Three Easy Steps to Basic Astronomy Photography

Answer: The Moon and stars.
Question: What is ANDe taking a lot of pictures of these days?

I don't know what it is about taking pictures of the night sky, but I find it very soothing and relaxing. I don't know why, I just do. It's one of those things that seems so complex, but once I learned about it, it's quite easy. I've always said taking pictures is taking pictures...meaning if you know how to take pictures of one type of subject it isn't hard to take pictures of another type of subject.  The only exceptions would be people (you have to learn how to pose them) and animals (if they don't stay still).  Other than that all of the concepts are the same.

Anyway...back to the night sky. One of my favorite lenses is the Canon 70-200 f/2.8.  The glass is crystal clear and with my crop sensor Canon 60D the effective focal length is 320mm. I can get good clean photos in low light, so it was a natural curiosity of mine to capture the night sky.  Now that I've been giving it a go for a little over a week, which in DSLR lingo makes me an "expert" (Yes, that's a joke!) there are some invaluable things I've learned as a basis for photographing the night sky.  I'm going to share them with you!

The Looney 11 Rule - This rule has become invaluable to me in photographing the moon. Earlier I joked about being an expert at this, but the following has been said about my moon photography:

Use the "Looney 11" rule to
photography the moon.

"I get that you are a professional and all......but the fact that you captured this image is a bit mind boggling. It looks like something from NASA" and

 "Wow Ande, I am gobsmacked. What an INCREDIBLY BEAUTIFUL photograph!"

Again, I'm not an expert here, but this rule combined with some tweaking on my part, helped me out tremendously here!  Click here for details on The Looney 11 Rule.

Orion
CLICK TO ENLARGE

Rule of Thumb for Photographing Stars - I have seen formulas on how to set the maximum shutter speed ranging from 250/focal length (fl) to 1000/fl. Those formulas will vary based on aperture and ISO. The best rule of thumb I could find is this from Nikon's website:

"A good starting exposure for most star shots is to use the widest aperture on your lens, expose for 20 seconds, increasing the ISO as needed for a good exposure."

That gives you an excellent starting point. Go from there!


Google Sky Map - This app is AWESOME for finding specific stars, constellations, and the moon. I know, the moon is a big duh, but it's difficult to see when it's a "new moon".  With this arrow in your quiver and a wide enough lens you just might be able to get a photo of your favorite constellation in the middle of a big city with lots of lights! You'll need editing software like Lightroom to clean up some of the ambient light, but it's amazing what you can get without being in the middle of nowhere!


I hope that helps! Please feel free to comment and share any tips you have about photographing the night sky!