Star Photography

[AndWhyNot]

dibbly dobbler said:

Only other tip would be to prefocus your lens on something before you go out into the dark (check hyperfocal distances) and then stick it on manual focus - reason being it can be hard to get it to autofocus if everything around you is dark.

Generally good advice dibbly but I always focus last to minimise the chance of focus getting knocked. Specifically tonight, with a full moon, focusing shouldn't be an issue (aim at the moon in the absence of any other distant focal target).

[DIW35]

I wouldn't shoot at the lowest ISO as there are some pretty faint stars out there, and shooting wide open with a higher ISO will help you capture light from the fainter objects.

[dxbtiger]

Well we are on location, found a radio mast in the middle of bd nowhere 20 kms up the coast from Dubai towards Abu Dhabi.

10 seconds at 3.5 iso 200 seemed to be a good compromise, just reset counter for first time.

Don't envy you lads doing this in a Britsh winter, shorts and flip flops here, the Heineken is chilly though

[dibbly dobbler]

^^^ Bastid!

[AndWhyNot]

dxbtiger said:

10 seconds at 3.5 iso 200 seemed to be a good compromise, just reset counter for first time.

Don't envy you lads doing this in a Britsh winter, shorts and flip flops here, the Heineken is chilly though

Good news on the location. Conditions, meh - part of the fun is surviving

Sounds like your image might come up a bit dark by the time you're home. I often add 1/2 stop to my exposure to compensate for the over-brightening by the preview screen when it's the lightest thing around.

DIW35 said:

I wouldn't shoot at the lowest ISO as there are some pretty faint stars out there, and shooting wide open with a higher ISO will help you capture light from the fainter objects.

Agreed, you want to let in as much light as possible but under tonight's full moon low ISO is the way forward.

[dxbtiger]

The result is below. Posted here in case you astro junkies don't venture into random photos.

My mate with the D7000 doesn't have a wired remote, he tried to set his up to take a 15s shot every 16s, epic fail, I think he basically captured 30s out of every minute.

mine is, 450 shots, 10s at 3.5, 24mm, iso 200.


Numero Uno by thisisrobbo, on Flickr

[dibbly dobbler]

Excellent result - well done!

[_rubinho_]

Not been around here much recently. Moved house and have a rubbish (mobile) Internet connection so useless for viewing and uploading photos.

Spotted this in the Telegraph today http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturepictureg....

Some good ones. Enjoy.

[dibbly dobbler]

^^^ Not bad but I've seen better

[baz7175]

I suppose I had better add a few of my recent ones here...


Death Valley Star Trails by www.bazpics.com, on Flickr


Death Valley - Jan 2012 - 158 by www.bazpics.com, on Flickr


Death Valley - Jan 2012 - 157 by www.bazpics.com, on Flickr


Death Valley - Jan 2012 - 156 by www.bazpics.com, on Flickr

[Dogsey]

_rubinho_ said:

Not been around here much recently. Moved house and have a rubbish (mobile) Internet connection so useless for viewing and uploading photos.

Spotted this in the Telegraph today http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturepictureg....

Some good ones. Enjoy.

Not a patch on most of AWN's work.

[AndyT350]

Had a go at a star trail over sheffield this evening...


Sheffield City Startrail (1 of 1).jpg by andydean117, on Flickr

Just under 300x 30 second exposure stacked with startrails.exe

How do you lot end up without gaps showing between each exposure? Or is a "feature" ebay intervalometer leaving a second gap between each picture?

[dibbly dobbler]

AndyT350 said:

Had a go at a star trail over sheffield this evening...


Sheffield City Startrail (1 of 1).jpg by andydean117, on Flickr

Just under 300x 30 second exposure stacked with startrails.exe

How do you lot end up without gaps showing between each exposure? Or is a "feature" ebay intervalometer leaving a second gap between each picture?

Nice pic Andy - your trails look pretty smooth to me? I'm not seeing any issue there

I use a cheapo remote shutter release in the locked position and stick the camera on continuous shooting (rather than use an intervalometer) so there's no gap other than a very slight one as the shutter closes and immediately reopens. Your method seems to be working fine though

[RJB_666]

I attempted one shot tonight at a church a couple of miles away. It was set at f2.8, 28mm focal length and i believe iso was at 100. It's a single 15 minute exposure. I aimed for it to be longer but there were a few lights behind that would have over exposed it further. Any advice on improvement welcome.


Blithfield Church Star Trail by R J Beard, on Flickr

[dibbly dobbler]

RJB_666 said:

I attempted one shot tonight at a church a couple of miles away. It was set at f2.8, 28mm focal length and i believe iso was at 100. It's a single 15 minute exposure. I aimed for it to be longer but there were a few lights behind that would have over exposed it further. Any advice on improvement welcome.


Blithfield Church Star Trail by R J Beard, on Flickr

Unless you particularly want to do it all in one shot I would recommend taking a sequence of shots - say 60+ shots of 30 seconds each - and 'stacking' them using StarStax (free stacking software - just Google it). Set your camera to continuous shooting and if you have a remote shutter release lock it down so the shots fire back to back without a (significant) gap. Jpeg only.

Probably could have done with a whack more iso in your shot above to get more stars coming out

(have a gander here at AndWhyNot's blog - he is the master at this stuff)

[RJB_666]

I will try in the future to stack jpegs. I've just wanted to try and get it in one exposure. I've done a few using the same method. If I'd carried on shooting I would have adjusted the white balance and perhaps put the iso up to 200 or 400. I know it wouldn't have looked as good as stacking. I do follow AndWhyNots blog and Flickr though. Thanks for the comments though.

[baz7175]

Another of my shots from the Death Valley trip...


Death Valley - Jan 2012 - 148 by www.bazpics.com, on Flickr

[londonagent]

One from the weekend, c.50 shots @ F/5.6 ISO400


City Hall Star Trails by iainsr, on Flickr

[RJB_666]

Well finally got some clear skies coinciding with free time last night. This was 47 30 second exposures. Set at iso 800, f2.8 and a custom 2000k white balance-

Tree Star Trail by R J Beard, on Flickr

I did get another photo but the composition isn't great and it's possibly a little bright in places. It was far too cold to move my car into a more desirable position. I just wanted to get what i believe is Jupiter and Venus in shot-

Honda Civic Star Trail by R J Beard, on Flickr

[AndWhyNot]

Yup, that's Jupiter (the brightest one) and Venus just beneath it. By the looks of the glow through your car's glass, leaving it there saved you the shot. Without it, I'd hazard a guess the headlights of passing traffic might have flared into the camera too much.