26
votes
Long exposures blurred images due to mirror movement - film photography
Along with weighing down the tripod, using a cable to release the shutter will help reduce camera movement.
Also, if you want to guarantee no mirror shake happens during the exposure, hold a black ...
- 1,057
24
votes
Why are the star trails in Richard Angle's photos of a SpaceX launch and landing so non-uniform?
They are not uniform but they all show the same bright-dim-bright pattern. One explanation is that this is a composite picture of several exposures and that the middle exposure(s) was/were dimmed a ...
- 18.3k
22
votes
Accepted
Long exposures blurred images due to mirror movement - film photography
Mirror slap is an issue in "medium" long exposures - from 1/30 or so til about a second or two.
Tripod shake is issue in "long" long exposures - from about a second upwards.
For shooting stars you ...
- 5,960
17
votes
Long exposures blurred images due to mirror movement - film photography
Mirror slap will last some fraction of a second. This is completely irrelevant in a multi hour exposure.
Weighing down your tripod is a good idea nonetheless, since movement from wind will be a ...
- 6,966
16
votes
Accepted
What causes stars to appear like this?
That's a combination of defocus and distortion, most commonly caused by "seeing" -- the astronomical term for the refractive conditions of the air column between the lens and the star.
A ...
- 6,982
12
votes
Long exposures blurred images due to mirror movement - film photography
There's always the old Hat Trick:
Take your hat (or anything blocking light, a piece of cardboard, the dew cap of your lens etc.). Hold it in front of the lens to prevent light to reach your film.
...
- 221
9
votes
Accepted
How can those star-trails be non-circular?
The example image in your question is probably affected by geometric distortion which is a property of the lens' projection of an image of a three dimensional world onto a two-dimensional image plane.
...
- 172k
9
votes
Unsmooth Star Trails
Looks to me like you might have forgotten to turn off image stabilisation in camera and/or lens.
Image stabilisation uses acceleration sensors to estimate movement/shake of the camera/lens and then ...
- 271
8
votes
How can I tell if something in a photograph is a star or a planet?
Are those other planets or other stars? Or is that a lens effect?
Looks to me like a planet and some moons. I don't know where you are, but Jupiter has been very bright in the night sky lately in my ...
- 31.6k
7
votes
Why should I use the widest aperture for star photography?
You don't need to use the widest aperture. In fact, in many cases, using the widest aperture for astrophotography can result in very poor quality stars. If you are doing wide field untracked imaging (...
- 70.5k
7
votes
Accepted
Why did I get blurry star trails?
shined a light to focus on foreground beforehand
If you focused on the foreground then the most likely explanation is that the stars are blurry because they are out of focus, at f/4 the depth of ...
- 118k
7
votes
Accepted
How would one get a moon shot like this?
The "shadow" area of the Moon is lit by Earthshine - light reflected towards the moon from the sunlit part of the Earth. From the Moon's point of view, the more of the earth that's sunlit, the ...
- 3,003
6
votes
Why does photographing the Milky Way require short exposure, when star trails need long exposure?
The second question is clear, stars need some time to (apparently) move in the sky. The celestial sphere is rotating at 15 degrees/hour around poles (Polaris on North hemisphere) and the apparent ...
- 61
6
votes
How to choose the correct white balance for star trail photography (Nikon D3200)
A-B stands for Amber-Blue. This is your color temperature/Kelvin scale, and is primarily what you will be concerned with for your star trails.
G-M stands for Green-Magenta, and is used to correct ...
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5
votes
How can I tell if something in a photograph is a star or a planet?
I'm almost certain that this is Jupiter and two moons. I base this on:
We see three objects, one very bright and two much less so. The lesser two are of comparable brightness. This is consistent with ...
- 312
5
votes
Astrophotography exposure setting for noise reduction
The best way to deal with noise in the situation you describe is to use a form of dark frame subtraction. If your camera doesn't offer such a built in feature, take a few frames during your session ...
- 172k
5
votes
Accepted
Black sky for night long exposure
As WayneF commented in your question, it looks like you took the picture too early in the evening. The EXIF data indicates you took it at 8:49 PM DST in late August. You are probably in the period ...
- 31.6k
5
votes
Accepted
Why do some star trails appear blue?
Some stars are showing up as blue because some (actually, a lot of) stars are blue.
You can:
adjust white balance (making more stars appear orange instead)
reduce color saturation (this could make ...
- 5,005
5
votes
Accepted
Do I need to wait for new moon to get a Milky Way photograph?
The short answer is 'no' ... but it's really a qualified no. Here's why:
Position of the Milky Way band
The Milky Way is a band that appears to go all the way around the planet. Roughly described, ...
- 3,752
5
votes
Unsmooth Star Trails
Update: The OP has revealed that IS was turned on during the series of frames. This would certainly explain the issue. The answer below assumes that IS was disabled. We'll leave it here in case ...
- 172k
4
votes
Accepted
Why should I use the widest aperture for star photography?
Even though the distance of various stars from your camera on Earth can vary by astronomical distances, they are all far enough away that the light from them enters your lens as collimated rays. This ...
- 172k
4
votes
Stack star photos without trails but WITH sharp foreground?
I agree with Randy's response but believe I have a better solution for case a.
If noise reduction of the sky background is your intent, you can take a few short exposures and stack them in DSS with ...
- 41
4
votes
How do star trackers work to take a photo for 5 minutes without blur, and are they worth it?
How are you able to take a picture for 5 minutes while the camera is moving and not have the picture be blurry?
The stars are moving across the sky. More accurately, the Earth is rotating beneath the ...
- 172k
4
votes
How to get the Milky Way bright enough without overexposing foreground objects?
How do people capture the Milky Way/stars with themselves in it so clearly or sitting around the fire without it being over exposed.
The first one is surely a composite photo, i.e. two separate ...
- 31.6k
4
votes
Accepted
Milky way photography without startrails
To avoid trails you have to know how long a star stays in the same pixel. A quick way to figure it out:
Take a picture of the moon with the your lens.
Measure the diameter of the moon (in pixels) in ...
- 18.3k
4
votes
Why are the star trails in Richard Angle's photos of a SpaceX launch and landing so non-uniform?
You aren't clear about what you mean by "non-uniform".
As @xenold says, exposure could be a factor in the variation in brightness. Changing image exposure to adjust for the booster brightness could ...
- 249
4
votes
Why are the star trails in Richard Angle's photos of a SpaceX launch and landing so non-uniform?
The most likely cause of this variation along every trail in a single exposure image is variation in air clarity during the exposure. This might happen due to fast moving clouds (as I recall, for ...
- 6,982
3
votes
Astrophotography exposure setting for noise reduction
The SLT A58 has the so-called "long exposure noise reduction" function which performs the dark frame subtraction mentioned in Micheal's Clark's answer. You should choose the shutter speed a lot less ...
- 3,576
3
votes
How can I tell if something in a photograph is a star or a planet?
The rule-of-thumb is: When you think "That's a bright star!" it's a planet.
- 1,690
3
votes
Accepted
Affordable lenses for nightscape photography (nikon d5300)?
The Moon, and stars and the Milky Way etc, will require quite different lenses.
If you want to take images of the stars, you need a wide, fast (very low F-stop, generally lower then F/2.8) lens. You ...
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