Secrets from the Stars
THE BOOK
"Secrets from the Stars" is a high-quality, hardcover book, written by eight award-winning world-class night landscape photographers, each teaching us about what they do best.
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Hard cover 55 US$ + shipping
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GET BOTH, SAVE ON SHIPPING! (USA ONLY)
We can ship both "Notes from the Stars" and
"Secrets from the Stars"
in the same package! This means you can get
both books and pay shipping just once!
Please note this is a US only offer. Sadly, international shipping does get more expensive when we ship both books together.
Two books, Secrets and Notes 105 US$ + shipping
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TOPICS AND AUTHORS
Each subject is covered from a personal perspective by an expert and acclaimed nightscape photographer - an authority and inspiration to many in the topic they chose to write about. Here's some of the topics:
- Low Level Lighting by Royce Bair
- Everything about stacking by Joshua Snow
- The human figure in nightscapes by Ben Canales
- Nightscape composition and creative process by Daniel Greenwood
- True to life nightscapes by Matt Payne
- Light painting by Mack Murdoc
- Conceptual Nightscapes by Rogelio Bernal Andreo
WHY "SECRETS FROM THE STARS"?
There's many books and tutorials that teach nightscape photography techniques. However, no photographer can master every facet of nightscape photography, so readers are often left with useful but standard procedures and perhaps a taste of the author's own take on all those techniques.
In Secrets from the Stars you'll go with Royce Bair to produce incredibly effective images using low level lighting techniques, accompany Sean Parker across the Arizona desert at night, watch Mack Murdoc sharing how he does some amazing light-painting tricks, walk with Daniel Greenwood seeking one of a kind compositions, see the imagination of Ben Canales at work as he creates stories in a single nightscape scene, learn how Joshua Snow uses stacking not just to reduce noise, and more!
That's right! Secrets from the Stars isn't just eight lessons on "standard nightscape techniques" that use the voice of eight world-class nightscape photographers. Far from it, Secrets from the Stars is as much about the topics it covers as it is about the authors themselves and their unique ways to carry out their craft.
Not only you will learn each technique from a true master on the topic, but you will also see how each author has adapted "standard procedures" to their own particular way of doing things, literally learning above and beyond what every other book teaches. This makes Secrets from the Stars a great book for both novices and experts as well. That's the spirit of the book: instructional, beautiful and personal!
THE AUTHORS AND THEIR TOPICS
Secrets from the Stars is packed with, well.. stars! If you're slightly familiar with the nightscape scene, you should recognize most of these names. This truly is a dream team of night photographers whose collective knowledge virtually covers every skill ever known to man that has been applied to producing stellar nightscapes.
In no particular order, here are the human stars of the book.
Royce Bair: Low Level lighting.
Low level lighting or LLL is a topic Royce wrote the book about. Literally! Royce does have a book about LLL!! In this chapter Royce gets to the point about what it takes to successfully compose, stage and produce a successful night shot using this technique! Like everyone else in the book, Royce excels at many night photography skills, but if you wanted to learn about LLL from the best, yup, that's Royce!
Ben Canales: The human figure in nightscapes
Ben is a household name for anyone who ventured into night photography when not many others were doing it. A true pioneer in this field, he's the kind of photographer who doesn't just settle for a nice view, but is always thinking about trying things no one else has even thought about! We need more photographers like Ben, basically. Here, Ben tells us how he goes from crafting the concept of a night scene that includes the human figure, to executing that vision - no matter what it takes!
Joshua Snow: The magic of stacking
Josh shares his knowledge about stacking, a technique that can greatly improve the quality of an image, and a topic he's been a great advocate for some time. Joshua is, no doubt, one of the photographers producing some of the most astonishing night images using this technique. Of course, that's not just because of the stacking but also his keen eye to composition and many other details! A hot topic among nightscapers, Josh will not only reveal the secrets of this technique but also how it can help during your creative process.
Daniel Greenwood: Nightscape composition and creative process
If you have seen Daniel's work, you know his creative vision is palpable in every image he produces. Wouldn't It be awesome to learn a bit about what goes on in his brain during that process? Daniel's contribution to Secrets from the Stars describes how he uses and reads the landscape to envision a composition that, like most of Daniel's work, is out of this world.
Matt Payne: "True to experience" nightscapes
The satisfaction that can be obtained through the execution of an image that closely represents your experience as a photographer and artist cannot be matched by image processing mastery. The idea that a photograph can closely approximate the experience the photographer is at the heart of landscape photography's essence. In this chapter, Matt explores various concepts, tools, practical approaches, thought-processes, and ways to overcome technical challenges associated with planning for and executing on night photography that is "true to experience."
Sean Parker: The Adventure of Night Photography
Sean is another photographer everyone knows. He's walked the walk when "nightscape" wasn't even a word, and you could almost say he owns nightscaping in the Arizona desert. In Secrets from the Stars Sean talks about a topic that for many is the most attractive part of being a night photographer - the adventure! From what to expect while traveling, things to bring with you, how to make the best of mother nature�s unpredictability, and hopefully inspire you to push yourself a little further on your next outing.
Mack Murdoc: Light Painting
Light painting is not illuminating a scene but the craft of creating amazing light effects with all sorts of lights, artifacts, multiple tricks, etc. We knew light painting had to be a topic in this book and Mack's name hit immediately not only because some of his light-painting work is really amazing but because he also pushes his limits and doesn't just go by the script. Here we asked Mack to share many of the things he has learned or even come up with on his own so that we all can try to produce our own images or even bring new ideas to the table.
Rogelio Bernal: Conceptual Nightscapes
Rogelio does deep-sky astrophotography like no one else but he's definitely another nightscape pioneer. Here he talks about the thought process of coming up with catchy, unusual or difficult but visually appealing concepts, and the process to take them from idea to reality without replying on Photoshop to get there.
A WORD ABOUT QUALITY
Even superb photography and storytelling may look dull if presented in average quality printed media. When you buy your copy of Secrets from the Stars, you will see we did not go cheap in the production of the book. We wanted a book that breathes quality, not only in the content but also in how it looks and feels.
Also, by dealing directly with the printing company, we are in control of the quality. We - not a general bookseller or shipping company - individually handle and pack every book we ship.