Hello everyone,

My friends and I want to go taking astro photography with the stars trailing across the night sky. I am looking online how to do this, but I was wondering if anyone has any good advice or good tutorials on how to do this. For example, since I'm holding the shutter open for so long, should I use an ND filter even at night?

Thanks!

I probably don't have as much experience as some others here in the forum but here are some basic starting points. Some are obvious so don't take that the wrong way.

Basic equipment for decent results:
DSLR
Tripod
Remote release or in camera intervalometer

Technique:
Set camera on manual with single shot exposure
Set ISO to at least 800 but more likely 1600 (experiment with this)
Turn off auto focus
Set WB to daylight
Set exposure time to 30s or less for a single shot of night sky with stars pretty clear. (anything longer and they start to trail).

I do not use in camera "long exposure noise reduction" mainly because it doubles the time of the exposure as the camera is making a dark frame of the same exposure time as the light frame and processing in camera. I can eliminate most noise by experimenting with my exposure times.

That's the basic on star shots. For the star trails you mention, longer exposures are needed, lower ISO and generally those images are a series of multiple images that have been stacked together. Example, set your timer to record a 30 second shot (usually the longest time other than Bulb) and be prepared to take at least 60-180 minutes worth of photos.

This link from one of my son's photos after much experimentation:
http://flic.kr/p/7w794z
And his comments:
Experiment 4: 12 4min exposures (MC-36 remote) ISO-200 18-50mmf/2.8@18mm&f/8 -->WIN! high ISO NR and long exposure NR OFF and 1s interval <-- NO GAPS!!!
Use startrails.exe to combine all frames and don't forget a dark frame for the NR!

Good luck and don't forget to post some shots.
Chris

There you go. It

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To Shakenbake: great work by your son... Question: at what time of day did he capture his images?

I know he did it at night just at what time? Thanks!

It was just after midnight that I started taking the series of photos for the final result in the example used above.

If you are going for a star trails shot I recommend long exposures with short gaps (1s) between photos so the final composite trails are seamless.
You might need to play with f-stop for getting long exposure. An intervalometer (MC-36 remote) helps with whatever custom settings you need for your exposure.

If you are going for just a still shot of the stars, milky way, etc. with NO trails then I recommend a shorter exposure dependent on focal length.
There is a rule of thumb I read in a magazine somewhere but I'll use < 1000/Focal Length(mm) = Max exposure time(s) > for full frame 35mm sensor.
This isn't an exact or real formula but a general rule of thumb (for crop sensor use 650/focal length). The wider-angle lens you use, the longer exposure you can get without trails being apparent.

To get started shooting stars:
Start at high ISO (3200) I check the exposure for stars then lower it.
I shoot wide open (f/2.8) then check the exposure for stars and stop down from there.
I follow the focal length rule to get sharp still star exposures.

For my 10mm fisheye lens on D300 I can shoot ISO1600, 30s, f/3.5, and a declination (degrees down from straight up) of 45° to have the Milky Way come out.

Here is a handy online calculator I found that lets you input your camera/lens setup:
http://www.sceneplanner.com/tool3.php

Hope this helps!

Example: ISO3200, 30s, f/3.5, 10mm, Everglades NP December 2010

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Attachment #1, (jpg file)

OUTSTANDING bits of advice!!! Many thanks. I will give this a try.

Many thanks!!

OUTSTANDING bits of advice!!! Many thanks. I will give this a try.

Many thanks!!

sorry for the duplicate post

Amazing! Thank you very much