Last night, I went outside to take a few photos of my pool. It was dark out there and the pool filter was making ripples in the water. I thought it would look cool if I captured the ripples over a few seconds, sort of like those silky waterfall shots you see so prevalently on the internet. Well, I took a couple of photos that turned out lousy and then, since I was already outside with my camera, I decided to grab a couple of images of the stars. They were out in all their glory and I had the camera, the tripod and everything else I needed.
So I snapped a few photos. This is the best one.
Camera: Canon Rebel T7i
Shutter Speed: 30s
Aperture: f/2.8
ISO: 200
Focal Length: 24mm
Pretty bad, right? Hey, at least I got the stars. Consider this: I didn’t focus the camera, I used only aperture priority, I used a random shutter speed of 30 seconds and an ISO value of 200. It was like I was basically taking photos with my eyes closed. So, here’s what I’m thinking – if I can take this shot and have it look bad but viewable, anyone with the right gear can take one that’s a hundred times better. That is, if they follow the instructions I’m going to offer down below.
As you may or may not know, taking good photos of the stars (astro photography) isn’t the easiest of tasks. I can take dozens of these awful pictures and never get it right. It’s not until I set the camera properly that I’ll get the winner I’m after.
Down below, I’m going to give you explicit instructions that should help you take these kinds of night shots. After you read through them, you’ll see that producing wonderful looking photographs isn’t out of your reach. And I suspect that after you get the hang of it, you’ll be carrying your camera with you at night, no matter where you go. Well, you’ll need to carry a tripod too. Don’t forget that.
I’ll try to make things easier to read by breaking them down into groups. Here goes.
Gear: You’ll need a tripod, a DSLR camera, a head lamp to see what you’re doing and a fast, wide-angle lens. Lenses are generally considered fast when they have a maximum aperture that’s between f/2.8 and f/1.2 or larger. Basically, you need as much light as possible to reach the camera’s sensor so that’s why you need a huge aperture. For the lens above, I was using a 24mm f/2.8 Canon lens. I was also using a Canon T7i, which has a cropped sensor, so the 24mm was really a 38mm. I think it was still wide enough for some decent photos though.
500 Rule: This is a shutter speed rule you’ll need to follow for the best star shots. Take the number 500 and then divide that by your lens’s focal length. So in my case, if I divide 500 by 24, I’ll get a rounded number of 20 (500/24 = 20). That should be my maximum shutter speed. But, since I was using a camera with a cropped sensor, the focal length was really 38mm. So, if I do that calculation again, I’ll get the proper shutter speed of 13 seconds.
Settings: Use full Manual mode on your camera and also set your focus to manual as well. This way, if you find your focus and lock it in, you’ll be good for the rest of the night. To focus, find the brightest star in the sky and focus in on that. Use your magnification feature if necessary. Then, once you have found your focus, use some tape to tape your lens so the focus ring doesn’t move anymore.
Regarding ISO, keep this setting between 800 and 6400. Start with 800 and then move it around depending on the shots you’re getting. There’s a certain type of noise that can creep into your photos if the shutter speed is too slow and the ISO value is too low, so you’ll need to experiment with this.
Always shoot in RAW mode, so you can adjust your white balance later on in Adobe Camera Raw or Lightroom. If I had to give you a specific white balance setting to go with, it would be Incandescent.
When taking your photo, be sure to use your camera’s 2-second delay feature or a remote shutter. This will minimize camera shake.
When it comes to aperture, be sure to set it to its widest value. So if you’re using a 24mm f/2.8 lens like I did last night, set that aperture to f/2.8 to open it up as much as it will go.
Post-Processing: After you take tons of great shots, use Camera Raw or Lightroom to edit them. I think you’ll find that the Dehaze and Clarity sliders are your friends. Use them liberally.
If you’re going to practice in your backyard, you can make your life easier by setting your camera up inside. Do as much as you can and then go set yourself up with your head lamp out on your lawn or driveway. Take your time, use patience and enjoy yourself.
Please reply to this post with any shots you managed to get so we can discuss them. Also, reply with any trouble or successes you experiences. Thanks!
UPDATE: I went back out last night to capture some better photos. I wanted to take a few nice shots to post here, but after about 15 minutes of snapping away, my battery light began blinking, so I had to stop. These two photos below are an improvement from the one above, but still aren’t very good. I kept the ISO at 800 and before I had a chance to experiment with raising it, well, the battery began dying. I’d like to try again the next time the sky is clear. Possibly tonight. By the way, yes, there was a breeze and that’s why the trees are all blurry.
One thing I’m running up against is exposure. The images are underexposed. While they look great on the rear LCD screen on the camera, they look pretty bad on my computer. The shots simply aren’t exposed enough and that’s why I wanted to see what raising the ISO to, say, 1600 and beyond would do. I was also using my 24mm f/2.8 lens. I’d love to pick up something faster, such as a 12mm f/1.8 or larger. That would be the best. Also, having a full frame camera would be even better.
Camera: Canon Rebel T7i
Shutter Speed: 13s
Aperture: f/2.8
ISO: 800
Focal Length: 24mm
Camera: Canon Rebel T7i
Shutter Speed: 13s
Aperture: f/2.8
ISO: 800
Focal Length: 24mm
UPDATE: Last night, I went out during the blue hour for a few photos. I was being eaten by mosquitoes, so I had my experimentation quick. I wanted to see how ISO values would affect my photography while there was still some light in the atmosphere.
I used the same specs as I did for the photos above, but this time, I began with an ISO value of 1600. The result of that was completely overexposed. Then, I reduced the ISO to 800 and then 400 and finally settled on 100, where things went well.
Here’s the photo:
Camera: Canon Rebel T7i
Shutter Speed: 13s
Aperture: f/2.8
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 24mm
So my thinking is that I will have much better luck for my star shots the next time I go out if I raise the ISO to something like 1600 or even higher. I think that will remove some of the black clipping and give me some wiggle room when it comes to editing during post-processing.
By the way, I have another tip for you. If you know where you’re going to be photographing earlier on in the day, go out and focus on something during the daylight. That way, you won’t have to hunt around in the dark in an effort to get your camera to focus. Once it’s focused, you can simply return later on to take your pictures.
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