How to capture the Night Sky with GoPro Fusion

TOOLS OF THE TRADE
DEC 5, 2017

Did you know that GoPro Fusion can shoot long exposure photos just like the HERO cameras? That’s right; you can set your Fusion up to capture the night sky, revealing everything under the ambient moonlight glow of distant stars, all in full spherical. So, how do you do it?

360 shot of Pigeon Point Lighthouse, California. Photo by Shreenivasan Manievannan

CAMERA SETUP

  • Set your Fusion to either Night Photo or Night Lapse Photo using the mode button on side of camera.
  • Next, go to Settings (wrench icon) using the mode button. Select Night Photo or Night Lapse mode and turn Protune Settings on. Set your ISO to 800 and Shutter Speed to 30s.
  • If Night Lapse – Set the interval to Auto (so that it keeps taking photographs after each shutter closing).
  • Go to Preferences (gear icon) within Settings and switch LCD display lights from ON to OFF (the ambient light coming from the LCD may affect the exposure, since the lens captures everything).
  • With your settings locked, you can just take your camera anywhere, put it on a stable ground or a tripod and you are well on your way to shoot some amazing 360 photos and timelapses of the night sky.

Pro Tip: Remember: Fusion captures everything, so if you do not want to be in the composition, make sure you are blocked by foreground objects. 

Star trails at Pigeon Point Lighthouse, California. Photo by Shreenivasan Manievannan

CONTENT MANAGEMENT
Now that you’ve snapped some amazingness, it’s time to stitch, render and enjoy your content! You can either connect your Fusion to your mobile device and download your full spherical image for instant sharing, or you can dial in your imagery and/or create a 2-D composition with Fusion Studio.

  • Open Fusion Studio with your camera connected, and select “Browse Camera Content.”
  • With your content organized at left of Fusion Studio window, select images you want to render
  • Select OverCapture or 360 with the toggle below player at right of workspace, depending on the composition you desire.
  • Use the Yaw, Pitch, Roll and FOV (OverCapture) sliders to adjust your composition.
  • Use the Color sliders to edit your shot.
  • Once you have composed your shots, click “Add to Render Queue.”
  • Click “render” and let Fusion Studio work its magic.