Thank you for all who make it out to our astrophotography meeting. We are posting this one early so you can refer to it if you need help when trying it out. If you missed the meeting or want to review what we talked about, here is also a quick recap.
Also this is the link to our blog about astrophotography from last year.
To do an astro photo shoot, you will need the following items - few are necessary and few are interchangeable with other stuff and we will show you how. 1. Tripod. 2. Wide Lens with Large Aperture. (20mm or lower suggested, F1.8 - F3.5 suggested) 3. Remote Trigger (option) and if you are into light painting 4. Flashlight or glowstick.
Light Painting potential? - Photo By Ning
You should always try manual focus!!! Autofocus will never work in the dark due to lack of light. You should focus on the stars for astrophotography and if you want some of the foreground, you should stack two or more photos with different focal lengths, i.e. one focused on stars and another focused on foreground. The technique for focusing is different for every camera and you will have to explore your own.
If you do not have a good lens, do not worry. Try stacking, i.e. take multiple photos at the same location then stack them afterwards for a better overall result. You should always post-process your astrophotography photo as it will drastically improve the quality. We will demonstrate that on the fourth meeting.
This is what I have for you today at this moment - we will update this blog after we return from the trip and post more on here. I hope this can help you tonight regarding how to do astrophotography.
Yep, shot in Indiana. - Photo by Joshua R.
A good tripod is a must and you will never be able to do astro shoot without it. Any tripod would work, but we will recommend a steady one; A wide angle lens will help you to capture a lot of landscape. A lens with large aperture will let in more light for the same amount of exposure time, therefore providing a better exposure at night; Remote trigger can reduce or eliminate the shake while you press the shutter. It is more on the optional side, but i still listed here if you are curious about how to improve the quality of the shoot.
For the camera setting - in the middle of indiana, we will recommend ISO 1600-5000, F1.4-F3.5 and 8-20 seconds. You will have to adjust the numbers accordingly based on your situation. Generally, your preferences should be trying to keep the aperture as large as you can all the time, then reduce the exposure time to minimize trailing, then lower the ISO to reduce noise.
If you are into something more in-depth, you can choose to look for a ‘equitorial’ - essentially a device which rotates your camera the same rate as the rotation of Earth, therefore effectively eliminates startrail entirely during long exposure and you can get something even more interesting. For example, see a photo of a galaxy below. Those deep space object typically require significantly longer exposure time and always require stacking to complete.
Andromeda Galaxy - Nikon D5300, 300mm f7.1, 83x60sec, ISO 1600 - Photo By Kyle Krinninger
That should be all! Hopefully those information can help you explore a new world in photography.
PS: I attached this flowchart to show how to do astrophotography with various limitation. Simply follow through the line to see how to deal with problems that you might encounter.
Below is our gallery for all the astrophotography photo submitted since summer!
Some other stuff for those who are here for the first time…
Any Purdue student, staff, or faculty can join our club regardless of skill level or photography gear. We would like to build an inclusive community of photographers. We do not have membership dues, but we will gratefully appreciate any donations. It would really help us during this difficult time. In addition, if you want to have access to the studio or darkroom, the yearly fee is $20. If you pay for the studio and darkroom access, you should receive an automated email with the instructions on how to access our facilities.
“See this mask? Have it over your nose.” - Masks is always required in our meeting.
Thank you for reading our first blog post of the Fall 2020 semester. We will continue to post in our blog throughout the semester to recap our meetings in case you missed it. Feel free to look at our past blogs as well. If you have not already, please sign up for our email list on our homepage. If you do not receive our weekly emails, please check your Cisco Quarantine and add our email to your safelist to make sure you receive future emails.
If you want to join our GroupMe to discuss photography topics with other members, please click here. We will not be sending any notifications for club events in the chat, so it can simply be used for creating conversation.
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Once again, thank you and see you next week!