La Palma Landscape Astrophotography Workshop
Price range: £600.00 through £2,300.00
SOLD OUT – 13th – 18th June 2026: La Palma Landscape Astrophotography Workshop, focusing on multiple aspects of landscape astrophotography, nightscapes, landscape photography, and basic time-lapse along the mountainside whilst based in a private villa on the remote and very dark west coast.
Description
LA PALMA PHOTO TOUR and WORKSHOP
Astrophotography on La Palma
13th – 18th June 2026
2026 LA PALMA ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOP INFORMATION
La Palma Landscape Astrophotography Workshop, focusing on multiple aspects of landscape astrophotography, nightscapes, landscape photography, and basic time-lapse along the mountainside whilst based in a private villa on the remote and very dark west coast.
Tutor: Simon Waldram
PRICE
Full price £2300
Deposit £600
DATES & AVAILABILITY
PARTICIPANTS
6 Photographers Max Group Size
Tutor: Simon Waldram
EXERTION LEVEL
LOCATION
La Palma
Canary Islands
ACCOMMODATION
Private villa (single occupancy rooms)
Landscape Photography Tuition
This workshop will include landscape sunset/twilight (cloud inversion) shoots.
Nightscape Photography Tuition
This workshop focuses on multiple landscape astrophotography, and astrophotography techniques; basic time-lapse is also covered.
Expertise
The La Palma astrophotography workshop is aimed at photographers at amateur level and upwards; no previous astrophotography experience is required though this workshop covers complex intermediate aspects of astrophotography.
PACKAGE Includes
Full professional photographic tuition throughout the course
Airport/Hotel pick up/drop off
Transport throughout the workshop duration
Landscape, Nightscape and Astrophotography field work tuition tailored to participants skill level in each field
Post editing and production tuition on Lightroom and Photoshop
How to plot a successful shoot, location geography, Sun, Moon and Milky Way position and useful apps guidance
Equipment and accessories from office to field advice
PACKAGE Excludes
Flights
Meals, snacks and drinks
Travel and camera equipment insurance
Contact Form
LA PALMA
Nights will be spent upon the rim of the volcanic crater in Europe’s most renowned dark sky reserve “The Caldera de Taburiente National Park” photographing the Milky Way, telescopes, planets and constellations. We will also take in and photograph some of La Palma’s amazing mountain landscape by evening light and sunset over the cloud inversion, alongside some nightscapes on the incredibly dark west coast.
Our accommodation is on the east coast, situated conveniently close to the airport and port, but far away enough from the hustle and bustle of the capital, and with the option to view, and photograph the Milky Way from the grounds of the villa. In La Palma the Milky Way appears more prominent to the eye, and vibrant on the camera than anywhere else in Europe.
Due to being located on the west coast, two airport collection times will be designated to participants to suit planes landing directly from original destinations, and domestic Canary Island flights from other islands.
BOOK YOUR PLACEWorkshop Topics/tuition
Single frame exposure techniques & double frame blended exposure techniques
Different focal lengths and calculations
Stacking & star trackers
Star trails & vortex star trails
Milky Way panoramas (Mosaic)
Filter effects, when to use them, advanced blending techniques
Milky Way time-lapse & day to night time-lapse
RGB Editing for nebula (astro-modified cameras; not required for workshop)
In-depth night sky and location planning on Photopills, Stellarium, light pollution maps & other resources
Post-production using Photoshop, Lightroom, plugins, PTGui, Sequator, Starry Landscape Stacker, StarStax and more.
The exact topics moved through and covered depend on group ability and understanding.
A full kit list is issued to the group in advance, though equipment is also discussed with us when booking.
Ideally, a laptop running Photoshop and Lightroom (as up-to-date as possible) is highly recommended to achieve the most from the post-production sessions using your images, taken whilst on the workshop.
We will liaise with the group members to help arrange transport and co-ordinate airport transfers; please contact him here for further information. Sign up for the newsletter below to keep up with upcoming tours, promotions, and events.
Fieldwork Equipment
Full frame, crop sensor, and micro four-thirds can be used, alongside larger format cameras; however, as technology and therefore techniques and workflows advance, it is recommended the camera body has an absolute minimum ISO of 6400, with 12800/25600 and above preferred.
- Camera body
- Wide lens (fast if possible but F4 can be used if the camera has high ISO capabilities)
- A range of focal lengths as fast as possible for more advanced photographers wishing to undertake longer focal length Astro work
- Tripod
- Remote timer or long exposure bulb control built-in on the timer
- Star Tracker if possible
- Spare camera batteries
- Head torch with a red mode (this is not for night vision, it makes it easier to work as a group, and stops us blinding one another)
- Warm clothes and layers, hiking boots/trainers
- (April workshops can see temperatures range between 0° – 10° degrees, May 4/6° – 12°, and June 6° – 14°, sometimes there can be cold winds; summer clothes are required for the day, winter kit is recommended for the fieldwork.
Post-production & Planning Necessities
The planning and post-production are absolutely critical elements of nightscape photography; hence they have been included in our group workshops since 2014. For those that don’t use Adobe and using other post-production software suites, it will be up to you to transfer the workflow to your chosen software suite; the second phase of the workflow requires software with layers (ie Photoshop or similar).
- Lightroom (please make sure this is Lightroom Classic)
- Photoshop (or another suite with layer options)
Other useful software that is often covered:
- PTGui, LRT Timelapse, StarStax
- A laptop running the above ideally with a minimum of 8GB Ram
- This part of the workshop can be undertaken with no laptop and note writing, though following on a laptop is recommended
Recommended apps that will be taught and demonstrated:
- Photopills (paid one-time subscription)
- Stellarium (free on desktop), free mobile version, the full mobile version now costs a fee
- Starwalk 2, Sky Guide or similar “what’s in the sky mobile/tablet application”
LA PALMA Photography Workshops FAQs
Ollie has been running Tenerife and La Palma Astrophotography workshops for a number of years, running four/five a year several years ago. The La Palma group will never be bigger than five/six attendees as the locations used are all pinch point locations, large groups are cumbersome and will seriously hinder each other’s results. Read more about the tutor and workshops here.
La Palma is a dedicated astrophotography workshop (also includes sunsets/golden hour landscape photography). Basic astrophotography techniques for those that need it, more advanced photographers will learn stacking, tracking, panoramas, deeper sky objects, planning, post-production. Please see workshop description for a more detailed account.
All EU countries have freedom of movement which includes the Canary Islands as they are a Spanish archipelago. The UK does not need a visa at this point, though that is set to change in 2026. Most other countries will need a Schengen Visa.
The days in La Palma are mild to hot depending on whether the dates are early May to late June. The nights are cold due to the altitude, and again, depending on the workshop dates can range from 0°c to 10°c.
Some light clothing is required for the daytime and winter clothing is needed for the astrophotography work.
- Comfortable light hiking pants
- Windproof heavier duty hiking pants
- Windproof overlayer/coat (thermal if possible)
- Base layers
- Multiple thermal fleeces or underlayers that can be layered on one another
- Thermal socks (feet always get cold first undertaking night photography)
- Hiking boots or trainers
- Hat/gloves/snood/scarf
- Sunscreen
Nice to haves!
- Hand warmers (throw away or electronic)
- Feet warmers/battery socks
- Lightweight neck scarf/snood (dust protection)
The hike up to the scopes takes between 15/30 minutes depending on fitness, and there are several parts of the trail we use that take around 30/40 minutes on lose to rough ground with some incline and declines, though this is usually only over two nights with other locations being predominantly roadside. Very long hours under the stars on your feet or portable stool.
La Palma is self-catering, and we stock up in a more well stocked supermarket and make journeys back there for fresh produce several times when needed. We also eat at local restaurants for lunch a couple of times and a group meal on the last evening.
LA PALMA Photography TOUR ACCOMMODATION
As La Palma is a dedicated astrophotography workshop with extremely late finish times on at least three of the five nights, we don’t use hotels due to noise from other guests in the morning, we also stay in more rural areas, out of the large towns outside of Santa Cruz and larger towns such as Los Llanos; it is also very important to be near one of the two mountain routes due to fieldwork location drive time.
Accommodation
La Palma is a little more rustic than the neighbouring island of Tenerife, but that’s partly what gives the isle it’s charm. We use two traditional townhouses within the same complex, featuring a mix of single and double bedrooms, single occupancy, so no sharing rooms with four shared bathrooms. There is also a pool and jacuzzi with extensive beautiful views overlooking Santa Cruz and the east coast.
La Palma (Isla Bonita)
La Palma is a green and lush island apart from the area to the west which was the site of the recent eruption from the active Cumbre Vieja Ridge. However we use the much taller ancient caldera ridge of the The Caldera de Taburiente national park, which is also an international dark sky reserve. The highest peak is Roque de los Muchachos at 2423m, home to the famous telescopes, which we always pay a visit to both night and day. The area along the caldera ridge is dry and arid so can be vey dusty, also loose underfoot in many areas so decent footwear required.
LA PALMA TRAVEL
Travelling to La Palma:
Flights connect directly with La Palma to major cities in most European countries during May. Madrid can be used as a connecting airport as there are daily flights, but the easiest way is often to enter the Canary Islands via another main island such as Tenerife or Gran Canaria, then get the short connecting flight over to La Palma using Canary Fly (book here) or Binter (book here).
Another hassle-free way to travel from Tenerife is to use the ferry from Los Christianos, (or the other islands, though this will require a free bus service across Tenerife from Santa Cruz port in the north to Los Cristianos in the south). The ferry arrives in La Palma in Santa Cruz de La Palma and is in close proximity to the airport so pick-up can be arranged. Fred Olsen Ferries (book here) run every day between Tenerife and La Palma in June.
Transfers:
Transfers are made between 12 pm and 3 pm from La Palma Airport, Port or a hotel in this vicinity (Santa Cruz de La Palma) on the first date advertised on the workshop, and return transfers are made to arrive at the port, airport, or a hotel in the same region for approximately 12 pm on the last date advertised.
FURTHER INFORMATION
Group emails are set up once the group is fully booked, as an icebreaker, and also to serve as a Q&A platform.
Please note deposits are non-refundable and balances are due 90 days prior to the workshop commencing.
Please contact us for further info.
BOOK YOUR PLACE
If there are spaces left, you can book your place on this photography tour below.
If you have any questions please click here to contact Ollie Taylor.
Additional information
| Course Payments | Deposit, Full Payment |
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