Question about Astrophotography

[Quark]

Hello all!

I have a question:

I'm getting into astrophotography, and I wanted to start out with some simple wide angle shots of some of the more interesting parts of our galaxy. I drove out quite a distance to my field where there is little light pollution to take a few 3-10 second exposures. My problem was that I couldn't get the camera to take an actual shot. This may sound ridiculous.

Details:
-I have a Canon Rebel XS with the standard 18 - 55 mm lense. I set the camera to the 'M' for manual shooting and I tried to start out with a 3 second exposure after adjusting it to auto focus.
-The camera seemed to focus on the gorgeous starry night, but just wouldn't take a picture, no matter how I depressed the shutter button. I think there must be a simple solution to this.
-I haven't had any issue taking a manual shot of say. . . the inside of my car for just a dry run to make sure I am following the right procedure. The camera works perfectly then. I only had difficulty taking a picture when it was mounted on my tripod and focused on stars.
-The manual that came with the camera said nothing about this, and most books I have checked out do not really apply to taking pictures of a night sky. I am hoping someone who knows about this sort of thing will read this and enlighten me.
-I was extremely disappointed after driving out of the city after finally getting the chance, to simply fail at something that is probably very easy.


Thanks!

[Doug Pardee]

It's impossible to autofocus on the blackness of space, and when your camera's set to One-Shot AF (or AI Focus AF, ick), the camera will not take a photo unless it has successfully autofocused.

You need to switch your lens to manual focus. In order to pull this off, you'll need to be able to get your lens focused "at infinity" prior to switching AF off. I don't have the kit lens, so I'm not the best person to advise you on how to do that. What I'd probably do is to autofocus on distant mountains or something during the day, then mark the focus ring and lens with something to show where "infinity focus" is.

[Quark]

Thanks! I'm ready to try this. I'll have time to drive out to the country this weekend, so maybe I can upload an astrophoto.

Thanks again, you are very much appreciated.

[John1]

I found these astrophotography shots last year. They are taken by a local doctor in our town. There's both photos of astrophotography itself, and photos of his equipment.

Hope you enjoy them

Zenfolio | Hunter Wilson | Astrophotography

Good luck with your photography.

[BuddhaPi]

Originally Posted by John!

I found these astrophotography shots last year. They are taken by a local doctor in our town. There's both photos of astrophotography itself, and photos of his equipment.

Hope you enjoy them

Zenfolio | Hunter Wilson | Astrophotography

Good luck with your photography.

::EDIT::: Just noticed the linked images were not from the OP....my bad!!

Not to bust your bubble or anything, but these images you linked to were created using much more complicated gear, than a kit lens, this is some heavy duty equipment!, A good starter challange would be shooting the moon, of which there are multiple threads available, and even that is harder than it looks.

Zenfolio | Hunter Wilson | Astro-Physics Mach1GTO Mount

[DRachow]

On my Canon, I just switch off the AF on the lens then use a remote shutter release to lock open my shutter. As Doug said, set the focal point to "infinity" Be careful though, the Canon lens will go past the infinity setting a little and cause a blur. I normally use 800 or 1600 ISO, with the f/5.0 or below to allow the most light. You can play with the exposure length, but 20 to 30 secs is normal. Any longer than this and the star trails start to show. Make sure its a dark night with little to no moon for best results.

Shooting the moon is a little different though, so you might want to look at some posts of that if your gonna "Shoot the Moon"

[jgomez65]

I have almost the same gear you have and I was able to do it.

I wrote this tutorial, and hopefully it will help you.

How to shoot the night sky (astrophotography)