Capture Stunning Night Photos
Do you want to learn how to photograph the Milky Way? Or maybe you want to capture star trails and paint with light?
Then join us for this special night photography workshop in Central Alberta, Canada, and learn the different techniques of photographing at night.
Over the course of this 4-day workshop, we will cover everything you need to know to begin taking epic nighttime shots. From using long exposure to capturing the perfect blue hour we will guide you through it all.
Your Accommodations
Built on the original river lots of Métis settlers to this region in the late 1800s, Métis Crossing is home to Alberta’s first Métis cultural interpretive center.
The Lodge at Métis Crossing is a 40-room, boutique luxury lodge, located on historical Métis river lots.
Overlooking the North Saskatchewan River, guests to the lodge will inevitably find themselves summoned by a sense of nostalgia and wonder about what came before.
Sky Watching Domes
As part of your experience at this night photography workshop, you can opt to sleep under the stars, further exploring how the Métis people used the stars and sky to navigate, how the sky was used as a clock and calendar, and provided critical instructions for understanding when to plant, hunt, and work the land.
Luxury Sky Watching Domes include a transparent ceiling, king bed, running water, bathroom, heated floors, air conditioning, kitchenette, and electricity (domes are based on availability and are an extra cost).
Master the Magic of Night Photography: What You’ll Learn
Dive into the fascinating realm of low-light shooting, where you’ll conquer the art of managing varying light situations. Explore the independence of shooting in manual mode, and gain confidence in adjusting ISO, aperture, and shutter speed to capture the night’s allure.
Unleash your creativity with long exposure techniques that will allow you to capture motion in the most captivating way. With our guided tutorials, you’ll gain hands-on experience in noise reduction strategies, ensuring your night photos are free from graininess and maintain the pristine clarity you desire.
Master the skill of focusing in the dark, and unlock the potential of painting with light to create magical and artistic images. Your instructor will guide you through capturing star trails and how to do night portraiture, balancing flash and ambient light to create stunning portraits after sunset.
Under the mentorship of your experienced instructor, you’ll discover the secrets of night landscape photography and the mesmerizing domain of astrophotography. Get well-versed in distinguishing between natural and artificial light sources, setting the right white balance, and exploiting available light to your advantage.
We will even help you to choose the right equipment, and teach you how to set it up.
This workshop will be 3 full afternoons of instruction, 3 nights of shooting and practicing the techniques you’ve learned, and a final morning of image review and photo processing techniques.
These are some of the skills you’ll come away with, and techniques you’ll likely learn:
- Long exposure techniques: Unleash your creativity, using longer shutter speeds to capture the night sky, star trails, light painting, and the Milky Way.
- Painting with light: Learn to add intrigue to your night photos by introducing your own light sources, creating luminous highlights and shadows that add depth and intrigue.
- Capturing star trails: Embrace the grandeur of the cosmos, learning the techniques to capture breathtaking photos of star trails.
- Night portraiture: Master the delicate balance of flash and ambient light to create stunning portraits after dark, adding a human touch to the vast night landscapes.
- Astrophotography: Step into the world of celestial photography, mastering the techniques to capture starry skies and weather permitting, the Milky Way.
- Blue hour photography: Harness the enchanting light available during the blue hour, capturing stunning images in the moments just after sunset.
- High Dynamic Range (HDR) night photography: Combine multiple exposures to create images with a wide range of tones, capturing detail in both the darkest and brightest parts of your scene.
- Focus stacking: Combine multiple exposures to gain maximum focus in the foreground and night sky.
- Capturing northern lights (if conditions allow): Experience the thrill of capturing one of nature’s most beautiful displays, learning the techniques to photograph the aurora borealis.
- Focusing in the dark: Navigate the complexity of focusing when light is scarce, ensuring your subjects are sharp and your compositions are compelling.
- Noise reduction strategies: Minimize digital noise in your night photos, ensuring your images maintain the crisp clarity and detail that make them truly stand out.
- Setting white balance at night: Discover how to accurately represent colors in your night photos, maintaining the true ambiance of the scene.
- Using foreground interest: Add depth and dimension to your night photos, using objects in your foreground to draw the viewer’s eye into the scene.
- Post-processing for night photography: Gain an understanding of the essential post-processing techniques to enhance your night photos, including noise reduction, color correction, and sharpening in software like Adobe Lightroom, Photoshop, and Luminar Neo.
- Low-light shooting: Overcome the challenges of varying light conditions, learning to capture the elusive beauty only visible after the sun sets.
- Manual mode shooting: Gain the autonomy you need in night photography by mastering ISO, aperture, and shutter speed adjustments, thus enabling you to capture stunning images that truly resonate with the night’s allure.
Kind Words From Past Workshop Attendees
Feedback from previous workshop participants.
I highly recommend anything Darlene does.
Not every good photographer is a good teacher however, in my opinion, Darlene has both fields covered very well.
I’ve taken classroom instruction from Darlene, private photography tutoring, and attended one of her workshops. I can’t recommend her enough.
Pete Seerden
4-Day WorkshopI LOVE that learning never stopped!
I feel much more confident navigating through the settings and menus on my camera and also using a tripod. The one-on-one instructor contact, combined with enthusiastic participants who were willing to share, was invaluable.
Kelly McNaughton
4-Day WorkshopLearned MORE than I thought I would.
Darlene does a very good job at explaining Lightroom and photo processing techniques and has excellent shooting knowledge. Our group experienced a vast variety of techniques.
I myself learned more about image processing, general camera use, and paying more attention to the light!
Kelly Driedger
4-Day workshopPricing
This night photography workshop is priced based on double occupancy. If you have a spouse or non-photographer coming with you, if you want a single room, or if you want to book a Sky Watching Dome an extra supplement will apply.
Workshop price: $1595 CAD
This is the base price of the workshop. It includes:
- 3 breakfasts
- 3 dinners
- 3 night photography sessions
- 3 days of classroom instruction
- Image review sessions
- 3 nights accommodation (double occupancy)
If you are interested in having your own room or bringing a spouse or other non-photographer guest, the following supplemental prices will apply in addition to the base price.
Single supplement: $495 CAD extra
This provides you with your own room if you’re attending the workshop by yourself. If you wish to share a room and do not have a roommate we will endeavour to pair you up with the same gender roommate. If one is not available, however, the single supplement will apply.
Spousal supplement: $850 CAD extra
The spousal supplement includes the single supplement providing your own room for you and the spouse, plus a meal and activity supplement of $350 for your partner. The spousal supplement includes the same meals and access to the same activities provided at the center that the rest of the group will be doing.
They are also welcome to observe the photo shoots and are encouraged to help out and participate in the light painting. In our experience, this is the highlight for many non-photographer attendees.
Sky Watching Dome upgrade: please inquire
The number of sky watching domes are limited and they book quickly. If you’re interested in this upgrade, please inquire. We’ll find out if one is available and provide the pricing for the upgrade.
Notes:
While no lunches are included in the workshop fee, food is available at the lodge cafe daily on your own if you choose.
We do our best to pair up the registrants for roommates by gender, but that is not always possible. If we are unable to provide even pairs, you will be charged for a single supplement.
I have never quite accomplished a good night shot when it comes to including skies and stars, even after a class in night shooting and multiple tries on camping trips. I was attempting it again while practicing light painting at the hoodoos and after a few suggestions from Darlene, I had a turning point moment. I looked at the preview in my camera and I was stunned, I could hardly believe I had taken the picture I was seeing.
That single moment was worth the entire trip!
Karen Albert
Workshop participantKind Words From Past Workshop Attendees
More testimonials from past photography workshop participants.
Loved the workshop!
I learned so much about night photography as well as getting to know my camera settings better. It was great to get so many valuable tips on how to make my photographs more interesting. I’ll tell everyone I can about this workshop.
Lee Ann Man
4-Day WorkshopDarlene really knows her stuff!
She’s patient and instructs in a laid back way that encourages learning. I learned so many things in this workshop including back button focus which will help me with my bird photography.
I look forward to attending more trips, tours, and workshops with Darlene.
Mike Perkins
4-Day WorkshopLearn your camera better than you thought possible.
Be rested and ready because you are going to learn your camera better than you thought possible and also get a gallery of shots that surpass anything you ever imagined being able to take!
Dara Choy
4-Day WorkshopDarlene, you were most certainly meant to teach!
I was not sure what to expect going in, as I knew I had a lot less experience than anyone else in the group. I was basically starting from scratch with SLR photography. The group size was perfect for me to ask questions, get some help, and then play around on my own. Darlene you have an incredible amount of patience with everyone, most definitely meant to teach. I feel inspired to keep learning, and will be back for another photography workshop in the future.
Stacey Oviatt
4 -ay WorkshopWell thought out and well planned.
I learned lots of valuable information at this workshop. The locations, meals and notes were all well chosen, and detailed class plans all came together in a great value photography workshop.
On the second day, I was already approaching my shot differently which improved my photography significantly.
Kimberly Chrysler
4-Day WorkshopThat single moment was worth the entire trip!
I have never quite accomplished a good night shot when it comes to including skies and stars, even after a class in night shooting and multiple tries on camping trips. I was attempting it again while practicing light painting at the hoodoos and after a few suggestions from Darlene, I had a turning point moment. I looked at the preview in my camera and I was stunned, I could hardly believe I had taken the picture I was seeing.
Karen Albert
4-Day Workshop
Your Instructor
Darlene Hildebrandt
Your instructor for this Night Photography Workshop is Darlene Hildebrandt. She is the creator of Digital Photo Mentor, a photography teacher, a tour leader, a traveler, and a cat mom.
She has over 35 years of experience as a professional photographer, has been teaching since 2011, and has led over 14 photo tours and 20 photography workshops.
Darlene is a Fuji user but speaks almost all other photography languages (meaning she can help you no matter what camera or computer system you use). Whatever your skill level and experience, she can help you unlock the next level and take better photos.
FAQs about this Night Photography Workshop in Central Alberta
Although there will be some walking involved, these will be short and easy, on mostly flat ground. So if you are in good health and fitness level, you will be fine.
Healthy meals will be provided by the venue using local ingredients and Indigenous recipes and elements. Lunch is available on your own in the cafe on site.
If you request sharing a room and we cannot match you with a roommate you will be required to pay the single supplement fee. We do our best to pair everyone up but due to gender mismatches or uneven numbers, we may not always have equal numbers of males or females. But you can certainly ask a friend to come along as well to share with you. Note: then you would pay the single and share with them. If they want the meals and activities then the spousal supplement will apply.
We encourage all skill levels to join us in this workshop, but it is designed for beginner to intermediate levels. We do however recommend you have a basic level of knowledge and experience using your camera (don’t go to a workshop with a brand-new camera you don’t know yet). You don’t even have to be a photographer but can come along and appreciate the location and night sky with us.
Our workshops are custom-designed specifically with photographers in mind, allowing for the best possible photographic opportunities. However, it’s also a nice getaway if you want to bring your spouse or a non-photographer along. You could even choose to book an extra night or two at the lodge and stay a bit longer. See spousal supplement fees for more information.
This workshop is based at Métis Crossing in central Alberta, about 1.5 hours driving time from Edmonton. If you are flying, arrive in Edmonton and rent a car to drive yourself to the location.
YES! A tripod is essential for night photography. If you aren’t sure that yours is sufficient, please ask. Tripod recommendations can be provided if you need to purchase one or upgrade.
Our Photo Tours & Workshops
Click here for our complete list of photo tours of Central America, Africa, Asia and South America, and if you’d like more hands on, photography education, you’ll love one of our workshops, held in Western Canada.