Dylan Knight Photography

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Sunshine Coast, QLD
Dylan Knight Photography

Fine Art Landscape and Astrophotographer located on the Sunshine Coast QLD.

24/08/2026

M8 — The Lagoon Nebula

It’s only been a week, but I’ve gone completely down the astrophotography rabbit hole.

Probably 50 hours relearning PixInsight, testing new techniques, writing workflow guides, researching, and producing somewhere between five and ten different edits of M8—while also working on M17 and C63.

This is the result: just 2 hours and 28 minutes of accepted integration from the DWARF Mini, captured from my Bortle 4 backyard on the Sunshine Coast.

I’m honestly blown away by how much detail and colour was hiding in such a small dataset. Next month I’ll try to add several more hours without the Moon and see what else I can pull out, but until then, M8 is finished and I’m extremely happy with both the Mini and how far my processing has come in one fairly unhinged week.

A massive shout-out to Luke Newbould for creating AstroWizard and sharing his PixInsight workflows on YouTube. This edit is based largely on his OSC narrowband-to-SHO workflow, followed by some additional adjustments in AstroWizard and Photoshop. His tools and tutorials have made advanced astrophotography processing far easier to understand and apply.

Thanks again to Tiny Scope for sending me the DWARF Mini to test. It has already exceeded my expectations, and now it’s time to move on and see what else this tiny telescope can do.

Clear skies!

Image details:

• Target: M8 — Lagoon Nebula
• Telescope: DWARF Mini
• Location: Sunshine Coast, Queensland
• Sky: Bortle 4
• Capture: 296 × 30 seconds
• Accepted integration: 2 h 28 m
• Gain: 60
• Filter: Duo-Band
• Tracking: EQ
• Calibration: Darks, flats and bias frames
• Processing: PixInsight, GraXpert, BlurXTerminator, NoiseXTerminator, StarXTerminator, AstroWizard and Adobe Photoshop

19/07/2026

Sometimes the best shots come from the plans that go completely sideways.

I was meant to head through the pass to Lake Tekapo, but I couldn’t get through, so I ended up at the Moeraki Boulders instead.

It was raining, around -3°C, and honestly I thought I was going to get completely skunked. The water was too deep to use the tripod for this composition, so I had to stand knee-deep in freezing water, shoot handheld and time each frame between the waves while they splashed all over me.

My toes were numb for a good 30–60 minutes afterwards 😂

But then the light finally broke through, and this was the result.

I always say you’re not really shooting seascapes unless you’re getting wet.

13/07/2026

Standing in –8°C beside Tasman Lake, listening to the icy water rushing through the darkness as the Galactic Core rose above the Southern Alps in front of me.

No city lights. No noise. Just fresh snow, Bortle 1 skies, and more stars than I could ever capture in a single frame.

This image is a 49-photo panorama—the closest I’ve come to recreating what that night actually felt like.

11/07/2026

Crown of Aoraki

There are few places that make you feel as small as the Southern Alps.

At midnight, in −8°C conditions, the Milky Way arched above the snow-covered mountains and opened up a scene that felt almost unreal. Every trip here reveals another composition, another weather pattern and another reason to return.

That endless potential is exactly why I’ve spent the past six months planning next year’s New Zealand photography workshop. I’ll be bringing just four guests with me to photograph Aoraki/Mount Cook and the surrounding landscapes, guiding them through the planning, fieldwork and editing needed to create their own images from this incredible part of New Zealand.

https://dylanknight.com.au/new-zealand-photography-workshop

10/07/2026

Standing knee-deep in snow within New Zealand’s Southern Alps, looking across to Aoraki / Mount Cook, was one of the most mind-blowing photography experiences I’ve ever had.

If photographing a true New Zealand winter wonderland has been on your bucket list, join me next year.

https://dylanknight.com.au/new-zealand-photography-workshop

01/07/2026

Frozen sunrise over Utah Lake.

After living in warmer climates for the last six years, I’ve missed scenes like this — ice, snow, still water and mountains catching first light.

Next week I’m heading to New Zealand’s South Island to scout Tekapo and Aoraki / Mount Cook for a small-group winter landscape and astrophotography workshop planned for 30 June – 7 July 2027.

Think snow-capped mountains, alpine lakes, dramatic winter light, moody weather, frozen details, dark skies and Milky Way season — built for landscape and astro, with a maximum of 4 participants.

The New Zealand 2027 priority list is now open, with first access before the newsletter and public release.

Read the details and join via the link in my bio.
https://dylanknight.com.au/new-zealand-photography-workshop

30/06/2026

Rainforest waterfall photography near O’Reilly’s, in the Green Mountains section of Lamington National Park. This is one of the locations we shoot on my Gold Coast Hinterland photography workshop, buried deep in the rainforest where it takes a bit of local knowledge to find.

Long-exposure waterfall work looks simple from the outside, but rainforest conditions throw a lot at you. Wet leaves bounce glare everywhere, ferns shift in the lightest breeze, and dark volcanic rock loses detail fast. A solid tripod, a circular polariser to cut the glare, careful composition and patience for the wind to settle make all the difference.

My August Gold Coast Hinterland workshop sold out, but I’ll be running future dates here soon.
Future Gold Coast Hinterland workshop dates go to my priority list first. Join via my newsletter: https://dylanknight.com.au/photography-newsletter.

02/06/2026

Some of the best landscape photos don’t come from luck.

They come from persistence.

Going back to the same place again and again.

In different light.

Different weather.

Different seasons.

Different moods.

Anyone can visit a famous location once and hope it turns on. Sometimes it does. But most of the time, the stronger images come from learning how a place behaves.

Where the light lands.

What the clouds do.

Which compositions only work in certain conditions.

When the obvious shot is worth taking, and when it’s better to look for something else.
snow_photo, Mesa Arch, Dead Horse Point and the Canyonlands region taught me this better than almost anywhere.

Same broader area. Completely different photographs.

Sunrise. Astro. Snow. Fog. Colour. Stillness.

Sure, luck matters in landscape photography. But persistence puts you in position for that luck to actually find you.

A guide can tell you where to stand. A map can tell you where the trail starts. But the relationship you build with a location only comes from returning.

Keep going back.

Sometimes the landscape hasn’t shown you its best side yet.

25/05/2026

Not every landscape needs to announce itself straight away. Sometimes the scene works because it asks you to slow down, look through the layers, and find the smaller details hiding inside the chaos.

This little waterfall at Kondalilla was one of those frames for me. Dense rainforest, wet leaves, heavy shadows, tree trunks everywhere, and just enough of the falls visible through the centre to pull the eye in.

It’s busy, but intentionally so. That’s what I loved about it.

Kondalilla National Park, Sunshine Coast Hinterland.

I’m also excited to hopefully be running small photography workshops here soon once my CAP update is approved. I’ll be releasing waterfall and long exposure photography sessions once everything is locked in.

07/05/2026

Two of the four spots went within hours of launch.

The Tasmania East Coast Photography Workshop is now live, five days across Bay of Fires and Freycinet, capped at just four photographers.

Bay of Fires at sunset. Lichen-covered granite, clear water, quiet beaches and dark skies over Tasmania’s north-east coast.

Then south to Freycinet for sunrise, sunset and coastal compositions around one of Tasmania’s most recognisable landscapes.

Accommodation and transport are included. Editing sessions are built in throughout the workshop.

February 2027.

2 spots remaining.

Link in bio.

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Sunshine Coast, QLD

Website

https://dylanknight.com.au/

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