Royce Bair

03/27/2026

Have single exposures become old fashioned and out of date?

Do you ever feel that your nightscape images are 2nd class—that they aren't as cool and sophisticated as some of the images you see posted on social media? READ MORE in my free Patreon post:

Get more from Royce Bair on Patreon

02/13/2026

Join me in Sedona, AZ on Monday, Feb 23rd, 6:00 PM at the Sedona Camera Club for my "Going to the Dark Side" program, where I'll teach you how to capture Milky Way nightscapes like these. Go to www.RoyceBair.com for event details.

02/13/2026

Join me in Sedona, AZ on Monday, Feb 23rd, 6:00 PM at the Sedona Camera Club for my "Going to the Dark Side" program, where I'll teach you how to do dozens of Milky Way nightscape techniques. Go to www.RoyceBair.com for more details on this event.

This photo was taken with an inexpensive GoPro Hero13 Black camera, using its built-in TimeLapse / Star Trails function. I just pressed a few buttons to set up the mode and the camera automatically took 360 30-second timelapse exposures over a three-hour period. It then stacked them together (in about 10-seconds) and presented me with both a 12-second 5.3K video timelapse AND this 27MP still image. This vertical ("portrait") image was cropped from a previously posted horizontal ("landscape") image.

02/13/2026

Star Trails over Coffee Pot Rock, West Sedona, AZ. This was taken with an inexpensive GoPro Hero13 Black camera, using its built-in TimeLapse / Star Trails function. I just pressed a few buttons to set up the mode and the camera automatically took 360 30-second timelapse exposures over a three-hour period. It then stacked them together (in about 10-seconds) and presented me with both a 12-second 5.3K video timelapse AND this 27MP still image.

f/2.5 • 30” • ISO 800 • X 360 exposures • internal camera star stacking

PRESENTATION: Join me on Monday, Feb 23rd, at 6:00 PM at the Sedona Camera Club for my "Going to the Dark Side" program, where I'll show you how I do this and dozens of other Milky Way nightscape techniques. Go to www.RoyceBair.com for more details on this event.

08/08/2025

Last week while I was in Idaho Falls, giving a lecture to a local camera club, I met up with YouTube celebrity, Emmy Eaton, who does the weekly interview, "7 Questions with Emmy" 7 Questions with Emmy. Emmy has been doing this since she was seven years old (she's now 12), and has interviewed hundreds of people from all over the world, i.e. Miss America 2025, Mike Rowe (Dirty Jobs), and Donny Osmond. Here's our interview and one of my favorite nightscape photos mentioned in that Q&A session:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/136028473

05/09/2025

The "father of nightscape photography"

The late Alyn Wallace once called me the "founding father of landscape astrophotography." A local TV station picked up on that quote and used it as the title for a 3-minute live interview they did on me earlier this week.

If you're interested, here's a LINK to the story and a video clip of the interview.

https://www.fox13now.com/the-place/we-talk-with-the-father-of-nightscape-photography

FULL-FRAME 35MM CAMERAS vs. SMARTPHONE CAMERAS for MILKY WAY PHOTOGRAPHY: In the above television interview, the host asked, "Where do beginners [like herself] start when it comes to taking Milky Way photos?"

I told her that 10 years ago I was often asked by TV interviewers if their iPhones could take photos of the Milky Way like the ones I was showing from my first eBook edition, and I told them that the tiny sensors in smartphone cameras could NOT record the night stars! However, that has changed in the past few years, with some of these little cameras doing a pretty amazing job due to onboard stacking techniques employed by our smartphone cameras.

SAMSUNG GALAXY S23 vs. SONY a7S III: I told the TV host that some of the Samsung Galaxy S series smartphones, like the S23 do a better job recording the Milky Way than my iPhone — in fact, they are comparable in some applications to a $3,500 full-frame professional camera, like the Sony a7S III.

Although I didn't mention it in this live interview, I was referring to this video timelapse comparison by Sadegh Hayati:

https://www.instagram.com/p/DItzcWzselo/

While the results from the S23 may not acceptable for astrophotographers, it shows that almost anyone can now capture a beautiful scene with a simple handheld device — producing results that will amaze their friends and preserve wonderful memories of their night experience.

01/28/2025

"Capturing Milky Way NightScapes" is a presentation I'm giving on Feb. 6th at the Wasatch Camera Club.

“Half the park is after dark” is a catchy slogan used by our national parks, and I'm encouraging you to discover this unique world with your photographic night vision. You might say I'm inviting you to "to the dark side" of landscape photography!

During the past two decades I've been able to avoid the crowds in our public lands and find amazing beauty and solitude in places that are oftentimes crawling with tourists in the daytime — it's like a whole new world of photographic opportunity!

In my presentation I hope to not only get you excited about "nightscapes" but help you find new ways of seeing and enhancing your nighttime compositions. If you've tried astrophotography in the past and found it challenging, I will help you break some of the technical barriers and make it more fun and fulfilling.

If you think you've already figured it out, let me assure you that there is much more to learn. I will show you new techniques that are opening up many exciting horizons in the astro-landscape photography genre!

TIME: 6:30pm to 8:30pm - Thurs., Feb 6th
VENUE: Salt Lake City Library (downstairs in Conf. room B), 210 East 400 South, Salt Lake City, UT 84111
HOST: Wasatch Camera Club (members only - join and register to attend)

https://wasatchcameraclub.com/?event=capturing-milky-way-nightscapes

12/24/2024

'Twas the night before Christmas...

I took this blue hour photo a few years ago, just a short distance from my house.

The 2nd photo is from our living room.

The 3rd photo shows a bright portion of our Milky Way Galaxy and the Tsuchinshan–ATLAS Comet over an old barn, built many years ago by Ukrainian emigrants, located in the Skull Valley ranching area, about 50 miles west of Salt Lake City, Utah. My paternal grandfather herded sheep in this valley during the mid 1930's.

Please forgive me for referencing my Christmas beliefs in this public space, but when I saw these glorious events in the heavens that night, it made me think of other shepherds from two millennia ago who were "...keeping watch over their flock by night."

"And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

"And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

"For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord."

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TECHNIQUE & EXIF: Stacked • Canon R6 (astro-modified by Clarence Spencer) + 24mm Rokinon f/1.4 • f/2.8, 10 sec, ISO 3200 - 15 “lights” and 9 “darks” stacked in Starry Landscape Stacker, with add’l processing in Ps.

12/17/2024

Here's a great Christmas gift idea. Buy 1 and get the 2nd at 50% Off when you purchase my official "nightscape" phone & tablet cases designs. Use the promo code GLRB50
https://goheadcase.com/royce-bair-cases-skins-accessories/

10/11/2024

Have you ever photographed the "Zion Bonsai Tree" in Zion National Park?

Here's a post I created on my Patreon about locating and photographing Zion's Little Tree:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/photographing-113775479

09/03/2024

Star Trails with a GoPro — astrophotography with a little "action" sports camera? Really? Yeap! This review and tutorial I wrote may surprise you...

https://www.patreon.com/posts/111273779