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Just some simple tea lights you can get at Walmart and most grocery stores. Ours were LED too not candles. One was plenty in each doorway, but you can get the interior of the kiln without way more light

Exactly! It’s INTENSE airglow that was that much more amplified by the longer shutter that truly brought out the colors

Doesn’t want to make me watch more…

Haha well yeah, it was sadly a bust that night AND there were other people there so I didn’t turn on any lights to record while out there at the small area at the end of Bright Angel point. Plus this was intended to be a vlog of what actually happened for the whole trip and not what I wish had happened. So I didn’t keep out that it was a bust, I just didn’t have footage of the bust because of what I mentioned above. I could have removed the segments before the Milky Way was a bust but then there would be no video at all. Best thing I COULD have done was just show me scouting the area in the morning segments and make it all about that. But I chose not to for this video. Looks like I would have made you at least more happy if I had. 😇 -Aaron

Thanks, Matt! It was a fun night in March especially when the day looked THAT cloudy but the optimistic weather predictions came to fruition. :D -Aaron

I hope to come back regularly like I do the Faroe Islands, but this will be my FIRST time in Lofoten. Which is why it is what I call a "Trailblazer Adventure" and the cost is discounted severely. It basically has all the benefits of a regular workshop minus the comprehensive vetting of locations and compositions. We aren't going in blind, but everyone will be a part of the choosing our location that looks the most amazing. I drive everyone and that saves them having to all rent vehicles and so as a group during the day we go to pre-decided on locations I have that I want to scout and they are part of that process. So in a way, for a beginner, it can be a great way to learn how photographers choose and plan compositions. Then I am still at their tripod helping them get the best image with one final caveat , in that I am taking my own pictures too. Normal workshops I don't even bring out my camera. Trailblazer adventures I will. But still prioritize the group and never leave them. -Aaron

Wow! Thanks for that glowing review! :D I really appreciate you! I am happy that my emphasis on teaching came through. It is why I do what I do. I prioritize it so much that I am at workshops and prioritizing them I can't get on youtube enough to keep growing this channel. I am trying to find a better balance, but I don't mind that I let the workshops take priority. :D Again, really appreciate the kind words!! Hope others feel that way too! -Aaron

🤣 I know. I know. Your luck has been really poor. But I have had great luck so between your pessimism and my optimism it probably sits somewhere with 2 GREAT nights, one compromised night and a fourth that goes cloudy to give us some rest. But I am telling you, I have had many workshops there where the skies cooperated enough if not TOTALLY clear. You never know but just have to plan on going out and then adjust with the radar where possible. Good to hear from you as always, Angelo, my friend! :D -Aaron

Tell you what. A week ago Sunday I gave up on the meteor shower due to clouds. Took a nap. Awoke at 3am. It was clear so got out. I got a milky way with northern lights and two meteors crisscrossing. Simply mind boggling to me lol Aurora was not expected to go beyond Oregon but here I am south of Lake Tahoe?

@@angelogarciajr5356 HAHA YESS! Great example of what sticking with it and how beneficial staking out the location is. So Aurora?? How lucky! Yeah when they say that it is "not beyond" or "see it up above x location" that is most likely just them basing it off the Aurora KP level and the spot it is DIRECTLY ABOVE but we see very far in the night sky. So what you are seeing on your northern horizon might be the Aurora above Oregon and not directly above you in northern California. South of Lake Tahoe is a bit central but I am not surprised you could see Aurora that was above Oregon. But I do ask myself, how many miles ARE we seeing when we look off to the horizon...I want to research that...hmmmm you got me thinking, Angelo! - Aaron

Hey! Glad you are excited about it too! Thanks for watching the video! Which one of the adventures are you going to join me on? -Aaron

Oh yes, of course! I already a couple videos up showing it in more detail. Check out this 2-minute tip that succinctly explains how I use it: czcams.com/video/bLs7hXxu5I0/video.htmlsi=taDiVclh3V0jQhfP and then if you want a full Focus Tips video, my popular video for that is here: czcams.com/video/w860_WI4h1Q/video.htmlsi=lZnpoenWXtzwGipv Please let me know if you have any further questions after you watch those. Thanks for the request! :D -Aaron

@@PhotogAdventures thank you! 😊👌✨

Oh yes! Eric Benedetti is awesome! I am glad you loved it, Lee! Thanks for coming to the channel and watching! Hope to see you around for more in the future! -Aaron

Heya Angelo! Oh yeah man, the clouds threatening too and then just opened up and moved along all courteous like. It was a great night! :D -Aaron

Thanks! This was a great Timelapse that John S. captured. Showing off my 2024 MW Apprentice stuff to get the potential 2025 Apprentice excited to join me next year! :D -Aaron

LOL XD hahaha Oh man he would be... :D - Aaron

EXACTLY! Just like you said, depending the increments you will get a different amount of overlap. It's just critical to get overlap to allow the apps like Lightroom to have an easy go at merging the images. Only rare cases will the overlap STILL be rejected by lightroom and a stitch is requiring photoshop or even a stronger pano program like PTGui. Thanks for watching the video and your patience in awaiting my reply! Been a heinous few months, even more so than usual.... -Aaron

The picture numbering will be different for you. It all depends on your focal length. This method will give you an OVERKILL overlap that will be more than you need but it is a safe beginning launch point for people brand new to Milky Way Panoramas. PLUS the 3C3O method is really only necessary when you don't have markings on your ballhead or can't turn on the light in between shots. Beyond that, to help you language skills, I would simply say watch again and let me know any SPECIFIC questions you might still have. The Third-Center-Third-Off method is just a quick acronym to remind yourself to FIND A POINT OF LIGHT (star, planet) and move it from the THIRD to the CENTER then THIRD then OFF. Or in many cases, you will have stars that are already in one of those positions and you will just move to the NEXT THIRD. That "next third" might be CENTER -> RIGHT THIRD or RIGHT THIRD to OFF or LEFT THIRD to CENTER. You can start with any position, so long as you just move the dot 1/3rd of the way across your screen to help you get overkill overlap between images. Hope that makes any more sense! Let me know if it does not! Again, you too, thanks for your patience waiting for my reply! Sorry it took a month! -Aaron

Thank you for feeling for my health! I did recover fully. I am still mostly bald and short...so I didn't fullllly heal. I guess those infirmities are just going to be chronic challenges. ;) As for what focal length, I will answer for Brendon because I doubt he looks at these anymore ever since he quit Photog Adventures back in 2019. WIDE is almost universally best since the scene is so tight, narrow and you are right on top of it. Hard to see much without a wide lens. That said, I am sure something 50mm COULD work but it would require a specific use case. As far as WHICH wide angle? I would think that 12mm would be too fisheye to hold shape the way you want, but could be awesome too of course. I would think that 14mm is as wide as you would want and might favor a 20-24mm to get lots but less bowing of the narrow canyon wall shapes. BUT I will emphasize that this is my educated guess. Not coming from having enough hours of narrow slot canyon Photography done myself. I would look up Ryan Smith Fine Art Photography or his workshop company ICON and see what Ryan would say. He has done more of this kind of photography than I have and I love the guy. He would be great advice if you can find him available. Good luck! -Aaron

Basically I was saying that IF you have good enough magnification in your loupe and great eyesight you MIGHT even be able to COUNT the LCD screen squares or "pixels" and see that the white light is ten across at this focus but when I tighten it even more it gets as small as say maybe FIVE SQUARES/PIXELS ACROSS. This is emphasizing that with the added magnification of the loupe, you are even able to GET THAT CLEAR of a view of the size of the star on the back of your LCD screen and it will help you see when the star is as small and tight as possible which is when you are in best focus. Hope that clears it up! Let me know if it doesn't. Thanks for watching my video and I really appreciate your patience waiting for my reply! I am a month late, sorry about that! -Aaron

THAT was my main point in making them and honestly in many cases it's all you really need. I was surprised they never took off that much in popularity. But if others agree with your comment I will produce some more of them to help the library of 2-minute tips be more comprehensive for teaching all of Milky Way Photography. Thanks for watching! -Aaron

Absolutely agree and understand that. It is the true drawback to going North to be UNDER the KP1 skies. They can find themselves fully cloaked in clouds. My first Aurora experience back in 2018 was in the Faroe Islands and Aurora was banging JUST over our heads! But we had a full sky of clouds and couldn't see anything except for the green color coming through the clouds. It was truly disappointing. The great news in Lofoten is that we could have multiple nights with KP1-2 overhead and just need the clouds to permit us a clear view! :D Here's hoping and thanks for the Dragon Eye recommendation. Would definitely love to add that in during our adventure! Thank you very much! :D -Aaron

You bet! Really glad it was helpful! -Aaron

Never a problem! Thanks for coming to so many of them in the past despite being in the UK! :D -Aaron

haha! I was so digging this song the night I was working with the AI on it. I was so shocked by how REAL the AI song sounded and totally impressed by the output. It was an incredible experience of giggling with surprised success after success as the song came together. Now, removed a month plus, it STILL is catchy, but I have lost those pie in the sky dreams that I had that night where the song would become a viral hit. XD Oh well! Thanks for watching it! -Aaron

Dang sorry I never saw this in time. That said, you were able to find the link okay since I shared a few of your images. Sorry I failed on helping you! -Aaron

Yeah you bet! Thanks for letting me know that you enjoyed it! It's a bit unique for what I typically teach and I really enjoyed it. I wanted to do more and your "thumbs up" makes me feel emboldened to do so! :D -Aaron

lol that is true 😆

haha yeah, I didn't even keep that part out where I get scared in the dark

Heya Leo! Yeah you have the option in PhotoPills while looking at the Planner to hit the compass at the top and it will swap between following the direction you are pointing and sticking with how I enjoy it with North at the top. So you can customize no problem. Thanks for watching my old video! Hey, can I survey you briefly? The process hasn't changed all that much truthfully, but do you think it would be beneficial to have an updated version of this same lesson? Complete with a few extra tips that I have learned since this one? What do you think? -Aaron

@@PhotogAdventures hi Aaron. Thanks for answering this. I figured it out after awhile . I never claimed to be the sharpest tool in the shed. I found the pills video on how to use it. It pretty basic stuff but the app has so many things going on that I find it hard to find somethings or even realize that it can do certain things . Lots of videos later Im finally getting a grip. Now if the frigging weather would cooperate. Thanks a bunch

Groetjes, Johan! Yeah exactly. I really wish I had included a section on that. Like I have said to others in the comments, I normally am better at a nod at least to the Southern Hemisphere but this time I was completely focused only on the specifics from the North. But you nailed it, the principle of 3C3O is the same. Just pick any star you want. Even for those in the Northern Hemisphere, they aren't ALWAYS or even USUALLY going to end up following Antares, Altair, and Deneb across the sky. They will just see what stars they see and move to the next third. My workshop group last night had different experiences with what stars they could see on their cameras. From the Fujifilm that Jeff had to the Nikon Z9 that Nichole was using. They had different stars stand out than what stands out normally on my Canon 5DMiv and it changes nothing. Still 3rd-Center-3rd-Off and soon the sky was fully captured! It works like a charm! :D Thanks for watching and it's cool to meet someone I am assuming is from South Africa! I lived in the Netherlands so I am partial to Dutch/Afrikaans. Hope you keep coming back to the channel! :D -Aaron

@@PhotogAdventures Thanks Aaron. I am Afrikaans speaking but live just above SA in Namibia. We have a lot of open skies and little rain clouds to block the stars. I will definitely try your method.

You know it! Well kinda….sadly in August we won’t have the opportunity to do Milky Way Panoramas unless you like the idea of a vertical pano or extreme high Milky Way with 3-4 rows to get it all in. So yes technically possible but not easy or ideal. What you should bone up on for August is your blue hour blending, long-exposure foreground blending and your compositional prowess when dealing with a vertical nearly vertical Milky Way core. THAT is the stuff we will be doing a lot more of! -Aaron

Actually answered the same question with MStraiteFamily earlier, allow me to just copy and paste my answer from that: “Nodal rail/slide is very useful to prevent issues with the parallax effect. You do need subjects closer to the camera to have a visible parallax effect. So depending on your foreground scenery, it could be overkill since you likely don't have any parallax issues. While the use of a Nodal slide is great, I have never found it necessary in my Milky Way Photography Panoramas. But to answer your question more directly: Yes you would get better results so long as you have a parallax effect you need to mitigate. For the scene I showed here in my video, it was not necessary.“ I hope you don’t mind the copying of my answer! 😇-Aaron

Yes! This is definitely the gear-powered solution. That’s awesome you have that setup and have become proficient in it. Most don’t have that setup for sure. Also, GREAT ADDITION by bringing up PlanIt Pro for pano planning. I LOVE that feature in the app. I really need to do a video on that next! 😃 -Aaron

Heya Mark Smith! Thank you for trying to see my gear list...I recently updated the wordpress on my PhotogAdventures.com site and it broke the page! I have to wipe it completely and go through the laborious re-upload or start fresh to fix it but I haven't taken the time to do that enough yet. My cursory attempts have failed with backups etc and so I have a bigger project to fix it. Your looking for those links to work emphasize that I need to hurry more there. To answer your question: This is not focal length dependent. Now, the amount of images you take and which stars you jump from WILL change with the wider or narrower focal length you choose. You will notice in my example of me at the camera I had extra images because of the scene and you can pretend it was a different focal length which caused me to require more images as I move across the far right to the far left. But the principle of choosing a visible star and moving it from 3rd-Center-3rd-Off is still the same. So whether you use a 15mm or a 35mm, you can use this method. You will just have fewer images and use different stars on the 15mm than what you would end up with on the 35mm. That make sense? As for recommendations, it is always easier to avoid edge distortions using a focal length 20mm-35mm and still remain pretty wide for a focal length. Lenses like the 14mm options have more edge shape warping. THAT SAID I have been 100% successful with both options and only make my lens choice preference based on the foreground. If I have a wide vista for a foreground AND I want to keep it all in just one row, then I must use a wide angle lens like my 15mm Tamron. If I have an intimate foreground like this Sunset Arch in Escalante, and I don't need to include a huge expanse of land in my foreground, then just using my 24mm Rokinon (like I used in this image) is sufficient. But BOTH LENSES create great panos and I am successful at stitching using either. Hope that helps! -Aaron

Oh yes, it really comes down to your location and what time you are capturing to dictate how many rows you will need to include the foreground. IF you CAN get all of the foreground in and the stars by just barely cutting off Vega, then a single row will do. But when it doesn't work, you will have to add a second row. You may even cut off Vega even more if you have to, but you just have to be careful to still give your Milky Way arch the headroom it needs to not be weirdly warped at the top when panorama merged. The safest way to describe that to people learning is to say: "Get up to Vega and either include right at the top or cut it off and you will be sure that you have enough headroom to avoid issues." But you can cut off anywhere that works best for you and your inclusion of the foreground. That makes sense? As for where to start: ALWAYS START WITH SKY! The risk of clouds forming or moving in is too great. I always remind people that the foreground isn't going anywhere, so prioritize the sky that COULD get ruined with new clouds. As far as starting LEFT or from the RIGHT that depends on what you are doing. IF you are using a Star Tracker, then you could benefit starting from the LEFT SIDE in the Northern Hemisphere because that side moves the least and by the time you get to the galactic core it will merge pretty decently still. BUT if you are just doing a single image panorama like in my example, then starting from the RIGHT is easy and not a problem. You capture image to image quick enough that there is zero issue connecting the frames in the merge. For single image panoramas you can start on either side and have the same success. I always start at the galactic core because of the risk of new clouds. I would rather capture the core without clouds and if clouds should form during those two mins, the clouds will block the lesser side of the milky way arch. Then after I nailed my sky images I would capture another row in order to include my foreground. Thanks for watching my video, Avanindrabhatia! -Aaron

@@PhotogAdventures Thanks for the detailed information.