Star Photography

[Dudd]

dele said:

Neilmac48 said:

Working in Malawi this year were light pollution does not exist can highly recommend it for astrophotography! Took this one last week my first attempt at a nightshot,Nikon D3s,Nikkor 24-70mm lens,f/2.8, ISO 102000,30 second unguided, with a bit of processing in lightroom 3.

Holy crap thats awesome

With the ISO that high its all noise

[Bob_Defly]

Thanks for all the advice everyone, I got my pics!






Rest of them here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rob_smith_photography...



The star trails one had tiny gaps between the shots, next I will shoot jpg only and turn off in camera NR, I think both of those might have contributed to a tiny delay.

[GlenMH]

Well done - they are fantastic!

[ViperDave]

Sorry for the bump but as it was probably this thread that started me thinking about taking some milky way photos on our houseboat trip into the middle of nowhere miles away from any light pollution on Lake Powell AZ/UT. That then led to me thinking if I was going to get a better lens (Canon 17-55 F2.8 EF-S) than my kit one, now was the time, then the "well now my tripod isn't man enough" so off to buy a manfrotto 190CXPRO4. So now you know how much ££ you have cost me, here are the results.

[dibbly dobbler]

Good bump Dave

[Gad-Westy]

Hadn't seen this topic. Had my first attempt back in Easter. Armed with a bit more knowledge, I'm looking forward to another go.

FWIW, I took this at something like F2.8, 30s ISO 800 (it was very dark!). I mainly did that as I wanted the camera to just keep shooting away and 30s is the max the camera will do without using bulb. consequently the image is quite noisy and not as sharp as I'd like. If I was doing it again, I'd want to be at maybe F5.6 and ISO 400 which would mean 8 minute exposures. I'm going to get a remote timer from fleabay in preparation for round 2. I may also pay a little attention to stopping condensation getting on the lens. Have heard of people using hand warmers and other gizmos wrapped around the lens.


Sychamore Gap Tree Stars by G.A.D, on Flickr

Edited by Gad-Westy on Thursday 27th October 16:44

Edited by Gad-Westy on Thursday 27th October 16:45

[AndWhyNot]

Gad-Westy said:

Sychamore Gap Tree Stars by G.A.D, on Flickr

If I was doing it again, I'd want to be at maybe F5.6 and ISO 400 which would mean 8 minute exposures.

That, sir, is a marvellous example. Love the comp, great choice for mono too.

If you do go out to shoot more, don't adjust your settings as above. For a start, you're a stop out and would need 4-minute exposures not 8 mins. That would replicate the ambient light (assuming you're shooting in the same moon phase, but that's another story) but you'd lose a whole lot of star trails as the dimmer ones just won't shine through. Stick with the wide aperture and drop the ISO if you're worried about noise. Have to say though there's generally an acceptance of noise in star trail images and I think yours stays well within the limits of what works.

[paul911]

That’s a cracker Gad-Westy, great compo.

Question: What do you set your focus too? The foreground tree or the stars (infinity)?

Thanks.

[sharpfocus]

Is there an advantage to doing this in winter rather than summer? (In the UK at least).

[D4VE 3LL]

sharpfocus said:

Is there an advantage to doing this in winter rather than summer? (In the UK at least).

I'd guess that you have a much linger time window in which you could shoot. Its ideal to shoot the stars two hours after the sun has set and before the sun rises, in the height of summer this doesn't give you much time before the sky starts to brighten up again.

[AndWhyNot]

paul911 said:

Question: What do you set your focus too? The foreground tree or the stars (infinity)?

On a wide lens and at that subject distance, there's no difference in focus between the two.

I tend to focus on a distant light source (streetlight, moon, whatever) and reference my hyperfocal distances to make sure I'm far enough back from the subject to make it sharp, then check the preview of my test shot for good measure.

[paul911]

Just used DOFmaster and I can see that now, thanks And.

[rxtx]

D4VE 3LL said:

I'd guess that you have a much linger time window in which you could shoot. Its ideal to shoot the stars two hours after the sun has set and before the sun rises, in the height of summer this doesn't give you much time before the sky starts to brighten up again.

The moon isn't always up, it roughly phases in and out with the sun so depending on what effect you're after you can choose a night with some astronomy software.

The only real difference between winter and summer in both hemispheres, apart from the amount of time you can spend outside, is the orientation of the Milky Way.

[Gad-Westy]

AndWhyNot said:

Gad-Westy said:

Sychamore Gap Tree Stars by G.A.D, on Flickr

If I was doing it again, I'd want to be at maybe F5.6 and ISO 400 which would mean 8 minute exposures.

That, sir, is a marvellous example. Love the comp, great choice for mono too.

If you do go out to shoot more, don't adjust your settings as above. For a start, you're a stop out and would need 4-minute exposures not 8 mins. That would replicate the ambient light (assuming you're shooting in the same moon phase, but that's another story) but you'd lose a whole lot of star trails as the dimmer ones just won't shine through. Stick with the wide aperture and drop the ISO if you're worried about noise. Have to say though there's generally an acceptance of noise in star trail images and I think yours stays well within the limits of what works.

Very kind, thank you. I converted to mono as the star trails themselves seemed to have an odd colour that didn't want to go away with AW tweaking. It does look better mono though, I agree.

I realised after I'd posted that I jumped a stop. Oops.

Reason I would have liked to have tweaked settings a little was mainly to move away from ISO 800 but also that the lens I used (Sigma 18-50) isn't always that sharp at F2.8. Maybe F4, ISO 400 and 2 minute exposures would have been the secret ingredients on that occasion. I certainly wasn't disappointed though, just could see where a tweak here and there could have helped a little.

Just to answer Paul911. I'm pretty sure this was focussed at infinity. Exif data has disappeared as this was stacked from about 200 images. I'd guess I was at 18mm and maybe 50m from the tree. Trying to focus on anything else would have been nigh on impossible without a very powerful torch or a lot of trial and error but as others have said, it shouldn't really matter at that sort of range, especially when the foreground is in total darkness anyway.

One thing that's worth thinking about is that you could be standing around for a long time. I took this at Easter but even then temperatures were near zero, so think about your clothing. Take a flask and some nibbles. A smart phone with an internet signal helps pass the time.

You might also be in total darkness so think about a torch etc but remember to keep the beam out of shot.

[londonagent]

Good bump.

Here's one I took last Sunday. F/5.6 ISO 400, 30s exposures, stacked in StarStax, with a little tweak in PS .


Tate Modern Star Trails by iainsr, on Flickr

[gary71]

Maybe tonight is the night to be doing a star trail!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/8784573/N...

[ruddermode]

If you're wanting to avoid star trails I knocked up a tool a while ago to give an estimate of the maximum exposure time possible before the trails become visible, depending on camera/lens/declination. This thread inspired me to look at it again and update it to take into account the whole field of view and not just the declination of the central point.

It's here. If anyone can think of any other enhancements I'd be happy to hear them.

[Yellabelly]

Just had a first go at the startrails based on what Andy has written in the blog this is the first attempt 141 images stacked using StarStax software:
ISO 1600
f2.8
30 sec exposures
Used a Hahnel Giga T Pro wireless remote control to trigger the camera.



Orionids Startrail by ray_blake, on Flickr

[HoHoHo]

Yellabelly said:

Just had a first go at the startrails based on what Andy has written in the blog this is the first attempt 141 images stacked using StarStax software:
ISO 1600
f2.8
30 sec exposures
Used a Hahnel Giga T Pro wireless remote control to trigger the camera.



Orionids Startrail by ray_blake, on Flickr

I like the composition, seems to be quite a lot of noise looking at it on my iphone. I tend to use iso 100 or 200 myself, not such a narrow dof.

[sharpfocus]

This was my effort (the Plough over Broadway Tower) but the foreground all feels very, very soft focus to me. It's just the kit lens (Nikkor 18-104 IIRC) @18mm f8. I was hoping it would pick up more detail in the foreground too, not sure how I'd go about lighting the tower!

The stars aren't exactly pinpoint sharp either, but at least I know that's probably my fault for a 77 second exposure.