On nights like this you realise how tiny we really are. Canon 5D Mark II | Canon EF 17-40L @ 19mm | ƒ/4 | 33 sec | ISO6400 How you can do this ❶ Find a location with minimal light pollution. The camera will be adjusted so that it is very sensitive to light, and therefore any ambient light may affect your results. ❷ Ensure your tripod is sturdy and will not induce camera movements during the exposure. ❸ A shutter release cable or similar will be very handy if you need to use bulb mode. Most cameras have 30 seconds as the longest exposure time and if you need to go beyond this you will have to use bulb mode. To capture the stars without trails you may find 30 seconds is sufficient, and therefore a shutter release cable may not be required. ❹ Set the ISO to the maximum possible value which still produces usable images. I'm lucky that the Canon 5D Mark II has quite usable images even at ISO 6400, however other cameras may not be as generous. ❺ Consider the focal length you are using (many thanks to Whiternoise for mentioning this). Increasing the focal length (zooming in) decreases the exposure time as the stars will be comparatively larger in the frame and therefore trailing will be more evident. This means that an image such as above will be easier to execute at the shortest possible focal length, as the camera will have sufficient time to expose the stars without showing trails. Obviously this will need to be balanced with the composition of the shot that you choose. The image above was captured at 19mm, which is equivalent to approximately 12mm on a crop sensor camera. ❻ Use your widest aperture to allow as much light into the sensor as possible. In the example above I have used f/4.0, which was as wide as my lens could go. If you can go wider than this it is a bonus as you will be able to have a lower exposure time whilst capturing the same amount of light. This translates to less trailing evident in the stars. This also means that you may be able to reduce your ISO value and have less noise in the resultant image. ❼ Put your camera in manual focus and set the focus ring to infinity. It will be so dark that the autofocus on the camera will not be able to pick anything up, so this is the only way to go. It is a good idea to review your first few exposures to ensure that everything is in focus and adjust the focus ring accordingly if it is not. ❽ Now the tricky part, selecting the exposure time. Based on the factors above (ISO, focal length and aperture) this will vary somewhat, however the exposure time will almost certainly need to be below 1 minute to avoid star trailing. The best thing to do is to experiment with a few different exposure times to find the one that fits your settings the best, and I reckon that a 30 second exposure time is a good place to start. ❾ Post processing can improve the shot a lot. Good noise reduction software will help to remove the noise which results from the high ISO values. You can also increase the black level and contrast to bring out the sky and make the stars pop. I also found the exposure tool very useful and adjusted the slider to find the most appropriate exposure point. Have fun!

tags: lushaki stars milkyway silhouette tree cosmos sky universe trees black night