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Annemette Rosenborg Eriksen
{K:55244} 9/21/2007
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Thanks a lot for stopping by and leaving some good advice, John. Unfortunately we seldom see Northern lights here in Denmark. It does happen once in a while. I must keep my eyes out for it. I don´t know why because we´re far north when looking at the worldmap and at the same altitude in Canada I think they see aurora. Anyway I have seen aurora in Greenland which was fantastic:-)
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j esford
{K:13518} 9/19/2007
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I haven't seen many follow-up photos to this your first Annemette, however one of the biggest drawbacks that I have encountered using digital time exposures of the night skies is your power source. Batteries constantly drain out on long exposures. Use your AC adapter if possible. I'm curious as to your access to the aurora? Northern lights in your country should be outstanding in the Spring? They are much more photograph-able unless you're hoping for comet/meteror trails. I've spent several years photographing the night skies in all kinds of weather, with varying degrees of success, all on film. Pay heed to Mr. de Wolf's photographic wisdom, he's very good and generally a great source of photographic knowledge. It's great fun, keep trying and continue posting. (and watch for those lights!) Yours, -john
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James Cook
{K:38068} 3/16/2007
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Oh, good thinking. And get a remote trigger so I can keep pushing the button all the way down where ever my arms shoulf flail.
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Annemette Rosenborg Eriksen
{K:55244} 3/15/2007
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Maybe you should mount your camera on your head playing so that if you should fall, you can take some more amazing motionphotos of light;-)
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James Cook
{K:38068} 3/14/2007
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Yeah, I spent a lot of time on roofs, up trees, wherever. I don't fall too often.
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Annemette Rosenborg Eriksen
{K:55244} 3/14/2007
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Oh yes I have such a lightshield- good idea!
About my roof then it´s actually quite steep when being up there on a ladder with a brush and a bucket of paint;-) I´m a lowlander though so you might do it without any trouble.
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James Cook
{K:38068} 3/14/2007
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Yeah, I'd get up on your roof, but I'm crazy. The important part is getting away from lights and things that reflect lights (like the trees in Hugo's shot). Even if you can't see the objects (like the trees) in your shot they can can send stray rays of light into your lens (because light radiates) and give additional grain. One thing you can do is put a light shield around your lens to keep rays from coming across the lens and finding their way in (maybe your lens even came with one)--just basically a little shroud that attaches to the end of the lens to block side-light.
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Annemette Rosenborg Eriksen
{K:55244} 3/14/2007
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Thank you so much, James. It certainly helps. After taking photos this night by the fjord I realized that the aperture has to be as open as possible to take in more light. Learning by playing:-)
ISO down, my exposure can go -5 down, open aperture and then long exposuretime - yes I think I got it. Climbing the roof is not really an option though unless I was Santa Claus;-)Maybe I should go down to the beach at night and photograph in the darkness away from all streetlamps.
I really appreciate your help.
Thank you
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James Cook
{K:38068} 3/14/2007
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I turn my ISO as low as possible for two reasons: first it limits grain and second it ensures a blacker black. I also adjust my exposure down (my camera will do -2 stops) also to ensure the blackest blacks.
Since you want to shoot stars, you are likely to set your f-stop to open nice and wide (which means a very small number like f/2.8 say).
Not sure why Hugo set his ap at 8 when his lens can do 2.8.
Play around with your exposure times to find what you like (is that 675 seconds?) but long exposure times will be necessary since the light energy from each star is very small.
Oh, and finally, get away from any lights you can and get as close to the sky as possible. Do it from your roof if that's possible (although I've seen your roof so be f'ing careful).
Hope that helps.
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Annemette Rosenborg Eriksen
{K:55244} 3/14/2007
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Thank you so much for your helpful explanation. Í got a DSRL only a week ago which is why I need this help. I thought the aperture needed to be as narrow as possible in this case, but I can see that this is not so. I really like the photoexample you showed me. This is what I´d like to do:-) Great idea about lighting up the trees.
I´ll try photographing again this night if the sky is clear using your advice.
Best wishes and thanks
Annemette
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Hugo de Wolf
{K:185110} 3/14/2007
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Hi Annemette,
With digital cameras, long exposures, such as this, the noise will always be horrible, and sometimes beyond fixing. The best way to shoot star trails is still with film....
I've tried exposures with a digital camera upto 1 hour, but that was basically a waste of time. With a D2x, i feel that the longest exposure - with a lot of post processing is about 30 minutes. Your settings don't really make sense, but here are the settings I used when I shot this one: http://www.usefilm.com/image/1011624.html
Nikon D2x
Nikon 10.5 f/2.8
Aperture: f/8
Shutterspeed: 30 minutes
White balance on Auto
Focus on on infinity.
I'm not Mary Brown, nor have I ever tried this with a telescope, but I hope this is of some help. I'm definitely going to try it again; including the polar star in the composition, and using a 50 ASA film, a higher aperture (f/16 or) and expose for a few hours; I'd say with those settings, a similar result could be achieved with an exposure of 4 to 6 hours...
Cheers,
Hugo
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