Posted by Andrea Hadley on August 22, 2009 at 12:25 PM
I was just curious as to how long you should leave the shutter open when photographing the stars or the moon? I've left it open at 30 seconds and the stars just show up enough, but not perfect or like you would be seeing it through your own eyes. I am still a beginner by the way, or at least I've only had my Sony A100 since March of this year and haven't really had the time to get completely used to it. Thanks
Posted by Paul DeCesare on August 23, 2009 at 1:36 AM
30 seconds is enough time if you're running at ISO 800 and f/2.8, although the moon would be way over exposed. The moon actually needs a fast shutter speed, such as 1/500. Have a look at this montage I did of a lunar eclipse in Feb 2008... it's 4 separate shots, one each of the three moons and one just for the stars. I'm fairly sure the moon on the left was 1/500 shutterspeed, the eclipsed moon on the right was 1/4 second, and the sky/stars was 30 seconds, all at f/2.8. Keep practicing and examine your results. You'll also need to do some Levels adjustments with Photoshop or Photoshop Elements (dragging the black slider to the right) to remove high-ISO noise in the black sky. BTW, I used a 200mm lens on a full frame camera, so for you that would be a 135mm, but even a 50mm gets a great sky image.
Have fun!
Posted by Chuck Beatty on August 23, 2009 at 8:09 AM
Andrea,
There's a good article by Floris van Breugel in the NPN Archive.
I did some night shooting earlier this spring and found the article's techniques very useful.
Posted by Andrea Hadley on August 23, 2009 at 11:33 PM
Thanks a bunch, both of you. This is very helpful advice. The only issue really is that at this moment (due to finances, or lack of) I only have a Sigma 70-300mm 1:4-5.6 Normal and Macro lense, and the factory grade lense which is 3.5-5.6/18/70mm and a decent wide angle lense 58mm Professional HD DSLR MC AF 0.45X Wide Angle w/ Macro. I'm hoping by sometime early next year I will be able to do some slight upgrades on lenses. Does anyone by chance have any advice on lenses for a Sony A100 if you're doing nature/landscape photography? Or would I most likely have to upgrade my camera (not sure when I might be able to do that)? I was lucky enough to get this camera on ebay for $350.00 including the factory lense and the Sigma lense. I appreciate any advice.
Discussion
3 repliesHave fun!
There's a good article by Floris van Breugel in the NPN Archive.
I did some night shooting earlier this spring and found the article's techniques very useful.