Remove fringes around stars

This is a very quick how-to for removing those annoying fringes around your bright stars.

I'm sure there are many methods out there, and probably some that do an even better job than my method.

With that being said.... mine works great for me and only takes a couple of seconds in Lightroom, which is one of my go-to programs for processing images.

How to Make the Stars POP!

If there is one thing I've learned about processing night shots.

There are as many opinions and as many ways to do things as there have been sunrises! With that being said, I thought I'd share another technique that I've employed a couple of times

This technique is very simple and very effective. The nice thing about my tutorial is that I show you how to do it yourself. I’m not a fan of “presets” that take the adjustment factor out of your hands. I’d rather show someone how to do it for themselves. That way you can actually expand your knowledge and learn to help yourself and others around you.

In this particular “How to” we will be increasing the size and brightness of the larger stars. This technique can also be used to bring out the natural colour of the stars or any other adjustments you may want to use.

Like most of my tutorials, I take the approach that you have a basic knowledge of photoshop. If you don’t and need some further assistance with this tutorial, please…

How to Reduce Star Trails

600/(18x1.5)= &%*@!*$

So, you either didn't follow the 600 rule, you're bad at math, or you made a mistake! Now you've got a shot that you absolutely love but the stars look like eggs, or worse yet, they are mini trails!
Don't scrap that photo without at least trying this little know trick of the trade.
In this tutorial I will teach you how to remove small trails to make your stars look crisper.
**** Does it always work?? Nope ****
But heck, why not at least give it a go before deleting that photo.
The Original Image
Here is my original image opened in Photoshop. You will notice that the stars look like mini trails. This particular image was exposed for 43 seconds (23 seconds longer than I usually expose an image).

The Original Image Magnified
Here you will notice how the stars are trails and not as crisp as they should be. Normally most people would throw this image out.

Stars Layer Selection
Start off by selecting the sky. I used the marquee tool but you can use an…

How to stop camera lens fog

How to stop camera lens fog
Astrophotography, Landscape Astrophotography, and just plain old Night Shooting are difficult enough. Using the right lens, setting the ISO correctly and getting the exposure time correct are all issues that plague photographers shooting at night (and other times of day).
Never mind the fact that fact that "playing" in the dark has several dangers, from wild animals, to wilder people, and even police that thing you're up to no good. Mother Nature figured she'd have a go at you also. If you have ever gone out shooting night scenes, wide-field astrophotography, or landscape astrophotography, you've probably experienced the dreaded lens fog.
What causes lens fog
The easy explanation To explain this issue in simple terms, your camera's lens will fog most times when the lens is colder than the air surrounding the lens.
The more in depth explanation When the air near the lens is cooled by the lens, the relative humidity of the surrounding a…

Dark Clear Skies

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