Unfortunately there haven’t been enough takers this year for the Night-Time Photography short course that Royal Botanical Gardens has asked me to present to go ahead. The course has been cancelled.
A stacked star-trails image captured along the shores of Lake Huron.
When I do offer this three night course, the program is all about learning to take photographs of the night sky with a digital camera. Ideal equipment includes any digital SLR and wide-angle lens, tripod, and remote or cable release. Other digital cameras may be usable, but it will depend on whether you can take complete manual control over the camera. Functions like ISO rating, shutter speed, aperture, colour temperature and focus should all be able to be controlled manually to get the most of out night-time photography.
The Burlington Waterfront in December 2013, photographed early one morning.
We talk a little about telescopes, and there’s a chance to try out some telescope photography, too. However, this introductory program is intended to help you take beautiful images of landscapes and the sky at night, especially those with interesting skies and night-time city-scapes. Subjects covered include basic camera operations, composition, planning for photography at night, controlling long exposures, and computer software for various functions such as stacking star trail images.
The Burlington Waterfront and Pier before dawn.
Our first evening together is usually in a classroom. The subsequent meetings are outdoors. Locations are chosen depending on the weather and class interest. Excellent opportunities for interesting night-time photos are often to be had along the edges of Hamilton Harbour (such as at La Salle Park Marina) or along the Burlington waterfront.
Constellation Orion rising over a suburban street in Burlington, Ontario, on the evening of 23 March 2013. Betelgeuse, the brightest star in Orion, is in the middle of the frame and about 1/8th of the way down from the top.
The moon photographed early on the morning of 29 August 2013. Yes, this one was taken with a telescope.
I hope the program will be invited once again. I’ll post updates if that happens.
Pine River Observ-atory 