Charles Brooks

A massive #Starlink Satellite train photobombs my behind-the-scenes shot when I was imaging the Carina Nebula last night. When I first took it I though I was seeing lens flare on the back of the camera... Camera that took the shot: #Lumix S1 #Samyang 14mm f/2.8 @ 2.8 60 seconds ISO 5000 Gear in the Scene: Lumix S5 Lumix S pro 70-200 #iOptron Sky Guider Pro #Kingjoy A85 Carbon Tripod #Ecoflow River Pro Powerstation Acer Laptop with a badly cracked screen... Te Ata Rooftop Tent @lumixnz @teataadventure @ecoflownz @samyangnz @kingjoyglobal

Photographing Glow Worms in a cave in Northland, New Zealand. This is what we do when the full moon is out and we can't shoot astro... Glow worm caves are extremely dark - these photos are all 8 minute exposures at 800 iso, except for the wide shot which is 16 minutes... all with the widest aperture available on the various lenses used (f/1.8 - 2.8). Those shots are then pushed a couple of stops in post, especially in the shadow regions. I could have shot longer exposures for even cleaner photos, but the chances of someone walking through the cave with a headlight on and ruining the shot are just too high. People show up spelunking at crazy hours - even 2am.... Thanks to Jack and his Canon 5D iv for the behind the scenes shot! Gear Used: #LumixS5 #LumixS1 (pictured) #Lumix S pro 70-200 f/2.8 Lumix S pro 50 f/1.4 #Samyang 14 f/2.8 #Kingjoy A85 Carbon Tripod (with spikes attached) Kingjoy T40x Double Pano Head #Viltrox JY-120 (wired - wireless has too high a chance of failure with extremely long exposures) Thanks to: @lumixnz Kingjoy #glowworms

A whole tribe of photographers hard at work shooting the Lunar Eclipse in Waitawa Regional Park last night. It was a magic evening, even with the haze! You can see the dramatic change in star visibility once the moon starts to dim, with Matariki and Orion particularly prominent. Shot on a Lumix S5 #lumixnz @stardome_nz @lumix

Finally able to share straight from my desktop! I look forward to being more active on IG from now on. Crop of a 76 image panorama Shot on a Lumix S1 Lumix S Pro 50mm 1.4 Thanks to @lumixnz

Did Covid originate in space? (no), but this Bucket Sculpture at the Sculptureum in Matakana has taken on new meaning. Blooming Buckets - John Ferguson Sculptor 2014, plastic buckets, aluminium and galvanised steel, 5000 x 1000 x 1000mm approx. Exhibited 2014 Sculpture Onshore Permanent display at the Sculptureum An Astro Timelapse shot at the Sculptureum in Matakana, New Zealand. Shot on a Lumix GH5S Motion with a Syrp Genie II Pan-Tilt and Linear SLR Magic 12mm T-1.5 @ 1.5 15 second exposures ISO 12'800 608 Frames #lumixnz #lumix #gh5s #slrmagic #astrophotography #timelapse #astro

October and November workshops are now live! • Astro in Piha • Glow Worms in Waipu • Guy Fawkes in the City • Day-to-Night Timelapse in the Viaduct • Blood Moon Lunar Eclipse in Waitawa Full details and booking at

The Galactic Core Shot in Whatipu Lodge and Campground last Wednesday. There are a whole host of Nebulae and Deep Space Objects visible here... too many to list. I wanted to see what kind of detail I could pull out of the Milky Way using iOptrons most basic tracker, the Sky Tracker Pro, with rough alignment done using a phone. I chose this because it's the fastest way I've found to setup for tracking - I just velcro my phone to the top of the Tracker, and use the "Daytime / No Polarscope Alingment" option in Polar Scope Align Pro until the crosshairs are centred. Takes under 30 seconds. Gear: Lumix S1 Lumix S Pro 50mm 1.4 @ f/2 ISO 1600 iOptron Sky Tracker Pro Benro Carbon Tripod Sirui Ball Head 24 x 60 second light frames 10 x 60 second dark frames Processed in Sequator and Photoshop Thanks to: Lumix Nz #ioptron #lumix

The Lighthouse at Nine Pin Rock floating in space last night... Shot using the reflective tidal pools that criss cross Whatipu Beach. This is a stack of 8 photos. For for the Stars, tracked using an iOptron Sky Tracker Pro, and 4 more for the lighthouse untracked. Lumix S1 Samyang 24mm 1.4 iOptron Sky Tracker Pro Thanks to @lumixnz @highrestours

I picked up the Gold Medal in the North Shore Salon of Photography for this shot of concert cellist Matthias Balzat, in their themed section "Yellow". It is quite yellow.... I'll be hosting some classes in this technique on St. Heliers beach, July 23 & 24. Join and get a free light stick. Details at This effect is done entirely in-camera. I used a plastic tube with some diffusion gel and a high powered torch, and then ran around the cellist controlling the camera with my remote. Shot on a Lumix S1R Lumix S pro 24-70 @ 31mm Viltrox JY-710 remote 6 seconds at f/4 ISO 200 Thanks to: #lumixnz

So a few people were asking how this shot was created, and I thought I'd show you some of the steps. It's a combination of sixteen photos, some tracking the sky and some fixed on the ground. You could technically do this with just 2 photos, but I prefer to use a method called stacking to help reduce noise and make a clean crisp photo. This involves taking multiple identical photos and averaging them out (since the noise in each shot is random, the average looks much cleaner) One series of shots is fixed on the stars. I used a small tracker by iOptron called the Sky Tracker Pro for this. You point it towards celestial south and it slowly moves your camera to counter the rotation of the earth. For the sky I took 8 photos with four minute exposures each. If I didn't have a tracker these exposures would be limited to 15 seconds - the longer exposures let me bring in a lot more colour. The ISO was 3200, and I set my aperture to f/5.6. This is higher than I would use for untracked shots, but it makes sure the stars are very sharp, and mostly free of aberrations. The downside of doing this is that, while the stars remain still, the ground moves. After that it's necessary to take another series of shots to capture the ground. These were also 8 x 4 minute exposures at the same ISO of 3200, but I opened my aperture to f/2.8 to let in more light (that sand is very black). The lens aberrations don't really have any effect on foreground so a wide open aperture is just fine. When you blend those 8 foreground photos together you end up with quite pleasing star trails as seen here - which can be a nice photo in its own right. After that it's just a matter of blending the two photos in photoshop with a little simple masking. Gear Used: iOptron Sky Tracker Pro Kiwi Lens Demister Lumix S5 Samyang 14mm MkII, canon mount on a Sigma MC-21 Adapter Benro Carbon Tripod Big thermos of coffee.... For those wanting to try a tracker - we have a few available for use at our workshops: for info. Thanks to: High Res Tours Photography Workshops Lumix New Zealand #astrophotography #astronomy #milkyway #photography

The Milky Way over Lion Rock at Piha Last Night. 8 x 4 minutes tracked (sky), and 8 x 4 minutes untracked (ground) Lumix S5 Samyang 14mm MkII @ f/5.6 for sky and f/2.8 for ground ISO 3200 iOptron Sky Tracker Pro Thanks to: @lumixnz @highrestours #lumix #s5 #lumixs5 #samyang #astro #nightsky

A campfire at Lion Rock in Piha last night during one of our workshops. Shot on a Lumix S1R Samyang 14mm Mk II Thanks to @lumixnz #lumix #S1R #samyanglens