{"id":813,"date":"2015-10-05T09:14:00","date_gmt":"2015-10-05T09:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cameraexchangestore.co.uk\/blog\/?p=813"},"modified":"2015-10-06T10:49:25","modified_gmt":"2015-10-06T10:49:25","slug":"top-tips-for-night-sky-photography","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cameraexchangestore.co.uk\/blog\/top-tips-for-night-sky-photography","title":{"rendered":"Top Tips for Night Sky Photography"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Last week, thousands of keen photographers stood outside on a chilly September night, trying to take pictures of a rare supermoon lunar eclipse. For many, however, the results were&#8230; less than impressive. It turns out that taking a good picture of the moon \u2013 even when it\u2019s at its largest \u2013 is not a simple proposition.<br \/>\n<!--more--><br \/>\n<center><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" lang=\"en\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">what I expect my pictures to look like vs what they really look like <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/SuperBloodMoon?src=hash\">#SuperBloodMoon<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/t.co\/EsUTEjoobm\">pic.twitter.com\/EsUTEjoobm<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; 9GAG (@9GAG) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/9GAG\/status\/648381064751267840\">September 28, 2015<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/center><\/p>\n<p>Whether there\u2019s a rare astronomical event going on or not, the night sky is a wonderful and wondrous sight, and naturally photographers want to record it, so how can you make sure that your pictures are less \u201cfuzzy blobs on a black background\u201d and more \u201cmajesty of the universe\u201d?<\/p>\n<p><b>The Right Kit<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Although we recently argued that you can <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cameraexchangestore.co.uk\/blog\/do-you-need-a-great-camera-to-take-great-photographs\" target=\"_blank\">take great pictures without expensive kit<\/a>, that was really a general statement \u2013 if you specifically want to take great pictures of the night sky, then you will need the right equipment. Because they have tiny sensors and limited magnification, smartphone cameras just don\u2019t cope well \u2013 as many people found out with the lunar eclipse.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\u00a0<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-816\" alt=\"Backlit of photographers with tripod and cameras on full moon\" src=\"https:\/\/www.cameraexchangestore.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Photographers-at-night-iStock_000054321708_Medium-1024x682.jpg\" width=\"700\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cameraexchangestore.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Photographers-at-night-iStock_000054321708_Medium-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cameraexchangestore.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Photographers-at-night-iStock_000054321708_Medium-300x199.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cameraexchangestore.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Photographers-at-night-iStock_000054321708_Medium.jpg 1698w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Because the night sky is essentially darkness with tiny bits of light, a good picture often requires a longer than usual exposure, and the right ISO settings. That means you need a decent camera just to have access to those settings.<\/p>\n<p>When you take a long-exposure picture, you have the added issue of camera shake, so in addition you\u2019ll need a stable tripod, and perhaps a shutter release that will allow you to take the picture without having to actually poke the camera and make it shake.<\/p>\n<p>If you want to focus in on specific things \u2013 like the moon \u2013 then you\u2019re also going to need a good zoom lens; a focal length of 200mm or more should be suitable.<\/p>\n<p><b>The Right Settings<\/b><\/p>\n<p>The settings you need will naturally depend on the circumstances; generally speaking, you\u2019ll want to open the aperture on your lens as far as possible, use a 20 second exposure and adjust the ISO depending on your results.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-817\" alt=\"Night Sky crop\" src=\"https:\/\/www.cameraexchangestore.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Night-Sky-crop-1024x606.jpg\" width=\"700\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cameraexchangestore.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Night-Sky-crop-1024x606.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cameraexchangestore.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Night-Sky-crop-300x177.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cameraexchangestore.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Night-Sky-crop.jpg 1872w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The exposure length is important; you need to have a long enough exposure to get a good contrast between the light of the stars and the darkness of the sky, but if you go over about 25 seconds you\u2019ll start getting star trails \u2013 this can be impressive, but it\u2019s a different kind of style!<\/p>\n<p><b>Choose the Right Place<\/b><\/p>\n<p>One of the tricky things about night photography is actually finding a clear enough sky \u2013 towns and cities put out so much light pollution that it can often be difficult to see the stars, let alone photograph them. This means you might have to travel a bit to find a dark enough spot.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\u00a0<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-818\" alt=\"Illuminated yellow camping tent under stars at night\" src=\"https:\/\/www.cameraexchangestore.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Tents-at-Night-iStock_000056642442_Medium-1024x633.jpg\" width=\"700\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cameraexchangestore.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Tents-at-Night-iStock_000056642442_Medium-1024x633.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cameraexchangestore.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Tents-at-Night-iStock_000056642442_Medium-300x185.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cameraexchangestore.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Tents-at-Night-iStock_000056642442_Medium.jpg 1761w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>You should also look out for features that you can include in the image \u2013 a tree, hill or building to put in the foreground or use as a frame to aid in your picture\u2019s composition. These may need to be lit separately \u2013 you can use \u201cpainting with light\u201d techniques using a flash or torch because you\u2019ll be using a long exposure anyway.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, unless you\u2019re actually setting out to photograph the moon, consider choosing a night when it isn\u2019t full, or leaving it out of your frame \u2013 it can be difficult to balance the exposure of the moon with the stars around it.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re keen to photograph the universe &#8211; or at least the parts of it we can see from here on Earth \u2013 but you need to upgrade to do so, we can help. As a one-stop shop for anybody who wants to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cameraexchangestore.co.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\">sell used cameras<\/a>, we can help you to unlock the value of your current camera, leaving you more to spend on your new kit. For more information, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cameraexchangestore.co.uk\/contact_us.html\" target=\"_blank\">contact us<\/a> today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last week, thousands of keen photographers stood outside on a chilly September night, trying to take pictures of a rare supermoon lunar eclipse. For many, however, the results were&#8230; less than impressive. It turns out that taking a good picture of the moon \u2013 even when it\u2019s at its largest \u2013 is not a simple [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-photography-tips"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cameraexchangestore.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cameraexchangestore.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cameraexchangestore.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cameraexchangestore.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cameraexchangestore.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=813"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/cameraexchangestore.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/813\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":822,"href":"https:\/\/cameraexchangestore.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/813\/revisions\/822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cameraexchangestore.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cameraexchangestore.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cameraexchangestore.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}