How can I take great shots of the stars at night

JohnN

JohnN

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Hi,

Could you point me at a guide or two for taking some night shots (such as of the milky way) as I'm heading up to the highlands next week camping and it would be a shame not to get a couple :)

Also, please excuse my lack of searching, but I'm leaving for a course now and won;t be back until the day before we go :eek:

Ta,

John
 
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Speak to Matt (MWHCVT) or Darrell (TheDoDo). They run the night school and would be able to help you.
As a general rule when it comes to shooting stars, especially the milky way, when you want the action frozen, is to use the smallest aperture you have, and don't keep the shutter open anymore than 15-20 seconds to stop the stars starting to trail.
 
Forgive me for being brief but only on my phone at the minute, basically I'd suggest reading my star trails guide that you can find a link to in my signature...if you want static star the only real difference is you shutter speed, you need to ensure your shutter speed is quick enough to avoid trails :thumbs: then you need to consider the 600 Rule, basically 600 divided by your focal length gives the shutter speed you should aim for to avoid star trails (your focal length will need to be in 35mm format/equivalent if using a crop sensor camera)

Matt
 
JohnN said:
Hi,

Could you point me at a guide or two for taking some night shots (such as of the milky way) as I'm heading up to the highlands next week camping and it would be a shame not to get a couple :)

Also, please excuse my lack of searching, but I'm leaving for a course now and won;t be back until the day before we go :eek:

Ta,

John
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The first and most important piece of kit you got to make sure is: Tripod!!

Can you confirm that you do have one and that it is still in good working order, ie: none of the legs are lose from wear and tear or from damages so tripod don't made sudden movements or slip down. IF you do not have one, then you got to try to get one, buy or borrow, otherwise if you don't get one, then your attempts to take photos of the night skies will be a lot harder without a tripod.

You got to make sure you got one.
 
Thanks guys, just on my phone now so things will be brief and probably spelt wrong!

I'll take a look at those links when I get back and yep, I think I've managed to collect three tripods now, so I'm good on that front :-)
 
JohnN said:
Thanks guys, just on my phone now so things will be brief and probably spelt wrong!

I'll take a look at those links when I get back and yep, I think I've managed to collect three tripods now, so I'm good on that front :-)
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Bring one tripod, can't hurt to have a spare just in case the first one fell apart, but three? That's a bit of an overkill on back-up plans, instead of Plan B, you got Plan B and Plan C..? Oh well, guess it's a good idea, anyway, now that you have the tripod(s), then you can take better photos of the stars and Milky Way without blurry images.
 
What about the moon? Going to be big all week and full on the 22nd.

Heather
 
Lol, I'll not take all three, just the gizoto, great news about the moon, we land on the 21st so that's perfect.
 
JohnN said:
Lol, I'll not take all three, just the gizoto, great news about the moon, we land on the 21st so that's perfect.
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Not really a full moon really reduces the number of stars that you can see and will make it harder to see and shoot the Milky Way :(
 
Damn, I hadn't thought of that, still should look good on the water if its in the right direction
 
Lol, sounds fun balancing...

Star trails seems a good idea too, best remember the SD card with magic lantern on.
 
Lol, no back home yet, but back to cities before home, the weather was not kind, so no milky way :(
 
Are you wanting star trails, or just stars? There's a massive difference in technique between the two.
 
It was just stars but the kindly people here gave me instructions for both, I'll have to have another go at another time though as being in Glasgow at the moment it might be a little light polluted!
 
JakeT1992 said:
Speak to Matt (MWHCVT) or Darrell (TheDoDo). They run the night school and would be able to help you.
As a general rule when it comes to shooting stars, especially the milky way, when you want the action frozen, is to use the smallest aperture you have, and don't keep the shutter open anymore than 15-20 seconds to stop the stars starting to trail.
Click to expand...

Are you sure you don't mean largest aperture you have?
 
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