How to photo stars?

[Ferco]

Hi there- I wasn't sure if this was the right place or not- so if it isn't I'm sure a helpful mod will move it for us :D

Anyway I don't have a clue how to take photos with my Canon 350D- I've looked on google; but can only find information about how to take photos with the old original SLRs that you can set to like 24 hours or even days lol

Anyway can someone here help me- what exposure, what shutter speed, what ISO etc.

I've been experimenting with EVERY combination lol

What shoot setting; like manual or use the non-flash mode?

I've been using a tripod too, of-course with a shutter release?

Also I've read you should lock up the mirror to prevent vibration; how do you do this lol

Sorry for ALL the questions :rolleyes:

Will be grateful for ANY help

Thanks for looking

[Celestron]

FIrst thing i need to ask is what kind of star picture are you wanting to take ? Star trail shots or non-trailing stars ? I do amateur astronomy as a hobby but sometimes i like to just shoot the moon or just have a non'trailing star image with a fore ground image . I have a friend on the web thats a professional amateur astronomer among a few other pro things . He has a way of teaching how to (http://www.astropix.com/HTML/I_ASTROP/TOC_AP.HTM)do astrophotography which is just what taking pictures of stars is . His name is Jerry Lodriguss (http://www.astropix.com/INDEX.HTM) . Anything you want to know about astrophotography is on his website . Hope this helps with what your wanting to do . I could tell you simply but you need to know the basics especially since you are still learning your camera .

[Raikyn]

Star trails are fairly easy. Mostly a case of leaving the shutter open as long as you want the trail.
The best ones usually have an interesting foreground element, so composition is probably the biggest challenge. Then use a low iso and as large an aperture as you can making sure you have both foreground and background focused,also making sure you have a nice bright trail. Take photos of 2-5 min exposure and take as many as you need depending on how far you want the trail. Also take note the longer the lens, the less time it will take for a trail to start showing. Stitch the resulting pics.

Non-trailing are a whole nother ball game.
Cheapest and easiest, but not great results, is to use a normal tripod and wide lens(50 or shorter) with large aperture. Primes are best.
Take multiple exposures at high iso levels. Exposures to be as long as you can before trailing occurs. At 50mm it will be 15-20 sec, 35 can probably get 20-25 sec, 20mm and shorter 30sec. You'll need maybe 15-20 shots, and at various iso levels will help(800&1600). You'll need dark and flat frames(google is your friend here). Then a program to align and stack the pics(deepskystacker, registax etc.) and some PP work to bring it out.
I've tried one doing this but it didn't come out that well. Need a fast prime for better results.
http://img244.imageshack.us/img244/149/milky2600x400ua7.th.jpg (http://img244.imageshack.us/my.php?image=milky2600x400ua7.jpg)

The best option is to attach the camera to something tracking the stars, usually a motorized telescope, meaning you can take longer exposures without star trailing. Can get expensive though. Stunning results however, look up nighthound's threads http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=366191
An inexpensive diy alternative though is a Barn Door mount(google it ;) ) which when set up right can get good results.