• Originals
    • Categories
      • Gear
        • Forum
          • Picture of the Day
            • Contests
              • More
                • FS Gear Guide
                • Fstoppers T-shirts
              • Home
              • Advertise
              • Meet the Writers
              • Submit Content
              • Contact

              A Beginners Guide To Sky Photography

              how to shoot stars A Beginners Guide To Sky Photography Ben Canales is one of those photographers who enjoys taking photographs in total darkness. He also enjoys shooting when the skies are the clearest and the stars are the brightest which also happens to be when it’s freezing outside. At some point you have probably seen these amazing night images and maybe you have even tried your hand at a few. Well Ben has a made a rather simple but exhaustive tutorial on how you too can capture the earth and the skies at night. Some of his tips like the 600 rule and how to easily setup a nice composition in near darkness are really insightful and almost makes me want to try my hand at a few long exposure shots next winter. Check out his other star tutorials, and hopefully this post helped you forget about the blazing summer heatwave going around!

              June 1, 2011
              Patrick Hall
              Tweet
              Location
              Natural Light
              Nature
              « The Wednesday Rundown 6.1.11
              How To Calibrate Your Monitor With ColorMunki »
              • http://twitter.com/_kishore Kishore

                that’s great info.
                thanks for sharing.

              • http://twitter.com/Marshal_F Marshal F

                Does the rule of 600 apply to purely the focal length or the angle of view? I.E. would you multiply the focal length of the lens by the crop factor then divide if by 600 if you are shooting on a different format?

              • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_SCBT2FBL7NQVTWIVPU6PNDPTVQ M

                Cool photography.

              • http://twitter.com/SJohnGodfrey Stephen Godfrey

                I have never heard of the rule of 600 but I would take the effective focal length you are using. So if you have a 20mm lens on a Nikon Dx body the effective focal length would be 30mm. Then using the rule of 600 give me 20seconds.

              • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=513133782 Ben Canales

                Happy to see this video tutorial making it around and helping out. Shooting at night can be intimidating, but with a few tips and pointers, you can skip common mistakes and take much better advantage on your sleepless night!
                Concerning the rule of 600- it is specific to the sensor size.
                Convert the lens focal length by the crop factor and then divide it into 600 as Stephen Godfrey said.
                But, with that in mind, if this is your first time out shooting stars, purposefully take some shots with the exposure being “too long” just to see how much brighter the image can be by extending your exposure time.

              • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=513133782 Ben Canales

                Happy to see this video tutorial making it around and helping out. Shooting at night can be intimidating, but with a few tips and pointers, you can skip common mistakes and take much better advantage on your sleepless night!
                Concerning the rule of 600- it is specific to the sensor size.
                Convert the lens focal length by the crop factor and then divide it into 600 as Stephen Godfrey said.
                But, with that in mind, if this is your first time out shooting stars, purposefully take some shots with the exposure being “too long” just to see how much brighter the image can be by extending your exposure time.

              • http://blog.dafyddowen.com/ Daf

                Have wanted to do something like this for quite a while now. Good tips thanks.
                Shame I live in Central London. ;)

              • http://www.facebook.com/people/Daniil-Sosonkin/100000553826482 Daniil Sosonkin

                This post is just in time. Heading for Monument Valley next week and was hoping to do some night shots.

              • http://www.facebook.com/people/Albert-Lui/26800480 Albert Lui

                Awesome tutorial!!

              • http://twitter.com/MFMG Matt Green

                Good work. I could imagine you cutting this down a bit, but because your personality is interesting and fun, I had no problem watching. Good job of getting the info out and adding a little humor to make it enjoyable. I hadn’t heard of the Rule of 600 until seeing this post. Thanks…

              • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1575984068 Nadim Zoubiane

                I have a question pertaining to using the highest ISO, I never tried using the highest ISO with the longest exposure possible, but will give it a try soon… but my point is, every time i use an ISO of 1600 or higher, i get a really noisy image… and the colors seem to be a little bit distorted. Now I am gonna give it a try… but I’d love to know how i can decrease the noise in my pictures.
                BTW, i am a huge fan of this website… first discovered it last year, while you guys were having the Canon / Nikon prize contest. I was going to take part, but my photography skills were very basic at the time.

              • http://twitter.com/waleedalzuhair Waleed Alzuhair

                Beautiful tutorial, well done..

              • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=748241137 Darren Leow

                Huge dust spot on the right side of the horizontal frame :p Great video, if I ever try night astrophotography.

              • http://twitter.com/reedseverson Reed Severson

                For those using crop sensors- On one of his pages he says the rule of 600 is actually 400 for crop sensors. Just FYI.

              • http://twitter.com/reedseverson Reed Severson

                the comments on the his vimeo page he states for cropped sensors to use 400 instead of 600.

              • http://www.facebook.com/steven.branon Steven David Branon

                Really stoked on this video lots of new things to try out at night. 

              • Marco Sfrecola

                I had never thought about using high iso and wide aperture with long exposure shot… I’ll definitely be giving it a try!

              • Connect with Fstoppers
                Follow @Fstoppers
              • Fstoppers Originals
              • Popular Articles
                • What A Week Of Groceries Looks Like Around The World
                • "Unplugged Weddings": Preventing Guests From Destroying Your Photographs
                • Endearing Animal Portraits By 18 Year Old Photographer Jessica Trinh
                • Color Film Footage From 1920s London is the Coolest Thing You'll See Today
                • Raw Comparison: Magic Lantern Canon 5D VS Black Magic Cinema Camera
                • Is Facebook the New Breeding Ground for Copyright Infringement?
                • Learn Inexpensive Ways To Create Gallery-Style Works Of Art
                • Saudi Arabian Women Unveiled
                • Brad Pitt Photographs Angelina Jolie: Results Are Impressive
                • 3 Minutes Of Setup And 2 Shutter Clicks : The Reality Of Celebrity Portraiture
                • No Joke: Magic Lantern Gets Raw Video Out Of The Canon 5D Mark III
                • Behind the Scenes: Photo Shoot with EXITMUSIC
                • Jeff Bridges Honored for His Photography
                • UPDATED: Is World Press Photo Photoshopped?
              • Recent Comments
                • HydeClem said Wow, they really picked worst case scenario for the American family not all of us eat that bad, geezzz, I »
                • poetoe said i simply agree with this :) »
                • CoffeeWithChris said The worst part is that the light doesn't match :-) »
                • Talyn Sherer said So because someone makes a lot of money means they deserve respect from the community regardless of their »
                • Tony Guillaro said That's a HUGE difference... Can't wait till they come out with something for Nikon, Not switching to Cano »
                • templebox said Interesting and all, but absolutely nothing about photography in this post! »
                • Dan Tabár said was a pleasure to assist on this shoot - both Blair and Clayton were class acts throughout »
                • MarkFore said As a photographer who works in-house for a fairly large clothing brand I see my images all over the Inter »
              • Support Fstoppers
                current nikon rebates deals
              • FS Originals
              • Endearing Animal Portraits By 18 Year Old Photographer Jessica Trinh
              • How to Go Pro Without Going Crazy
              • Fstoppers Sits Down with Lara Jade
              • Fstoppers First Look: Sigma’s New 18-35 f/1.8
              • Fstoppers Reviews SLRLounge’s Natural Light Couples Photography Workshop DVD
              • Categories
              • Commercial
              • Video
              • Gear
              • Location
              • Strobe Light
              • Contests
              • Win a 30x40 Print
              • Alien Skin Retouch Contest
              • Win the Art Behind the Headshot
              • Black Rapid Contest
              • Win a Lowepro Bag
              • Random Posts
              • A Tour Of Ansel Adam’s Darkroom
              • Behind The Scenes: Shooting JB And The Moonshine Band
              • Check Out These Dramatic Celebrity Transformations Via Retouching
              • The Power of a 365
              • [Pics] Hauntingly Beautiful Winter Landscapes
              • Picture of the Day
              • Frankfurt Delay
              • LHD-1
              • Search and Rescue
              • Gallardo
              • Aurora X-Trail
              • Home
              • Advertise
              • Meet the Writers
              • Submit Content
              • Contact
              • Sitemap
              © Fstoppers
              Made by Novum