First Attempt...

[Pricey]

And I believe, that I suck. I've just started Night Photography, you can see some here: http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=766106, but I wanted to give Stars a go after browsing this section for far too long, amazed at the images some people produce.

Here's what I had last night:

http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs261.snc1/8835_305146895214_519430214_9395573_4942904_n.jpg

http://photos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs241.snc1/8835_305146915214_519430214_9395574_6759230_n.jpg

http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs261.snc1/8835_305152125214_519430214_9395637_1349652_n.jpg

http://photos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs241.snc1/8835_305152145214_519430214_9395638_7278855_n.jpg


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Something else I tried:

http://photos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs241.snc1/8835_305152160214_519430214_9395639_4629533_n.jpg

So, I'm right at the bottom of Star pictures, but hopefully I can get it.

I was using TV - 30s Exposures. Is this suitable?

[Adrena1in]

Everyone's got to start somewhere, and you're definitely on the right track I think. With limited equipment you're generally going to be limited to what you can shoot. If you haven't got a tracking mount then you're stuck with the moon, bright planets and star trails...or arty shots, like you showed at the end there.

Most people go to full Manual for astro-work, and you'll soon get a feel for what settings are best for your environment. I generally shoot 30s exposures myself, depending on what I'm shooting, at ISO 800 or 1600, aperture wide open and then stopped down a couple. If I'm shooting with a lens that is.

Good start though, and look forward to seeing more from you.

[Pricey]

Thank you. Will keep trying.

And the last one of me, seeing as I was on my own, I had to run back and for, meaning that I could not focus it, but if it was focused again, I would come up normal right? Might bring my friend along tonight to focus me in...

And I think I'm better off using the Kit Lens as I can get 18mm instead of a set 50mm?

Oh, and the images looked so awesome in the camera preview, then I put them on the laptop and was quite dissapointed, they were quite blurry...

Oh 2, how do I expose for longer than 30s? I remember doing it before, but cannot rememeber!

[Adrena1in]

The wider the better really. I like using my nifty fifty, but I use it for specific targets or interesting areas of the Milky Way...it's nowhere near wide enough for my liking really. 18mm is good, wider is even better.

If you focused the camera on the wall or something, with Manual Focus, then set it to shoot and ran onto the wall, you'd be in focus I guess. But you'd have to stand absolutely dead still while the shutter is open, which wouldn't be easy, so you'd probably appear blurred anyway.

To shoot longer than 30s you want Bulb mode, and ideally a remote shutter with the capability to lock. In Bulb mode you press the button to open the shutter and release the button to close it again.

[Pricey]

Yeah I have a remote shutter with lock. I remember doing it before, but only because I was fiddling about. Thanks.

[MintMark]

At least you've got a dslr, which is a good way to start.

The shorter the focal length the longer you can expose before your stars trail into short lines. At 50mm it's obvious by 30s... much better at 10s. The longer you expose the fainter objects you will pick up, but the brighter the sky will be from light pollution too. You have to try and get as long as you can without too much light pollution but not too long to make the stars trail. It's a balancing act.

Same with ISO... high enough to pick up fainter objects but not too high because of excess noise. And with aperture... wide open to collect as much light as you can, but with many lenses this leads to lower quality near the edges of the picture.

You can process the images to improve them later. Averaging several images reduces noise and you can find ways to subtract out the light pollution too. It's an art!

As for blurry pictures, focussing is one of the hardest parts. It's manual focus only. If your camera has live view then you can zoom in on a bright star and focus on that. Otherwise it's short test shots and reviewing them on the LCD.

[Michael_B]

Aim at the milky way..do some stacking!

[Pricey]

I wish I knew where it was. :p

[MintMark]

I wish I knew where it was. :p

It's pretty much everywhere!

You just need to learn a couple of constellations. Cassiopeia is a W shape, high in the east at the moment. Cygnus is a cross, pretty much overhead. One of the Cygnus stars (Deneb) makes a triangle of bright stars (the Summer triangle). The most Southerly in the triangle is Altair.

The milky way runs through Altair, through Cygnus, through Cassiopeia and just carries on. It's there in your fourth shot (Perseus). If you expose for long enough you'll see some faint cloudiness... that's it.

[Adrena1in]

It's pretty much everywhere!

Well, if we're being pedantic, everything in the northern night sky that you can see with the naked eye, apart from M31, is part of the Milky Way. But yes, the most prominent parts generally run from the south west to the north east, rotating over the sky as the night time moves onwards.

From a really dark site you should be able to see it pretty clearly overhead and down towards the south-western horizon. Will look like a faint cloud.

Download Stellarium, it shows it quite well.

[Pricey]

I checked it out. Will take some getting used too. And it seems to run pretty slow, even though I do have capable hardware?

[Pricey]

I tried Bulb mode last night but with no good results. I wanted to see how long I could expose but nothing came out even on 800/1600. Was I doing something wrong? Or is it just easier to just use Tv and do many 30/s ones?

This is the best I get:

http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs235.snc1/8228_314679445214_519430214_9535236_7842842_n.jpg

[ebann]

You got all you need to take beautiful pictures: normal tripod, 350D, 50/1.8, and 10s shots!

http://www.pbase.com/samirkharusi/beginners

[Pricey]

Thanks for that also. I'm hoping for another clear night tonight. And I wish there was some darker places to go.
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Anyone know the name of this constellation? I've always liked it, and growing up, I called it "The Kite" Is it the Libra Scales?

http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/9321/img0042q.jpg

[ebann]

Thanks for that also. I'm hoping for another clear night tonight. And I wish there was some darker places to go.
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Anyone know the name of this constellation? I've always liked it, and growing up, I called it "The Kite" Is it the Libra Scales?

http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/9321/img0042q.jpg

Pleides?

[Deejayry]

Looks like the pleides to me too. The Pleides is not a constelation, but an open star cluster, it is also known as M45, Seven Sisters, and Subaru.

looking at the crop of the pleides i would say your bad results this time are because your camera was not focused.

To get focus nailed, aim at a bright star, first use live view to get close then use fairly short exposures, maybe 2-5 seconds and preview the images zoomed in as far as you can on the camera.

when you have it right the stars should be pretty sharp. Focusing on stars is quite time consuming if you are doing it manually. you may find that computer control of the camera makes things easier as you can see the image at 100% on screen and make focus adjustments without touching the camera.

[Pricey]

Right, thanks. Well, I don't have live view on the 350D, or have use of computer control? And it is pretty hard to focus while being in such a dark place and looking through the view finder with the 50mm as they are so far away.

Guess I'll keep trying!

[Nighthound]

Thanks for that also. I'm hoping for another clear night tonight. And I wish there was some darker places to go.
----

Anyone know the name of this constellation? I've always liked it, and growing up, I called it "The Kite" Is it the Libra Scales?

http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/9321/img0042q.jpg

This is Messier object 45, or M45(a.k.a The Pleiades). You missed focus by a tad but you're off to a great start.

EDIT, oops, should have noticed page 2. I see you have your answer already.

[Pricey]

Yeah, a shame. I might even give it a shot with the 200mm to see what I get?

[Nighthound]

Try this method of focus:
• Find a very bright star, the brighter the better.
• Set camera lens switch to AF
• Place the bright star in the focus sensor box in the viewfinder.
• Once you see the star snap to focus, carefully switch the lens back to "M".
• Now point at the portion of the sky you want to shoot and compose your shot.
• Start and end exposures with remote

Be very careful not to touch the lens focus ring while moving the camera and composing and you should be dead on focus.

[Pricey]

Thank you for that. Will help for sure.

[Sorarse]

Pricey you've made a really good start, and are already producing recognisable images. I believe the problem with your shot of Plaeides is one of focussing. I was out tonight taking pictures of Plaeides, and all I was using was a tripod and my nifty fifty on the camera. ISO was set at 1600, nifty fifty was set wide open at 1.8 and exposure time was set to 10 secs. Focus was set to manual, and was first achieved by viewing the red aircraft warning lights on a distant tower mast that I can just about see from my observing site.

This was what I ended up with - Plaeides can be seen at the top, and the bright reddish star at bottom left is Aldebaran in the constellation of Taurus.

http://www.88qv.com/net/Plaeides.jpg

Initially I was going to junk this image, as the stars are showing signs of trailing, but seeing your post I thought it would help to confirm what others have said in that you already have the equipment to succeed. Be interesting to see how you get on with the 200mm, but be aware that star trailing will become evident much sooner, due to the increased level of magnification.

[Pricey]

Thanks mate, really learning from this topic. And my picture is also a crop from a much bigger image on page 1, and I was not directly focused on it, that's why it's a bit rubbish.

So I'll be right in saying that with further magnification, I just simply lower the exposure time to say 10-15s?, and I'm still trying to catch up on this "wide-open" stuff too. :)

[Sorarse]

To prevent star trailing, you will need a shorter exposure time. This presents a couple of problems. A shorter exposure time means less light getting to the sensor, which is not good for astrophotography. However, the widest aperture on most telephoto lenses is usually around f/4 or so, again restricting the amount of light getting to the sensor, which normally would mean a longer exposure time to compensate. Bit of a catch 22 situation really.

[Pricey]

I guess it will just be best to test a few different settings?

I was also having trouble trying to figure out Bulb mode? I was testing in 3 minute exposures and no light seemed to be getting in at all, nothing compared to Tv 30/s. I'm also trying to learn for the upcoming bonfire night fireworks, where, even in the manual, it says Bulb mode is a good setting for this.

But I'm guessing it's Bulb mode that people use for these "10x30min exposures" for example, I just can't figure out how.

[gkarris]

You got all you need to take beautiful pictures: normal tripod, 350D, 50/1.8, and 10s shots!

http://www.pbase.com/samirkharusi/beginners

Can someone explain stacking and how it gets better astro-photos?

[Nighthound]

I guess it will just be best to test a few different settings?

I was also having trouble trying to figure out Bulb mode? I was testing in 3 minute exposures and no light seemed to be getting in at all, nothing compared to Tv 30/s. I'm also trying to learn for the upcoming bonfire night fireworks, where, even in the manual, it says Bulb mode is a good setting for this.

But I'm guessing it's Bulb mode that people use for these "10x30min exposures" for example, I just can't figure out how.

With Bulb you simply use a remote switch to begin and end your exposures. I have the digital Canon unit so I can program the length of the exposure so all I need to do is begin the exposure with the switch. In Bulb mode you obviously can't use the in-camera timer(instead of a remote switch) because you'll have no way to end the exposure without touching the camera. It's good practice to use mirror lock as well to avoid mirror slap vibration when starting the exposure. Vibration is as big an evil as inaccurate focus. It doesn't take much of a breeze or walking near the tripod(especially if not a sturdy unit) that's on a hard surface to create enough vibration to render a long exposure useless.

[Nighthound]

Can someone explain stacking and how it gets better astro-photos?

The technique raises signal(good data) and in the process lowers noise from the long exposures taken at higher ISO settings. Stacking software designed for astrophotography does the stacking in a automated program.

Shooting dark frames(with lens cap on at same ISO as exposures taken through the night) at the end of a night can be used to subtract the noise pattern from the stacked file as well, further minimizing noise. Flat frames(shooting a bright, evenly lit surface at low ISO) are used in the stacking process to remove light gradients caused by light pollution/sky glow and vignetting introduced by optics.

[Pricey]

I do have a remote switch, just did not seem to be getting anything out of Bulb mode.

Just hope I can learn the best ways before bonfire night. :p

[Madweasel]

I can only surmise you're not using the locking release properly, unless you had the lens stopped well down. As others have said, with a 200mm lens you'd be limited to around 4 seconds or less to avoid trailing. Best for now to keep practising with the 50/1.8, set on manual to give f/1.8 and shutter say 10 seconds, ISO 800 or 1600. If you try your kit lens at 18mm you could go to a longer shutter, up to maybe 30 seconds. Post-processing is where the effort is best spent though, mainly by minimising the effects of light pollution. Keep at it!

[Pricey]

OK thanks. I'm just waiting on another nice night now.

Oh and I just picked up a mini torch! I couldn't see what I was doing on the camera as it was so dark. I had to use the light from my mobile.

[Celestron]

OK thanks. I'm just waiting on another nice night now.

Oh and I just picked up a mini torch! I couldn't see what I was doing on the camera as it was so dark. I had to use the light from my mobile.

Don't think i'd use a mini-torch around my camera equipment but what i use with my scoping and camera night time use is this HEADLAMP (http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=10233057&findingMethod=rr) from Walmart that straps onto your forehead like a cap . It has 2 blue/white LED bulbs and 1 red light for night vision so it doen't cause problems with your night vision dark adaption . The other type if you wear ball caps alot then use this CLIP-ON (http://www.academy.com/index.php?page=content&target=products/outdoors/camping/headlamps) type from most any sporting goods store like these from Academy.com . They are cheap and last along time and makes for Hands-Free working with your equip in the dark . The one from Walmart tilts up and down for convience of positioning your work location .

[jmx]

Don't think i'd use a mini-torch around my camera equipment but what i use with my scoping and camera night time use is this HEADLAMP (http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=10233057&findingMethod=rr) from Walmart that straps onto your forehead like a cap . It has 2 blue/white LED bulbs and 1 red light for night vision so it doen't cause problems with your night vision dark adaption . The other type if you wear ball caps alot then use this CLIP-ON (http://www.academy.com/index.php?page=content&target=products/outdoors/camping/headlamps) type from most any sporting goods store like these from Academy.com . They are cheap and last along time and makes for Hands-Free working with your equip in the dark . The one from Walmart tilts up and down for convience of positioning your work location .

I hope they dont have walmart in UK (please please please tell me there's no walmart in UK), and a "mini torch" is english for "small flashlight". ;)

Jon

[Pricey]

Haha no we don't Although, I think our ASDA is now part of that company. I don't know why, nothing's changed.

[Celestron]

I hope they dont have walmart in UK (please please please tell me there's no walmart in UK), and a "mini torch" is english for "small flashlight". ;)

Jon

Are you serious ?? No Walmart in the UK ?? I think i'll move up there then ....they are nothing but a big monopoly here in the USA !! China is madder than HECK at them for cheap labor laws and China is has confronted them about it but i haven't heard any more about it yet .

BTW i didn't know the terms for a MT in the UK , thanks for the heads up .

[Pricey]

So I'm out by the back garden and the clouds have cleared. I only have the 50mm to spare at the moment, so I've pointed the camera straight up, ISO 800 - 25-30s...I can't remember, and I've locked the trigger so it keeps firing. Hopefully I can stack these? Or if the timing is too long, I might get a star trial?

It's been going for little less than 10 minutes now. Shall I just keep pushing my luck until it clouds over?

[Sorarse]

A really good star trail can be stacked from 30 mins of exposure, so that would be 60 shots if you are exposing for 30secs at a time. So keep shooting all the while you have a clear sky!

[Pricey]

OK great thanks. I think I have around 40 right now...

Even though it may look a tad zoomed with it being 50mm.

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So I got lucky, VERY lucky. I went out to cehck and the stars were just going behind the clouds, so I packed up, closed the door, and whoosh, started raining hard. But having now gone through them, deleting the ones where a cloud went past, I have around 130 to use.

[Pricey]

Well, I had 44 minutes worth of exposure, and I really need to get with this DeepSkyStacker as I just have nothing. I'm trying to find a good tutorial I had a while back, but if anyone knows one, then please share.

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Haha after like 4 goes with sky stacker, and changing the amount of frames etc, I am still getting nowhere. Even with 50 frames, I'm just getting a black image with 1 or 2 stars.

It's pretty difficult, but I'm going to leave it now as I will no doubt get frustrated.