May 22-28, 2025
Learn to photograph the Milky Way and nightscapes in one of the darkest and most scenic locations in California.
Our newest workshop! Photograph the Milky Way and night sky. And learn Lightroom and Photoshop techniques to process your images to perfection during the day.
We will show you everything you need to get great images after the sun sets and the stars rise. During the day you’ll also learn how to digitally process these specialized images, which is essential to good results. Everything will be hands-on and you’ll learn by doing. We’ll even have some specialized equipment you can use for more advanced techniques, like tracking the moving sky.
We’ll stay in comfortable lodging in the small town of Lone Pine, California, the gateway to the striking Sierra Nevada Mountains. This is also the home of the scenic Alabama Hills, a land of granite, boulders, and arches that offer great foregrounds for our images.
You’ll learn how to
- Shoot the Milky Way with just a tripod, digital camera, and wide angle lens.
- Choose the right camera and lenses for the night sky.
- Use a motorized sky tracker to follow the moving sky.
- Stitch multiple frames into panoramas and mosaics.
- Create star trail images.
- Produce time-lapse videos of the moving sky.
- Use smartphone apps to plan your shots and know where the Milky Way will rise.
We will use Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop in an informal classroom setting to develop your images from the night before. (Bring your laptop. We also have limited computers for your use.) Digital processing is a crucial step in night sky photography to bring out faint details and colors. Learn how to:
- Optimize color balance.
- Create a natural yet striking night sky image.
- Reduce noise in high-ISO images.
- Stack multiple frames into one image to produce better results.
Note: If you're looking for our optional Lightroom & Photoshop Refresher add-on, it's now included in the main workshop.