schirtz25 Loc: West Virginia

have a cannon eos rebel xt. want to learn to take night sky pics. where do I start as far as the settings? thanks

dlmorris Loc: Loma Linda, Ca

On a tripod, normal to wide angle, ISO no more than about 1600, 20-30 sec. Exposure max.

smith934 Loc: Huntsville, Alabama

First thing to do is to post the question in the correct UHH Forum - Astronomical Photography Forum. Also search that forum for tutorials. If that forum isn't showing for you, scroll down to and click on the All Forums section.

PS: Welcome to UHH

Shellback Loc: North of Cheyenne Bottoms Wetlands - Kansas

Welcome to the force...

You have entered an addictive land of truths, myths, fantasies, ghosts, goblins and good old fashioned advice (whether you want it or not)...

Seriously though - the folks here have lots of good advice and a couple of days of experience and are willing share what they can - don't hesitate to ask detailed questions, in fact, the more details, the more accurate the answer

Photo Start Sheet.
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There are a lot of free training courses for post processing packages on-line and the folks here use most if not all of them - don't hesitate to ask questions about them...

A few resources from this site...
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Ask away and post away - looking forward to seeing some photos.

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dlmorris Loc: Loma Linda, Ca

Another important thing..... dark skies! Right now, the Milky Way is visible, which makes a really good image to try. If you can get some foreground (trees, landscape, buildings...), it will make the picture more interesting. Here is an example of something I did earlier this summer. I think I did have a drive that allowed me a bit longer of an exposure, (one minute, maybe) but this is a sample of what you can do with a camera, lens, dark skies, and some trees or something.....

schirtz25 Loc: West Virginia

thanks for the heads up. sorry for posting in the wrong place

schirtz25 Loc: West Virginia

thank you !!! will check all of that out. appreciate it.

lighthouse Loc: No Fixed Abode

For star points instead of star trails - eg Milky Way shots
The length of time will be determined by the length of your lens.
There is a maximum time you should use to avoid turning stars into elongated dots.
Maximum time is determined by the 600 rule which a lot of people change to the 500 rule to bring in a margin of safety.
500 divided by your focal length will give you the maximum shutter speed.
So if you have a 24mm lens, your shutter speed should be no longer than 500 divided by 24 = 20.8 seconds.
14mm lens - 500/14=35.7 secs
200mm lens = 2.5 seconds

You can shoot shorter times, but not longer.
You will have to adjust your light levels ie aperture and ISO to suit these shutter speeds.
That is why the F/1.4 to F/2.8 lenses are generally used for this sort of work. They give you much more scope with your settings to work with.
And also the better ISO/noise performing cameras really come into their own here as well.
Also lenses with aspherical lens elements to keep coma under control - (coma causes the stars near the outer edges of the frame to go weird twisted triangle sort of shapes).

To be honest - you can practice the shot taking with anything but those factors will get you your better results.

MtnMan Loc: ID

You'd need f1.8 for ISO 1600 to yield suitable exposures. As your f-stops go up you need to increase either time or ISO. Time is addressed well by another post above this one.

myblog11021 Loc: new york

check out this link

http://www.diyphotography.net/take-your-night-sky-photography-to-the-next-level-with-this-helpful-tutorial/

tusketwedge Loc: Nova Scotia Canada

just a reminder that if you shooting a cropped camera that you also have to divide it by the crop factor ,which in this case would be 1.6 for canon and 1.5 for nikon

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

Please use the "Reply Quote" button when you reply to someone or comment on something someone has said. It makes it easier to know who you are referring to when commenting. You might think well gee, I'm commenting to the above person but sometimes by the time you type your comment, 3 other comments have been entered.

Kuzano

Do an internet search on Star Trails Photography. Even if that's not your particular goal, you will find lots of information about night time shooting.

Exposure
Long shutter speeds
Apertures

Another search that will fill in many blanks are the results you will get searching for

Photographing Aurora Borealis or Photographing Northern Lights

KitsapSteve Loc: Dandridge, TN, US

I agree---Star Trails Photography is a great resourse and Goggle Star Photos..Lots of help out there...Look up a Guy named Dave Morrow..outstanding info he provides...

Lewi

Go to a local Planetarium.....they will have some books on the subject. Also
There is a special tripod motor mount that synchronizes the Camera with the Earth's rotation. You have to set the camera and tripod to your Latitude and
Longitude location. There is a magazine called 'astronomy' you can find at Barnes & Noble in their magazine section.
Lewis (maillewi@comcast.net)