# Starry night set up ?



## Fleacz (Jan 12, 2011)

one night i was trying to take a picture of this really starry night, i took out my tripod and i used ISO 6400 with a really slow shutter speed and f-stop 22 , but it didnt show anything in the actual picture, it was just black. can someone help me by telling me what i need to do to get it right. :mrgreen:


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## willis_927 (Jan 12, 2011)

How long was the exposure? It sounds like you just didnt let enough light in... 
-I would say go to around f8 or even open up more
-Focus to infinity
-Look for probably around 30 second exposure
-No need for 6400 ISO bring that way down. 

If your camera has the bulb setting, use that, and it will trip the shutter for however long you hold it. If you do this for a couple hours you can get some cool looking star trails


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## StevePPhoto (Jan 12, 2011)

try setting your iso lower to limit noise. When I do star shots I dont go over iso 400. Set your aperature anywhere from 8 to 11, focus to infinity, and do your shutter speed somewhere around 30 seconds or less. MAKE SURE your using a tripod lol, and good luck with your shots willis_927 seems to know what he is talking about. 

Heres one i did, not that great but.


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## Overread (Jan 12, 2011)

Fleacz said:


> one night i was trying to take a picture of this really starry night, i took out my tripod and i used ISO 6400 with a really slow shutter speed and f-stop 22 , but it didnt show anything in the actual picture, it was just black. can someone help me by telling me what i need to do to get it right. :mrgreen:



Firstly I'd be interested to know your thoughts on why you selected those specific settings to take the photo.


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## scotch59 (Jan 12, 2011)

well... I would never set my f-stop that high while shooting at night, i generally put it at the lowest possible, depending on the lens.


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## Fleacz (Jan 13, 2011)

Overread said:


> Fleacz said:
> 
> 
> > one night i was trying to take a picture of this really starry night, i took out my tripod and i used ISO 6400 with a really slow shutter speed and f-stop 22 , but it didnt show anything in the actual picture, it was just black. can someone help me by telling me what i need to do to get it right. :mrgreen:
> ...



i guess i gotta read more on some things.


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## Overread (Jan 13, 2011)

Fleacz said:


> Overread said:
> 
> 
> > Fleacz said:
> ...



Yes - but if you let us know how you selected those settings we might be able to help point out where there is a possible error in your thinking/method


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## Infidel (Jan 13, 2011)

Fleacz said:


> can someone help me by telling me what i need to do to get it right. :mrgreen:




Start here: http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/...eviews/206756-d700-24mm-f-1-4g-milky-way.html



			
				Sw1tchFX said:
			
		

> Exposures hung around 15 seconds f/1.4 and ISO 6400, generally not going too far off from that


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## Fleacz (Jan 14, 2011)

Infidel said:


> Fleacz said:
> 
> 
> > can someone help me by telling me what i need to do to get it right. :mrgreen:
> ...



wow amazing pics that guy took, that is exactly what im aiming for. i dont think i have seen so many stars in my life living here in panama. he was able to focus without doing it manually because it was pretty bright. i thought taking starry night pics like that would require big depth of field (thats why i had it on f/22)


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## Infidel (Jan 14, 2011)

You don't need a small aperture to gain depth of field, because the camera-to-subject distance is _very_ long and the lens focus is set to infinity. If you read the other thread closely, you will see that 15s exposure was about the longest possible exposure to avoid star trails. That exposure duration was accomplished with a combination of ISO 6400 (having the D700 helps here) and very fast glass. Just think of it this way: the same shot, taken at ISO 800 would require a 2 minute exposure (8 times less sensitive). Now, shooting the same scene at ISO 6400, but with F/22 would require an exposure duration 2^8 (256) times longer: that works out to 64 minutes. Such a long exposure could cause heat-related problems for your sensor. Also, without an equatorial drive, you would get pronounced star trails.


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## Lodd (Jan 14, 2011)

I was photographing startrails earlier this autumn with a Nikon D300 set on a tripod and a wideangle 18mm lens. I attached a cable release. 
I set the camera to bulb, &#402;/3,5 and iso 1600 and let the camera expose for 519 sec (about 9 minutes)

This gave me pretty decent results.


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## Stosh (Jan 14, 2011)

I posted this a few months ago.  Exposure details on the page.
http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/...allery/223606-astrophotography-beginners.html


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## Infidel (Jan 16, 2011)

I remember this thread; awesome information in there (in fact, I thanked one of your posts in that thread).


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