It was a warm night on the Peninsula, and I thought I would try to capture a few pictures of the Milky Way. Well, I didn’t quite get the explosive center that I was hoping for, but… there were lots of stars to look at.
Focusing on stars at night is quite tricky. You can try with your auto focus, but you will have to be very lucky to get this to work. Also, the ‘infinity’ position on the lens focus ring isn’t going to get you there, as there is almost always a little back and forward required to get it perfectly right. That, along with the stars constantly moving, makes for a very tricky subject.
The longer your exposure, the longer the trails of the stars are going to be. The quicker your exposure, the less stars and brightness you are going to have. So, you have to move to the ISO to make some more adjustments.
Ready to go out yet ?? I recommend you start with a very high ISO, lowest possible f stop, and a 15 sec exposure time. Then, start playing around.. Move the ISO adjustment up a little higher, then lower, and look for the differences. Then, move the f stop, and see what changes that will make. I don’t think you will want to go any larger than f9. And then, finally, start playing around with the amount of exposure time. Make it 10 sec, and take it out to 20, 25, 30… see what the difference is to the stars. Oh, and remember to take off your Auto Focus, and ISO off auto.
Enjoy these pictures…
