Night Sky Photos

[Camilla and Darwin]

These are the photos DH and I got during last night's meteor shower. Unfortunately, we didn't capture any meteors, but we saw SO many! It was by far the most active meteor shower I've viewed, pretty much anytime you stopped and looked at the sky you could see a bright meteor, very very cool!

Here are the photos we did get - the Big Dipper, star trails, DH silhouetted by the Milky Way, so much fun! I can't wait for next year.

The only downside to the night was dealing with the noise levels in the  photos. In order for the photos to be visible we needed at least 3200 ISO which my camera REALLY doesn't handle well. Sigh, if only I had a full frame camera.... :-)

Manual Exposure, 30sec, f/4 ISO 6400

Manual Exposure, 30sec, f/4, ISO 3200

Manual, 30sec, f/4, ISO 6400

Manual Exposure, 1200sec (20min), f/4, ISO 400

[F, Calla & Luca]

Now this is the best meteor shower I've ever seen courtesy of you. Love the silhouette.

[Donna K & Quincy]

Camilla these are pretty neat, it's so great to be able to see the sky filled with stars like that. I really like the first one and the silhouette is great.

[Carol and Banjo]

These are amazing Camilla!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Very cool, Camilla!

[Linda, Webber and Seda]

Fabulous!

[DJ & Chance]

Beautiful!

[Sue]

Really Fantastic!!

[Camilla and Darwin]

Thanks everyone!

[Lori, Daphne, Lucy & Pippa]

Absolutely stunning photos!!!

[F, Calla & Luca]

This is a daunting task I think. I do think you need to be away from light sources to do a good job and see lots of stars. The light pollution from houses etc. really cuts down the visibility. As to the lens, interesting but I don't know the answer.

[Camilla and Darwin]

Sandy, I agree with F that you need to be far away from ambient light in order to get a good amount of stars. Another thing I noticed is the blown out details of the moon. When doing a long exposure, you want to choose something that needs the long exposure. The moon is very bright already, so a long exposure will result in a blown out moon. Stars and the night sky are much more dark, so you can do a very long exposure without blowing out your image. 

I also noticed your settings were on auto. I would recommend shooting in manual when you shoot the night sky, it's a tricky lighting situation so your camera likely won't choose the best settings. I edited the discussion to include my settings for each image - if that is helpful.

For the star trail photo, I would recommend trying to include context in the photo, so you can tell what the star trails are. If the star trails are paired with a horizon, then suddenly the viewer knows what they are looking at. 

I really like the way you composed the photos in the last 3, you are obviously really good at trying to set up an interestingly framed shot. 

As far as seeing the lens in the last photo - I have no idea. I would probably call Canon and ask - it may need some kind of repair? I've never heard of something like that happening.

[Camilla and Darwin]

The settings are listed above each photo.