Back in January of 2010 I published a blog post titled.<\/p>\n
Ten Tips for Exciting Nighttime Photography<\/a><\/p>\n Now, I don\u2019t profess to be an expert on nighttime photography.\u00a0 But the month of October provided a number of great opportunities to do some night shooting with some people who know what they are doing.\u00a0 October started off with a trip to Grand Portage in Northern Minnesota near the Canadian border.\u00a0 There I shot with Travis Novitsky<\/a> and my brother Roger Nordstrom<\/a>.\u00a0 Both are experienced at shooting star trails.\u00a0 And my friend Wally Pacholka<\/a> is world renown for his astrophotography.\u00a0 And while I haven\u2019t had the pleasure of photographing with Wally I figure during the associations I\u2019ve had with him something must have rubbed off.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve put together some thoughts on nighttime photography that I\u2019d like to share with you.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n There are two kinds of nighttime photography, at least the kind done with digital cameras.\u00a0 First is star trails, something we all have seen and perhaps tried at some point.\u00a0 The other is astrophotography where we attempt to capture the wonders of the sky as we see it.\u00a0 I\u2019d like to propose a technique here that combines the two and gives you the best of both worlds.<\/p>\n Before getting in to this technique, let me point out that the masters like Wally use digital cameras that are specifically adapted to astrophotography.\u00a0 This involves monkeying with the filters on top of the camera\u2019s sensor.\u00a0 I haven\u2019t taken the time to fully research this topic.\u00a0 I do know that there are companies out there that will do the modification for you.\u00a0 You can search for them on Google.\u00a0 Such modifications are one way streets however.\u00a0 Once done you cannot return the camera to its original condition.<\/p>\n OK, so let\u2019s assume we\u2019re going to use our unmodified digital SLR to do some night shooting.\u00a0 I\u2019m going to describe a technique for capturing night sky photographs and then extend the technique for doing star trails.<\/p>\n To capture a night sky\u00a0 photograph you must effectively stop the stars in their tracks.\u00a0 Now, that\u2019s impossible.\u00a0 No matter what you do the stars just keep on moving.\u00a0 So the trick is to use a shutter speed that is long enough to capture enough light to see the starts but short enough so that their movement is so slight that it appears they haven\u2019t moved.<\/p>\n If you think about it you will quickly realize that if you use a telephoto lens the star movement will be much more apparent than if you had used a wide angle lens.\u00a0 So to stop the stars in their tracks with a telephoto lens you will need a much shorter exposure time than you would need with a wide angle lens.\u00a0\u00a0 Now, there is a simple formula to calculate the exposure length based on focal length.\u00a0 It\u2019s 600\/focal length.\u00a0 So if you shoot with a 100mm lens your exposure would have to be no more than 600\/100 = 6 sec.\u00a0 If you shoot with a 20mm lens then your exposure length can be 600\/20 = 30 sec.\u00a0 So for that and other reasons most night sky photography is done with a wide angle lens.<\/p>\n For night sky photography you want to capture as much light as you can.\u00a0 So you\u2019ll be shooting wide open.\u00a0 Obviously f\/2.8 lenses have an advantage over f\/4 lenses.\u00a0 The problem with shooting wide open is you have a shallow depth of field.\u00a0 Now, the starts are at infinity but how do you focus on them in the dark?<\/p>\n Clearly, autofocus will not work.\u00a0 There\u2019s not enough light for the camera\u2019s autofocus sensors to work.\u00a0 If there\u2019s a moon in the sky you can focus on that.\u00a0 Set your lenses focal length, put the lens on manual focus, point toward the moon and adjust the focus ring until it\u2019s in focus.<\/p>\n If there\u2019s no moon but a nearby object 100 feet or more away, and if you have a bright flashlight (for light painting maybe?) you can focus on that object.\u00a0 At 20mm or so 100 feet is the same as infinity.<\/p>\n If you don\u2019t have any object to focus on adjust the focus ring so it\u2019s just shy of infinity and take a test shot.\u00a0 View the results on your LCD and zoom in to see if the stars are sharp.\u00a0 If not, make and adjustment and repeat the process until your stars are tack sharp.<\/p>\n You\u2019re going to need to use very high ISOs for this.\u00a0 OK, I can hear you groaning now.\u00a0 What about noise!?\u00a0 Well, the answer is simple.\u00a0 If you want the shot you have to use a high ISO.\u00a0 The thing that surprised me was that with a little testing I was able to determine that I didn\u2019t need to use my camera\u2019s highest ISO (which is 3200).\u00a0 I was able to get good exposures at 1600.<\/p>\n The moral here is test.\u00a0 Take test shots at different ISOs to determine the lowest ISO you can get away with and still capture all of the stars.<\/p>\n High ISO Noise Reduction<\/strong><\/p>\n Speaking of noise, your camera probably comes with a High ISO Noise Reduction setting.\u00a0 Turn it OFF.\u00a0 You think I\u2019m crazy, don\u2019t you.\u00a0 You need to turn it off because if you don\u2019t the camera will take as long to process the image as your exposure was.\u00a0 What I\u2019m trying to say if you take a 30 second exposure the camera will process the image for another 30 seconds, during which time you won\u2019t be able to take any more exposures.\u00a0 This will have a huge impact when we get to the topic of star trails below.<\/p>\n So what do you do about all that noise?\u00a0 Simple.\u00a0 Slam the Luminance Noise adjustment in Lightroom to 100 and be done with it.<\/p>\n Composition is an interesting challenge when you can\u2019t see anything through the viewfinder and live view is useless.\u00a0 Again, you need to take test shots and review them on your LCD to know which adjustments to make to get your composition down.<\/p>\n One of the things that\u2019s really fun with night sky photography is light painting.\u00a0 For this you will need a very bright flashlight.\u00a0 I picked up a small model with 125 lumens of output.\u00a0 It works for relatively nearby objects \u2013 100 feet or so.\u00a0 If you want to light paint more distant objects you\u2019ll need one of those mega-powerful spotlights.<\/p>\n Light painting is an art mastered through trial and error.\u00a0 So, again, keep on testing till you get the results you want.<\/p>\n So far all this talk has been about night sky photography.\u00a0 But what if you want to do star trails?\u00a0 Well, I have a suggestion.\u00a0 Many star trails photographers are taking many smaller exposures instead of one long exposure.\u00a0 That way if the battery runs out of juice you haven\u2019t wasted the whole evening.<\/p>\n There are several techniques for this approach.\u00a0 One is to use an intervalometer that will fire off exposures of a predetermined exposure length for a predetermined period of time.\u00a0 For example, you can set the intervalometer for 2 minute exposures and run it for 90 minutes.\u00a0 (You need to set your camera\u2019s mode to Bulb.)\u00a0 To make this work you need to add a 1 second gap between exposures.\u00a0 When you are done you stack all the files together into one magnificent star trail photograph.\u00a0 With 2 minute exposures you can reduce the ISO even more from the 30 second exposures we\u2019ve talked about up till now. And perhaps you can even reduce your aperture to add a little depth of field.<\/p>\n In addition to offering protection against the battery running out of juice, this technique also gives you the option of selecting just one photograph should a shooting star come streaking through.<\/p>\n The problem is with the 1 second delay between images.\u00a0 Believe it or not, when the files are stacked together this one second delay\u00a0 is noticeable.\u00a0 There are software solutions that address this.\u00a0 I\u2019m not familiar with them because I use a different star trails technique that avoids this problem.<\/p>\n There\u2019s another way to make star trails from multiple exposures.\u00a0 Your camera has a maximum 30 second exposure length.\u00a0 You can use that and a wide angle lens of 20mm or wider to shot your star trails (actually a 24mm lens won\u2019t make enough of a difference to worry about.)\u00a0 This amounts to taking a series of night sky photographs and stacking them together.\u00a0 You\u2019re back to the higher ISOs but we\u2019ve addressed that issue with the Luminance Noise adjustment in Lightroom.<\/p>\n So, get your ISO, focus and composition dialed in.\u00a0 Also practice a little light painting if you want (that comes in later).\u00a0 Set your exposure mode on Manual and dial in 30 sec at your widest lens aperture.\u00a0 Put your drive on Continuous shooting mode \u2013 high if you have a fast and slow setting.\u00a0 Now, with your remote control, lock down the shutter and sit back for 30, 45, 60, 90 minutes or whatever.\u00a0 The camera will take 30 second exposures for as long as you keep the shutter locked down.<\/p>\n This is a great time to lay back, point your head to the heavens, talk with friends and perhaps even listen to classical music (quietly of course).\u00a0 I set timer on my iPhone to tell me when the desired length of time is up.<\/p>\n Now, here\u2019s the cool part.\u00a0 When you have total exposure length you want (45 minutes, 90 minutes, whatever) keep the camera going for just a few more exposures and do some light painting.\u00a0 You will be able to stack one of these light painting images on the star trail images for a truly magical effect.<\/p>\n Here are a few other things to take into consideration.<\/p>\n Regardless of which technique you are using for nighttime photography, make sure you start with a fresh battery.\u00a0 The normally cold temperatures will decrease your battery life significantly so don\u2019t be caught in a situation where your\u00a0 battery runs out after a half an hour of shooting.<\/p>\n Make sure you have plenty of storage if you\u2019re going to use the multiple exposure technique.\u00a0 you don\u2019t want your memory card filling up half way through the shoot.<\/p>\n As a reminder, turn off High ISO Noise Reduction.\u00a0 Otherwise your camera will delay the next exposure while it processes the one it just took.<\/p>\n Set you white balance to a manual setting.\u00a0 Daylight works as well as any.\u00a0 You just don\u2019t want it changing during the exposures.<\/p>\n Lens fogging can be a problem at night, especially if there is a bit of humidity in the air.\u00a0 One way to deal with this is to wrap a hand warmer around your lens and hold it in place with a cut off sock or something.\u00a0 This will keep the lens warm and the fog away.<\/p>\n If you use the multiple exposure approach to shooting star trails you need a good way to stack them. You can import them one at a time into Photoshop, stack them as layers and set the blending mode to Lighten.\u00a0 But that\u2019s way too hard.<\/p>\n There is good software help with this.<\/p>\n I like StarStaX.\u00a0 It\u2019s fee, fast, flexible and available at http:\/\/www.starstax.net\/<\/a>\u00a0 It runs on PC, Mac and Linux.<\/p>\n Another popular program is StarTrails.\u00a0 It is free, works on PC and is available at http:\/\/www.startrails.de\/html\/software.html<\/a>.<\/p>\n There\u2019s even a free Photoshop action that does the stacking for you.\u00a0 It is called Photoshop Stacking Action.\u00a0 It is found at http:\/\/www.schursastrophotography.com\/software\/photoshop\/startrails.html<\/a>.<\/p>\n You can read about each of these solutions on their respective websites.\u00a0 They all work well.<\/p>\n Nighttime photography can be a lot of fun.\u00a0 And the photos that result are always a joy to create and share.\u00a0 There are many techniques that those of use without specially modified cameras can enjoy.\u00a0 I\u2019ve shared with you the technique I find to be the most flexible and rewarding.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s hear from you.\u00a0 What experiences have you had with nighttime photography?\u00a0 What techniques have you used and how happy are you with them?\u00a0 Also, if you don\u2019t mind, perhaps you can share some of your photos with us.<\/p>\n Join me on an upcoming workshop.\u00a0 Click here for\\ more details.<\/a><\/p>\nPlease Note<\/h3>\n
Nighttime Shooting with an Unmodified DSLR<\/h2>\n
Exposure Length<\/h3>\n
Aperture<\/h3>\n
Focus<\/h3>\n
ISO<\/h3>\n
Composition<\/h3>\n
Light Painting<\/h3>\n
Star Trails<\/h3>\n
My Star Trails Technique<\/h3>\n
Other Considerations<\/h3>\n
Stacking Your Files<\/h3>\n
Summing It Up<\/h3>\n