We will be spending 2 nights learning the fundamentals of low light photography, nightscape photography, Milky Way photography and even try out some Astrophotography by mounting your Sony E, Canon EF/EF-S, Nikon FX or Pentax K DSLR directly to the group telescope. If you own a different DSLR, contact me ASAP!
Day 1 - August 6th:
We will be meeting in the public parking of the Wateridge Housing Community in Sorrento Valley at 10:00 AM. 10368 Wateridge Cir., San Diego, CA 92121. We will get on the road at around 11:00 AM. We will caravan together to our final destination. Estimated travel time is 4 hour and 50 minutes, placing our arrival at around 4:50 PM.
PLEASE REMEMBER TO HAVE REQUIRED DOCUMENTS FOR CROSSING THE BORDER. CLICK HERE FOR AVAILABLE OPTIONS.
Upon entering Ensenada, MX, we will stop for some lunch and to stretch our legs. After about 20 we will continue on our way. The next stop will be Mike's Sky Ranch. When we arrive, rooms and campsites will be assigned. After everyone has unloaded and gotten comfortable, we will get together for dinner and prep for the night.
Through and after dinner, I will go over the fundamentals of low light photography, DSLR functions, explain the exposure triangle, talk about wide angle lenses, composing your images, light painting, milky way imaging & the importance of the Lagoon Nebula, star circles, time lapse imaging and give everyone starting settings for their cameras to begin imaging.
We will image the sky at different angles, facing different directions and with different foregrounds. Next we will do some Star Circles and finally get to Milky Way imaging. We will finish off our imaging session by doing time lapse imaging of the milky way.
See examples of Nightscapes & Milky Way.
Day 2 - August 7th:
We will begin the with breakfast around 9:30 AM. Members camping do have access to showers in the resort. At around 10:00 we will prepare for our waterfall photo hike! It is a relatively easy hike at less than 2 miles out. Features include plants, wildlife, a flowing river, awesome geological structures, great landscapes and finally the waterfall!! Take a snack and have plenty of water!!
I use 3L Camelbak and recommend that or a water pack of some kind as to keep your hands free for imaging. The weather should be pretty nice on the hike. Have a good hat, comfortable/breathable clothing (NOT COTTON), and sunglasses. I will be taking sunblock and a first aid kit on the hike.
Estimated return time is 1:00pm. At that time we will have some down time to relax, jump in the pool, visit the bar, restaurant, walk around or just chill! As night approaches, we will head to dinner and chat about the topic of Astrophotography. During and after dinner we will discuss the three primary styles of telescopes, how to pick one, benefits, about optics, telescope eyepieces and accessories, how to set up at telescope with hands on experience for all, locations of night sky objects, basic navigation using the night sky, how to image planets, how to image deep sky objects and a basic rundown on the time it takes to process deep sky images. I have a list of interesting objects prepared for us to view and image, including Jupiter, Saturn, M51 - The Whirlpool Galaxy, M13 - The Great Hercules Cluster and more!!
I have telescope adapters for only Sony E, Canon EF/EFS, Nikon F & Pentax K DSLR cameras. If you own a different DSLR, contact me ASAP!
See examples of Astrophotography.
Day 3 - August 8th:
Wake up around 9:00 AM and enjoy breakfast and each other's company.
After breakfast we will be doing the Group Nightsky Photo Contest!! Everyone will pick 1 photo from all their own images and enter it in the contest without it being named (no one will know it is your photo). Then we will all judge based on certain criteria I have laid out. Owner of the winning image will get everyone's admiration and a prize!!
Next we begin to pack up our equipment/take down campsites, capture some group shots and exchange information before heading out.
Check out time 12:00 PM. Return time to the U.S. cannot be accurately estimated as border crossing times vary greatly. Be prepared to wait at the border up to 2 hours.
Thank you and Clear Skies to you all!!
Note!!
I HIGHLY recommend that everyone have a remote intervalometer, plenty of storage space and batteries for their cameras. Please visit my Amazon Store if you need any of these item.s
