Welcome 2026 Speaker Forest Chaput de Saintonge
We are delighted to announce that Forest Chaput de Saintonge will be presenting at the Nightscaper Photo Conference!
Photography Educator at Everlight Education
forestchaput.com | IG | LI | YT
Forest Chaput de Saintonge is a Montana-based photography educator and the former director of Rocky Mountain School of Photography. As an Adobe community expert and instructional design specialist, he collaborates on a team that develops educational content for Adobe, helping photographers master software and develop reliable workflows.
When he’s not designing curricula, Forest can often be found tinkering in his backyard observatory. A lifelong astronomy enthusiast with a degree in astrophysics, he’s passionate about capturing the wonders of deep space through astrophotography. He employs his passion for education by sharing everything he learns with other space-loving photographers. He is also an alumnus of the Minerva Exoplanet Observatory Team.
In addition to speaking at the Night Photo Summit and lecturing for the B&H Event Space, Forest solves workflow issues for photographers through his company, Everlight Education, and shares tutorials with over 120,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel.
Forest’s Presentations
© Forest Chaput de Saintonge
From Dark to Bright: A Photoshop Workflow for Deep Sky Astrophotography
Turning a dark linear file into a vibrant deep sky image is one of the most rewarding parts of astrophotography. If your tool of choice is Photoshop, this class will provide you with a structured approach to editing.
Forest Chaput de Saintonge will walk through the specific challenges of deep sky editing, such as:
• the stretch: how to iterate with curves and levels to reveal data without blowing out the highlights
• color balance: aligning the histogram to get natural background colors
• star management: techniques to keep your stars tight so they don’t overpower the nebula or galaxy
• finishing touches: using selective adjustments to polish the final image
Assembling a Beginner Portable Deep Sky Astrophotography Kit
You don’t need a permanent observatory or a massive telescope to capture great images of galaxies and nebulae. In fact, some of the most fun you can have with astrophotography requires only a rig that fits in a backpack.
In this presentation, Forest Chaput de Saintonge will offer a guide to assembling a portable astrophotography system that balances weight with performance. He will look at the essential components you need:
• mounts: comparing star trackers versus lightweight GoTo mounts
• optics: choosing between camera lenses and small refractors
• control: how to automate your imaging
• power: keeping things running with portable battery packs
Whether you are looking to build your first rig or to downsize your current one for travel, Forest will help you feel comfortable with what works, what doesn’t, and how to put it all together.
How do you stay involved?
If you haven’t yet, register for the Nightscaper Conference today!
Please share the 2026 Nighscaper Conference with your friends, other astro-landscape photographers and those who want to jump-start their skills. We also encourage you to share it with folks who are just getting into the craft.
follow our Instagram and Facebook accounts to stay up to date on all news and happenings
join our Facebook group to share your night photos and to chat all things night photography