Help with Long Night Exposure

[PropilotBW]

I tried a long night exposure tonight. I haven't really done one before...or really given it the "ol college try."

Here's the image I took tonight, but not a very stellar result.

f/9, 30 sec, ISO 400, 10mm. White balance is, or should be....?? I left it in direct sunlight. I wasn't sure, which is probably why the colors look like crap.

Should I increase the ISO? I tried that, the result has a lot of noise.

 

[Geaux]

Depends on what you're trying to do.

I personally shoot all my night shots like this at iso 100, f/8'ish and run the shutter for longer than 30 seconds. (maybe 2 or so minutes). If you'd like to freeze stars but yet light foreground, you could try boosting iso.

 

[PropilotBW]

Depends on what you're trying to do.

I personally shoot all my night shots like this at iso 100, f/8'ish and run the shutter for longer than 30 seconds. (maybe 2 or so minutes). If you'd like to freeze stars but yet light foreground, you could try boosting iso.

I suppose I am only trying to learn the basics of how to compose a shot at night, via trial and error. I tried a 1600 ISO, however the sky was very noisy.

As for the shutter time, I think I have maxed out my D5100 at 30 seconds...unless I am missing something.

 

[Geaux]

Unless you have a shutter release remote, 30 seconds is as long as you'll be able to go. D5100 is totally capable of going into BULB mode, but need shutter release.

 

[2WheelPhoto]

google photographing stars at night

 

[shefjr]

Here are two great references on the forum.
http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/articles-interest/276016-shooting-night-pictures-stars-stuff.html by Sw1tchFX

http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/...naheims-ultimate-guide-night-photography.html By Manaheim

 

[invisible]

When shooting the night sky you want to use the widest aperture possible and focus at infinity. If you shoot wide open but don't focus at infinity, the stars will not show as small dots but as small blobs like in this photo (the focus was set at 0.45m to have the camera sharp):

Regarding how long your exposure can be before you start seeing star trails, the formula for a cropped-sensor Nikon is 600 / (focal length x 1.5). So, in your case, you were shooting at 10mm. Using the formula: 600 / (10 x 1.5) = 40 seconds.

Now that you have determined the length of the exposure and the aperture, all that's left is the ISO. I start at around ISO 800 and adjust it from there – the ISO is the only setting that I change when shooting the night sky, unless it's a very bright night, in which case I start with a smaller aperture.

Hope this helps.