Shooting the stars, tips please

[davidbridges]

Hi all,

This is something ive always wanted to do but i dont know how to go about it. Ive got a canon 350d and 18-55 kit lens and i want to take pictures of the stars at the very least but i would love to take a photograph of star trails one day. I went out about 5 minutes ago and i couldnt get anything. How do i focus at the stars, im not sure where infinity is on my kit lens. All tips on taking photographs of stars would be great.

Thanks for reading

Dave

P.S there might already be a thread identical to this, just link me if there is, thanks

 

[Ross]

This would be a good thread to start with

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=30175

 

[dougdarter]

Hi,

Here's a quick idiot's guide (I'm the idiot)

First requirement is a tripod, without one, you won't stand a chance.

Mount your camera on a tripod, and switch to manual.

Use the shortest focal length to get the maximum number of stars.

Finding infinity is simple if you can see the moon, or any bright object on the horizon. Get sharp focus on either, and your lens will be at infinity.

Set your camera to self timer unless you have a remote shutter release, this to ensure you dont have any movement blurring with a long exposure, though unless you are actually photographing the moon, this is not so important at night.

You'll need a fairly long shutter speed to get decent star trails, in the order of a minute or longer, and you'll need to shoot at the about f8 to capture the tiny amounts of light, though if you live in an area that suffers from light pollution, you'll have to use a quicker exposure/smaller aperture.

Incidentally, make sure your battery is well topped up, because this sort of photography is very battery intensive.

 

[mwoody]

Hi,

Here's a quick idiot's guide (I'm the idiot)

First requirement is a tripod, without one, you won't stand a chance.

Mount your camera on a tripod, and switch to manual.

Use the shortest focal length to get the maximum number of stars.

Finding infinity is simple if you can see the moon, or any bright object on the horizon. Get sharp focus on either, and your lens will be at infinity.

Set your camera to self timer unless you have a remote shutter release, this to ensure you dont have any movement blurring with a long exposure, though unless you are actually photographing the moon, this is not so important at night.

You'll need a fairly long shutter speed to get decent star trails, in the order of a minute or longer, and you'll need to shoot at the about f8 to capture the tiny amounts of light, though if you live in an area that suffers from light pollution, you'll have to use a quicker exposure/smaller aperture.

Incidentally, make sure your battery is well topped up, because this sort of photography is very battery intensive.

excellent info, cant go wrong with those instructions!