Royce Bair posts
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3 Levels of Astro Editing
I recently asked Mike Abramyan to be a Guest Artist for the Spring 2026 update to my Milky Way NightScape ebook.His contribution will share the "3 Levels of Astro Editing" he uses for his nightscapes. His first two levels are similar to my own, but with some interesting twists. His "Begi...
Samsung or Apple for Nightscape Photography?
I'm an Apple iPhone guy, and have been ever since Apple brought out their first smartphone in 2007. However, Sadeq Hayati recently came out on Instagram with a comparison between the Samsung S25 and the Apple iPhone 17 that might make diehard Apple users consider Samsung for smartphone nightscap...
Editing with the "Starry Nights" Presets
Angel Fux used her Starry Nights Lightroom/Photoshop presets as a starting point for her post processing edits to her Peruvian Andes nightscape, "The Shot Above".On page 193 of my Milky Way NightScapes eBook version 2.0, I state this about Lightroom Presets:Photographers often ask me what I ...
Planning Nightscapes with the Planit Pro app
Although PhotoPills is the most popular photography planning app, in our recent poll, The Photographer's Ephemeris (TPE) captured the number two spot as the app most used for planning nightscape photography. I conducted this same poll on my Nightscaper Facebook group, where Stellarium came in 2n...
PhotoPills is having a Black Friday sale today
PhotoPills rarely does a Black Friday sale, but they are having one today! Get PhotoPills for 50% off today (Nov 28th):You can get PhotoPills here:App StoreGoogle PlayPhotoPills is the most popular photo planning app for nightscape photography. The app typically sells for $10.99, but it is on sale t...
What We Lose When Cameras Get Better
As our cameras have improved, have we lost something?I'm not talking just about the discipline that old film cameras require, but with digital improvements, we often lose the following qualities in our photography:Intentionality - Digital teaches us to shoot first and think later. Film taught us...
Photographing the new Comet
Yesterday, I drove from Salt Lake City, Utah to Arches National Park with a plan to photograph the new comet, Comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon). My plan was to align the comet with Balanced Rock, from the backside, since the comet is appearing in the northwestern night sky.Where is the Comet? At the moment, ...
Finding New Ways to Shoot & Edit Your Nightscapes
Two weeks ago, I invited Stephen Clayson to go out with me to the Ward Charcoal Ovens in Nevada to re-photograph an image I had done in October 2012 for National Geographic. My favorite photo from our recent trip was Stephen's above perspective.These 30-feet (9 m) high ovens reduced charcoal fro...
What's Your Favorite Nightscape Season?
I love the spring (March - May) Milky Way in the Northern Hemisphere, where the Milky Way rises almost parallel to the horizon of my landscapes. The Milky Way also does that in the spring months (September - November) in the Southern Hemisphere.I also like the vertical Milky Way we get in the Northe...
Rabbitbrush Highway to the Stars
On Monday, I went into the Nevada desert to photograph the autumn Milky Way. Sept 22 was the 1st day of fall. This is one of the darkest regions in the country: Highway 93. Love that straight up autumn Milky Way!I also went to photograph the native Rabbitbrush that often establishes itself along the...
Milky Way NightScapes eBook, version 2.0
Royce Bair's original version 1.1, "Milky Way NightScapes" eBook has been an astro-landscape photography standard reference book, worldwide, for over ten years. The late Alyn Wallace called Royce the "founding father of landscape astrophotography."This expanded version (198 pages...
Finding a New and Unique Nightscape
The above photo in the Upper Cathedral Valley of Capitol Reef National Park was the result of being able to find a new and unique astro-landscape foreground location.Despite the phrase, "there is no new thing under the sun" (Ecclesiastes 1:9), creative subjects and unique locations can still...
Home on the Range
The above image, that I took last week in the Grand Tetons, reminds me of the song, "Home on the Range" that was written by Dr. Brewster Higley and first published in 1876:Oh, give me a home where the Buffalo roamWhere the Deer and the Antelope play;Where seldom is heard a discouraging word,...
Choosing What is Most Important
Bonding with my grandsons under a starry night sky: Recently, I was prepping for a private workshop, when I got a call from two of my grandsons, who wanted to learn astrophotography.This was a very inconvenient time for me; however, opportunities to connect with your grandchildren don’t come aroun...
The Creative Path of Benjamin Everett
I first met Benjamin in 2016 on the North Shore of Kauai, where he was living at the time. I had been following him on Instagram, and asked if he wanted to meet up while I was photographing on the island. We photographed along the beach at sunset, had dinner together and spent time talking about our...
NightScaper Resources for Learning
While I didn't invent "nightscape" astrophotography, many believe I have helped to shape this genre.In 2015, I registered the domain name of "nightscaper.com" and created the first conference for nightscape photographers. Since 2019, we have had four conferences—one in Moab, Ut...
We talked with the "father of nightscape photography"
The late Alyn Wallace once called me the "founding father of landscape astrophotography." A local TV station picked up on that quote and used it as the title for a 3-minute live interview they did on me earlier this week.If you're interested, here's a LINK to the story and a video cl...
The Universal Field Wrench
Have you ever had your camera slip on your tripod because the quick release plate between it and the tripod was not tight enough? The same thing can often happen to your ball head or your star tracker because the screw attachments are only "finger tight".More diameter equals more torque. Tha...
The Progression to Mirrorless
If you're a longtime Sony shooter, you might have been a full-frame mirrorless user since October 2013, when Sony launched the Sony Alpha 7 and Alpha 7R. It took Nikon and Canon five more years before they launched their full-frame mirrorless cameras, the Nikon Z7 (pictured above) and Canon EOS ...
A New Tribute to Alyn Wallace
Alyn Wallacepassed away a year ago, last March 28th, at the young age of only 34 years old. Many of us remember how much he accomplished and gave to the astrophotography world during the few short years prior to his untimely death.Art Installation in remembrance of Alyn: Alyn's family and friend...
WATCH the Nightscape Presentation I Gave on March 18th
Those of you who registered for the Metro Denver Photography Meetuppresentation that I gave two days ago, should have already received a link to the Zoom recording that went out via email a few minutes ago.HERE'S A LINK TO THE VIDEO RECORDINGfor all my loyal Patreon paid members.Note: Be sure to...
Nightscape Presentation via Zoom
Last month I mentioned that my Going to the Dark Sidepresentation may be coming to a city near you. On Tuesday, March 18th at 6:30pm (MDT) the Metro Denver Photography Groupwill be presenting my program live via Zoom, and it is free to the public, if you register.NOTE: The live Zoom broadcast is lim...
How Do You Get Close To Your Nightscapes?
I recently posted "Getting Closer and Staying Longer" — an article about using small self-contained camper trailers to get closer to your nightscape subjects, and stay there longer. LET ME KNOW HOW YOU ARE GETTING CLOSE TO YOUR NIGHTSCAPES (the way you do it most often).
Getting Closer and Staying Longer
Nothing improves your chances for getting great astro landscapes photos than just getting outas often as you can under a dark starry night sky.Several years ago I decided to set a goal of not only getting out more often, but finding a way to get closerto my subject (dark sky locations) and being abl...
My Nightscape Presentation May Be Coming to Your City
My latest nightscape presentation, "Going to the Dark Side,"may be coming soon to a city near you. This is part of my "giving back" to our wonderful astro-landscape photography community. You can also help to initiate a presentation in your area by checking out my free NightsapeEvent...
Light Weight Stands for Low Level Lighting
The BESNFOTO C-5188 Carbon Fiber Light Stand, shown above, is the lightest and most compact (when folded) of all the tripod-style stands I have ever used. I LOVE it! I've used it in the field for over two years, and it's held up well under all kinds of abuse. What makes it even more attracti...
Glass: The Photography Community Without Manipulative Algorithms or Ads
I just started using Glass. The Glass online platformhas only been around for about three years, growing slowly and carefully by the efforts of its co-founders Tom Watson and Stefan Borsje, both with extensive background experience in designing and engineering at other platforms like Facebook and Pi...
Alyn Wallace Tribute Page
The folks at the Night Photo Summit(January 24-26) have put together an Alyn Wallace Tribute pagethat includes a freelinkto his 2023 Night Photo Summit presentation, Night Sky Wonders, a Memorial Edition of his 2022 book, Photographing the Night Sky,and a link to his 2025 calendars.
Price Increases on Lightroom & Photoshop
Adobe announced earlier this monththat they will be increasing the subscription pricing on Lightroom and Photoshop, effective January 15, 2025. This may or may not effect you. Let me explain...Starting January 15, 2025, the price of the Adobe Creative Cloud Photography plan with 20GB storagewill inc...
