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

[Camilla and Darwin]

I don't know. maybe. Maybe you should call Canon and ask? For an L lens and L extender... they shouldn't be soft. Not for what you pay for L lenses. They owe you an explanation! He he. :-)

[F, Calla & Luca]

Sandy, how many lenses do you have ?

[Camilla and Darwin]

Wow. Drooling! :-)

[Sherri, Sophie, Winston, & Kitty]

Camilla, these are wonderful. What lense do you use to take these photos. I still have my standard lense that came with my camera but am thinking of buying a new one and am not sure where to start.

 

I have never tried night photography before. There's this old bridge that is lit up at night and I want to capture it. The bridge structure is filled with spider webs and the way the light gleams off the spider webs is amazing. I have been wanting to capture that for so long but I am guessing it is going to be pretty hard. I think I will have to give it a try before summer comes to an end.

[Camilla and Darwin]

I used my 17-40L for this.

http://www.amazon.com/Canon-17-40mm-Ultra-Angle-Cameras/dp/B00009R6WO

Because I shoot a lot of weddings which requires a wide angle, I knew that upgrading would be a priority. Before with my kit lens the images would be soft and very low quality when zoomed into 100%, now with the new lens I can get much crisper photos Here is an example from a wedding I shot on Wednesday. Even in the worst lighting possible (broad daylight at 1pm) it looks decent.

I researched for a long time before choosing this lens, and I bought it refurbished from canon, and on a sale - the total ended up being just over $500, which for me was the amount I had set aside for a new wide angle.

The first year I went to the meteor shower I took my kit lens, an 18-55mm. It actually did a pretty good job, but the 17-40L is obviously higher quality. 

I would only upgrade your wide angle if you shoot wide angle enough to justify it. If it's not something you do often... maybe keep your kit lens and work with what you have. If you use wide angle a lot or really want to get into it, maybe start looking into an upgrade. 

Here is a night photo I took off a bridge a couple of weeks ago, with the 17-40L. This was even shot without a tripod and if I was using a tripod it would be much more sharp. My settings for this photo were 

Manual Exposure, 4 sec, f/22, ISO 800

[Carol and Banjo]

OMD...Camilla....both of these are wonderful!   I have that lens....but have not come CLOSE to this kind of work!

[Camilla and Darwin]

Carol you are way too nice! I am still experimenting a lot with it - I don't often shoot at a wide angle. I have really loved it though, it's so good to know that you can zoom in to 100% and the quality will be there. 

[F, Calla & Luca]

Beautiful !!! Sharper? don't see how : )

[Camilla and Darwin]

Thank you F!

[DJ & Chance]

Georgeous. Thanks for sharing settings!

[Sherri, Sophie, Winston, & Kitty]

Thanks Camilla, these are gorgeous. Maybe you're right, I should hold off until I have really learned the ropes and am ready to move on. I can still get nice photos with my kit lense. I might as well try some night shots first and see how it goes rather than jumping the gun.

I have to say I am so inspired by your dedication. You became an expert so quickly and you have years of growing ahead of you. It's truly amazing.

[Camilla and Darwin]

Thank you Sherri! I'm definitely no expert - but I know much more now than I did when I first started. And I'll know much more a year from now than I do today. :-) 

I think that you should experiment with the wide angle you have - and if you find that you love the focal length but are really missing out on the quality, maybe an upgrade is a good idea!