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How to capture more stars?
How does Peter Lik manage to capture the stars in such detail in the following photograph?How do I stitch two star trails photos taken by different cameras?How can I capture earthshine?How to brighten stars in Photoshop?How can I capture an image like the stars over a landscape as in the Ubuntu Forever wallpaper?How do I get a shot of both the foreground and stars with astrophotography?What lenses can capture pictures of the moon, stars, and landscape best?The right aperture for capturing stars?How to edit my RAW photo to make the stars come out more?What kind of filter do I need for safe sun photography?
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I finally borrowed a tripod from a friend so that I could take pics of stars from my apartment balcony. However, when I did some test shots yesterday, the pics where far from my expectations.
I took these shots around midnight using a 50mm 1.4G lens on a Nikon D5600. Using the 500 rule (i.e 500 / focal length * crop factor = 6.66), I kept the shutter speed at 6, F 1.4, ISO 100. Before taking the shots I manually focused on one of the brightest stars and with AE-Lock I took the pics.
The first click looked normal but its not what I expected, I could only see only two or three stars in the pic. Then I thought maybe I need to capture more light to get the other stars. But that resulted in just a plain white picture.

Now, I have two questions,
1) How to capture more stars ?
2) When the shutter speed was increased, why did the image turn out to be plain white instead of star trails ?
astrophotography
add a comment |
I finally borrowed a tripod from a friend so that I could take pics of stars from my apartment balcony. However, when I did some test shots yesterday, the pics where far from my expectations.
I took these shots around midnight using a 50mm 1.4G lens on a Nikon D5600. Using the 500 rule (i.e 500 / focal length * crop factor = 6.66), I kept the shutter speed at 6, F 1.4, ISO 100. Before taking the shots I manually focused on one of the brightest stars and with AE-Lock I took the pics.
The first click looked normal but its not what I expected, I could only see only two or three stars in the pic. Then I thought maybe I need to capture more light to get the other stars. But that resulted in just a plain white picture.

Now, I have two questions,
1) How to capture more stars ?
2) When the shutter speed was increased, why did the image turn out to be plain white instead of star trails ?
astrophotography
add a comment |
I finally borrowed a tripod from a friend so that I could take pics of stars from my apartment balcony. However, when I did some test shots yesterday, the pics where far from my expectations.
I took these shots around midnight using a 50mm 1.4G lens on a Nikon D5600. Using the 500 rule (i.e 500 / focal length * crop factor = 6.66), I kept the shutter speed at 6, F 1.4, ISO 100. Before taking the shots I manually focused on one of the brightest stars and with AE-Lock I took the pics.
The first click looked normal but its not what I expected, I could only see only two or three stars in the pic. Then I thought maybe I need to capture more light to get the other stars. But that resulted in just a plain white picture.

Now, I have two questions,
1) How to capture more stars ?
2) When the shutter speed was increased, why did the image turn out to be plain white instead of star trails ?
astrophotography
I finally borrowed a tripod from a friend so that I could take pics of stars from my apartment balcony. However, when I did some test shots yesterday, the pics where far from my expectations.
I took these shots around midnight using a 50mm 1.4G lens on a Nikon D5600. Using the 500 rule (i.e 500 / focal length * crop factor = 6.66), I kept the shutter speed at 6, F 1.4, ISO 100. Before taking the shots I manually focused on one of the brightest stars and with AE-Lock I took the pics.
The first click looked normal but its not what I expected, I could only see only two or three stars in the pic. Then I thought maybe I need to capture more light to get the other stars. But that resulted in just a plain white picture.

Now, I have two questions,
1) How to capture more stars ?
2) When the shutter speed was increased, why did the image turn out to be plain white instead of star trails ?
astrophotography
astrophotography
asked 9 hours ago
Prem RammanPrem Ramman
13527
13527
add a comment |
add a comment |
2 Answers
2
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oldest
votes
1) To capture more stars, go somewhere where there is less light pollution. If you can't see the north star, you aren't going to get much. I can't see the north star from my front yard, so attempting to shoot stars is hopeless.
2) If a longer shutter speed resulted in plain white, then the light pollution overwhelmed the image.
add a comment |
Shoot when there is no moon in the sky. e.g. Near the "New Moon" or "Last Quarter Moon" if shooting after sunset. Get away from urban light pollution.
I've generated a simulated field of view (using Sky Safari Pro) for your Nikon & 50mm lens (the blue box is the field of view) and approximated your section of the sky:

You can see a few faint objects that would show up if you were in a dark sky ... such as the Whirlpool galaxy, etc.
You are shooting the northern area of sky (although this time of year the Big Dipper asterism is very high up near the zenith). For more stars, you might pick a different region. The section of sky near Sagittarius is the direction toward the galactic core of the Milky Way and this has the higher number of stars (and other deep sky objects). It's a good target after dark in July (although you can shoot in now if you're willing to stay up a bit later in the night).
A tracking head helps give the camera time to saturate more stars (the Sky Watcher "Star Adventurer" head and the iOptron "Sky Guider Pro" are the popular tracking heads on the market -- they do need a solid tripod.)
Astrophotographers reduce noise by shooting LOTS of frames (e.g. at least 1-2 hours worth of exposures where each exposure may be a few minutes long) and then combining them using stacking software (free stacking software such as "Deep Sky Stacker" and there are many free video tutorials on using it. There are many commercial options as well). Given enough frames, the software can improve your signal-to-noise ratio which results in a final image with more detail and less noise (although typically a lot of manual love goes into the post processing work -- the image that comes out of DSS wont look as good until it has some manual adjustments.)
add a comment |
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2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
1) To capture more stars, go somewhere where there is less light pollution. If you can't see the north star, you aren't going to get much. I can't see the north star from my front yard, so attempting to shoot stars is hopeless.
2) If a longer shutter speed resulted in plain white, then the light pollution overwhelmed the image.
add a comment |
1) To capture more stars, go somewhere where there is less light pollution. If you can't see the north star, you aren't going to get much. I can't see the north star from my front yard, so attempting to shoot stars is hopeless.
2) If a longer shutter speed resulted in plain white, then the light pollution overwhelmed the image.
add a comment |
1) To capture more stars, go somewhere where there is less light pollution. If you can't see the north star, you aren't going to get much. I can't see the north star from my front yard, so attempting to shoot stars is hopeless.
2) If a longer shutter speed resulted in plain white, then the light pollution overwhelmed the image.
1) To capture more stars, go somewhere where there is less light pollution. If you can't see the north star, you aren't going to get much. I can't see the north star from my front yard, so attempting to shoot stars is hopeless.
2) If a longer shutter speed resulted in plain white, then the light pollution overwhelmed the image.
answered 6 hours ago
Mattman944Mattman944
1313
1313
add a comment |
add a comment |
Shoot when there is no moon in the sky. e.g. Near the "New Moon" or "Last Quarter Moon" if shooting after sunset. Get away from urban light pollution.
I've generated a simulated field of view (using Sky Safari Pro) for your Nikon & 50mm lens (the blue box is the field of view) and approximated your section of the sky:

You can see a few faint objects that would show up if you were in a dark sky ... such as the Whirlpool galaxy, etc.
You are shooting the northern area of sky (although this time of year the Big Dipper asterism is very high up near the zenith). For more stars, you might pick a different region. The section of sky near Sagittarius is the direction toward the galactic core of the Milky Way and this has the higher number of stars (and other deep sky objects). It's a good target after dark in July (although you can shoot in now if you're willing to stay up a bit later in the night).
A tracking head helps give the camera time to saturate more stars (the Sky Watcher "Star Adventurer" head and the iOptron "Sky Guider Pro" are the popular tracking heads on the market -- they do need a solid tripod.)
Astrophotographers reduce noise by shooting LOTS of frames (e.g. at least 1-2 hours worth of exposures where each exposure may be a few minutes long) and then combining them using stacking software (free stacking software such as "Deep Sky Stacker" and there are many free video tutorials on using it. There are many commercial options as well). Given enough frames, the software can improve your signal-to-noise ratio which results in a final image with more detail and less noise (although typically a lot of manual love goes into the post processing work -- the image that comes out of DSS wont look as good until it has some manual adjustments.)
add a comment |
Shoot when there is no moon in the sky. e.g. Near the "New Moon" or "Last Quarter Moon" if shooting after sunset. Get away from urban light pollution.
I've generated a simulated field of view (using Sky Safari Pro) for your Nikon & 50mm lens (the blue box is the field of view) and approximated your section of the sky:

You can see a few faint objects that would show up if you were in a dark sky ... such as the Whirlpool galaxy, etc.
You are shooting the northern area of sky (although this time of year the Big Dipper asterism is very high up near the zenith). For more stars, you might pick a different region. The section of sky near Sagittarius is the direction toward the galactic core of the Milky Way and this has the higher number of stars (and other deep sky objects). It's a good target after dark in July (although you can shoot in now if you're willing to stay up a bit later in the night).
A tracking head helps give the camera time to saturate more stars (the Sky Watcher "Star Adventurer" head and the iOptron "Sky Guider Pro" are the popular tracking heads on the market -- they do need a solid tripod.)
Astrophotographers reduce noise by shooting LOTS of frames (e.g. at least 1-2 hours worth of exposures where each exposure may be a few minutes long) and then combining them using stacking software (free stacking software such as "Deep Sky Stacker" and there are many free video tutorials on using it. There are many commercial options as well). Given enough frames, the software can improve your signal-to-noise ratio which results in a final image with more detail and less noise (although typically a lot of manual love goes into the post processing work -- the image that comes out of DSS wont look as good until it has some manual adjustments.)
add a comment |
Shoot when there is no moon in the sky. e.g. Near the "New Moon" or "Last Quarter Moon" if shooting after sunset. Get away from urban light pollution.
I've generated a simulated field of view (using Sky Safari Pro) for your Nikon & 50mm lens (the blue box is the field of view) and approximated your section of the sky:

You can see a few faint objects that would show up if you were in a dark sky ... such as the Whirlpool galaxy, etc.
You are shooting the northern area of sky (although this time of year the Big Dipper asterism is very high up near the zenith). For more stars, you might pick a different region. The section of sky near Sagittarius is the direction toward the galactic core of the Milky Way and this has the higher number of stars (and other deep sky objects). It's a good target after dark in July (although you can shoot in now if you're willing to stay up a bit later in the night).
A tracking head helps give the camera time to saturate more stars (the Sky Watcher "Star Adventurer" head and the iOptron "Sky Guider Pro" are the popular tracking heads on the market -- they do need a solid tripod.)
Astrophotographers reduce noise by shooting LOTS of frames (e.g. at least 1-2 hours worth of exposures where each exposure may be a few minutes long) and then combining them using stacking software (free stacking software such as "Deep Sky Stacker" and there are many free video tutorials on using it. There are many commercial options as well). Given enough frames, the software can improve your signal-to-noise ratio which results in a final image with more detail and less noise (although typically a lot of manual love goes into the post processing work -- the image that comes out of DSS wont look as good until it has some manual adjustments.)
Shoot when there is no moon in the sky. e.g. Near the "New Moon" or "Last Quarter Moon" if shooting after sunset. Get away from urban light pollution.
I've generated a simulated field of view (using Sky Safari Pro) for your Nikon & 50mm lens (the blue box is the field of view) and approximated your section of the sky:

You can see a few faint objects that would show up if you were in a dark sky ... such as the Whirlpool galaxy, etc.
You are shooting the northern area of sky (although this time of year the Big Dipper asterism is very high up near the zenith). For more stars, you might pick a different region. The section of sky near Sagittarius is the direction toward the galactic core of the Milky Way and this has the higher number of stars (and other deep sky objects). It's a good target after dark in July (although you can shoot in now if you're willing to stay up a bit later in the night).
A tracking head helps give the camera time to saturate more stars (the Sky Watcher "Star Adventurer" head and the iOptron "Sky Guider Pro" are the popular tracking heads on the market -- they do need a solid tripod.)
Astrophotographers reduce noise by shooting LOTS of frames (e.g. at least 1-2 hours worth of exposures where each exposure may be a few minutes long) and then combining them using stacking software (free stacking software such as "Deep Sky Stacker" and there are many free video tutorials on using it. There are many commercial options as well). Given enough frames, the software can improve your signal-to-noise ratio which results in a final image with more detail and less noise (although typically a lot of manual love goes into the post processing work -- the image that comes out of DSS wont look as good until it has some manual adjustments.)
answered 3 hours ago
Tim CampbellTim Campbell
8518
8518
add a comment |
add a comment |
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