A few night shots! C&C (Re edited!)

[FITBMX]

I went out last night and took these, I about froze my hands off! After an hour I went in, and looked at the temp, it was 9f! No wander I was freezing!!!
I know they aren't very good, I just wanted to take photos of something!
Would love some feedback on Them!

They are a little too noisy for me, but not much I can do, my camera doesn't do very well at high ISO.
(They are small files, so most likely lost some sharpness)


I worked on my monitor a little, and got the brightness set better. And I reedited everything. So please let me know what you think!!!

#1

#2

#3

#4

 

[FITBMX]

If anyone could give me some pointers on getting a sharper focus in the dark, I would really appreciate it!
I have a hard time getting it right!

 

[FITBMX]

Take it from the wild and crazy response, that I should keep working it!

 

[limr32 1]

Sorry! I hadn't seen this and I'm not even sure what to tell you anyway

All I'll say is that I've had better luck using smaller apertures and long exposures rather than higher ISO when using a digital in low light. Don't know how slow your shutter was for these. But I also have just a little point and shoot, so different capabilities of a DSLR might lead to a different answer, perhaps?

 

[FITBMX]

Sorry! I hadn't seen this and I'm not even sure what to tell you anyway

All I'll say is that I've had better luck using smaller apertures and long exposures rather than higher ISO when using a digital in low light. Don't know how slow your shutter was for these. But I also have just a little point and shoot, so different capabilities of a DSLR might lead to a different answer, perhaps?

30sec exposure, which is the longest I can do without using Blur, and I would have shaken to much woulding the shutter.
I used 1600iso which isn't that high, but it is for my camera! LOL
The aperture was 4-5f depending on the photo.

Thanks for the input!
I just noticed that #3 is messed up on the barn, I missed finish the "edge" of the barn.
But I think #1 is the only one that is remotely worth keeping.

 

[The_Traveler]

There is a lot to say about these so I'll number the comments

(I suggest you choose the best of your images rather than post four very similar ones. Not only does that concentrate comments but it also gives you a little exercise is evaluating your own work.)

1) there are two issues with sharpness - focusing on the center of interest and controlling motion blur.

2) focusing on the center(s) of interest. Since you probably want the silhouetted houses/trees in focus and the stars, you will have to focus at the hyperfocal distance.
Hyperfocal distance - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In optics and photography, hyperfocal distance is a distance beyond which all objects can be brought into an "acceptable" focus. There are two commonly used definitions of hyperfocal distance, leading to values that differ only slightly:

Definition 1: The hyperfocal distance is the closest distance at which a lens can be focused while keeping objects at infinity acceptably sharp. When the lens is focused at this distance, all objects at distances from half of the hyperfocal distance out to infinity will be acceptably sharp.

Definition 2: The hyperfocal distance is the distance beyond which all objects are acceptably sharp, for a lens focused at infinity.

The distinction between the two meanings is rarely made, since they have almost identical values. The value computed according to the first definition exceeds that from the second by just one focal length.
As the hyperfocal distance is the focus distance giving the maximum depth of field, it is the most desirable distance to set the focus of a fixed-focus camera

Go to DOFmaster.com for hyperfocal calculations.

3) Motion blur. - as you can see there is blur due to the passage of time and the movement of the earth in relationship to the stars. This is controlled either by a fast shutter speed or a sophisticated tripod head that moves the camera as the earth moves. (read about astrophotography for more information)

4) noise - as you can see in the same clip, there is a good deal of noise in the dark sky because of the behavior of the sensor in the shadows where the signal to noise ratio is relatively low. This can be removed but at the cost of some detail.

You are sort of stuck here. Your camera doesn't shoot well at high iso. The lens is not at its best wide open. The needed smaller aperture/shutter speeds for getting foreground and background in focus means an iso that your camera can't manage well and will mean star blurriness.

One possible way around this is to expose for the buildings (on a tripod) then expose for the stars (trial and error needed) and the merge the two images.

 

[FITBMX]

There is a lot to say about these so I'll number the comments

(I suggest you choose the best of your images rather than post four very similar ones. Not only does that concentrate comments but it also gives you a little exercise is evaluating your own work.)

1) there are two issues with sharpness - focusing on the center of interest and controlling motion blur.

2) focusing on the center(s) of interest. Since you probably want the silhouetted houses/trees in focus and the stars, you will have to focus at the hyperfocal distance.
Hyperfocal distance - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In optics and photography, hyperfocal distance is a distance beyond which all objects can be brought into an "acceptable" focus. There are two commonly used definitions of hyperfocal distance, leading to values that differ only slightly:

Definition 1: The hyperfocal distance is the closest distance at which a lens can be focused while keeping objects at infinity acceptably sharp. When the lens is focused at this distance, all objects at distances from half of the hyperfocal distance out to infinity will be acceptably sharp.

Definition 2: The hyperfocal distance is the distance beyond which all objects are acceptably sharp, for a lens focused at infinity.

The distinction between the two meanings is rarely made, since they have almost identical values. The value computed according to the first definition exceeds that from the second by just one focal length.
As the hyperfocal distance is the focus distance giving the maximum depth of field, it is the most desirable distance to set the focus of a fixed-focus camera

Go to DOFmaster.com for hyperfocal calculations.

3) Motion blur. - as you can see there is blur due to the passage of time and the movement of the earth in relationship to the stars. This is controlled either by a fast shutter speed or a sophisticated tripod head that moves the camera as the earth moves. (read about astrophotography for more information)

4) noise - as you can see in the same clip, there is a good deal of noise in the dark sky because of the behavior of the sensor in the shadows where the signal to noise ratio is relatively low. This can be removed but at the cost of some detail.

You are sort of stuck here. Your camera doesn't shoot well at high iso. The lens is not at its best wide open. The needed smaller aperture/shutter speeds for getting foreground and background in focus means an iso that your camera can't manage well and will mean star blurriness.

One possible way around this is to expose for the buildings (on a tripod) then expose for the stars (trial and error needed) and the merge the two images.

Thanks a ton!

I will try harder to thin my selection down before posting next time, I have trouble with that!

I do have a low end telescope, and the tripod for it has a star tracker. It's nothing super, but maybe I could rig it up!

Thanks a bunch for all the super great info!!!

 

[ronlane]

Lew gave you solid advice. The only thing that I would add is to search youtube for processing night photos/star photos.

 

[The_Traveler]

Thanks a ton!
I will try harder to thin my selection down before posting next time, I have trouble with that!
I do have a low end telescope, and the tripod for it has a star tracker. It's nothing super, but maybe I could rig it up!

According to the chat person on a telescope site, these trackers use a 1/4 thread just like camera tripods so you may be in business.
Good luck.

 

[TCampbell]

The exposure times are a bit long considering your 20mm focal length (you probably don't want to exceed 20 seconds).

Several of these had camera movement. I'm sure you used a tripod... but something caused some shake or movement of the tripod. This could be anything. A remote shutter release will help. Also activate the "mirror lock-up" mode on your camera. When "mirror lock-up" is enabled, you have to press the shutter twice to take one shot. The first activation just swings up the reflex mirror (and you pause a moment for vibration to settle). The second activation takes the exposure (and then the mirror swings down when the exposure completes.) Just don't forget to disable mirror lock-up after the night of shooting or you'll kick yourself the next time you go out to take ordinary photography and miss some shots because the camera didn't really take an exposure when you press the shutter button.

On your camera, "Mirror Lock-up" is a custom function. It's under Custom Function III, sub-option 8 and set that to "1" (which means "enable").

It's very difficult to get accurate focus - especially when shooting wide open. But here are some tips to help.

1) Use "Live View" mode.
2) On a Canon "Live View" will normally do an exposure simulation, which means if you max the ISO and also max the shutter exposure (to something ridiculous even though you don't plan to actually use that exposure) it will brighten up the LCD display and allow you to see more detail.
3) Find a bright star and increase the Live View zoom to maximum (10x) near that star.
4) Carefully adjust focus as best you can.

Also, if you have an image stabilizing lens, switch the "IS" feature off.

After you think you've got it with the "live view", I still wouldn't trust it. Take some test exposures and inspect them at 100% crop to see if you've really nailed the focus.

Keep in mind that the stunning astro-images and star-lapse images that you see are heavily processed and there's a bit of a learning curve to that. Just keep shooting and inspecting your images as you refine your technique to capture sharp images of the stars.

Here's a good tutorial video that may help:

There's a lot more than this... these guys don't get into image stacking (other than for star trails) but there are ways to using stacking to process out noise. This is more of a big deal with deep-space objects (narrow field images) because those exposure times have to go much longer (the 20 & 30 second exposures they discuss in the tutorial video won't be adequate) so noise will get quite extreme and has to be dealt with using special techniques.

 

[FITBMX]

Lew gave you solid advice. The only thing that I would add is to search youtube for processing night photos/star photos.

Thanks!

According to the chat person on a telescope site, these trackers use a 1/4 thread just like camera tripods so you may be in business.
Good luck.

I am going to go get it, and see how it fits!

The exposure times are a bit long considering your 20mm focal length (you probably don't want to exceed 20 seconds).

Several of these had camera movement. I'm sure you used a tripod... but something caused some shake or movement of the tripod. This could be anything. A remote shutter release will help. Also activate the "mirror lock-up" mode on your camera. When "mirror lock-up" is enabled, you have to press the shutter twice to take one shot. The first activation just swings up the reflex mirror (and you pause a moment for vibration to settle). The second activation takes the exposure (and then the mirror swings down when the exposure completes.) Just don't forget to disable mirror lock-up after the night of shooting or you'll kick yourself the next time you go out to take ordinary photography and miss some shots because the camera didn't really take an exposure when you press the shutter button.

On your camera, "Mirror Lock-up" is a custom function. It's under Custom Function III, sub-option 8 and set that to "1" (which means "enable").

It's very difficult to get accurate focus - especially when shooting wide open. But here are some tips to help.

1) Use "Live View" mode.
2) On a Canon "Live View" will normally do an exposure simulation, which means if you max the ISO and also max the shutter exposure (to something ridiculous even though you don't plan to actually use that exposure) it will brighten up the LCD display and allow you to see more detail.
3) Find a bright star and increase the Live View zoom to maximum (10x) near that star.
4) Carefully adjust focus as best you can.

Also, if you have an image stabilizing lens, switch the "IS" feature off.

After you think you've got it with the "live view", I still wouldn't trust it. Take some test exposures and inspect them at 100% crop to see if you've really nailed the focus.

Keep in mind that the stunning astro-images and star-lapse images that you see are heavily processed and there's a bit of a learning curve to that. Just keep shooting and inspecting your images as you refine your technique to capture sharp images of the stars.

Here's a good tutorial video that may help:

There's a lot more than this... these guys don't get into image stacking (other than for star trails) but there are ways to using stacking to process out noise. This is more of a big deal with deep-space objects (narrow field images) because those exposure times have to go much longer (the 20 & 30 second exposures they discuss in the tutorial video won't be adequate) so noise will get quite extreme and has to be dealt with using special techniques.

How great info!
I did put a 2sec delay on the shutter, but my tripod is really flimsy, so I am sure I had movement.
Thanks for the information!!!

 

[TCampbell]

I did put a 2sec delay on the shutter, but my tripod is really flimsy, so I am sure I had movement.
Thanks for the information!!!

Hanging a bit of weight on the tripod can often help. Many tripods have a hook on the center post. The purpose of the hook is to allow you to hang some weight on it (e.g. a small bag and fill it with anything to add weight).

I have three tripods. Two are fairly heavy and quite solid. But my third tripod is a very lightweight travel tripod and it takes almost nothing to make that tripod shake -- consequently I have to be very careful when using it to make sure wind is blocked, nobody is moving, it isn't touched during an exposure, etc. and weight helps.

 

[JTPhotography]

Ditto on live view, it is the best way to focus on stars. Wider aperture is better, regardless of your shutter speed. The added light will allow you to pick up detail in the sky that your eye can't see, and that you definitely won't be able to pick up with anything smaller than f2.8. Use a flashlight to light up the scene, it will help you focus and compose. Have fun, it is a learning process but an adventure as well.

 

[FITBMX]

Ditto on live view, it is the best way to focus on stars. Wider aperture is better, regardless of your shutter speed. The added light will allow you to pick up detail in the sky that your eye can't see, and that you definitely won't be able to pick up with anything smaller than f2.8. Use a flashlight to light up the scene, it will help you focus and compose. Have fun, it is a learning process but an adventure as well.

This is the first time I've tried star photos, so I have a lot to learn!

 

[MikeFlorendo]

Ditto on live view, it is the best way to focus on stars. Wider aperture is better, regardless of your shutter speed. The added light will allow you to pick up detail in the sky that your eye can't see, and that you definitely won't be able to pick up with anything smaller than f2.8. Use a flashlight to light up the scene, it will help you focus and compose. Have fun, it is a learning process but an adventure as well.

This is the first time I've tried star photos, so I have a lot to learn!

It's all bout gathering the light. Lots of noise in your photo and to start don't have anything to close in the foreground until you get the hang of getting the stars in focus. Do a landscape with far away mountains or hills. Focus to infinity and just slightly back. This should get you better detail in the stars. 25 seconds is the max exposure without star trailing so try and adjust your iso and aperture based on 25 seconds. Your camera has a lot to do with the noise and that is not anything you can fix. Keep trying. What camera do you have? Get a remote release and good tripod.