Stars

[Alex Ristea]

Hi guys,

I recently got a tripod, so I'm excited to start shooting the stars at night. What are some basic things to keep in mind in terms of ISO, aperture, focusing, etc?

[natek313]

Well, the most obvious thing is make sure the night is clear, and you'll definitely want to get as far away from the city as possible.

Other than that, I'm not really sure as I have not tried photographing stars. They are not really interesting where I am unless I drive about 2 hours away from the suburbs. Just start shooting and experimenting. Off the top of my head, though, I would start at 400 for my ISO setting. I would leave my aperture pretty wide, probably 5.6, for starters. I would use manual focus, and you'll probably be able to just focus at infinity. Not sure, though.

Bottom line: Just experiment!

Sorry I could be of more help.

[navcom]

What type of star photos do you want to take? Are you thinking of just photos of stars or are you wishing to try star trails?

Just taking a picture of the stars requires some pretty decent equipment. Usually you need to be able to use high ISO (3200 or 6400) without noise. Most consumer-grade DSLR's aren't capable of doing this very well. When you get above ISO 800 or 1600, there is a lot of noise present.

If you want to take star trails, this is possible with just about any DSLR. The procedure is to take a long exposure (20 minutes to an hour) or a series of shorter exposures (usually 5-10 minutes each) and stack them together with a software program, such as www.Startrails.de-Home.

To do this, you will need to set your camera to bulb mode and have a remote or trigger that holds the shutter open for extended periods of time. I usually try to use ISO 100, an aperture around f/5.6, and I focus at the hyperfocal distance for the focal distance I'm using.

I use a slow ISO because it will have the least amount of sensor noise. With a digital SLR, you have to worry a bit about sensor noise with long exposures. The sensor heats up when used continuously, and this heat can affect the individual pixels in your image causing noise.

Here is an example of one of mine....



You just need to get out and experiment. After all, that's half the fun!

[ressalg]

When I shoot the stars, I generally use an ISO of 800, set my aperture to the widest possible, and don't go much beyond a 10 second exposure. Anything longer than 10 - 15 seconds and you'll start to notice star trailing.

I don't know how many times I've posted a link to this webpage but I'll do it again.

Exposure Tables

The very first section gives ISO, aperture and exposure times based on what you want to shoot and what lens you're using.

Hope this helps.