Recently I discovered a better way to photograph stars, and since then I haven’t had a clear night away from the city to try out what I have learned. I’m visiting my parents who live in the middle of nowhere and finally got a semi-clear night. My usual method of taking pictures of stars was to set the ISO low and the shutter long. My thinking was that the noise of a higher ISO would be too strong to get any decent pictures. The side effect of this method is that you end up with trailing stars. I.e. the time your shutter is open the world is spinning at ~1000 mph so of course the stars move across the image. This approach can create stunning results, but in this case that is not the picture I was looking for. Instead I set my camera to a high ISO (with an acceptable amount of noise) and the shutter to less than 30 secs (this will avoid any trailing). For my first attempt using this setup I’m quite happy with the results. The orange hue across the image is light pollution bouncing off the thin clouds. Given the location I think this will be reduced on a clear night without the clouds. I’m keen to keep practicing and take more pictures of the stars. Other methods to try:
1. Trailing stars
2. Image stacking
Camera: Panasonic Lumix G2
Lens: Lumix 20mm @ 20mm
ISO: 800
Aperture: f/1.7
Shutter: 20sec
onathaniel 