Photographing stars is a part of Astrophotography, that is, photographing stars. This is a very difficult, dark, and demanding genre, but once successful shot have been produced, it gives an elevated feel of satisfaction!
In this 2 part series I will cover photographing stars, and completing star trails. First up: Stars!
What you need… A standard DSLR will work fine, and any lens will work, but a wide angle one is preferable. A longer focal length give star trails more easily, and in this case that is unwanted.
To begin, you will have to head to a dark place in the countryside to maximise the photography experience. This way, there will be no light pollution, so you will get a much better shot.
To set up… you will be using a long shutter speed, so will need a tripod. Set your camera’s shutter speed to up to 30 seconds . Dont go higher, or you will get star trails from the earths rotation. Choose widest aperture, and ISO 3200 or 1600.
Ensure you are all set… and ….go!!
It will really help if you have a cable shutter release, because then you can release the shutter without having to worry about camera shake. You can view my article here.
Once you have your pictures on the computer, you can edit them, and with long exposures at higher ISOs this is likely to include noise reduction. You can open in photoshop, or even if it is a JPEG, you can open in RAW by going to file>open as>Camera RAW in element, and for CS photoshop>preferences>file handling>prefer Adobe Camera Raw for JPEGs.
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