I’m going to share with you How To Capture and Process Nightscape Panoramas. When you just don’t have a wide enough lens to capture the vast scene in front of you, and you want to create a panorama – how do you do it? I'll share how to capture, how to stitch, methods and programs used and a basic primer for post-processing.
It's an update of an article from December 2012, before I started the series, but v1.1 with some new edits, additions and enhancements, and now embedded into the series.
In this article, I talk about my Nightscape Gear and Recommendations - the photography equipment I use to capture my nightscape photos, and recommendations for those who want to upgrade.
The purpose of this post is to explain why I’ve chosen the gear I have and to perhaps inspire or educate you about what type of equipment you’ll need to capture great nightscapes.
In this article, I’m going to share with you the secrets of What Makes a Great Nightscape Photo. I’ll discuss the elements that make up a great nightscape photo, and the factors you’ll need to consider and control to transform your nightscape photos from good to great!
It talks about the 'High ISO Noise Performance of the Canon 6D'.
Is ISO12800 usable on a Canon 6D! You be the judge!
It shows the original RAW image and allows you to download the full-res jpeg and have a play, and shows you the result after two noise-reduction methods (Lightroom and Topaz De-Noise).
In this 9th article, I going to discuss my thoughts on What Makes a Great Nightscape Photographer. Out of all the photographers that inspire me, what sets these people apart? What do they do differently, or what do they have in common, that makes them great?
I'm enjoying this series Mike As a beginner it is very helpful.
You've hit the nail on the head with regards to presentation for the web. I've just started taking some nightscape's and I'm finding the last step, saving to jpeg a problem.
You mention reducing the size of the image then saving the Jpeg. Is that all there is to it? Or are there any other tips which are beneficial.
It depends where you're going to upload it - I follow a routine such as:
- Save PSD (obviously using photoshop for processing)
- Resize to 1200px and optional sharpen for web. Save as 1200px version at 100% quality. I use this on my website or to upload to FB where size isn't important.
- Resize to 700px or 800px (longest side) and optional sharpen. Save as 'filename-800px.jpg' (for example) with 80-90% quality and use that for uploading to IIS. I adjust the quality or the size until the image is under 200kb.
- Resize to 500px or 600px, save as 'filename-600px.jpg' (for example) and use that for embedded images in my blog or where I may need a smaller size.
In Lightroom, you can do roughly the same thing.
Setup a number of export presets - one for each of the places you normally display your images (if they have different criteria).
In Lightroom, I have an 'Export Web 1200px', 'Export Web 800px', 'Export Web 600px' for example.
You can then use the settings of the export to reduce the size to 800px, and the quality to 90% (for example).
Depending on the complexity of the image, that might get it under 200kb. In some cases, I need to reduce the dimensions to 600px and save at 80% quality to get it under 200kb. Each image is different.
Something to distract you on election day, how about a new article in my 'Nightscape Photography 101' series!
This one is about 'Planning and Preparing for a Nightscape Weekend!' - I've been busy preparing for my own weekend away, so thought I'd capture all the steps in planning a weekend away like this - to help you when you plan your own night or weekend of nightscape shooting. I hope you enjoy.