Taking photos of stars... Harder than I thought!

[CdTSnap]

I cant decide whether its harder to take photos of stars than I thought it would be or its just the wrong place (street lights house lights etc...)

I got a real nice tripod today and gave it a go on the deck at home, I think the surroundings were a bit to light for this kind of stuff but here is one of them anyway, any tips?

 

[KmH]

Light pollution - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Amateur astronomers that do deep sky astrophotography cherish whatever dark sites they have access to.
The light pollution has a big negative impact on image contrast and exposure times.

Light pollution is part of the reason major astronomical observatories are sited away from urban centers.
Kitt Peak National Observatory is 55 mi west - southwest of Tucson, but about 15% of Kitt Peak's light pollution problems are caused by the Phoenix metro area 100 miles to the north - northwest.
Tucson has laws that help minimize light pollution issues for Kitt Peak, the much newer LBT (Large Binocular Telescope) on Mt. Graham 70 mi east - northeast from Tucson,.
List of largest optical telescopes in the continental United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[jsecordphoto]

it's not as difficult as people may think, as far as just getting the stars to show up. Getting away from light pollution would be a start though

 

[kc9ljo]

While it clearly is not what you were going for, I like how it turned out.

 

[yo13dawg]

Looks like your focus is good. As stated, just get to a darker area, whatever light you had on the bottom left washed out pretty much half the image.

 

[NedM]

Like many of the others, just get to someplace with less light pollution, and you should be fine!

What were your exposure settings? I'm curious!

 

[CdTSnap]

Like many of the others, just get to someplace with less light pollution, and you should be fine!

What were your exposure settings? I'm curious!

30 Seconds - 18mm - iso 800 - f3.5