1

STAR PHOTOGRAPHY MASTERCLASS

Learn The Secrets of Stunning Astrophotography
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Published by Mikko Lagerstedt Photography

http://www.mikkolagerstedt.com | http://www.starphotographytutorial.com
mikko.lagerstedt@gmail.com | info@starphotographytutorial.com
Copyright © 2015, Mikko Lagerstedt

All rights reserved. This book, and all of the photographs and written text contained therein, are the intellectual property of the publisher and are
protected by international copyright laws. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the prior written permission of
the publisher.
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TABLE of CONTENT INTRODUCTION

1. EQUIPMENT FOR STAR PHOTOGRAPHY
4
6
2. EQUIPMENT FOR POST-PROCESSING 9
3. PLAN 12
1. Location Scouting 13
2. Timing 16
4. CAPTURE THE PHOTOGRAPHS 21
1. Focus 22
2. Read the Landscape 23
3. Composition 24
4. Camera Settings 25
QUICK STUDY — LEARN TO USE THE HISTOGRAM 30
QUICK TIP — EDIT FASTER IN LIGHTROOM 31
5. TUTORIALS 32
Tutorial Moonlit 34
1. Capture 34
2. Post-Process 35
Tutorial Dreamy Night 40
1. Capture 41
2. Post-Process 42
Tutorial Visions of Depth 48
1. Capture 49
2. Post-Process 51
6. INSPIRATION EXERCISES 63
1. Dream Picture 64
2. Favorite Photograph 65
3. Challenge 66
4. Define Your Style 67
5. Inspiring Style 68
ABOUT THE AUTHOR 70
SPECIAL THANKS 71

Prepared exclusively for Mikko (mikko.lagerstedt@gmail.com)

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INTRODUCTION Endless Depths — Rusutjärvi, Finland

Dual Exposure Vertorama
Nikon D800, 16-35 mm f/4.0
Welcome to Night Photography Masterclass. In this guide, we will
ISO 3200, 30 sec., f/4.0, 16 mm
go through how to start with night photography and what kind of
equipment and tools are necessary to create the kind of work that
you are inspired. We will go in-depth, how to capture the sceneries
and finally how to edit the images with my unique methods.

Through my self-taught journey as a photographer, I have searched

and created many techniques by trial and error methods. These
tools, which I have gathered for this Masterclass from my six-year
photography journey, can be applied to your photography. All of
the methods through this process were used and tested to cre-
ate my highly popular series ‘Edge’, ‘Atmosphere’ and ‘Visions of
Depths’.
 5

‘YOUR WORK IS GOING TO FILL A LARGE

PART OF YOUR LIFE, AND THE ONLY WAY
TO BE TRULY SATISFIED IS TO DO WHAT YOU
BELIEVE IS GREAT WORK. AND THE ONLY
WAY TO DO GREAT WORK IS TO LOVE WHAT
YOU DO. IF YOU HAVEN'T FOUND IT YET,
KEEP LOOKING. DON'T SETTLE. AS WITH ALL
MATTERS OF THE HEART, YOU'LL KNOW
WHEN YOU FIND IT.’
— STEVE JOBS
 6

1. EQUIPMENT FOR
STAR PHOTOGRAPHY
Equipment is an important part of night sky photography.
As the camera technology goes forward each year, there are an
overwhelming amount of cameras to choose from in the market.
It’s not necessary to have the latest camera or lenses. I have listed
in the next pages the essentials we need to capture the stars and
Milky Way.

Night Glow — Kerava, Finland

Dual Exposure. Nikon D7000, Tokina 11-16 mm f/2.8
ISO 3200, 30 sec. f/2.8, 11 mm
ISO 800, 17 min f/9.0
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1. EQUIPMENT FOR STAR PHOTOGRAPHY 1. A DSLR OR A DIGITAL CAMERA WITH HIGH ISO CAPABILITIES
We want to capture as much detail as possible from the stars, high
ISO capabilities up to 2500 — 6400 ISO with low noise is an
important part of star photography. The less the camera produces
noise, the more you can tweak the star images. With low ISO, this
is impossible without an automated tracker tripod and still wouldn’t
be possible if you want to capture landscapes without movement of
the tracker.

2. CAMERA WITH RAW FILE FORMAT

Raw files are perfect for getting as much detail as possible from
your night photographs, most of modern digital cameras have this
feature.

3. WIDE-ANGLE LENS WITH APERTURE BETWEEN F/2.0 TO F/4.0

Full–Frame Camera: 11–18 mm lens
Crop–Sensor Camera: 8–14 mm lens
Micro–Four–Thirds Camera: 6–10 mm lens

Balance — Sipoo, Finland — Nikon D7000, 11-16 mm f/2.8 — ISO 1600, 30s. f/2.8, 11 mm Prepared exclusively for Mikko (mikko.lagerstedt@gmail.com)
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1. EQUIPMENT
Frozen Echo FOR STAR
— Emäsalo, Finland PHOTOGRAPHY 4. TRIPOD
Dual Exposure. Nikon D800, 16 - 35 mm f/4.0 A steady tripod for long exposures is essential, try not to purchase
ISO 6400, 30 sec., f/4.0, 16 mm the cheapest one you can find. A tripod is one of the first things I
ISO 800, 122 sec. f/4.0
recommend to buy after your camera and lenses. I suggest a tripod
from one of these well-known companies: Sirui, Manfrotto, Gitzo,
Induro or Really Right Stuff

5. REMOTE CONTROLLER
The remote controller will help you get sharper images for longer
exposures. For the Visions of Depth technique, we need as long as
30 minutes exposures and some cameras won’t take longer than 30
seconds exposures, without a remote controller. So I recommend
adding a remote controller to your camera bag. Either wireless or
wired but the wired ones are often more reliable and tend to have
longer battery life.

6. OTHER ACCESSORIES
Without a flashlight, it’s not easy to focus and even harder to move
through challenging landscapes. I carry two flashlights with me, a
headlamp and a torch. Extra battery is a necessary accessory to
have when taking long exposure photographs. I have listed below
some accessories I carry with me every time I’m photographing the
night sky.

• Headlamp and a torch

• Extra batteries for the camera and remote controller
• Cloth for cleaning the lens
• Mobile phone for information about the location
Nigh River — Finland
Night Sky Composite. Nikon D90, 10-20 mm f/4-5.6
For a regularly updated list of my recommendations about gear and accessories
ISO 3200, 30 sec. f/2.8, 11 mm
visit: http://www.starphotographytutorial.com/gear/
ISO 100, 30 sec. f/10.0
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2. EQUIPMENT FOR First Row — Yyteri, Finland

Nikon D800, 14 mm f/2.8
ISO 6400, 30 sec. f/2.8, 14 mm
POST-PROCESSING
For the type of work we are creating, we need a computer or a
powerful tablet. PC, Mac or a laptop are all sufficient for the soft-
ware we use to go through the tutorials. Adobe Lightroom and
Photoshop can be slow with older computers and sometimes work-
ing in the applications can be even frustrating. There is a simple
single component upgrade, with your computer can perform much
faster. I recommend to buy an upgrade to your Hard Disk Drives
and choose Solid State Drives (SSD). These drives will give you
performance boost working in Photoshop and Lightroom.

As it’s not necessary to have the latest camera or lenses, you don’t
have to have the latest Photoshop or Lightroom either.

2. EQUIPMENT FOR POST-PROCESSING
Night Cabin — Porvoo, Finland
Nikon D800, 14 mm f/2.8
ISO 3200, 13 sec. f/2.8, 14 mm
10
With post-processing programs Lightroom, and Photoshop you
can easily follow through the tutorials in a later part of this book. If
you don’t have Lightroom, it’s also possible to do all of the settings
in Camera Raw as long as you have taken your images in RAW file
format.
I highly recommend the Adobe Creative Cloud Photography plan
that includes both Photoshop and Lightroom CC.
Find out more at http://www.adobe.com/
TOOLS WE USE THROUGH THE MASTERCLASS
1. LIGHTROOM 3, 4, 5 OR CC / ADOBE CAMERA RAW CS5, CS6 OR CC
We need Lightroom or Camera Raw to process our RAW-files.
2. ADOBE PHOTOSHOP CS 5, CS 6 OR CC
Photoshop is necessary application when combining multiple expo-
sures manually — used in the Visions of Depth tutorial.
 11

‘WE LIVE IN A WONDERFUL WORLD

THAT IS FULL OF BEAUTY, CHARM AND
ADVENTURE. THERE IS NO END TO THE
ADVENTURES THAT WE CAN HAVE IF ONLY
WE SEEK THEM WITH OUR EYES OPEN.’
— JAWAHARLAL NEHRU

Blue Night — Kuopio, Finland

Nikon D800, 16 — 35 mm f/4.0
ISO 3200, 30 sec. f/2.8, 16 mm
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3. PLAN Something About a Tree II — Finland

Nikon D800, 14 mm f/2.8
ISO 3200, 30 sec. f/2.8, 14 mm
Planning is one of the crucial parts of star and night sky photogra-
phy because the final photograph comes down to the things you
have to figure out beforehand. Weather forecast, location scouting,
and lunar phases are a crucial part of this process. Ideally we need
a place with low light pollution — far enough from a city so it won’t
affect your star photograph. The weather should be clear, and the
moon should not be visible in the scenery so it won’t influence the
final image when we try to capture the Milky Way.
 13

3.1 PLAN — LOCATION SCOUTING FIND THE STARS — LIGHT POLLUTION MAP
My favorite web tool for finding dark places to capture the stars
and Milky Way is Night Lights Map by Blue-Marble. The Map uses
both Google Maps and Nasa’s Night Light Imagery.

Using the map gives us insight for places which has less light pollu-
tion. Accompanied with Google Maps it comes handy when we are
searching for that perfect location to take night photographs. It’s
not necessary to find the darkest place on Earth, but it certainly
helps if you have a decent knowledge about the area you are plan-
ning to take your night photographs.

The bright yellow part of the maps shows light pollution areas such
as cities, and the dark blue part of the Map shows you best areas for
taking night sky photographs.
Blue-Marble Night Lights:
http://www.blue-marble.de/nightlights/2012

Illuminated Night
Porvoo, Finland
Nikon D800, 14 mm f/2.8
ISO 4000, 20 sec. f/2.8, 14 mm
 14
CREATE YOUR ADVENTURE — GOOGLE EARTH & MAPS 3.1 PLAN — LOCATION SCOUTING
When you are creating your adventure, keep in mind that you are
planning a photography trip. Don’t schedule everything, I find it to
be the best way to capture places and enjoy the process as well. The
location is an important part of taking these kinds of photographs
and with Google Maps you can easily explore locations with inter-
esting subjects.

When you are seeking new places to take pictures, such as a sea-
scape, with the Explore panel in Google Maps you can see images,
roads, and even photo spheres from various locations.

Arctic Symphony
Emäsalo, Finland
Nikon D800, 16 - 35 mm f/4.0
ISO 1600, 30 sec. f/4.0, 16 mm
 15
QUICK INTRODUCTION TO GOOGLE MAPS 3.1 PLAN — LOCATION SCOUTING
1. Go to http://maps.google.com
2. Search for the dark area you found with the Blue Marble Night Lights Map
3. Click the two arrows on the right bottom part of the screen to open up the
Explore panel to see images from the location
4. Hover over an interesting photo from the area
5. You can see the location of the photograph
6. Use the Street View to see if the location has great places to leave your car or bicycle
7. Save the place to Your Places if you have a Google Account
8. Use your Mobile Phone (with Google Maps application) or a GPS to find the place

Google Earth & Maps

https://www.google.com/earth/ — http://maps.google.com/

Alone — Tammela, Finland

Nikon D7000, 11 - 16 mm f/2.8
ISO 100, 30 sec. f/2.8, 16 mm
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3.2 PLAN — TIMING MOONLIGHT — LUNAR PHASE

When we have figured out a place to capture the night sky, it’s
important to know how much moonlight there will be in the scen-
ery. The lunar phase determines how much the Moon will affect
the final picture when you are capturing the stars. Best timing to
capture stars and Milky Way is a couple of days before and after
the New Moon. I use applications Photographer’s Ephemeris and
PhotoPills to view the moon phases. In astronomy, the New Moon
is the first phase of the Moon when it orbits as seen from the Earth,
moment when the Moon and the Sun have the same ecliptical lon-
gitude. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_moon) It means you can
capture the stars and Milky Way easier without ambient light from
the Moon.
Moon Phases Free
http://www.moonconnection.com/moon_phases_calendar.phtml

Photographer’s Ephemeris 9,99€ (iPhone, Android & PC)

http://photoephemeris.com/

Noctilucent Night II
Tuusula, Finland
Nikon D800, 16 - 35 mm f/4.0
ISO 100, 30 sec. f/4.0, 16 mm
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Milky Way From Greece 3.2 PLAN — TIMING
Paros, Greece
Nikon D800, 14 mm f/2.8
ISO 6400, 30 sec. f/2.8, 14 mm

MILKY WAY
When we are planning to capture the Milky Way, there are excel-
lent tools to use. The best application I have come across is Photo-
Pills. You can view the direction of the Milky Way and many neat
features including Moon Phases, Sun Direction, Exposure Calcu-
lator, etc. Stellarium is a great free application for Mac, PC, and
other home computers. If I had to choose only one program,
I would get the PhotoPills.
PhotoPills 9,99€ (iPhone) — Plan It Pro for Photographers 6,61€ (Android)
http://www.photopills.com/ — https://goo.gl/zZaUhA

Stellarium Free Software (Mac, Win & Linux)

http://www.stellarium.org/
 18
WEATHER & CLOUD FORECAST 3.2 PLAN — TIMING
Hourly cloud and weather forecasts are the best tools to find out if
there is going to be a bright sky at the night. Unfortunately, these
are not usually accurate for long-term planning, so you need to
plan the other beforehand, and when the you have all the elements
aligned, you can capture some amazing sceneries. There are plenty
of websites you can visit to see the forecast hourly, it depends
on where you live. To make sure you get the relatively accurate
weather estimate, use a couple of sites when planning a photogra-
phy trip.

Noctilucent Night — Kerava, Finland

Nikon D800, 16 — 35 mm f/4.0
ISO 100, 30 sec. f/4.0, 24 mm
 19
DARK SKY 3.2 PLAN — TIMING
When you have planned everything else, now determine what is the
darkest time to make the adventure. Use PhotoPills Planner to see
what is the darkest time to capture the stars. Darkest time of day is
exactly between the sunset and sunrise. Use them as the reference
point to capture the night sky.

When the sun sets the first part of twilight is civil twilight, this is
when you may see the brightest stars and planets such as Venus.
Nautical twilight is the second part of twilight and darker thus you
can see more stars in the sky. The third part of twilight is astro-
nomical twilight. This is what you might think is already the darkest
time, yet you can’t capture as much as in the astronomical dusk
that occurs after the three twilight phases. To capture the Milky
Way, plan the timing so that you are in the location capturing when
the astronomical dusk has just begun.
More information about twilight:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twilight

Night Mill — Humppila, Finland

Nikon D7000, 11 — 16 mm f/2.8
ISO 3200, 30 sec. f/2.8, 11 mm
 20

‘NEVER BE IN A HURRY; DO EVERYTHING

QUIETLY AND IN A CALM SPIRIT. DO NOT
LOSE YOUR INNER PEACE FOR ANYTHING
WHATSOEVER, EVEN IF YOUR WHOLE
WORLD SEEMS UPSET.’
— SAINT FRANCIS DE SALES

Luminous Night — Järvenpää, Finland

Nikon D800, 16 — 35 mm f/4.0
ISO 100, 25 sec. f/4.0, 35 mm
 21

4. CAPTURE
THE PHOTOGRAPHS
Once we have learned about the weather, location and timing
aspects of night sky photography. We have done all the work
beforehand, and now we can concentrate on capturing the pho-
tographs as good as we can. Capturing the pictures is the most
rewarding and one of the easiest steps in this whole process.
However, focusing and reading the landscape needs practice.

Don’t try to capture everything, stay calm and make sure to take a
moment and appreciate nature. It’s not often when we pause and
appreciate the surrounding nature.

Luminous Night — Järvenpää, Finland

Nikon D800, 16 — 35 mm f/4.0
ISO 100, 25 sec. f/4.0, 35 mm
 22

4.1 CAPTURE — FOCUS FOCUS

Focusing is one of the essentials you have to learn when you are
capturing low light images. I have used manual and autofocus lenses
from various brands. Every lens seems to have a slightly different
sweet spot when focusing to infinity or near to infinity. I suggest
you to try your wide-angle lens in the daylight, either using Live
View with manual focus lens or using an autofocus lens. You can
do this at your home. Focus to the horizon or an object far from
you. Mark the spot where the autofocus lens focused. Capture the
images while using the widest possible aperture value (f/2.8—f/4.0)
and make sure the horizon or far away object is in focus.

• Learn the Infinity focus point for your lens in the daylight
• Focus manually to Infinity
• Mark the Infinity focus point with a permanent marker
• Use a flashlight to focus in the dark

Calm Night — Järvenpää, Finland

Nikon D800, 16 — 35 mm f/4.0
ISO 3200, 20 sec. f/4.0, 29 mm
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READ THE LANDSCAPE 4.2 CAPTURE — READ THE LANDSCAPE
The human eye tends to look for a line or shape to move within the
picture. Once you are at the location, the first thing you need to do
is plan what kind of foreground you want to have in the final image.
If there are a lot of different options, we can start to figure out
where is the Milky Way and how do we want to capture the stars
in the final image. Use the tools from the last chapter to view how
the Milky Way will show up. My advice is to concentrate on a fore-
ground first and after finding something interesting figuring out the
rest of the photo.

Something About A Tree

Hanko, Finland
Nikon D800, 16 — 35 mm f/4.0
ISO 6400, 20 sec. f/4.0, 35 mm
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4.3 CAPTURE — COMPOSITION COMPOSITION

You as the photographer determine what is the center of focus in
the picture. If you are not familiar with composing, learn the basic
composition rules. You can use the rule of thirds or the golden
ratio. For more information read: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Composition_(visual_arts)

Once you have learned about these compose methods, try not to
overthink about them. It’s not necessary to follow the composition
rules. Slow down and focus on the surrounding nature. It’s impor-
tant part of reading the landscape and find out what you want to
include in the photograph.

• Look for leading lines and interesting foreground elements

• Visualize the balance between the foreground and the stars
• Don’t overthink compositional rules

Lost — Jokioinen, Finland

Nikon D7000, 11 — 16 mm f/2.8
ISO 100, 25 sec. f/2.8, 16 mm
 25
CAMERA SETTINGS 4.4 CAPTURE — CAMERA SETTINGS
When you want to capture the stars as dots, download the free
cheat sheet from the link. It uses the rule of 500, to apply expo-
sure times for your star and Milky Way photographs. You can also
view specific exposure times with the applications mentioned in
the plan section of this book. If the landscape is dark and there is
no light in the foreground, you can take two different photos and
combine them later in Photoshop.

When using multiple exposures to capture a scenery we need to

determine how to combine the exposures. The star photograph
should include part of the horizon visible in the bottom part of the
picture. And similarly for the foreground image, the sky should be
slightly visible. This approach will help you to combine the photo-
graphs in Photoshop. We will go through this process in the tutorial
part of this book Visions of Depth.
Free Cheat Sheet for Star Photography
http://www.starphotographytutorial.com/gear

Smooth Water
Kangasala, Finland
Nikon D800, 14 mm f/2.8
ISO 6400, 30 sec. f/2.8, 14 mm
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CAMERA SETTINGS 4.4 CAPTURE — CAMERA SETTINGS
The following settings are for wide-angle lenses mentioned in the
equipment part of this book. When using a longer focal length, the
exposure time should be reduced to the star photograph as you can
see from the rule of 500 cheat sheet.

The figures below are only to show you approximate values of the
settings you need to use. When you have captured the sky cor-
rectly, you can calculate the foreground image exposure.

EXAMPLE SETTINGS FOR STAR PHOTOGRAPH — BASE

ISO 1600, f/2.8 and 30 sec.

EXAMPLE CALCULATION FOR FOREGROUND PHOTOGRAPH

ISO 400, f/8.0 the shutter speed should be 16 minutes + 2 min
ISO 800, f/8.0 the shutter speed should be 8 minutes + 1 min

Use PhotoPills or the following websites to calculate the FG expo-

sure. The added minutes are to provide more light to the fore-
ground. When you don’t have a foreground element nearer than
two meters, you can use a wider aperture values to shorten the
exposure time. All of the elements should be in focus when focus is
set to infinity. You can also experiment with lower ISO and longer
shutter speed to view how it affects your image.

The exposure time may vary quite a lot depending on how dark the
scenery is and how much ISO you are willing to use with your cam-
era. Look at the tutorial Visions of Depth to see how to combine
these photographs in Photoshop.
More information about exposures you can visit this exposure calculator You can calculate exposures also with the following tool
http://www.calculator.org/calculate-online/photography/exposure.aspx http://www.sceneplanner.com/tool3.php
 27

‘ADOPT THE PACE OF NATURE: HER SECRET

IS PATIENCE.’
— RALPH WALDO EMERSON

Dark Night
Meri-Pori, Finland
Dual Exposure — Nikon D7000, 11 — 16 mm f/2.8
ISO 400, 16 min, f/2.8, 11 mm
ISO 3200, 30 sec. f/2.8, 11 mm
 28

CREATIVE TIP
Sometimes we have to bend the rules to learn something new.
I have done this time and time again. Don’t think you have to nail
every single aspect ­— just go with the flow. What does it mean?
When you know that all of the steps are not as you wanted, just go
with your gut feeling, try something new. Don’t give up before you
have captured something interesting!

Frozen Echo
Emäsalo, Finland
Dual Exposure — Nikon D800, 16 — 35 mm f/4.0
ISO 400, 14 min, f/4.0, 16 mm
ISO 3200, 30 sec. f/4.0, 16 mm

‘LOOK UP AT THE STARS AND NOT DOWN
AT YOUR FEET. TRY TO MAKE SENSE OF
WHAT YOU SEE, AND WONDER ABOUT
WHAT MAKES THE UNIVERSE EXIST. BE
CURIOUS.’
— STEPHEN HAWKING
29
The End
Meri-Pori, Finland
Dual Exposure — Nikon D800, 16 — 35 mm f/4.0
ISO 800, 14 min, f/4.0, 16 mm
ISO 3200, 30 sec. f/4.0, 16 mm

Correctly Exposed — Information across the histogram. However
for high ISO the information is too much in the shadows.
Underexposed — Most of the information only on the left side
Overexposed — The information is too much on the right side
ETTR — Most of the information on the right side yet nothing
overexposed — Great for star photography!
30
QUICK STUDY — LEARN
TO USE THE HISTOGRAM
When taking night sky pictures, it’s critical to see if the image is
correctly exposed. You can learn to view it straight away with your
digital camera by looking at the histogram. When we want to cap-
ture stars, we are using high ISO settings, and if we have underex-
posed or overexposed the image it’s hard edit these photographs.
Use a techinique — ETTR (Exposed To The Right) to minimize the
noise of your photographs. This works especially good for Milky
Way photos. It’s easier to lower the exposure
You can view the histogram from your digital camera, check out the
manual of your camera if you can’t find the histogram. Note that
these screenshots were take from Adobe Lightroom.
Final Divided Photograph (Visions of Depth) — Information accross
the histogram because of the dual exposure method
 31

QUICK TIP — EDIT FASTER

IN LIGHTROOM
When you are in Lightroom Develope Module, go to the panels and
right click on the panels and select the Solo Mode. This way when
ever you open a panel, other panels will hide and you can concen-
trate on single edit at a time. This way you don’t have to scroll down
and upwards all the time to close the panels.
 32

5. TUTORIALS
In the tutorial section, I’m going to walk you through my tech-
niques from capturing some of my favorite photographs and editing
them with my post-processing methods. Follow these tutorials to
create similar work with your unique vision. I have never been one
to follow rules in post-processing, and I always look at the picture
and try to figure out what would make it better. If you are a pur-
ist, maybe my methods are not for you, but I believe you can learn
something new from the following pages.

Remember that this is how I do my work, create your kind of work

instead of following everything steps by step! Be inspired.

Tranquil Night — Cyprus

Dual Exposure — Nikon D800, 16 — 35 mm f/4.0
ISO 400, 10 min, f/4.0, 16 mm
ISO 3200, 30 sec. f/4.0, 16 mm
 33

TUTORIAL
MOONLIT
Straight Out of Camera How To Use Moonlight in Star Photographs
 34

TUTORIAL MOONLIT
1. CAPTURE
After driving for four hours in search of a clear sky, to test my new
camera gear I ended up to a beautiful winter scenery. The crescent
moonlight was barely hitting the trees from a low angle just behind
the camera. On a tripod, I captured the frost covered trees and
night sky with my Nikon D800 and a Nikon 16—35 mm f/4.0 VR
lens.

The camera vertically aligned and tilted upwards about five meters
from the trees; I knew there would be some distortion and perspec-
tive problems. But I didn’t worry about it because I knew I could
deal with those later in Lightroom.

After the first exposure, I aligned the trees again and captured
another shot with slightly different perspective. When you are pho-
tographing with a wide-angle lens, the center of the frame usually
is less distorted. So if you need to place a subject, use the center of
the frame or middle parts of the edges of the photograph.

EQUIPMENT AND SETTINGS FOR THIS TYPE OF IMAGE

(THE SETTINGS USED)
• Wide-Angle Lens 14—20 mm (Nikon 16 mm—35 mm VR)
• Tripod (Sirui R-4203L)
• Self-Timer (Built-in Nikon D800)
• ISO 1600—6400 (3200)
• Aperture f/2.8—f4.0 (f/4.0)
• Shutter Speed 20—30 seconds (30 sec.)
Straight Out of Camera
 35

2. POST-PROCESS
We want to emphasize the moonlight and cold temperature in
post-processing with cold blue colors and contrast.

1. LENS CORRECTIONS
Taking pictures from a low angle and upwards might lead to per-
spective problems. However, this depends on how wide your lens is.
Use the Lens Corrections Panel to get rid of the distortions. From
the Manual panel, sort the distortions by testing what settings
works well for your lens and vertical perspective correction. Don’t
overdo the Corrections

• Enable Profile Corrections:

• Select a Lens Profile if you haven’t used any before
• Check: Remove Chromatic Aberrations, Constrain Crop
• Manual Panel: Distortion +10, Vertical -5

1.

After Lens Corrections

 36
2. BASIC SETTINGS
When the base photograph has a hazy look, and warm tones use
these settings and Split Toning (next step) to add a cold and beauti-
ful detail to the shot.

• Exposure +0.20, Contrast +88

• Highlights -57, Shadows 0, Whites +48, Blacks +25
• Saturation -50

2.
3. SPLIT TONING — BLUE & COLD
Use Split Toning to create a cold atmosphere to the image. This
type of toning works especially useful for Winter photography.

• Highlights: Hue 201, Saturation 27

• Balance -38
• Shadows: Hue 227, Saturation 40

3. After Basic Settings & Split Toning

 37
4. NOISE REDUCTION
For this type of photograph with relatively high ISO add noise
reduction depending on the camera. Move to the Detail Panel and
use the Noise Reduction Luminance Slider with settings:

• Luminance: 15—25

4. 5.

6. GRADUATED FILTER — ENHANCE STARS

For astrophotography images use the Graduated Filter (M) to add
detail to the Stars and Milky Way. Click and drag to add a Grad-
uated Filter from a spot just before the sky meets the landscape.
Don’t worry if you won’t nail it at first try, just move and rotate it.
Use settings similar to these:
5. SPOT REMOVAL — REMOVE DISTRACTIONS
I always look at the picture and try to see if there is anything that • Exposure 0.48, Contrast 100, Clarity 100
pulls your attention from the photo. Like in this example, one of
the branches looks uninteresting and doesn’t add any value to the
final image. Use the Spot Removal (Q) to edit any distracting ele-
ments from your picture. Healing works most of the time, but when
there is a lot of noise in the photograph, use the Clone instead.

There are no golden rules to the Spot Removal Tool; you have to
experiment to see what works best for your image. From Light-
room 5 to the latest versions you have the possibility to use strokes
to remove distractions. It’s a great time-saver if you don’t want to
move between Lightroom and Photoshop. I used these settings for
the Moonlit picture.

• Heal: Size 76, Feather 57 and Opacity 100 6.

Prepared exclusively for Mikko (mikko.lagerstedt@gmail.com)

 38
7. HEALING BRUSH — DETAIL TO THE MILKY WAY
When you need that extra detail to the Stars or Milky Way, use the
Healing Brush (K).

YOU CAN LEARN HOW IT WORKS WITH THIS SIMPLE EXERCISE.

• Try the Healing Brush with Exposure 1.50
• Brush settings: Size 10—30, Feather 100, Flow 100
• Uncheck Show Mask
• Brush over your image with stroke at a time and see how it
affects your image
• Use the Alt-key to Erase any parts you don’t want it to
change

FOR THE MOONLIT PICTURE, I USED SETTINGS:

• Exposure 0.10, Clarity 100

7. After
 39

‘IF YOU CAN DREAM IT, YOU CAN DO IT.’

— WALT DISNEY

Highway — Finland
Nikon D800, 14 mm f/2.8
ISO 6400, 30 sec. f/2.8, 14 mm
 40

TUTORIAL
DREAMY NIGHT
How to Use Light Pollution in Night Photography

Straight Out of Camera
After Post-Processing
in Lightroom or Camera Raw
41
TUTORIAL
DREAMY NIGHT
1. CAPTURE
When taking night and astrophotographs in light or medium
amount of light pollution, it’s always good to take a shot and see
how the light pollution will affect the image. Sometimes when you
least expect you capture a beautifully different astrophotograph.
For this example, I was taking pictures at a beach in Yyteri, Finland.
I walked down the beach and finally set my camera on my tripod
where the water meets the ground. The tripod is in a medium-low
angle slightly towards the sky. I knew there was light pollution on
the horizon, but I still wanted to take the photograph. In the scen-
ery, I love the glimmering light in the waves.
Don’t overexpose the sky when taking pictures in light pollution.
It’s much harder to pull back detail from the overexposed image.
You could use the multiple exposure Visions of Depth technique for
this picture as well. For more information, go to the next tutorial.
SETTINGS AND EQUIPMENT FOR THIS TYPE OF IMAGE:
• Wide Angle Lens (Samyang/Rokinon 14 mm f/2.8)
• Tripod (Sirui R-4203L)
• Self-Timer or Remote Controller (Hähnel Giga T Pro II)
• ISO 3200—6400 (6400)
• Aperture f/2.8—f/4.0 (f/2.8)
• Shutter Speed 20—30 sec. (30 sec.)
Prepared exclusively for Mikko (mikko.lagerstedt@gmail.com)
 42

2. POST-PROCESS
In this part of the tutorial, we are going to use light pollution and
post-processing to create a vintage looking night photograph.

2.
1. 2. BASIC SETTINGS
Add light to the darker parts of image and pull down the highlights
1. LENS CORRECTION • Temperature 3200 and Tint +6
Enable the Lens Profile Correction from the Lens Corrections • Exposure +0.64, Contrast +43
panel. Check the Remove Chromatic Aberration and Constrain
• Highlights -61, Shadows +12, Whites -69, Blacks -1
Crop as well.
• Clarity +19
If you have purchased my Fine Art Preset Collection Phase�, you • Saturation -14
can skip a couple of steps. If you haven’t, don’t worry, you can fol-
low the next steps without the Preset Collection.

USE THE PHASE PRESET�: VINTAGE ­— MORNING LIGHT

� Find out more about the Fine Art Preset Collection Phase
http//www.mikkolagerstedt.com/phase-presets
 43

3.
3. TONE CURVE
Use the Tone Curve to add vintage feeling by adding light to the
blacks and pulling down the highlights

• Move the Bottom Left point upward

• Create an S-curve by pulling down the second point from 4.
left and second one from right up
4. COLOR EDIT: HUE, SATURATION & LUMINANCE
• Red: 0, -24, -6
• Orange: 0, +18, -6
• Yellow: 0, 0, +11
• Green: 0, 0, -7
• Aqua: 0, 0, 0
• Blue: -22, +17, -7
• Purple: +15, 0, -6
• Magenta: 0, +19, 0
 44

5. 7.
5. VINTAGE SPLIT TONING
• Highlights Hue: 60, Saturation 39 7. DETAIL — NOISE REDUCTION
• Balance +17 When you capture the photograph with high ISO, it’s usually nec-
essary to add Noise Reduction:
• Shadows Hue: 277, Saturation 9
• Luminance 27
• Detail 53
• Contrast 0
• Color 31
• Detail 50, Smoothness 50

6.
6. EFFECTS — VIGNETTING
• Choose Post-Crop Vignetting
• Highlight Priority
• Amount -22
• Midpoint 0
• Roundness 0
• Feather 78
• Highlights 17
 45
9. ADJUSTMENT BRUSH — ADVANCED EDITING
Eye concentrates on the brightness of the image so applying this
effect you will make it pleasant to the eye. Use the Adjustment
Brush (K) to emphasize the leading line of the waves into the pho-
tograph. If you have over touched some areas, use the ALT key and
brush to erase the effect.

• Exposure 0,56
• Brush Settings: Size 8, Feather 100, Flow 100, Density 100

8.
8. HEALING BRUSH — REMOVE DISTRACTIONS
Use the Healing Brush Tool (Q) to get rid of any distracting
objects. For small distractions use the following settings.

• Heal, Size 20-30, Feather 0, Opacity 100

10.
10. GRADUATED FILTERS — CLARITY & NOISE REDUCTION
If you have my Preset Collection Phase, you can apply a Gradu-
ated Filter: Stars — Foreground Noise Reduction + Clarity. If you
don’t have the Collection, you can use the settings below. Start
by selecting the Graduated Filter (M) to remove noise and clarity
from the foreground and add clarity and detail to the stars.

• Foreground Filter: Clarity - 39, Noise 23

• Sky Filter: Exposure 0.17, Contrast 64, Highlights -30,
Shadows 29, Clarity 64, Noise 23
9.
 46

11.
11. RADIAL FILTER — FOREGROUND DETAIL
Use the Radial Filter (Shift+M) to add exposure to the front of the
image to lead the eye to the photograph. When adding exposure to Before
the foreground on a high ISO image, use the noise reduction and
clarity slider to remove unnecessary noise. Make sure to have the
Invert Mask ticked on. Use feather 100 for this type of usage to
make the transition smooth.

• Temp 17
• Exposure 0,58
• Clarity -29
• Noise 23

SUMMARY: WHAT YOU LEARNED FROM THIS TUTORIAL

• Capture Night Photographs With Light Pollution
• Vintage Post-Processing Techniques
• Remove Distractions
• Enhance Stars
• Advanced Editing: Healing Brush & Radial Filter
After
 47

‘KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE STARS, AND

YOUR FEET ON THE GROUND.’
— THEODORE ROOSEVELT

Reflected
Mallorca, Spain
Nikon D800, 14 mm f/2.8
ISO 6400, 30 sec. f/2.8, 14 mm
 48

TUTORIAL
VISIONS OF DEPTH
How to Create Surreal Night Photography
 49

VISIONS OF DEPTH
TUTORIAL
1. CAPTURE
When we plan or visualize our adventure and photograph before-
hand, it’s much easier to search for the perfect foreground ele-
ments. For the image ‘Divided’ (right) I had the vision to align the
seascape with the Milky Way. Once you have a clear idea, it is easy
to explore exotic elements and align them with the Milky Way. The
more you need to think about a location and foreground ideas, the
more time you will spend searching for ideas and less time capturing
the scenery. And this might not be the intention of your journey.
For the final image ‘Divided’, we use two different exposures taken
at the same spot at slightly different angles.

1. DECISIVE MOMENT
Plan to be there at the right time. As we went through in the plan-
ning section, there are a couple of variables you have to time right
for this type of work. The weather, lunar phase are both important
if you want to capture the World like this. The Milky Way is not
always visible like in the example, so you also have to know where it
will align at a particular time (PhotoPills).

Straight Out of Camera After Post-Processing

Two Exposures From The Same Place in Lightroom or Camera Raw & Photoshop

2. CAPTURE THE SKY
First align the camera with the sky and stars so that the ground is
just slightly visible in the bottom of the frame. You should have the
camera tilted upwards.
The more you include the foreground, the easier it gets when
blending the images in Photoshop and it also means less distortion
in the emerging part of the frame. For the example image, I didn’t
quite plan it well enough, so I had to remove a lot of distortion.
To make it easier to follow, I made the distortion edits before this
tutorial. Use manual focus and set the focus to infinity (see the
focus section for more information). Capture the photograph with
following camera settings.
• ISO 3200 — 6400 (6400)
• Aperture f/2.8 — f/4.0 (f/2.8)
• Shutter Speed 20 ­— 30 seconds with 14 mm lens (FF)
50
3. CAPTURE THE LANDSCAPE
When the sky looks good in the frame, and you are satisfied how
it turned out, tilt the camera on the tripod downwards. Before we
capture the foreground with the clarity and detail use the same
camera settings to visualize how the final picture looks. This way
you can eliminate a bad composition or distracting elements in the
foreground. Move the camera to fix the form if needed.
Once you have captured the test image, re-focus so that the focus
is in two meters depending on the foreground of course. With 14
mm lens at aperture 8.0, the focus should work well all the way to
the horizon and give you extra detail in the foreground. Use these
settings for the landscape image.
• ISO 400 — 800
• Aperture of f/8 — f/11
• Shutter Speed 10 — 30 minutes
 51
4. MULTIPLY
As we have photographed the images how we visualized; try and VISIONS OF DEPTH
search for more attractive sceneries you can try this technique
on. For example, you could take the Stars or Milky Way from a 2. POST-PROCESS
different perspective, to align them with another kind of fore-
In this part of the tutorial, we are going to edit the images individu-
ground. Even if you have just captured the perfect combination of
ally to match each other in colors, brightness and contrast. Finally,
landscape and sky, it’s important to use the time you have and try
we will combine the photographs together in Photoshop using
to capture different kind of combinations. Use the tools we went
masks and quick selection tool. When we have merged the photos,
through the planning section to calculate different exposures and
we will also use Curves and Hue/Saturation to fine-tune the image.
experiment!
In the very end, we will enhance the stars and export to the web.

‘CREATIVITY IS JUST CONNECTING

THINGS. WHEN YOU ASK CREATIVE
PEOPLE HOW THEY DID SOMETHING,
THEY FEEL A LITTLE GUILTY BECAUSE
Organizing Tip For Lightroom Users
THEY DIDN’T REALLY DO IT, THEY
Import your photographs. Create a collection from the small + sign
JUST SAW SOMETHING. IT SEEMED from the Collections Panel when in Library module in Lightroom.
OBVIOUS TO THEM AFTER A WHILE. When using collections, it’s easier to jump between images and
THAT’S BECAUSE THEY WERE ABLE removing distracting images from the grid. I recommend to add the
timing in the front of the Collection name, so it’s easier to find it.
TO CONNECT EXPERIENCES THEY’VE
Include first the year, month, day and title; for example ‘2015/6/22
HAD AND SYNTHESIZE NEW THINGS.’ - Title’. By using Collection Set’s you can easily view images inside
Set with a particular technique or series, this will help you organize
— STEVE JOBS your photographs.

Organizing Tip for Camera Raw & Bridge Users
Import your photographs and open the images location in Adobe
Bridge. It’s not necessary to use collections inside Bridge, but if
you prefer to use collections, you can easily add those in the left
side panel. Include first the year, month, day and title; for example
‘2015-6-22 Title’.
More info about my favorite organizing techniques for Lightroom:
http://www.mikkolagerstedt.com/blog/2014/1/8/
lightroom-tutorial-organizing-photos-using-smart-collections
MOST CREATIVE WORK IS A PROCESS
OF PEOPLE PASSING IDEAS AND
INSPIRATIONS FROM THE PAST INTO
THE FUTURE AND ADDING THEIR
OWN CREATIVITY ALONG THE WAY.
— JOICHI ITO
52
1. LENS CORRECTIONS IN LIGHTROOM
As you have probably noticed throughout this book, I always turn
on the Lens Corrections. Apply a Lens Profile from the Lens Cor-
rections Panel. Enable Profile Corrections will remove distortion
and is particularly useful for wide angle lenses. Remove Chromatic
Aberrations (CA) will add color corrections for the areas of distor-
tion. CA occurs when there is a failure of a lens to focus all colors
along boundaries that separate dark and brights parts of the photo-
graph. Constrain Crop will crop the picture if the lens has an enor-
mous amount of distortion, this way you won’t see the edges of the
image, and don’t have to worry about any pixelation errors.
There is another way to do distortion correction from the Manual
Panel of Lens Corrections, but it is much harder to correct the
distortions. If you feel lucky, you can try to use the Upright option
from the Lens Corrections Panel. Lightroom will try to find straight
lines and rotate the image and even skew it if needed. From this
panel, the Auto option works best from my experience.

1. LENS CORRECTIONS IN CAMERA RAW
Open the images in Camera Raw. Apply
a Lens Profile from the Lens Corrections
Panel. Enable Profile Corrections will
remove distortion and is particularly useful
for wide angle lenses. Remove Chromatic
Aberrations (CA) will add color correc-
tions for the areas of distortion. CA occurs
when there is a failure of a lens to focus all
colors along boundaries that separate dark
and brights parts of the photograph. Go to
Crop Tool and select Constrain to Image. It
will crop the picture if the lens has an enor-
mous amount of distortion, this way you won’t see the edges of the
image, and don’t have to worry about any possible pixelation errors.
53
2. A B
2. COMPARE COLOR AND BRIGHTNESS
The next stage is to compare the colors of each of the images you
want to use. You can also view them side-by-side in Lightroom by
clicking the C-key. The most efficient way of controlling the colors
is with the temperature and tint bar. For the final image, we use
custom settings.
When editing the colors, it’s important to notice how the histogram
is affected by the colors of the image as you can see in the pictures
above. Even when combining two images taken in a matter of min-
utes, they might have entirely different color temperatures due
to different exposure times. In this example, the sky picture had
warmer tones than the foreground.
In this example, the sky picture (A) is slightly darker, and there is
more blue in the highlights in the foreground image (B). See the
histogram tip to learn read the histogram.
 54
3. EDIT THE STAR IMAGE — BASIC SETTINGS
Add exposure from the basic settings and move the temperature
to colder. These settings will depend on how you want the stars and
sky to look and how does your original picture look.

• Temp 2725
• Tint +9
• Try to increase the clarity by +30 — +60
• Add contrast to enhance the visibility of the Milky Way
4. EDIT THE FOREGROUND IMAGE — BASIC SETTINGS
Let’s emphasize the long exposure effect by increasing exposure for
the foreground image. Use settings similar to following.

• Exposure +0,73 5.
• Contrast +35
• Highlights -20
• Shadows +25
• Blacks +20
Once the images look good, and both of them have a similar color
look and brightness, we can open them in Photoshop. Don’t worry
if they are not perfect yet using Smart Objects we can always come
back to Camera Raw to edit the RAW-files.

5. LIGHTROOM: OPEN AS SMART OBJECTS

Select both of the images and Right-Click or CMD-Click > Edit In
> Open as Smart Objects. With Smart Objects, it’s easy to make
necessary setting changes, just by double clicking on the Smart
Object layer icon in Photoshop and it will open Adobe Camera
Raw. 4.
 55
5. CAMERA RAW: OPEN AS SMART OBJECTS
Open the images as Smart Objects clicking on the blue link show-
ing the name of the image will open the Workflow Options. My
favorite settings are Space: ProPhoto RGB, Depth: 16 Bits/Chan-
nel and tick the Open in Photoshop as Smart Objects.

5. 6.

6.
Now that we have both images in the same file let’s save the picture
Both of the images should be open in Photoshop. If not, open the with shortcut CTRL/CMD+S and close the original sky picture.
missing one and move to the next step.

6. MERGE TO A SINGULAR FILE

Select the star image and duplicate it by Right-Clicking on the
Smart Object layer and select from the Duplicate Layer menu the
foreground image as a destination.
 56

A.

7.
7. SELECT
B. The layers are now aligned and ready to be masked. We can use
many tools to mask out the overlapping sky, but for this example,
we can use the Quick Selection tool that is very fast to use. Hide
A. Edit the layer names by clicking and typing in the name. the sky layer from the eye and select the foreground layer. Brush
over the sky with the Quick Selection tool. Use settings:
B. Move the sky layer on top of the foreground layer. Lower
the Opacity of the star photograph from the layers panel down • Size: 80px — 150 px
to 30-50% and move the sky to a place where it meets the • Hardness: 90% — 100%
foreground. • Spacing 1%
You can now expand the image with the Crop Tool. Use Shortcut • Sample All Layers OFF
C and uncheck the Delete Cropped Pixels. You can always edit the • Auto-Enhance ON
crop afterward if needed. Hit Enter when you are ready expanding
the image to view both sky and foreground.
 57

8.
9.
8. MASK
Once you have covered the whole sky with a selection and selected
the Sky layer, use key D to reset the basic colors. Add a mask from
the little icon in the Layer panel.

9. REFINE THE MASK — EDGE DETECTION

Click on the sky layer mask. From Properties panel open the Refine
Edge window. There are no right settings for this, but for this image
I used settings

• Smart Radius 5,5 px

• Shift Edge +7%
• Click OK
You can easily view the mask you have painted by ALT—clicking on
For final layer-masking, use Brush Tool (B) to edit the details you
the Layer Mask. Use D to reset the default colors and brush with
want to show in the final image.
White to reveal and Black to hide the layer.
 58
11. FOREGROUND CONTRAST FIX — CURVES
To make the pieces fit together better, we will add a couple of
Layer Adjustments. First select the Foreground Layer. Click on
the Curves Adjustment Layer and select from the Preset section
Medium Contrast preset and move the points slightly to fit for your
photograph. For the example image, I edited the right dot’s position
slightly to add highlights. Adding contrast to the foreground usually
gives the image more depth.

10.
10. DISTORTION CORRECTION — WARP TOOL
Since there might be some distortions in the foreground or the
night sky, you may want to edit those with a simple technique.

Choose the foreground layer. Add a Y—ruler to the horizon. If the

ruler is not visible use shortcut CTRL/CMD+R.

Adding a ruler helps you to straighten the horizon with the Warp
Tool. Use CTRL/CMD+T to open the Free Transform. Right click
on the picture and choose Warp. You can pull down part of the 11.
image where you see the distortion. Once you have edited the dis-
tortions, you can press Enter to apply the corrections. When adding the contrast you should notice a slight color boost in
the foreground.

12.
12. FOREGROUND COLOR FIX — HUE/SATURATION
Add another Layer Adjustment. Use Hue/Saturation Adjustment
to bring down the boosted saturation from applying contrast in the
last step. For this example, Saturation –33 works well.
13.
59
13. NIGHT SKY BRIGHTNESS FIX — SMART OBJECTS
The picture is starting to look good, but the sky needs some minor
editing. Double click on the Smart Object Sky Layer to open it in
Camera Raw. Because the sky was slightly darker than the fore-
ground, edit the Shadows: +13.
14. NIGHT SKY CONTRAST FIX — CURVES
Add contrast with Curves Adjustment Layer similarly as for the
foreground. Create a Layer Mask to the Curves, so you can fine-
tune where in the sky the Adjustment will be visible. Create a
Clipping Mask from the Curves 2 Layer, this way it will only affect
the sky image. You can fine-tune the Adjustment Layer by using
a Mask. I added one to smoothen the light transition between the
night sky and foreground image.
14.
Finally add a Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer same as in step 12.
and decrease the Saturation by -15. Use the clipping mask to apply
it to the sky image only.
 60
A. The selection loads to the Merge Layer.

B. Use CTRL/CMD+J to create a duplicate of the highlights —

Select the Blending Mode: Screen for the new layer and rename it
as HL.

15.
15. FINAL ADJUSTMENTS — ENHANCE STARS — SELECT
Now that the picture is looking like we want, we can use this sim-
ple technique to add brightness to the stars. First add a new layer
on top of the image. Use CTRL/CMD+Shift+Alt+E to create a
duplicate of all the visible layers and rename it as Merge. Select the
layer and go to Select > Color Range. From the Color Range select
following:
A. B.
C. Delete the Merge Layer (we don’t need it anymore) and add a
Layer Mask to the HL Layer. Use the Brush Tool (B) to paint black
on the Layer Mask to the areas you don’t want the star effect to
show. It’s a subtle change but gives the stars and Milky Way an
extra boost. View the before and after images on the next page.

• Sampled Colors
• Localized Color Clusters
• Fuzziness between 70—150
• Range between 50—100%
Zoom in the stars with CTRL/CMD++ and once you are close
enough to use the Color Picker click on a bright star.

Use the Selection Preview: Grayscale to view the selection more

precisely and once you are satisfied with the selection click OK.
C.
 61

Before Star Enhance After

SUMMARY: WHAT YOU LEARNED FROM THIS TUTORIAL

• Timing
• Composition
• Capturing the photographs
• Smart Objects
• Mask and Quick Selection Tool
• Curves & Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layers
• Enhance Stars
 62
Luminscence — Meri-Pori, Finland
Dual Exposure — Nikon D800, 14 mm f/2.8
ISO 800, 12 min, f/4.0, 14 mm
ISO 6400, 30 sec. f/2.8, 14 mm

‘THE SEA, ONCE IT CASTS ITS SPELL, HOLDS

ONE IN ITS NET OF WONDER FOREVER.’
— JACQUES YVES COUSTEAU
 63

6. INSPIRATION EXERCISES
Ever felt that you are not inspired to go out take photographs?
I have listed five simple inspiration exercises you can do to get
inspired daily! Make sure to do these whenever you feel uninspired.
 64
1. WHAT KIND OF IMAGE IS YOUR DREAM PICTURE?
List the following things: Colors, Place, Time of Year, Time of day
and Subject

Do the list intuitively, without critique and use your imagination.

Don’t think about the things more than 30 seconds each. You can
list more than one item each. Don’t worry if there is no such place.
Do this exercise once a week and use a notepad to archive your
dream pictures. From this list, you can go through it and find inspi-
ration for your next photos. And you can combine these to create
even more inspiring work!
 65

2. SELECT YOUR FAVORITE PICTURE

View and read your favorite picture and list the following things

Why do you like the image? What is interesting about the picture?
What kind of light is in the image? Is there something in the tech-
nique that you enjoy?

Reviewing your old favorite pictures you can find inspiring and
things that you enjoy. You can now use some of the elements in
your favorite pictures for your next images. Don’t copy too much,
but find new approaches to using those elements. You can reverse
this exercise as well if you want to read some of your least favorite
images and list things you don’t like the pictures and how could you
do it better!
 66
3. CHALLENGE YOURSELF!
Find a new photography challenge, to use next time you go out to
take photographs.

Examples: Challenge yourself to take pictures every day for

the next 60 days. Challenge yourself to use a new technique
(post-processing, panorama, vertorama, lens, perspective, long
exposure etc.) Challenge yourself to photograph in a new environ-
ment every day. Figure out a ten photography project to challenge
your to photograph one subject to achieve ten beautiful photo-
graphs in two weeks.
 67
4. DEFINE YOUR STYLE IN PHOTOGRAPHY
How do you describe your photography style currently? List five
words which best defines your current style.

Example words: traditional, surreal, atmospheric, beauty, horror,

etc.

When you have defined your current style, you can see if it’s some-
thing you want it to be and from where you can find inspiration!
 68
5. DEFINE AN INSPIRING STYLE OF PHOTOGRAPHY
How would you define a style you want to have in your photogra-
phy? Write five style words that inspire you the most.

Example words: traditional, surreal, atmospheric, beauty, horror,

etc.

By thinking about your current and an inspiring style, you can see
if you are on the right tracks to achieve to create work you get
inspired!
 69

WITH INSPIRATION, YOU CAN FIND MOTIVATION TO CREATE WORK YOU ASPIRE!
 70

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Thank you for supporting my work and congratulations for your purchase!

Mikko Lagerstedt is a professional award winning, fine art photogra-

pher from Finland. Mikko grew up in the Finnish countryside and
was surrounded by nature and unique landscapes. He often found
himself wandering in forests and plains in waist deep snow. His love
of nature and photography evolved from those early days.

Mikko strives to create unique and inspiring photographs, and his

mission is to find new and different techniques, to produce out-
standing work.

Mikko has written articles for Advanced Photoshop Magazine, and his
images have appeared in publications around the world, including
magazines Digital Photography, Amateur Photographer, Daily Mail,
The Telegraph, and many others. Mikko’s photographs have been
used in various ad campaigns for brands such as Chevrolet, UVU,
TP-Link and many others.

Enjoy your journey!

Sincerely,
 71

SPECIAL THANKS

Raico Rosenberg for his excellent feedback and kind suggestions to

improve this guide. Visit and enjoy Raico’s beautiful work from
Teneriffe on http://www.tenerifelandscapes.com/

Felix Inden for his time and effort for reading and giving comments
to this guide. Check out Felix’s stupendous landscape work on
http://www.felixinden.com/

All the people involved on creating this guide. Thank you!