One of the things I was most excited about when choosing my new lens and camera was the ability to capture the night time sky. Being a novice to photography, I wasn’t even convinced I could do it! With the help of the interwebs and a professional photographer or two, I learned that capturing the night time sky is easier than I had imagined. Here are some tips if you’d like to try it yourself:

• Set your camera to aperture priority.
• Set your camera and lens to manual focus.
• Set your zoom to 25mm or wider. Set the focus ring to the infinity mark.
• Experiment with an ISO between 1000 and 4000.
• I found an aperture of f/3.2 – f/4.5 to be the sweet spot.
• A 15 to 30 second exposure did not give the photos noticeable blur and it seemed to capture the most stars, most clearly.
• Experiment with including a point of reference for composition’s sake…a tree, horizon or mountain top for example.

At 10,000 feet in the Andes, where little artificial light occurs, the number of stars in the sky seems like an illusion of countless pin-prick-points of light impaling pitch black infinity. This valley in the mountains serves as an observatory to distended dust clouds that define the edges of our luminous galaxy.  Something so incredible as the universe can never be truly captured in a photograph, but I will keep on trying to provide you with a glimpse from the back porch.

The small upload size does not serve these photos justice.

Stars

• Shot between 2-5 hours after the night sky appears. Between 19:00 and 23:00 UTC/GMT -5, near Cusco, Peru.
• ISO 1000-1600.
• It’s best to find a point of reference for your photo, especially if  Milky Way cloud visibility is weak.
• You can wave a flashlight for 10 seconds or so at your point of reference to help capture contrast in your final product.

ISO 1600, f/3.2 at 25 seconds

ISO 1250, f/3.2 at 25 seconds

ISO 1250, f/3.2, at 25 seconds. Fill light on tree with Petzl Tika headlamp.

The Milky Way

• Shot during the last 2-4 hours of the night sky cycle. 24:00 to 4:00 UTC/GMT -5, near Cusco, Peru.
• ISO 2500-4000.
• Figure out what time of night The Milky Way is most visible. Then get out of bed, or just bring your cocktail outside with you.
• This time of year, The Milky Way runs directly overhead, from North to South. I had to focus on composition since pointing a lens straight up doesn’t necessarily allow for trees or mountains. I put my faith in the tripod and positioned $3000 at a 90 degree angle to great results! The point is, look at every shot for clarity, blur and composition then adjust your camera settings and camera angle to the sky…. until you like what you see!

ISO 2500, f/3.5 at 25 seconds

ISO 3200, f/3.5 at 25 seconds

ISO 3200, f/3.5 at 30 seconds

Near 4:00. The Milky Way has shifted to align more closely with the horizon. The tree could be brought up without affecting the sky if I had Photoshop. 

ISO 2500, f/3.5 at 25 seconds

Heightened luminance in Light Room adds to cloud softness, pulling up lights ensures the stars look like glitter!!

ISO 2500, f/3.5 at 15 seconds, 28mm

The Pitusiray has posed some interesting color and contrast challenges. The sun is behind the mountain, giving it a lot of reddish brown tone and high contrast. So I adjusted color then brought up the fill light and blacks. Either I scout a new location or find a way to black out the trees in the foreground. I don’t like them there. I will fiddle with filter options, aperture, contrast and exposure ….until my good is better and my better is best.

It goes without saying, but I will say it anyway, that lens and camera qualities will determine your photo’s final outcome. I am using a Canon 60D with a 24-70mm f/2.8L lens. Of course I am on a tripod…don’t even try it without one. I also used a Vello wireless remote shutter release on half of the above photos, which, you don’t really need, just be gentle when releasing your shutter button.

On developing…with today’s software, the possibilities are endless! I’ve come to accept that developing your photos with software is just part of modern day photography. I don’t photoshop anything in or out, not to say I never would, given the software…   I’m not a techie, so this should be relatively simple, right? I always used iphoto because it is standard on Mac. It has the basic features you need, but spend $80 on LightRoom 3 from B&H Photo and you will be amazed at the extra features. I also just started shooting in RAW, which makes all the difference in quality and ability to develop photos to my liking.

I’d love to see your photos or hear your tips for capturing the stars of the night sky! You can bet I will continue tinkering around with my camera in the night time….

~julie