Famed Photographer Alan Dyer Starts Kickstarter Campaign for Astrophotography Tutorial

Anyone interested in astronomy in Canada will eventually come across Alan Dyer and his work as an astrophotographer, planetarium show producer and media appearances. So when Dyer started a Kickstarter campaign a few days ago it’s worth noting.

Dyer is looking to raise $15,000 to create a Nightscapes and Time-Lapses tutorial video series. Each tutorial video would to be at least 60 to 90 minutes long with a total of 3 to 4.5 hours of instruction.

If you’ve ever wanted to do astrophotography these videos will no doubt be very useful.
You can back the project starting at an early bird of $55 which will be 25% off the final retail price. For that you get a digital download of the full tutorial.

Here’s what’s expected to be in the tutorial:
PROGRAM 1 – Choosing and Using the Right Gear
– The best cameras to buy
– Choosing the best lenses
– Choosing zooms vs. primes
– Choosing automatic vs. manual lenses
– How to choose and use intervalometers
– How to set the best exposure
– How to balance aperture, shutter and ISO speeds
– How to minimize noise
– When to use, and not use, noise reduction
– Canon vs. Nikon – pros and cons
– How to focus at night
– How to set all other key camera menu functions!
– Plus Photo 101 segments on: Exposure basics, File types, Noise sources
PROGRAM 2 – Shooting Stills and Time-Lapses in the Field
– Shooting at urban sites: moonrises, twilights and conjunctions
– Software for finding locations and planning shoots
– How to shoot auroras
– Software for forecasting auroras
– How to compose scenes
– How to make use of moonlight
– Taking multiple images for focus stacking
– How to plan a moonlit shoot
– How to capture the Milky Way
– How to add local lighting – carefully!
– How to prevent – and create – star trails
– How to track the sky for maximum detail
– How to calculate and shoot basic time-lapses
– Software for aiding time-lapse calculation
– plus Astro 101 segments on: aurora, Milky Way, moon phases, sky motion
PROGRAM 3 – Processing Stills and Time-Lapses
– Choosing a processing workflow
– How to employ non-destructive editing at all stages
– Importing and selecting images in Adobe Bridge and Lightroom
– How to develop Raw files in Adobe Camera Raw and Lightroom
– How to apply advanced settings such as Dehaze, Lens Correction, and HSL sliders
– How to apply masked Local Adjustments and Graduated Filters
– How to use Photoshop for advanced editing
– How to use Smart Filters and Adjustment Layers
– How to mask the ground and sky for separate editing
– How to layer and mask multiple exposures
– How to subtract a dark frame
– How to layer tracked and untracked exposures
– How to stack star trails using Photoshop and specialized programs
– How to export intermediate sets for time-lapses
– How to assemble time-lapse movies using Photoshop and other programs
– How to create an “accumulating” star trail movie