Night Sky & Milky Way C&C Welcome

A couple of nights ago it was very warm outside and there wasn't a cloud in the sky so I decided I'd try and shoot some stars. I go out a couple times each year and try to take photos of stars and every time I get better. These are the most recent I've taken and I'm actually proud enough of them to post them publicly. The rest of my star work I keep to myself and burn out back in a garbage can because they look terrible. 

I'm looking to see how these shots could be improved. They were shot at 3200 and 1600 ISO and a 30s Exposure with a wide open aperture (3.5) The lens used was the Nikon 18-55 Kit lens, however I don't have any new wide angle lenses, though god knows I have them in mind. Let me know what you think or how I could improve these shots, including reducing noise (other than a higher rate of noise reduction in camera). 




As usual, thanks in advance for all of your help!

Despite the light pollution, you did pretty good. Maybe a vertical framing would have included more of the Milky Way, and even the possibility of a reflection which might have required a multiple exposure and blend in PS. Keep it up!....

effron wrote: Despite the light pollution, you did pretty good. Maybe a vertical framing would have included more of the Milky Way, and even the possibility of a reflection which might have required a multiple exposure and blend in PS. Keep it up!....

Thanks Effron, even though the pollution is there, I kind of like it, I personally think it sort of adds to the photo. This spot is actually probably one of the darkest parts of my side of Canada, and there is still light pollution! Crazy. 

I tried to get a reflection in the second photo but you can see how well that worked out. 

Hopefully I can get some more results like this.

  love the shot even though the light pollution is over powering on the horizon.   

I prefer the 2nd one, except for the pier. I think the annoying glow + reflection + sky work quite well together.

You could try toning down the yellow tint in PP, perhaps.  Hard to say for sure.

I would have aimed the camera higher for more sky (ferget the water reflection).  Try stopping down to f/4.5 or so, just to clean things up.

Kelly

^^^Oh, yeah. You want your aperture at f/8 to f/11, I think, to get more DoF. I realize now why I thought the stars looked a bit fuzzy. Smaller aperture, focus at infinity, I believe.

garyrhook wrote: ^^^Oh, yeah. You want your aperture at f/8 to f/11, I think, to get more DoF. I realize now why I thought the stars looked a bit fuzzy. Smaller aperture, focus at infinity, I believe.

I see what your both saying, however if i shoot f/8 my exposure will last more like 2 minutes, even at boosted ISO rates. And from what I kmow, a 2 second exposure will blur a lot worse than a 30s exposure

Takennnn wrote:

garyrhook wrote: ^^^Oh, yeah. You want your aperture at f/8 to f/11, I think, to get more DoF. I realize now why I thought the stars looked a bit fuzzy. Smaller aperture, focus at infinity, I believe.

I see what your both saying, however if i shoot f/8 my exposure will last more like 2 minutes, even at boosted ISO rates. And from what I kmow, a 2 second exposure will blur a lot worse than a 30s exposure

Oh, wait, yeah. I retract my suggestion. You should probably ask someone that knows what they're doing 

Use the 500 rule to avoid blurring of stars. The 500 rule is take 500 and divide by the equivalent focal length of your lens and that will give you the shutter speed you should use. Let's say you have a full frame camera and a 20 mm lens. 500/20=25 seconds. If you are using a crop camera, don't forget to use equivalent focal length. A crop Nikon camera with this lens would be 500/30 = 17 seconds.

Takennnn wrote:

garyrhook wrote: ^^^Oh, yeah. You want your aperture at f/8 to f/11, I think, to get more DoF. I realize now why I thought the stars looked a bit fuzzy. Smaller aperture, focus at infinity, I believe.

I see what your both saying, however if i shoot f/8 my exposure will last more like 2 minutes, even at boosted ISO rates. And from what I kmow, a 2 second exposure will blur a lot worse than a 30s exposure

I'm not advocating f/8 ('cuz I don't really give a c**p about the near foreground), but the sky background (not the stars) is already over exposed.

Kelly

I really enjoy shots like this.  I bet sitting on that lock is so peaceful at that  hour. 

Robert Hardy wrote: I really enjoy shots like this.  I bet sitting on that lock is so peaceful at that  hour. 

It is! I'm incredibly lucky for this to actually be my back yard on most weekends. Its great!

Robert Hardy wrote: I really enjoy shots like this.  I bet sitting on that lock is so peaceful at that  hour. 

 I was thinking the same.  Drop a line or two in the water and talk about a beautiful spot!

Inspired!