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Two Night Milky Way Photography Workshop

All levels

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Spend a weekend with an award-winning photographer learning new skills and expanding your knowledge with like-minded passionate people. In this workshop you will learn everything you need to know to take your night photography skills to the next level. You will find renewed motivation in this stunning natural location as you immerse yourself in the learning experience.
 

Overview

This is a two nights workshop starts from Friday early afternoon until Sunday morning, with a maximum of 4 participants. The workshop will take place at Ready Cut Cottage in Namadgi National park (about an hour drive from Canberra). This is a cosy 1927 heritage cottage located in the picturesque Gudgenby Valley with lots of spectacular landscape and native wildlife surroundings, as well as ancient walking trails.

During the day there will be several post processing workshops* but you will also have space to explore the incredible natural surroundings. After the sun settles you'll learn in depth how to capture the Milky Way nightscapes on Friday and Saturday night. 

A big part of this workshop will be several Astro-landscape photography post-processing sessions, you'll learn how to edit your nightscapes, manage efficiently your entire collection of images in logical structures and post processing workflow using Lightroom Classic. You will also learn how to work with layers and create advanced compositions in Photoshop with hands on exercises. Ari will teach you his simple to understand personalised method. 

Ari is a trained photographer, he has won many industry awards in several genres of photography, nationally and internationally. He is regarded as a leading professional in his field. In 2019, he won the  First place in Astrophotography and the 2020 Nature Photographer of the Year at IPA (International Photography Awards).

For Ari there is nothing as magical as when the camera captures the full splendor of the Milky Way arching over the horizon. It is a skill he loves to share through specialist courses such as Milky Way Photography Workshop

     

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Announcement:  Posible change of Location for Upcoming 2025 Two-Night Workshops

Due to maintenace works at the Ready Cut Cottage we are relocating our upcoming two-night workshops. Despite this change, I'm excited to share the benefits of our new venue, which we used in the June and September 2004 workshop and received great feedback.

New Location:

Witts End, Krawarree
6 Dempseys Rd, Krawarree NSW 2540

Highlights:

  • Extended check-in and check-out times: Gain an additional time to immerse ourselves in the experience.

  • Comfortable setting: A larger, comfortable, and warmer environment for our activities.

  • Enhanced Milky Way viewing: Great visibility providing us with an extended shooting window of the Milky Way core.

  • Convenience: No need to bring sleeping bags or towels if the workshop is held here. 

  • Bortle 2 scale sky quality: The sky quality remains as excellent as the previous location.

Workshop Goals & Highlights

On this workshop we will cover:

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  • Expert guidance from internationally renowned photographer Ari Rex

  • You will gain a solid understanding of your camera functions

  • Effective techniques to plan and prepare for taking outstanding Milky Way images, panoramas, timelapses and several star-trail techniques

  • How and where to focus your camera to get pin sharp focus of the stars and foreground objects in total darkness.

  • Understanding the 500 rule and when to break it so you can extend the exposure time of single shots up to 200% without noticeable startrail

  • Tips and tricks for using creative foreground lighting techniques

  • Advanced capturing techniques, focus stacking and image stacking to reduce noise and exposure blending with exercises 

  • Techniques and tips on how to keep your camera in optimal condition to photograph during day and night

  • Hands on experience on how to quickly align (under a minute) and use any star-tracking device to capture high quality images of the Milky Way, moon, planets, constellations and nebulas (feel free to bring your tracker)

  • Tracking techniques that help you align the star tracker during the day, this is excellent for numerous techniques such as

       day to night tracking timelapses, tracking satellites and Moon and Sun eclipses

  • You will understand how to best use the exposure triangle for the image you'd like to create. The importance of composition, lighting, whether that be indoor or outdoor environment

  • You will take home a portfolio of photos, some of which will be edited

  • You will gain a basic understanding of Lightroom and Photoshop, including powerful editing functions, there will be several exercises so you can edit your images yourself under Ari's instructions

  • After the workshop you will receive a detailed email information pack with all the techniques learned 

What Will I Need?

  • DSLR or Mirrorless camera and lens*

  • Tripod 

  • Extra batteries

  • Headlamp with red light 

  • Remote control or intervalometer

  • Warm clothes (dress for very cold weather as the temperature drops low)

*Any DSLR or mirrorless camera made after 2010 can photograph the Milky Way, although the quality of the image straight out of the camera will depend mostly on the quality of the lens that you will be using. A lens with an aperture of f2.8 or larger performs better on this genre of photography.

     Recommended but not required

  • Laptop (possibly loaded with Lightroom Classic and Photoshop*)

  • Smartphone

  • Hiking boots 

  • Warm clothes, beanie and gloves will be necessary at night when the temperature drops.

* Partecipants that want to test out Lightroom Classic, please download the free trial a couple of days earlier. You can decide later if you wish to continue using these powerful editing programs. (We do not affiliate with Adobe, we use and teach these programs as they are industry standard for photography, you can also use your own software to edit images as the information presented in the workshop is still relevant to most editing software).

 

Difficulty

 

All skill levels are welcome. The workshops will be tailored to suit individual levels of knowledge

It is a good idea to bring along instruction booklets for your cameras as there is no internet access at the cottage

This workshop is focused mostly of astrophotography but we encourage you to bring longer lenses so you can photograph animals and eagles during the day is well as it's a spectacular place to photograph.

Reasonable physical fitness is required, we will be walking not far from the cottage and the terrain is relatively easy to navigate

*Please note: In respect of our community and the land, we apply a "leave no trace" policy in all our workshops

Weather Policy 


Our Two-Night Milky Way photography workshop will proceed as scheduled, rain or shine. If heavy clouds, rain, or storms prevent us from photographing the Milky Way, we will continue with the class indoors, focusing on essential techniques, settings, and tips to prepare you for future clear skies. We’ll also dive into extensive editing sessions to help you enhance your nightscape images.

Please note that weather conditions are unpredictable and beyond our control. We encourage participants to view the indoor sessions as an invaluable part of the learning experience, ensuring you leave with the skills and knowledge needed to capture stunning nightscapes when the skies clear.

 

 

User Agreement 

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  • The fee for this workshop is $2400 per person on a twin shared room. The fee includes it all, tuition, accommodation, food, water and wood fire

  • The registration can be done directly at the Book Workshops page or by pressing the green button Book Now below! 

  • You will receive a confirmation email soon after you finish the pay process

  • Our workshops fill up quickly so we recommend you to secure your spot at your earliest convenience

  • The registration is not completed if the payment hasn't been made. If you have issues booking try another browser or contact us here

  • Few days before the workshop begins you will receive an email with workshop info, meeting details and itinerary

  • Cancellations - you can cancel your workshop booking at anytime up to two months prior to the workshop to receive a full refund*. Cancellations made within six weeks prior to the workshop will be liable for a 50% cancellation fee. Unfortunately refunds cannot be issued for cancellations made less than three weeks prior to the workshop

  • Interstate and overseas attendees can be picked up and dropped off to their hotel free of charge (please notify us in your booking to arrange pick up times)

* 10% cancellation fee applies

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Testimonials


" Yesterday (16 May 2018), I along with three other interested persons attended the workshop. When I met Ari Rex, I realised that he is a down-to-earth person with ample of practical experience in astrophotography. He is extremely friendly and very keen to teach his skills to the attendees. He started from the very basics of the camera set ups, useful apps and then drove us to the wonderful workshop site at the Namadgi National Park. It was all done in a very friendly manner but with a professional touch. "

Tanvir Hossain

 

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