Another night with stars..

[mostlysunny]

I know it's bad-- But I could use some tweek idea. I think I had the F stop open too wide for the lighing.. it was in my front yard with a street light close. I think I will find a darker area and open the f stop to 20??? Maybe put the ISO at.... ??? 300??


my front

 

[Waldo32487]

What was your shutter speed at?

normally for stars or night/dark shots you want low iso, but long shutter speed (oh and a tripod)
I'd find a darker spot (like out in the middle of no where) so you dont get any of the city light pollution

 

[mostlysunny]

I believe the speed was 3:45 seconds.. I did use a tripod... Looks shaky? My 10 year old was watching me.. Perhaps he will want to learn with me!

 

[The_Traveler]

the earth is moving and the stars are standing still.
my guess is that the light pollution in Longridge is too great.

 

[Waldo32487]

ya if that's a single picture it's very shaky...might want to make sure you use a remote or use the delay function (so when you push the button, it takes 2 seconds or so before it snaps the picture) especially if you have any amount of zoom, that will only increase any camera shake.
also use the live view (LV) or mirror lockup so that you minimize the amount of camera shake.

lower ISO will increase the quality of the picture. so instead of changing the iso, slow down the shutter speed.

 

[jsecordphoto]

ya if that's a single picture it's very shaky...might want to make sure you use a remote or use the delay function (so when you push the button, it takes 2 seconds or so before it snaps the picture) especially if you have any amount of zoom, that will only increase any camera shake.
also use the live view (LV) or mirror lockup so that you minimize the amount of camera shake.

lower ISO will increase the quality of the picture. so instead of changing the iso, slow down the shutter speed.

No. Lower ISO doesn't mean a better quality photo, just means underexposed if you're trying to photograph the night sky.

Are you trying to get star trails, or pin point stars? I start at ISO3200, f2.8, 25 seconds and adjust if needed from there. Also, find a darker area

 

[OrionsByte]

When using a tripod, make sure you turn VR OFF on your lens, assuming it has the option. Having VR turned on when on a tripod can actually introduce vibration to an otherwise steady shot. Also as mentioned, using a remote shutter or self-timer can get rid of any vibration you might cause just by pushing the shutter yourself.

Remember that anything you do to change the exposure is going to affect the stars as much as the sky, so for instance reducing the f-stop as you mentioned would give you a darker sky, but you'd lose some of the fainter stars. The only way to increase contrast in this situation - to get nice bright star trails and a nice black sky - is to find a darker location. Not just a little darker - a LOT darker. There are lots of resources online that can help you find a darker location (google: dark sky locations), so you might want to balance the choice between how far you want to drive and how well you want the photo to turn out.

Keep shooting!

 

[DoctorDino]

I generally start at 25 second shutter speed and somewhere around 1600 ISO. Then I just adjust from there.

But the first thing you should do is go somewhere darker than your front yard lol. You'll get better results the less city light pollution you have.

 

[TCampbell]

Did you want pinpoint stars? ...or were you trying to create star trails?

The technique is different depending on the result you want.

But what's always the same.... is getting away from light pollution. You don't want any street lights, you don't want a moon in the sky (we're in the 3rd quarter so you wouldn't have had a moon), but usually getting these photos means you need to get away from any city or town.

 

[wfooshee]

It's hard to suggest numbers to you relative to what you used, when we don't know what you used.....

Nevertheless, a seemingly dark sky is hardly dark at all if you spend enough time collecting photons. thus the need for getting out of town. WAY out of town. That glow on the horizon way out in the country that comes from the nearest town is too much light for shooting the sky, and it WILL show up in the pictures.

My own night shooting, I try to minimize star trails, so I try to stay under 15 seconds with a wide view. If I'm trying to zoom in to a specific area of the sky I'll use even shorter shutter, again to minimize perceived motion, streaky stars. That takes high ISO and large apertures.

When trying to catch the Comet Lovejoy the other night, I shot at ISO 3200, 2 seconds at f:1.8. At a little over 100mm focal length, even 2 seconds is enough to have oblong stars instead of points!