and this obviously creates
challenges in objects close
to the lens. This image is
comprised of five shots
taken one right after the
other, with nothing more
than the time needed to
refocus each shot. I could
easily cut and paste a starry
sky in Photoshop, but that
is not at all what I was after,
as I wanted the challenge
of getting everything
right and capturing the
night sky as it was at that
moment. My skills in
Photoshop are incredibly
limited and I plan to try
and keep it that way. Using
Photoshop, I manually
stacked the five images
and blended them, using
brushes and masks. The
final flattened image was
brought into Lightroom for
my usual astrophotography
adjustments.”
Despite the striking results
that his photography yields,
Kukucska admits that his
astrophotography trips can
be exhausting. His schedule
is completely flipped around,
trying to sleep and explore
during the day while
photographing at night.
He never goes to a location
at night that he has not
thoroughly visited during
daylight hours, as it is too
easy to miss opportunities or
lose his bearings in the dark.
Kukucska has found that the
national parks in the U.S.
are fantastic locations for
shooting, with the added
bonus that they are open
all day, every day and, of
at least the places he has
visited, he is pleased to say
they are also void of grizzly
bears. While Kukucska
is fine to take his chances
with snakes and scorpions,
he has no desire to meet a
grizzly wandering around
the woods by himself at
three in the morning,
and his family agrees.
Kukucska’s next adventure
will be in Oregon, and we
eagerly await to see what
beauty from its night sky he
will capture with his lens.
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