Darkest time for sky???

[sanfairyanne]

I recently took an interesting shot of Delicate Arch in Arches National Park at night and I'm looking forward to doing more such work.

I saw a photo in the British press of False Kiva (Canyonlands Islands in the Sky). I've taken a lovely photo during the day but I'd like to take a night shot.

Someone told me to put the camera on 3200 asa (on a tripod obviously) then shoot for 30 secs at F4 and if I wanted to try 'painting' the foreground with a torch I should do that for approximately 8 seconds. I do have a wired shutter release for bulb exposures.

My two questions are thus:

1. If I shoot for 1 minute at 1600 or 2 at 800 or 4 at 400 asa will I get better results.

2. When is the darkest time of the month, is it approx' two weeks after full moon.


Any advice on this would be appreciated as I plan on making a special trip for this photo.

Thank you.

[Nighthound]

If you extend your exposures you'll gather more light but also see signs of the Earth's rotation in star movement or trailing. The amount of time you can expose and NOT get movement depends on the focal length at which you are shooting. The higher the focal length the sooner movement will become evident. If star trails are what you're after I'd suggest a low ISO(200) and exposure of 1 to 45+ minutes. If you're after a single exposure star trail shot then go to the extreme that the darkness of the location will allow. If stacking for star trails you can go with much shorter exposures and shoot continuously for as long as you want for the longest trails.

I don't know if dew is an issue at this location but be prepared to have some form of control(i.e. dew strap and heater or hair drier) if moisture is a problem.

The new Moon is about 2 weeks after the full Moon so that would be best. A week after that is also a good time with minimal Moon to deal with.

It sounds like great place to shoot, looking forward to seeing your shots.

[DAUMO]

at night

[crobs808]

-removed- (edited by author)

[crobs808]

I recently took an interesting shot of Delicate Arch in Arches National Park at night and I'm looking forward to doing more such work.

I saw a photo in the British press of False Kiva (Canyonlands Islands in the Sky). I've taken a lovely photo during the day but I'd like to take a night shot.

Someone told me to put the camera on 3200 asa (on a tripod obviously) then shoot for 30 secs at F4 and if I wanted to try 'painting' the foreground with a torch I should do that for approximately 8 seconds. I do have a wired shutter release for bulb exposures.

My two questions are thus:

1. If I shoot for 1 minute at 1600 or 2 at 800 or 4 at 400 asa will I get better results.

2. When is the darkest time of the month, is it approx' two weeks after full moon.


Any advice on this would be appreciated as I plan on making a special trip for this photo.

Thank you.

Higher ISO means more noise/grain, so always use 100 or 50 ISO, and just up your exposure time to longer. I never shoot higher than 100 ISO when doing night stuff.

When I shoot light-streak shots, I never shoot below F11. Usually F11 or higher, 30 seconds, and ISO 100. Using the higher F-stop makes the light streaks now glow as much, so that there is detail in the flames. If you use too low an Fstop/Aperture, then you you just get glow globs which are just fuzzy with no detail.

[A.S.I.G.N. Observatory]

at night
Not even close to funny mate. If you can't be helpful, then don't waste the time of someone asking a legitimate question.

[sanfairyanne]

I´m really late replying to this and I´ve learnt a lot since posting this question. Thanks to the guy from Canberra for sticking up for me. We all have to start learning somewhere.

[Jeff]

I've found that a lot of businesses, malls, etc will shut off building lights, parking lot lights, etc the deeper into the early morning it gets. So if you're dealing with light pollution, I'd say 3am would be better than 11pm for example.


Hahahah - I just noticed this thread is 2 years old!

[darethehair]

[new guy here...]

I know this is an old thread, but here goes: the 'darkest' time of the night depends on your location and the time of the year. For example, since I live approximately in the middle of my timezone, my 'solar noon' (zenith) is around 12:30 instead of 12:00, and correspondingly the solar minimum (nadir) is around 24:30 instead of 24:00. Also, since DST (daylight saving time) is in effect, all of this is shifted 1 hour. Thus, right now, the sun peek (zenith = brightest) is around 13:30 and sun minimum (nadir = darkest) is around 01:30.

The Moon will be darkest when at New Moon -- when it is roughly in the same spot in the sky as the Sun. It will then set at around the same time as the Sun, and be at the lowest/darkest time at the same time.

:)