Night sky advice requested
Jul 21, 2016 02:17:36 #
On July 29th (no moon) I have the luck to spend the night on a dark, rural hilltop. This will be my first attempt at night sky photography. Facing South, I will try to photograph the Milky Way. I will be able to attach to a telescope for a few shots, but the rest will have to be done with my own equipment. I have a Nikon D7100. My lens choices are Tamron 12-24 mm f/3.5, Nikon 35mm f/1.8, Nikon 24-85mm f/2-4.5 or Nikon 50 mm f/1.8. I will be using a sturdy Manfrotto tripod and a cable release. Which lens do you suggest? I plan on using live view, mirror lockup, manual focus and manual exposure. I think I might get away with 15 - 30 second exposures with ISO at 1000 (perhaps higher) with a wide open aperture or perhaps closed down 1 stop. Am I right? I really don't want to get star trails, but I might try some just for kicks. Any suggestions that you might offer would be welcome. What about post-processing? I have PSE 13 and the NIK suite I do plan to shoot in RAW. Will noise reduction also be necessary?
Jul 21, 2016 02:41:52 #
You're pretty much on top of everything. I did some decent light painting at Arches with a Tokina 12-28 f4 on my 7200. Your stuff sounds better than mine. Going wide helps prevent star trails. Bring a small flashlight for light painting if you have structures. Just shine the light on a barn or rock for a second of a twenty second exposure. Use a remote shutter release, too. It's oodles of fun.
Jul 21, 2016 05:12:31 #
You should use the widest, fastest lens you have or can get. The Milky Way is very big this time of year. Get the app Photopills on your phone. This will give you a minute by minute azimuth and elevation for the center of the Milky Way. You may not be able to see it with the naked eye, so you will need something to tell you where to point your camera. Also a compass app and something to tell you the angle from horizontal. Turn off any IS features. Use a red flashlight to preserve night vision. Live view won't help - you won't be able to see a thing in your viewfinder. For a dark sky, you need to be like 200 miles from any sizeable town or small city. Find an interesting foreground that doesn't need sharp focus. Good luck. Post the results.
Jul 21, 2016 05:26:10 #
A quick an easy set of steps http://www.lightstalking.com/how-to-photograph-the-milky-way/
There are lots of other tutorials on line
I'm not an expert, but we've tried the Milky Way a few times.The shorter your exposure, the crisper the stars. I think ISO 1000 may not be quite high enough, but when we were first playing with it we took several sets at differing ISOs from 1000 - 4000. We used a Rokinon 14 mm f/2.8 set to infinity. Under the conditions we were in ISO 2000 - 2500 with shutter open for 20 - 25 seconds worked best. We set the timer in the camera (Nikon D810) to take 5 - 10 shots with 1 min between, auto noise reduction in camera. Check the shots, then adjust the settings, do it again. We took at least 5 shots with each area because airplanes and satellites can result in long trails that you might or might not want, and you may not notice them with the naked eye. It's a lot of fun, and I hope you have fun!
There are lots of other tutorials on line
I'm not an expert, but we've tried the Milky Way a few times.The shorter your exposure, the crisper the stars. I think ISO 1000 may not be quite high enough, but when we were first playing with it we took several sets at differing ISOs from 1000 - 4000. We used a Rokinon 14 mm f/2.8 set to infinity. Under the conditions we were in ISO 2000 - 2500 with shutter open for 20 - 25 seconds worked best. We set the timer in the camera (Nikon D810) to take 5 - 10 shots with 1 min between, auto noise reduction in camera. Check the shots, then adjust the settings, do it again. We took at least 5 shots with each area because airplanes and satellites can result in long trails that you might or might not want, and you may not notice them with the naked eye. It's a lot of fun, and I hope you have fun!
Jul 21, 2016 08:40:27 #
Jul 21, 2016 11:05:40 #
photog11 wrote:
On July 29th (no moon) I have the luck to spend th... (show quote)
This was a quicky while looking out over Nantucket Bay (towards Nantucket MA) Nikon D800, 20 sec, F2.8, ISO 800, 14-24mm F2.8 at 14 mm. This lens does demonstrate some coma, which can be seen in the edges and corners, but it's not the end of the world. There was a moon out, and I probably would have gotten even more stars if there was no moon. The other problem were the sky glow over Nantucket on the left, and the boat wit the bright light on the right.
For no star trails, use the 600 rule, or even better, the 500 rule. Divide 500 by the effective focal length (use actual focal length on FX, and multiply actual by crop factor on DX). So if you are using a full frame camera and a 24mm lens, 500/24 equals 20, so any ISO/aperture that will give you a 20 sec exposure will work. Focus on something earlier in the day that is at infinity - do not rely on the infinity setting on your lens, especially if you are using a zoom, since there is no actual stop at infinity, and it is represented as a range. mark it on the barrel on a piece of masking tape.
Jul 21, 2016 13:57:48 #
photog11 wrote:
On July 29th (no moon) I have the luck to spend th... (show quote)
Check the astrophotography section of this board...
Jul 21, 2016 15:21:12 #
photog11 wrote:
On July 29th (no moon) I have the luck to spend th... (show quote)
Just a bit more about the Photopills app – iPhone only. This is an amazing app for any sort of astrophotography, sunsets, sunrises etc. You drop a pin on the location you want to shoot, scroll the timeline bar to when you want to shoot and it shows you the angle of the sun or moon relative to the pin including the exact time for sunset, moonrise, phases of the moon etc. If you are at the chosen location you can go into Augmented Reality mode just like the Pokemon Go thing. Hold your phone up to frame the scene and scroll the time bar and the Milky Way will be superimposed on the scene. You can move around or change the time until you get the scene just the way you want it. Come back to the chosen location at the indicated time and you’ve nailed it.
Jul 22, 2016 06:52:21 #
Gene51 wrote:
This was a quicky while looking out over Nantucket... (show quote)
As usual, Gene is right on
Jul 22, 2016 07:58:11 #
You would be better off getting a ML-L3 remote and choosing the remote mirror lock up in the shooting menu. Press the button and mirror locks up, press it again and the shutter operates. When actuating the shutter in live view the mirror still moves.
Jul 22, 2016 09:28:01 #
Mark7829
Loc: Calfornia
You don't need to use mirror up. You will need to focus in the dark or arrive early in good light and lock focus, using gaffers tape to hold the focus ring and prevent accidental changes. Setting to infinity on your camera will often not work. Play with low and high ISO's. Play with long and short exposure times. Apply the 500 rule (500/focal length to get the maximum exposure time and then do a few seconds less). The milky way is actually across the entire horizon. Only the widest lenses can capture it. Your recourse is to take 5 vertical shots and join them as a panoramic. Do not forget to have a good fore and mid ground element.
Jul 22, 2016 10:10:19 #
I suggest practice focusing in the dark prior to your trip. I set my iso to 6400 or higher, manually turn focus to infinity mark, switch to live view 10x and manually refocus on a bright star. Then switch to a dimmer star and focus again. Then reset iso to shooting level ussually around 800 to 1600.
Beware night shooting is addictive and leads directly to GAS.
Have fun, looking forward to your shots.
Beware night shooting is addictive and leads directly to GAS.
Have fun, looking forward to your shots.
Jul 22, 2016 10:14:19 #
Algernon
Loc: Milwaukee, Wisconsin
BassmanBruce wrote:
Beware night shooting is addictive and leads directly to GAS.
Beware night shooting is addictive and leads directly to GAS.
So true. So true.
Jul 22, 2016 13:35:18 #
Jul 22, 2016 13:36:29 #
Rongnongno wrote:
Check the astrophotography section of this board...
Why don't you go and do that and report back on what you find . . . That would actually be helpful. just sayin'
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