My first attempt at night sky

I was recently camping in the mountains of Utah, and had brought my camera to do some wildlife photography. After dinner I could not get over the beauty of the night sky and decided to try to capture it.

I have learned other photography disciplines, but I have NO idea how to capture the night sky. I used everything I know to try and gather light, control depth of field and limit noise. This shot was a LOT harder than I imagined it would be. I've seen the shots several of you post here and they are breath taking.

My setup was quite simple, and in retrospect I realize a few errors. I was trying to capture an image that I've seen many of you post, but I was trying to capture a finished image, in a single frame, as I was unaware most of the amazing images I see are actually stacks.

I'm thinking now, that several images shot below 30s would eliminate star trails, and using a lower iso would have also been nice.

To anyone that hasn't tried this yet, read the 'how-to's' FIRST.... THEN give it a a whirl. Its a lot of fun, and can yield some very satisfying images.

My setup: Cheap tripod - 6D - 24-70 2.8 set to 24mm - 30s f4 iso6400


Here is my result:

I see you photograph motocross. I want to start photographing BMX since my nephew is a BMX racer. Any suggestions?

You've got an image there that has all the info in it -- you now just need to tease it out. As is, it looks as it you can improve it more with some white balance and contrast and color adjustments.

Very nice, as already mentioned, a few little things in post could really make a difference here. I do like the unedited feel though as so many people tend to over-edit their pictures of the night sky. I remember the first few of the milky way I ever got when I was out in Oahu though, and it was very rewarding.

Great job.

great start Todd
well done

I Agree with DavidWatts ... start playing with LR or what ever you edit with and start fine tuning the image and bring out more detail


Dave