sharing your workflow. I’m going to go back to some of my old MW photos and make some adjustments. Have a great day!
Good on you Terry ... thanks again
Hi Richard, You used 35mm for Milky way photo: Exposure time should be 14 sec for each shot (formula 500/focal length). Did you take 10 seconds for each shot or total of 4 shots? Thanks for sharing your panorama technique.
Hao
Hello Hao, the 500 rule is simply a guide and I don't use it to set my shutter speed. I go by actual results.
Why not use the curve tool in LR rather than PS
Hi Rob, a lot of people ask that. The main reason is that the curve adjustment layer in photoshop enables the ability to brush sections out of the effect and I do that a lot.
@@nightscapeimages.richard Thank you.
Really enjoyed this video Richard. I have never tried shooting the Milky Way but you have inspired me to give it a try. How did focus this shot, did you focus on the tree or to infinity? Also do you use the "long exposure noise reduction" setting on your Nikon? Thanks, cheers.
Thanks a lot David. With this shot I focused on the stars but I could have focused on the tree as it was far enough away. I always turn long exposure noise reduction off.
Superb richard really enjoyed that and getting great tips, im not very good at editing but with content like yours i will improve 👍
Thanks a lot Craig ... I really appreciate your support
Another great video, thanks for sharing. Both informative and inspiring, job done ✌️
Thanks very much for watching.
Hey Richard...Just catching up with your older vids...and I am enjoying all of them! (thank you again for the apps suggestions)
I'm glad you're enjoying them Marc, thanks mate.
Absolutely loved this. I have done a couple of astro shots but nothing like this. I love the way you take a complicated idea and make it simple for us. Your explanation of the post processing is superb too. Thanks Richard.
I'm so pleased you got to watch the video Chris and even more pleased that you took the time to comment. ... really appreciated. Always happy to help you along on your nightscape journey.
Always so interesting, easy to understand, masterpiece picture, genuine kindness. Luv ya! ♥️♥️♥️
Thank you so much Carole, your encouragement is so appreciated.
I subscribe on your channel...how about ef 50mm f1.4 is it good for panorama?
Thank you for watching ... yes the 50mm f1.4 will be great for panoramas.
Great instructional video. Some of your methods will help me out big time. Thanks!
Good on you Mike, glad you like it.
This is by far the easiest way someone explained astrophotography. Immediately subbed. Thank you heaps for making such fantastic tutorials.
Thanks so much Chaitanya, really appreciate that.
Awesome image and tremendous step-by-step teaching. Thank you, I cannot wait to engage your instruction in my next nightscape image.
Thanks so much for watching really appreciated it.
Thanks again Richard for another superb video! I appreciate you sharing your knowledge with us. I especially enjoyed the post processing piece. All the best to you sir, and I look forward to more of your videos.
Many thanks indeed Mike .... appreciate you watching
Another wonderful lesson and end result. Could you have gotten the "S Curve" using the Tone Curve feature in Lightroom? Not suggesting......just wondering. Thanks for this video.
Thanks for watching Old400. Yes maybe you could use the S curve in Lightroom. I like using both Lightroom and Photoshop .. both amazing tools.
Great educational video. Thank you Mr.Richard!!!!!!!
Thanks so much Milorad
Awesome; Thank you so much for sharing, you have inspired this retired sole into experimenting with my Nikon D600. I'm in a location where night photography has lots of potential. Desert and subject are abundant. Light room and Photoshop are also going to be a challenge but with your tutorials I have a chance with creating something worthy. Again, Thank you very much.
Thanks so much for watching and for leaving a comment Ron. I'm sure you'll get some wonderful images with a bit of practice.
Subscribed... Notifications on... and ready for more!!! Excellent tutorials and delivery.
You make it look very achievable, thank you very much!
Thanks so much Joe
I use a Bogen gear drive tripod head, which lets me easily rotate in any direction for multi image panoramas. I found with a ball head, I had trouble rotating vertical, leveling, etc between shots.
Yes lots of people have that problem, I guess it's all a matter of what works best for us. Thanks Robert
Great video Richard..... can I ask why not do the curves adjustment in lightroom rather than photoshop? Also how do you line up your shots....do you just eyeball it from the previous shot or does your camera have a guide?
Thanks for watching Alan. I much prefer the curves adjustment in photoshop because it also has the benefit of a separate layer mask. I typically just eyeball my shots by using the built in level on the camera with a large overlap.
Great video, nice and simple yet informative 👍🏻 Nice to see your workflow, and that image really does pop by the end of it. Awesome.
Thanks Craig. I've always liked this tree and was very happy to capture the milky way behind it earlier in the year
Hi. I've just found your channel. You make it look so easy. I need to give this a try. I use a crop sensor ( Canon 7DMkII) what focal length lens would you suggest?
Thanks Tim. I'd suggest anything around 24mm
Wonderfully informative video. Thank you for sharing. I am currently using the d810 for milky photos and I find this camera to be very poor in low light high iso settings. What would you recommend as a better suited alternative?
Hi John, sorry for late response. You don't mention what lens you're using and that makes a lot of difference. I use the D750 and Z6 and they are both really good at high iso. I also think the D850 is excellent. But as I mentioned they all need good fast aperture lenses to get the best results.
First I must say your videos are informative, outstanding, not boring and are pushing me to finally do this. One silly question. I know to focus to infinity when shooting the stars and milky way. When you are doing panos, do you or should you have to refocus everytime for each pano shot or will everything be in focus because of the plane of field. I have been doing photography for 4 years now and finally feel that I am prepared for this but still sketchy on this detail. Thank you for the vids. Your images are spectacular.
Thanks a lot for watching David. No you don't have to re-focus for each shot. Of course that's assuming you don't move the focus ring between shots accidently.
Many thanks for your generosity and congratulations for your amazing pics
You're very welcome Doume
Marvelous video..!! Loved the step by step explanation of the whole process.. 👏🏻👏🏻
I'm pleased you liked it Chetan
Great of you to share your knowledge Richard, very well explained. Cheers mate.
Thanks a lot Michael, really appreciate you watching
You have me so excited to take my first Milky Way panoramas at the end of the month - I've got two nights in a Bortle 2 sky that I plan to make the most of. Deep Sky Object photography with my Redcat 51 and Nikon D7500 for the first part of the night, then it's all Milky Way until the morning. Thanks for a great video not only telling me but showing me how you take the four shots, and then how you post process them. Clear skies!
You're very welcome Cheryl. Thanks so much for watching. I hope you get some wonderful images.
I've only shot astro once before. it was just a few single exposure shots. I've been itching to do a panorama ever since.
this looks easy to follow and simple. Will be giving this a go soon! Thanks!
Really appreciate you making the comments .. thanks.
OUTSTANDING simple approach. I can try this. Thanks for posting
Thanks very much for watching Al, really appreciated.
Great job! Do you use long expo nois reduction in camera settings? Thanks
No I don't use in camera Long Exposure Noise Reduction. Especially when shooting panoramas as it takes too long to get through the sequence.
Thanks so much for producing such great videos - I especially appreciate your video production values, various angles, cut-away shots etc. I am wondering if you incorporate noise reduction stacking when doing panoramas or if time just does not permit that. Also, do you combine panoramas with light painting and if so, how is that done. Many thanks again.
Hi Anton, really appreciate your comments. When I shoot panoramas I don't usually do any extra stacking, I guess it's possible but obviously takes a lot more time. Yes I do incorporate light painting in most of my work. In this case I didn't have to though.
Thank you for your knowledge and excellent video. Please tell me what software you are using for screen capture. Thanks, Arthur
Thanks so much for watching Arthur. I used to use Camtasia but recently I've been using OBS Studio.
This makes me want to go back to reshoot my first attempts at nightscapes using a longer focal length; but of course I need to experiment with simple setups first before trying something like this. I think I’m ready to try this next step, as I’m happy with what I managed to get in my first 2 outings. Now all I have to do is convince my wife we need another holiday to Nora Head Lighthouse; won’t be hard, as she loved it there and wants to go back in whale season.
Fantastic Martin, really appreciate you watching.
You are amazing!!!
Thanks for watching. I'm really pleased you like it.
Wish I saw this video before I bought a 12mm lens -- I already own a 35mm and didn't think it was wide enough for astrophotography!
There's a place for all of them Alden. Thanks for watching
Thank you, NI for a great instr video. The absence of music is music to my ear, so to speak! Strength 10.
Thanks once again for watching John, always appreciate your comments.
Is there a difference between using a tone curve in LR and the curves adjustment layer you used in Photoshop? I was wondering why you didn't used that. :)
Thanks for watching Merlin. I'm not sure of the technical answer to your question but in my experience .. yes .. a big difference.
Very inspirational. I was just about to buy a wider angle lens but I think I'll have a go at this method instead!
Thanks heaps for watching Carol. Happy to help anytime with recommendations.
Pretty nice work
Thanks so much Bruno.
Very helpful informative video. Thank you. Just one point. Would it not have been faster and easier to use a tilt-pan tripod head? No need to level between shots and easier to do combined horizontal and vertical panoramas.
Thanks for watching Phil. Yes a pan/tilt tripod head would make it easier for this .. but nothing else is easier with them .. believe me, I've used them before. The other difficulty with them is that you need an excellent level base or else they run crooked. With a ball head you can adjust easily on the fly, especially with a simple 4 shot pano like this one.
I have a question about the sigma lens i got a canon 6d mark 1 and i've been after a f1.4 lens for a long time and is the sigma 35mm f1.4 art lens worth buying thanks
Hi Adam, yes the Sigma 35 f1.4 art is certainly worth buying.
Hi love your video's, but do you have to shoot in raw or do jpeg works also when you are editing?
Hi andarthome 142. Thank you for watching. Yes I always shoot in RAW as you get far more latitude when editing those files.
Thanks for sharing!!!
Thank you for watching.
Really amazing work and tutorial. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
Really appreciate you watching Leomar and for the comment.