Canon 450D long exposure

[jackbauer]

first of all let me tell u the equipemnt i have: canon 450D with the 18-55 standard lens. and a wired remote.

Now what i would like to know is how do i take a decent long exposre of night sky with a few stars. when i try either my picts are too dark or too bright and the wrong shade... i.e. the sky was dark blue but in my pict it was a weird shade of purple with blury white blobs

all advice is appriciated

 

[alxxx]

the only advice i can give is manual focus, and if there is light pollution try adjusting the white balance.
or you could stack shorter exposures like this one 21 x 5sec stacked in deepskystacker http://deepskystacker.free.fr/english/index.html

I dont know how to use the software properly yet as i only downloaded it tonight, ask JGS001 he knows how to do it properly

I should add the 5sec exposure was to stop star trails, it was taken with a 50mm stopped down to f2.8.

 

[The Matt]

Try shooting in Raw. You can then alter your white balance to see if that helps the colour. To nail your exposure relatively quickly you could take test shots at maximum iso and widest aperture. If your camera's metering can't get it right then just use manual and guess. Use trial and error and keep chacking your histogram. Once you've got it how you want it, turn down your iso, narrow your aperture and lengthen the shutter speed accordingly.

 

[jackbauer]

this was my first attemt...

now i know its not properly focused but i was using the remote and was hopin it focused when i pressed half way in.

will try again next time i get some clear skies.

 

[HoppyUK]

It's over exposed and the camera needs something solid and with good contrast to focus on, even in bright light. Focus manually - infinity setting should do it for stars!

There also looks like a lot of light polution causing the foggy look and colour cast. There may also be light getting in the viewfinder giving trouble, so use the eyepiece cover.

 

[jackbauer]

how do i set it to infinity setting?

 

[The Matt]

You will pretty much never get good auto-focus in that light. Like Hoppy says, try manual focus at infinity. If you want to check your focus then switch to live view mode. It doesn't function well in the dark but if you can find a particularly bright star or a distant silhouetted object you should be able to magnify in on that and make fine adjustments.

 

[The Matt]

how do i set it to infinity setting?

Infinity should be the furthest out your focus will go. It's not marked on a lot of lenses, so just figure out which way to turn it to focus more distantly and then turn it fully in that direction.

 

[jr1104]

how do i set it to infinity setting?

I usually just aim it at something I can see, such as a distant light or horizon, then focus on that. This will take it to infinity, then just switch it to manual focus and be careful not to knock it.