B&H to Celebrate a Whole Week of Night, and We'll Be There!

As you know, we love night photography. And we love when others love night photography. And we’re always game for when someone wants to celebrate night photography, particularly when that “someone” is a giant in the photo industry, such as B&H Photo. And boy are they about to celebrate night photography!

Our favorite camera store and longtime friends at B&H have dubbed next week as “Night Photography Week,” during which they’ll be hosting a series of related content and events on all their channels.

Of course, we’re honored to be a part of it. See below for details.

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Instagram Story from Badlands

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Lightning in Badlands National Park. © 2019 Matt Hill. Nikon Z 6 with a 35mm lens. 4 seconds, f/8, ISO 200.

National Parks at Night’s Matt Hill and Tim Cooper will be in Badlands National Park next week to run a workshop during the peak of the Perseid Meteor Shower. They’ll be sharing part of that adventure with an Instagram story on B&H’s account. Follow by clicking on that link, and then keep your eye out for the story to develop.

Time-Lapse Talk

Our friend David Marx, who was a speaker at our Night Photo Summit earlier this year, will be presenting on “How to Create a Basic Timelapse Video Clip of the Night Sky.” David will cover everything from the basics to shooting a sequence of raw material to best cameras to use and more, plus how to put together your time-lapse in Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop.

Moonshots

Andrei Duman recently completed a personal project at the Mount Wilson Observatory, using the Hubble Telescope to capture photographs of the moon and stars. During a 1-hour presentation titled “Shooting the Moon,” he’ll tell the story of that experience and share some of the amazing high-resolution photographs he made of our nearest celestial neighbor.

Comfort and Creativity

You’re not scared of the dark, are you? No matter the answer, this talk is a don’t-miss. On the second day of the celebration, our own Gabriel Biderman will take the virtual stage at the B&H Event Space to discuss “Tips for Gaining Comfort and Creativity in Night Photography.” Gabe’s advice will empower you with knowledge to not only make you a better night photographer, but to also get you excited to push yourself more with creative long exposures.

Deep-Sky Discoveries

Yet another of our Night Photo Summit speakers will join B&H stage when Kevin LeGore steps up to talk about “Natural Night,” sponsored by NiSi. Attendees will learn how Natural Night filters help Kevin produce intimate images of our galaxy.

Gentle Light at Night

On the final day, National Parks at Night’s Chris Nicholson and Lance Keimig will team to talk about “The Wonders of Low-level Landscape Lighting,” sponsored by Luxli. They’ll go over their strategies for using the LLL technique and tools to create night photography in a controlled and creative fashion.

Inside Look at Deep-Sky Gear

In his talk “Behind the Scenes with Astrophotography Equipment,” Matt Dieterich of PlaneWave Instruments will bring the audience on a visual tour of the advanced imaging gear they manufacture to help astronomers and astrophotographers around the world capture amazing pictures of deep space.

YouTube Features

All of the above are live events, and B&H has also some recorded presentations queued up for their YouTube channel, as they’ve put together a great lineup of night-photography themed videos for Night Photography Week. A few of these are by us too:

• “Best Cameras for Night Photography,” “Camera Settings for Night Photography,” “How to Photograph Star Trails” and “How to Light Paint” by Gabe

• “10 Night Photography Problems and How to Solve Them,” by Matt and Chris

• “Night Landscape Photography: From Light Painting to Light Writing,” by Lance

In addition to those, stay tuned for the following new releases for the week (all of which also happen to be from Night Photo Summit speakers):

• “How to Get Started in Astrophotography: 5 Tips with @Nateinthewild,” by Nate Luebbe

• “5 Composition Tips for More Striking Astro Photos,” by Autumn Schrock

• “5 Tips on Light Painting,” by Susan Magnano

More Info & Registration

We’re pretty excited to be part of Night Photography Week, just as we’re always excited to work alongside our good friends at B&H.

For more details on all the above and everything else planned, keep an eye on B&H’s social media, as well as the Explora article “Join B&H Photo for Night Photography Week.” We’ll see y’all there, to seize the night!

Chris Nicholson is a partner and workshop leader with National Parks at Night, and author of Photographing National Parks (Sidelight Books, 2015). Learn more about national parks as photography destinations, subscribe to Chris' free e-newsletter, and more at www.PhotographingNationalParks.com.

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UPCOMING WORKSHOPS FROM NATIONAL PARKS AT NIGHT

A Day of Night: Talking Stars and Light Painting at the B&H Event Space

A few days ago Matt Hill and I were hosted by the B&H Event Space, one of our very favorite places to present. The people who run the space are fantastic to work with—always warm, welcoming, helpful and professional in every degree imaginable. Moreover, the Event Space attracts an impressive array of audience members—from beginners to expert pastimers to consummate professionals—who come armed with infectious enthusiasm and a passionate curiosity to better their craft.

(Attendees also included a few of our former workshop participants; it’s always great to see and to catch up with them.)

Matt and I demonstrating why we love Coast flashlights above all other options. Photo courtesy of B&H Photo.

It was “A Day of Night at the Event Space,” comprising two presentations, which were livestreamed to a combined audience of over 25,000 viewers (thank you to everyone who tuned in!). Both talks included some of the topics we teach on our workshops, along with over 75 photographs that we’ve made during our adventures under the dark skies of America’s national parks.

We wanted to share what we talked about with you, the readers of our blog.

‘Shooting Stars: How to Photograph Night Skies’

Me talking about starry skies while surrounded by National Parks at Night logos. Photo courtesy of Klaus-Peter Statz.

In the first presentation of the afternoon, I talked about how to get started photographing stars. Some of the topics covered were:

• gear

• white balance

• exposure

• the 400 Rule

• composition

• star trails

• star stacking

• lens condensation during long exposures

• software options

• and more

You can view the recorded version of the livestream here  (jump to 4:56 for the beginning of the presentation):

‘Illuminating the Night: Everything You Want to Know About Light Painting’

Matt and I demonstrating the right and wrong way to paint with light. Photo courtesy of Klaus-Peter Statz.

In the second presentation, Matt and I teamed to talk about one of our favorite topics and one of the favorite techniques on our workshops: light painting! Topics covered were:

• building a light painting toolkit

• light painting vs. light writing

• determining a base exposure

• the three kinds of light

• direct vs. diffused vs. reflected light

• angles of illumination

• color and color temperature

• low-level landscape lighting

• collaboration

• and more

You can view the recorded version of the livestream here(jump to 1:20 for the beginning of the presentation):

Come see us!

We hope you enjoy watching these presentations, and that you can take away a nugget or two of knowledge that help as you venture into the night with your cameras.

Between the five of us here at National Parks at Night, we talk pretty regularly at the B&H Event Space, as well as at conferences, trade shows, camera clubs, podcasts, etc. If you’re interested in attending any of the events where we lecture, see our Speaking Engagements page for a schedule of where we’ll be next.

And if you want several days’ worth of this kind of information and instruction, be sure to sign up for any of our upcoming Workshops. ;-)

Chris Nicholson is a partner and workshop leader with National Parks at Night, and author of Photographing National Parks (Sidelight Books, 2015). Learn more about national parks as photography destinations, subscribe to Chris' free e-newsletter, and more at www.PhotographingNationalParks.com.

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UPCOMING WORKSHOPS FROM NATIONAL PARKS AT NIGHT

NPAN + Nikon + B&H + Brooklyn Bridge = Epic Day of Night Photography!

Last Wednesday, National Parks at Night ran our first-ever major event, an epic day in New York City that included five lectures, a panel discussion and a two-hour night-photography walk in one of NYC’s hottest and most intriguing spots for photography.

B&H Photo was an awesome host, providing their great Event Space and handling all the logistics. Nikon sponsored the whole day and night and provided some of their best new gear for participants to use. And Manfrotto was there at night too, providing additional support (figuratively and literally!).

The B&H Event Space full of people interested in seizing the night!

The B&H Event Space hosted the afternoon session, which comprised all of the talking. The house was packed with over 80 people filling the seats and a few dedicated stragglers standing in the back for four hours. We couldn’t have been more happy with the turnout—we greatly appreciate how many people came to B&H to hear us talk about this topic we love so much, and we were thrilled that so many photographers are interested in this dynamic niche of our industry and artform.

We presented five back-to-back lectures that covered:

• Essential gear for night photography (Gabriel Biderman)
• Scouting national park locations for photo shoots (Chris Nicholson)
• Creating visual distinction in your work (Lance Keimig)
• Best practices and creative effects of light-painting (Tim Cooper)
• How to get the most out of a workshop experience (Matt Hill)

Afterward, Deborah Gilbert of the Event Space moderated a half-hour panel discussion about night photography. Both she and the audience had some great questions. We particularly liked getting into the philosophy of why the night-photography niche is so intriguing and so creatively inspiring.

Also, the front of the Event Space was decorated with 20x30 prints of our night images provided by Digital Silver Imaging. We couldn’t have been more happy with how it all looked—they do fantastic work!

Tim talks light painting with the Event Space crowd.

Videos of the lectures will be posted on the B&H YouTube channel in the coming weeks. Keep an eye on our website and social media, as well as the Event Space Twitter feed—we’ll be sure to announce as soon as they’re published.

From there, everyone headed to the photo walk in Brooklyn, where we emerged from the subway in a rainfall. Despite the precipitation, more than 60 photographers attended. And their patience paid off. The weather cleared only ten minutes into the program, leaving behind a wet sheen to all the foreground elements of Brooklyn Bridge Park and the Dumbo neighborhood’s waterfront.

We set up five shooting and education stations:

• Gabe and Chris were positioned at spots looking over the East River at the Brooklyn Bridge and the Manhattan Bridge, respectively, advising on composition and focusing
• Lance worked with participants on exposure at a calm, rocky shore at the edge of the park
• Tim helped people with composition and camera settings on a point of land right under the Manhattan Bridge
• Matt led participants through working with a Pixelstick, a great and fun light tool for night photography

One of the fabulous images we saw created during the evening, showing the shores of the East River with the Manhattan Bridge stretching toward the bright lights of the big city. © 2016 Marco Catini, www.catini.net.

Nikon’s JC Carey also attended the walk, bringing a caseload of Nikon lenses and bodies for people to borrow and use during the evening, including the amazing Nikon D750. JC was great working with everyone. He's always high-energy, charismatic and knows anything you want to ask him about Nikon gear.

Manfrotto came to the walk too, bringing tripods for participants to use. We’re very grateful to both companies, as they made the experience for everyone even better by providing access to some of the best new gear by two of the industry’s elite brands. So a huge thank you to Nikon and Manfrotto, and of course to B&H. We couldn't have pulled this off without the topnotch support and collaboration from all of you.

Flagged from behind by Matt's Pixelstick is the portion of the photo walk crowd who stayed until the end of the night. Photo © 2016 JC Carey.

All in all, it was a great day. So many people came up to us to say how much they learned, or how much fun they had. Both of those sentiments are exactly what we were hoping to provide: We want people to learn more about night photography so they have the same great experience we do when we head into the dark with our cameras.

Thank you to everyone who attended and made our event so special. If you couldn’t make it to this one, stayed tuned—we will definitely do this again!

Chris Nicholson is the author of Photographing National Parks (Sidelight Books, 2015). Learn more about national parks as photography destinations, subscribe to Chris' free e-newsletter, and more at www.PhotographingNationalParks.com.

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Upcoming workshops from National Parks at Night

National Parks at Night’s First Official Event is Going to be EPIC!

We are very excited to be hosting our first gathering of all five NPAN instructors on March 16 at the B&H Event Space from 1-5 p.m. and 7-9 p.m.: "Night Photography Panel and Night Walk With National Parks at Night Sponsored by Nikon."

Chris, Lance, Matt, Tim and I have been building the foundation of NPAN for nearly a year, and this is one of the events that we wanted to share with you from the beginning!

This will not be your typical seminar. Each one of us will spend about 30 minutes discussing a specific topic about night photography, and then we will open the floor for an hour to answer your questions in a no-holds-barred panel discussion.

It would be crazy to get us all together and not do any hands-on instruction, so after we’ve filled you full of words and visions we will take it to the streets … or at least to Brooklyn Bridge Park!

That’s right, starting at 7 p.m. we will set up five shooting stations for you to try out different night photography techniques at one of the most scenic spots to photograph in New York City.

We’d like to give a big shout out to Nikon for sponsoring this event. We are all big fans of their cameras and glass, and Nikon will join us at Brooklyn Bridge Park where you’ll be able to try out a selection of their gear.

Need a better tripod to steady those long exposures? Manfrotto will be there too, and they’ll have loaner tripods for you to use during our night walk.

This lectures and discussion panel booked to capacity in just a few days, but that doesn't mean you can't be part of it! You can still get on the wait list by arriving at the Event Space 15-30 minutes beforehand. And if you can’t attend, you can still watch later—B&H will be recording the “classroom” aspect of the day and publishing it to their YouTube channel later.

As for the night portion, as of last night the Event Space is taking registrations for that separately, and as of right now there are still slots available. Check out "Night Photography Photo Walk With National Parks at Night" for more information and to register. I recommend signing up immediately, because this will book up fast too!

Seize the Night!

Gabriel Biderman is a Brooklyn-based fine art and travel photographer, and author of Night Photography: From Snapshots to Great Shots (Peachpit, 2014). During the daytime hours you'll often find Gabe at one of many photo events around the world working for B&H Photo’s road marketing team. See his portfolio and workshop lineup at www.ruinism.com.

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UPCOMING WORKSHOPS FROM NATIONAL PARKS AT NIGHT