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Groth Galleries Sam's Nightscape and Deep Sky Astrophotography
Psalm 19

Warm nights in the southwest!
07/24/2026

Warm nights in the southwest!

07/22/2026

Don't miss the star trails at the end!

Probably my favorite night imaging so far this year. The melting snow water running through the stream surrounded by wild flowers around 12k ft elevation surrounded by 13k and 14k ft peaks just watching the stars pass over head. Completely transcendent.

The timelapse covers around 4 hours and you can see hikers up on the trail to Handies Peak.

Three years ago, I decided that I wanted to capture more milky way panoramas so I set a goal to capture at least 5 in th...
07/20/2026

Three years ago, I decided that I wanted to capture more milky way panoramas so I set a goal to capture at least 5 in the month of May.

The third image here was the first panorama, and I ended up capturing 11-12 panoramas that month.

While many of these were not some of my better photos, the process of capturing these images really helped me walk through the steps of planning compositions and the technical process of capturing the images!

All 3 of these images were captured at the same overlook in May so it's interesting to see how the sky details have both varied and stayed the same. The horizon is dark and dusty in all three shots due to the dry adobe to the north of the park. The second image stands out as I accidentally captured an aurora substorm in the north!

This year's shot (the first image) was challenging to edit since I was testing the Benro Polaris which was not working (this is now resolved and seems to have been related to my cellphone) so I was squeezed for time and ended up capturing the foreground with a bright moon...

If you're looking for help with capturing or editing your photos, definitely reach out!

07/17/2026

If you have a chance to visit Joshua Tree at night, you definitely should!

While there's light pollution on the horizon, the Joshua Trees against the stars make incredible compositions.

I drove nearly 13 hours and arrived around midnight at the park and captured images until dawn to create these photos and timelapse.

I'm not sure if this was safe or wise but sometimes you have to give a little extra effort to get the best shots!

07/15/2026

Reflecting back on one of my favorite timelapses from several years ago.

Nothing is guaranteed in life and appreciating the opportunities that you have in the present is so important!

Most of the foreground in this image was burned in the Gold Mountain Fire and will not look similar like for the rest of our lifetime.

This should lead us to consider carefully what we are focusing on to ensure that we are not trading the most important for some substitute.

The words of Jesus still provide guidance today as they did thousands of years ago when he spoke them:
"But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."

As we approach the current situations, let's seek God first and trust him to give us the wisdom to handle what's in our control and to manage the things that only He can resolve.

When photographing wildflowers at night, you generally want perfectly calm conditions.This is not always the case and on...
07/13/2026

When photographing wildflowers at night, you generally want perfectly calm conditions.

This is not always the case and on this night there was a consistent 1-5mph breeze making this type of shot extremely challenging!

This particular flower had the advantage that it's shielded by growing near the stream below the rest of the landscape!

Somehow, I captured this shot on the first attempt after composing and focusing and then waited for over an hour to attempt to capture another similar shot with this and other flowers but there was a consistent breeze.

I was really thankful for this short window as this specific composition was one of the 3 shots I was specifically planning for this evening!

What astro shots have you attempted that required specific conditions?

Nothing like the Colorado wildflowers!
07/10/2026

Nothing like the Colorado wildflowers!

This year vs last year!Which do you like better?
07/09/2026

This year vs last year!

Which do you like better?

This night was predicted to be completely clear but ended up with thick smoke clouds from a nearby fire passing througho...
07/06/2026

This night was predicted to be completely clear but ended up with thick smoke clouds from a nearby fire passing throughout most of the night...

To counter that, I captured 5x 1 minute exposures per panel to attempt to smooth out the clouds.

This worked pretty well but resulted in a very soft level of detail in the sky that was very difficult to edit.

I still have one panorama from March and another from May where I had clear conditions and I'm looking forward to editing some clear skies soon and sharing those with you!

If you're facing challenges with editing your sky data, see my Lightroom editing course linked from my profile!

There is a significant drought which along with the Gold Mountain Fire has caused cancellations of fireworks across the ...
07/05/2026

There is a significant drought which along with the Gold Mountain Fire has caused cancellations of fireworks across the mountain towns.

The fire has burned over 25k acres likely including most of the forest in the last 4 images. Thankfully the towns and all of the houses in the path of the fire have been saved so far.

Hopefully you're having better conditions in your area!

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