Experience one of the most photogenic locations and darkest places on the planet while learning to capture stunning images of the night skies and more. Two highly experienced Night Sky photographers, Jerry Patterson and Ryan Smith team up to share with you their secrets first hand of how to capture epic shots of the night skies, milky way and more. Of course, epic Sunsets and Sunrises are in the mix as well! Explore the most iconic locations of the Southwest by stepping into amazing locations within Arches National Park, Canyonlands and all the way to Monument Valley.
The variety of locations and content within this workshop is unmatched. Beginners to Advanced, this workshop will be adaptable to all as this it has been carefully designed for amateur photographers of all skill levels. Ryan and Jerry will not only share hands on tips and techniques in the field, but will share basic to advanced editing techniques to make sure you have the skills needed from start to finish for epic Wall hangers.
Workshop dates: April 23-28, 2017
Sunday April 23rd 6:00pm Meet and Greet
- Introductions and getting to know our fun group!
- Review workshop schedule
- Provide safety and ANP regulations.
- Sharing of individual's goals within our time together
- Q&A
*** Additional daily itinerary details are included below ***
What is included?
- Guidance to different sites each day for photographing the Milky Way and more
- On site instruction for photographing the Milky Way and light painted arches
- In-camera photo reviews and camera setting adjustments where necessary
- Three four hour Photoshop and Lightroom post-processing sessions of your MilkyWay photos
Cost of the Workshop
- Current Workshop Cost For 2017 is $900.00.
- A deposit of $150.00 is required to reserve a slot for this workshop.
- The workshop guide must receive the remaining amount 90 days prior to the start of the workshop in Arches National Park.
What is not included in the Cost
- Participant’s meals, including Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and Snacks, are the responsibility of each participants. Various stops to stores giving time for purchases and needed items will be made throughout the day for anyone as needed and additional scheduled / built-in stops will be make for breakfast.
- Flight, Hotel, Gasoline, Park entrance fee, off-workshop activity events are the responsibility of each participant
- Transportation to and from the airport to the hotel is the responsibility of the participants.
What Specific Stops are planned?
We will cover many locations
- Inside Arches National Park
- Canyonlands National Park
- Areas around Moab
- Monument Valley and areas on the way
We will accommodate as many sites as possible for different arches with the Milky Way either being over the specific arch or seen through it. And have the option to stay for sunrise.
Just after breakfast on our fourth morning of photographing the Milky Way in the ANP area, we will drive down to Monument Valley. It is important to get an early start as we’d like to make one important stop along the way to photograph “The House on Fire.” This site is not a main site of this workshop but it would be a bonus site to visit while we are on our way to Monument Valley. The distance to this site from where we park is just over a mile and it is all flat.
Once we are back on the road to Monument Valley, we will make at least one more stop and that will be at the infamous Rt 163 mile marker 13 with its view of the north side of Monument Valley. As you might remember, this is where Tom Hanks playing the part of Forest Gump finally ended his run.
We will arrive in Monument Valley in time for a late lunch and take a break for everyone to relax, get on the Internet, go out on their own (or with the workshop instructor) and enjoy the scenery of this incredible area. We will all get together an hour before sunset to capture the sunset where the sun’s last rays beautifully falls upon “The Mittens” and after photographing the Milky Way early the next morning we will photograph the sunrise.
Camera settings instruction for photographing the Milky Way
Over the course of the workshop, I will go over different techniques for capturing the Milky Way. However, so that you might practice in advance of this workshop and it is very important that you do, here are the basics in camera settings I suggest you go through several times so that you are very comfortable in using the camera’s menu system and dials in order to change settings quickly and efficiently as needed during the workshop in the dark while using a headlamp.
Once you are comfortable in changing your camera settings in the daylight, I strongly suggest you go out at night with a light and go through this process as this is exactly what we will be doing. You will quickly find out how more challenging it is to use your camera at night.
1. Set the camera to manual. (Both camera and lens )
2. Set the ISO to 3200 or something close to this but no higher than 6000.
3. Dial in an exposure time of 25 seconds on your “M” dial
4. Set you camera to a 2 second delay
5. Set the white balance to auto or AWB or a different white balance.
Having conducted numerous Milky Way night sky workshops, it would not be unusual that people will be shooting with a Canon, Nikon or Sony.
Given this, it has been my experience that all white balance settings are not the same on different cameras. For example, a Milky Way shot on a Nikon will look better with the white balance set to daylight or maybe tungsten rather than auto white balance (AWB). And the same applies to those with Canon or Sony cameras. Around sunrise everyone will need to make sure the camera is set to AWB and the iso is brought back down.
Milky Way Photography and Light Painting the Arches
When we photograph the Milky Way at various sites, we will light paint the arches and other monuments for added effect as you see in the following photo of Balanced Rock.
Photoshop & Lightroom Post-processing sessions
The post processing sessions are not designed to teach you Photoshop or Lightroom but rather expand upon your knowledge of these tools
If you would like to get the most out of these sessions, it is reccomended to check before attending the workshop. The following must be available and functional:
1. Have a copy of and run Photoshop CC 2015. Unfortunately, Photoshop CS6 will not beenough for the post processing sessions as the current version of PS has been vastly improved since CS6.
2. You must have the latest version of “Bridge CC” installed and with Photoshop open onthe Desktop, you need to be able to run “Bridge” by going to the menu at the top of the Photoshop window and selecting “File,” “Browse in Bridge” as you see in the graphic below:
3. While in Adobe Bridge which allows you to navigate to and view thumbnails of your photos, you must be able to select and open the photo you see in Bridge in Camera
Raw as seen in the graphic below:
In order to gain the most information and benefit for processing your Milky Way photos during these sessions, the participant needs to have a base knowledge of the use of Photoshop. If you do not have Photoshop, you will not be able to process your Milky Way photos to the utmost possible.
Workshop daily itinerary
April 24-28 (Monday through noon Friday)
April 23 Meet and greet everyone at 6pm at a designated hotel
Day 1-3: April 24-27
1. Early morning am photography to post sunrise then break for breakfast: ANP
2. Break for breakfast after sunrise shooting
3. Meet at 11am for 1st Photoshop & Camera Raw post processing session
4. Break for the remainder of the day
Day 4: April 27
1. Leave Moab hotel at 3am and drive to Milky Way photo site
2. Shoot to a little past sunrise
3. Break for breakfast
4. Drive down to Monument Valley, AZ and check into “The View Hotel”
5. Meet an hour before sunset for sunset photography
6. Dinner at The View’s restaurant
Day 5: April 28
1. Meet in hotel lobby at 3am and walk to Milky Way shooting area around the hotel
2. Shoot until after sunrise
3. Workshop ends
4. Breakfast at the hotel
What should I bring for this photo workshop?
1. A flashlight and / or a headlamp as you see here on Petzl’s headlamp webpage.
2. At a minimum, very warm winter coat, gloves, hat, good pair of hiking boots, wool socks as pre-sunrise temps may be very chilly if not cold because the wind may be blowing. We shouldn’t have to worry about rain during March/ April but come prepared Shortly after sunrise people will be taking the layers and coats off soon as it will warm up quickly.
3. Food, water … something to snack on until we break for breakfast.
Any additional workshop requirements I should be aware of?
During our meet and greet at the hotel the day before the workshop begins, per national park requirements, each participant must sign a release form which relieves the National Park Service and the workshop guide from any responsibility for any accidents and injuries incurred during the workshop. Every safety precaution will be taken to ensure no one is injured in any way during the workshop but things happen and one may trip up, fall, twist an ankle during the workshop or one may wonder off to far, out of sight and be confronted with wildlife.
This form must be signed as a NPS requirement. Failure to do so will disqualify one from participating in the workshop with full forfeiture of the paid workshop fee and in this case one should not plan to participate in this workshop.
When the workshop guides meets with all participants the evening before the first day of the workshop, each one will need to confirm that he/she is in good physical condition for walking/hiking over the four day workshop. One 35 minute hike may be taken. If one has a medical condition, that participant must notify the workshop instructor of that medical condition. Please be aware that unknown medical conditions may prevent the entire group from being taken to any given site.
What additional photography equipment should I bring to enhance my photos?
I suggest workshop participants bring one or two different wide angle lenses. Any prime lens like a 12mm, 14mm or a zoom wide angle in the neighborhood of a 10-20mm, 11-16mm, 16-35mm and all having and aperture capability down to f2.8, F3.2 or f3.5.
I will be flying in. What is the recommended airport?
The closest major airport I know of is Grand Junction, Colorado.
From Grand Junction, the drive to Moab, Utah should be no more than 1.5 hours depending on how fast/slow one drives.
Directions from Grand Junction:
Take Rt 70 west to Rt 191 south
Take Rt 191 south into Moab, Utah
Safety during the workshop
We will be either walking or hiking short distances along trails in the dark and at some point we will be on a few off-the-beaten-path foot trails. Please do not wander off from the group or get out of sight in order to not lose anyone.
How may I contact the workshop guide?
Email: Ryan@lifescapeswest.com
Facebook: fb www.facebook.com/lifescapeswest
Personal cell: 801-360-3546
The workshop reservation fee of $150.00 may be entered here on the Eventzilla page or a check sent to sent to the following address:
Ryan Smith
733 King St
Suite 280
Layton Utah 8404
In the memo area , please enter: “Ryan Smith April 2017 SW Workshop”
If you have any additional questions, please do not hesitate to call or send me an email.
Thanks for your interest in our workshop. Jerry and I look forward to seeing you there!
Ryan and Jerry
