Expert astronomer Mark Thompson shows you how to get started in photographing the night sky. Learn how easy it is to capture images of space in your own back garden without using expensive kit. Mark explains techniques for SLR or instant cameras.
Taken from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wnvpf
Original source
32 responses to “Stargazing Live: Space Photography Tutorial”
I wounder if one of the cheap 500 or 600 mm mirror f 8 lens would be ok for this?
Won't you get star trails with 30 sec exposure
What size of lens do you use he didn't say I got 2 lenses with my Canon 1200d
18-55 and 75-300 should you not set through apature as low as it will go total Newby here trying to learn
great tip, using the card to eliminate that vibration of pressing the shutter.
we need to set the apeture so its nice and wide uses 5.6 apeture
instead of the card use selftimer
You can't beat light pollution; you need to get away from the city to get great star shots.
You deal with the movement of stars by either reducing the exposure time, or by using the widest possible lens, or a combination thereof. I find a 30 second exposure is ok with a 24mm lens. I have been loving the star shots that can be taken with the cheap and awesome Samyang 14mm f2.8 lens.
There is one thing I don't understand though. Stars are not stationary, they move. Hence why you get streaks over extremely long exposure. Wouldn't you get the same problem here? It wouldn't matter if your camera is completely still, your object isn't. Also, lightpollution is a problem and will cause your image to be one giant glowy sheet. Any idea how to resolve this?
Make sure that you can see the stars because if you cant your camera probably can't either. Then focus to the Infinity mark on the lens or to the the furthest focus then if it is not in focus after that photo then move the focus the other way.
I the picture is too bright lower the ISO if it is still to bright increase the F Stop (make the aperture hole smaller).
30 seconds is quite a long exposure time, and if the background is rather bright, with much artificial light around, then the image is easily overexposed -I guess you need a much darker site. Btw, you don't see stars on the Apollo images, since the astronauts had to use short exposure times (too short for the stars), otherwise the whole (bright) landscape would appear as a uniformly white background.
The camera actually shakes a little when the shutter opens, even if you use self-timer and tripod. A good way to test a tripod is to fix a laser pointer on the top of the camera and watch how much the laser dot moves on a distant wall (with the timer).
sounds like either your iso is still to high or your F needs to be a bit higher i shot a few pics at F7,1 since i had lighting isues lower aswell. But sometimes lower is better. but don't go to low you will outfocus most of the picture
ISO 800?
I followed the instructions just like he demonstrated and all I got was a whitish-yellow screen. What did I do wrong?
in more simple terms for anyone else who wonders,… on a long exposure say 10 seconds or more.. when you press down the shutter button to take a picture it creates a vibration thus the card prevents light entering the sensor when you remove the card the light enters the sensor and our image begins its creation process near the end of the exposure you place the card there again and wait for the shutter to close again avoiding that shutter vibration resulting in a blur free image 🙂
what? even the cheaper camera have self timer.
it dont have a self timer.
Hi, Awesome tutorial. Please check out my art work on space fantasy photography on my channel and my blog and support a struggling artist. Thanks 🙂
my photos are so red-ish
Your camera does not want to focus, put the focus in manual and it will take the photo.
Indeed put the self timer at 10 seconds to be sure… or buy a cable release (about Euro 25.00).
Make sure the tripod is well positioned (low when it's windy) and firm to avoid vibration during longer exposures.
Try 1/3 foreground and 2/3 night sky for perspective…
Clear Skies!
RefractorPhill
why not just use a 2 second self timer
I've taken this » instagram(dot)com/p/KBGzbqxkFv/ « with an iPhone and Svarowski's Telescope… most of telescopes on tripods'll do 🙂
iPhone + Swarovski's Telescope = instagram(dot)com/p/KBGzbqxkFv/
if he had a better telescope, I don't see a problem 🙂
What kind of a telescope do you need to capture the space like that??
I do everything the same, but when I put the white card in front of my lens my camera errors out. (Red box) So I can't take a picture.
What am I doing wrong?
Hey, do you know "photo SFX art" (search on Google for it)? There you can watch a useful free video demonstrating how you can create fantastic photos. It made it possible for Matt to create photos which have that jaw-dropping-effect when you take a look at them. I hope it will work for you too…
the card was simply so that the camera wouldnt record any thing at all until it had stopped shaking from him pressing the shutter release.
without it, the brightest objects in the sky would have come out as shaking streaks.
Hes making sue the camera is perfectly still before capturing an image.
VERY INSPIRING!
You probably need to manually focus with a lens that has infinity focus.
Hey, do you know "Photo SFXart Tricks" (just google it)? On their website you will find a nice free video showing how you can shoot brilliant pictures. This helped Daniel to make pictures that leave you with a wow-effect when you look at them. It may help you too…
sweet jesus I want to try this NOW