Mike Shaw Photography

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San Luis Obispo, CA
Mike Shaw Photography

Resources, workshops and tips for photographers and astrophotographers. Dr. Mike Shaw is Your Nightscape Professor!

He is an award-winning night and nature photography book author, workshop leader and public outreach educator. Before his photography career took off, he worked as a physics and astronomy professor for over fifteen years, and an applied physics research scientist for over ten years. He has traveled with his camera to remote wilderness areas around the world and enjoys collaborating with others. Hi

s work has appeared many times on CNN, CBS, ABC, NASA, Minnesota Monthly, Destination Duluth, The World At Night (TWAN), Space.com, PhotoPills, the Bryan Peterson School of Photography and in the US National Park Service.

12/05/2025

The December, 2025 Supermoon rises serenely over the rolling hills in San Luis Obispo County in central California. My two kids were with me so it made for a very special night. Planned with , perfect accuracy as always!

This short time lapse is the animation of roughly 250 single images, each captured with a 500 mm lens on a Nikon D850 DSLR.

ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/200 sec

Edited in Adobe Lightroom, and assembled with .

07/10/2025

A beautiful, serene moonrise of the nearly full moon (98.1% illuminated) over Avila Beach, California, July 9, 2025.

Conditions were near perfect, with clear skies and the nearly full moon positioned right between the edge of the Earth’s shadow and the Belt of Venus (Image 2).

This happens whenever the moonrise is within around 15 - 20 minutes of sunset. On this evening, local moonrise occurred at 8:02 pm with sunset shortly afterwards at 8:19 pm: 17 minutes apart.

You can look forward to similar evening conditions in 2025 on August 8, September 6, October 6, November 5, and December4.

And don’t forget morning moonsets - these can be equally good!

This image was created as follows:

1. Inspiration by and (thank you!)
2. Planning with
3. Constant exposure settings; ISO 200, f/8.0, 1/100 sec, using a D810A with a Nikkor 24 - 70 mm, f/2.8 lens set to 32 mm focal length
4. Image capture every 5 seconds between approximately 7:50 pm - 9:15 pm using the in-camera interval timer
5. Images selected and imported as a layer stack in
6. Layers blended using the Lighten blend mode in Photoshop
7. Final image editing in Photoshop

Wishing you clear skies for whichever of the remaining full moonrises or moonsets you go for in 2025!

05/13/2025

Learn Astrophotography in The Nook!

I’m SO excited to share that over the past year, I’ve been working on a comprehensive online astrophotography course that will be available this Fall through The Nook - Rocky Nook’s brand new online learning community!

My course entails 24 detailed, in-depth videos that capture pretty much everything I feel is important to know to successfully create astrophotography images.

In the meantime, now is your chance to sign up as a beta-tester member of the just-launched Nook with free three-month access. You can learn about new courses, meet folks with shared interests and much more. Applications are being accepted through Monday May 19.

Head to the link below to apply!

Bit.ly/MSP-Nook

(IG makes you type in the link directly unfortunately)

04/07/2025

Bryan Peterson was a photographic genius, pure and simple. Beyond that he was a kind, charismatic, and mischievous professional who defined enthusiasm. His work ethic, optimism, and tenacity were second to none.

His How-To videos, made in an era way before today’s Reels, have helped untold numbers of photographers, including me.

Until I read his book, Understanding Exposure in the early 2000’s, I didn’t know how to use my camera’s light meter, or create a photo in manual exposure mode. Bryan taught me how.

His exposure triangle (yes he’s the one who created it) is a foundational principle of photography.

He willingly shared his methods and techniques to help us all. Bryan’s infectious love of photography is a part of every image I create, and if you knew him, most likely yours too.

And his dad jokes…

Sending my love to his daughters, son, and extended family in this heartbreaking time. I will miss him terribly, along with everyone else.

You Keep Shooting, Bryan

03/14/2025

The spectacular March 13/14 total lunar eclipse as seen from Grace Bay Beach in the Turks and Caicos Islands.

The first set of partial phases began around 1:10 am and the final partial phases concluded around 4:48 am. Maximum totality occurred at 2:59 am; it began around 2:30 am and ended around 3:30 am.

It was quite the sight to watch the moon and surrounding sky slowly darken as the earth’s shadow took progressively larger “bites” out of the moon.

Then, totality began with the entire moon taking on a deep orange-red color as it appeared suspended in the sky. Wow!

Finally, the moon steadily emerged from the earth’s shadow and the sky slowly returned to normal.

This image is the composite blend of around 1200 individual images, each captured with the same exposure settings of ISO 200, f/4.0, 2 sec. with a 14-24 Nikkor lens set to 16 mm on my trusty Nikon D850.

I used my camera’s interval timer to capture images every 7 seconds

The images were imported as a stack into Photoshop and then blended using the lighten blend mode.

The entire project was carefully planned using the Eclipse and Eclipse Sequence tools of Planit Pro ; especially the virtual viewfinder and map (Images 2, 3).

02/24/2025

The Orion Nebula, M42, has always been a favorite. Visible with your unaided eye, it’s one of the first, if not THE first nebulae I remember seeing through a telescope. I was absolutely riveted by the sight of this massive star forming inferno. Check it out while it’s still high in the sky!

Details:
ZWO 2600MC Air attached to my Nikon 200-500 Nikkor lens on an AM5 mount; Optolong L-Quad filter. Planned in and processed/blended in PixInsight w/ the RC Astro & Seti Astro tools , Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop.

02/04/2025

Taking a moment today to recognize Amy Holbrook, one of my top fans!

Amy Kittelson Holbrook

Amy has been with us since the beginning and her unwavering support has meant the world. Thanks Amy for all that you do - the doughnuts, rides to the airport, bags of goodies hidden in the front bushes, Kendall Jackson Reserve, late night counseling sessions, IYKYK.

🤩❤️🙏

Address

San Luis Obispo, CA
93401 - 93403, 93405 - 93410, 93412

Website

http://www.mikeshawphotography.com/

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