Bloom Photography

Bloom Photography Milky Way photography, astro photography, storm imaging, and more

Went out to Lost Dutchman State Park this weekend to do a time lapse of the Milky Way rising over the superstitions. Alw...
04/20/2026

Went out to Lost Dutchman State Park this weekend to do a time lapse of the Milky Way rising over the superstitions. Always a favorite of mine. In the same shoot, I did manage to catch a brief glimpse of the comet (Panstarrs) and shot that. I am still working on some of the processing, but here is a small look at that. It will not be visible in the Northern Hemisphere after it goes around the sun, sadly, so this was my only shot at getting it imaged.

I had few days to try and learn some new processing techniques for the Milky Way. Here are a few that I have been workin...
10/13/2025

I had few days to try and learn some new processing techniques for the Milky Way. Here are a few that I have been working on.

This was back in December of 2022. I was walking home from work and saw that the moon was getting cozy with the moon. I ...
10/09/2025

This was back in December of 2022. I was walking home from work and saw that the moon was getting cozy with the moon. I didn't know that it was actually going to go behind the moon until it was already behind it. I wish I knew before, but I did manage to get it as it came back out. The first image was prior to go behind, the second and third are as it emerged.

10/09/2025

Playing around with some short time lapses of the clouds playing with the moon last night.

Fourth time's a charm. The Watchman in Zion National Park has been a goal of mine for running on 4 years now. I have gon...
08/08/2025

Fourth time's a charm. The Watchman in Zion National Park has been a goal of mine for running on 4 years now. I have gone out 2 separate Julys (optimal time for alignment) and once in October, all of which ended up in a sort of failure. The first 2 Julys there were clouds blocking the stars, and one of the Julys had some smoke in the air as well. Not optimal. I did a composite with a Milky Way I had shot the night before once, but that felt like cheating to me. October was clear as a bell, but the Milky Way did not align with the Watchman the way I wanted it to. If you know anything about Milky Way imaging, you know that the orientation of the core changes throughout the year, with October being the last real month that you can image the core.
All that being said, I am nothing if not persistent when it comes to a shot I really want. This year, I decided I would try again and all the stars aligned, as the saying goes. I was able to create the image I had dreamed of without cheating. I also got the chance to go to Brian Head and Cedar Breaks to cross 2 more "bucket list" places to shoot the Milky Way. There are SO many on that list, but I am starting to chip away.

The details, if interested:
Camera Nikon D850
Lens Nikon 50mm
Foreground: 9 panels taken at blue hour, stitched in Lightroom
Sky: 12 panels shot at f5.6, ISO 800, 3 minute exposure (tracked on my Nomad star tracker), stitched in Lightroom
Foreground and sky blended in Photoshop.

I have finally been able to get back out at night to shoot some Milky Way images on a much needed trip to scratch the it...
05/24/2025

I have finally been able to get back out at night to shoot some Milky Way images on a much needed trip to scratch the itch. These first ones are from Canyon De Chelly and Capitol Reef NP. I am hoping to get some more from a couple bucket list places, but this is a good start. Fingers crossed for the skies to remain clear at night.

Redo processing of the Toadstools Milky Way I shot last year.
08/14/2024

Redo processing of the Toadstools Milky Way I shot last year.

As many of you may know, I have had the absolute honor to have been able to attend 3 solar eclipses in the last 7 years....
05/19/2024

As many of you may know, I have had the absolute honor to have been able to attend 3 solar eclipses in the last 7 years. The first was the Great North American eclipse in August of 2017. It was my first attempt at shooting an eclipse and I was not prepared as much as I should have been. I had 3 cameras going and I really did not take the time I should have to learn to properly expose the sun, plus I did not bracket at all during totality. Mistakes made, but lessons learned. I still got useable shots and was SO excited about learning more.
I went to Monument Valley for the Annular eclipse in October of 2023. Not only was it different, but the experience during totality was totally different. Very cool, but not nearly as emotional as during a total eclipse. I could never remove the solar filter and it never went totally dark. It was dusk like but not dark. Still cool to watch and actually easier to shoot because the settings did not really change.
Then the culmination of the 2 learning experiences in April of 2024. I was prepared. SO prepared. I knew what not to do, as well as what TO do. Unfortunately, the clouds decided to play a MUCH bigger roll than I would have liked. I still got to experience the whole show, but the time lapse did not come out as I would have liked due to clouds, and I did not have the opportunity to shoot it exactly as I had planned. Another lesson learned, you CANNOT control the weather!
I took all of the images I got during these 3 amazing experiences and put them together to make this composite. A culmination of 7 years of learning and shooting, and experience for the next ones upcoming (I'm looking at you, Iceland!)
Hope you enjoy... :-)

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