by Richard Sherman

Mt. Lemmon Digital SLR Wide-Field Photo Class

WHO: minimum of 3 and maximum of 6 AAAP members for a private class with Sean Parker, professional photographer.

WHAT: Digital SLR wide-field private photographic class

WHEN: TBD, new moon; (from the Instructor: “they do have a heating room to stay warm while we shoot”). Upcoming new moons:

• 9/9/18 Sunday
• 10/8/18 Monday
• 11/7/18 Wednesday
• 12/7/18 Friday
• 1/5/19 Saturday
• 2/4/19 Monday
• 3/6/19 Wednesday
• 4/5/19 Friday

WHERE: Mt. Lemmon Sky Center. 90-120 minutes from Tuscon. More info at: https://skycenter.arizona.edu/content/welcome-skycenter

HOW MUCH? Total cost is ROUGHLY $650-$700 which includes:

• $375 per person for Milkyway and star trails photographic instruction
• $65 per person for the Astronomy Tour and look through the telescope (that includes dinner)
• $50/night/person in lodging
• Post processing class is $100/hour and lasts for 2-4 hours

What personal equipment will you need? (taken from last class offered March, 2017)

• A DSLR Camera that can perform in Manual (M) Mode and user manual.
• At least 2 fully charged camera batteries and 16GBs of memory card storage.
• A WIDE angle lens that is at least 24mm with an aperture of f/2.8 or faster is recommended but not required. Lens Rental available through borrowlenses.com if necessary. Students get 20% off the rental!
• Shutter Release or Intervalometer
• Tripod
• Warm clothes.
• Laptop for post-processing, including Adobe Lightroom and/or Photoshop, Starstax

Recommended lenses from “Photography – Night Sky” by Jennifer Wu and James Martin:

• 14mm f/2.8
• 14-24mm f/2.8
• 15mm f/2.8
• 8mm f/4
• 16-35mm f/2.8
• 24-70 f/2.8
• 24mm f/1.4
• 35mm f/1.4
• 70-200mm f/2.8

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Other Details from the last public class offered (March, 2017)

What will you learn?

• How to prepare for your shoot.
• Camera & lens overview.
• Camera exposure settings for optimal imagery.
• How to focus your lens at night.
• How to photograph the milky way, capture star trails, long exposures, and light painting.
• Special tips and techniques.
• Advanced camera techniques for focus and exposure blending.
• Introductory post-processing techniques using Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop

What is the workshop schedule (approximate)? (from the last public class offered March, 2017)

• 2:00 PM Arrive at SkyCenter and check into dorms
• 2:30 PM General overview of workshop and introduction to techniques
• 3:45 PM Break and change into warm clothes
• 4:15 PM Participate in the Mount Lemmon SkyCenter’s Sky Nights program (includes dinner)
• 9:15 PM SkyNights concludes
• 9:30 PM Optional telescope viewing of Messier Objects as part of Messier Marathon
• 11:00 PM Convene for Star Trail photography and instruction
• 2:00 AM Convene for Milky Way photography and instruction
• 5:00 AM Dorms!
• 11:30 AM Brunch and post-processing instruction
• 1:30 PM Workshop concludes