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How to Take Pictures of Constellations

Just about everyone has looked up on a clear night and been amazed by the number of stars in the sky. Photographing star constellations can be a little tricky, but with some planning and using the right equipment, you can come away with some spectacular pictures. In the days of film photography, you had to take a number of different pictures at different time intervals and hope they turned out. With digital photography, you can check your results immediately.

Things You'll Need

Tripod

Instructions

- 1
  Select a shooting location. Ideally, you want to be out in the country somewhere. Photographing the night sky from the city does not yield the same results as when you are out in the country.
- 2
  Attach your camera to a sturdy tripod and attach the lens to the front of the camera. Just like normal photography, the lens affects the field of view of your image. Even though you are shooting the sky, you can still use a wide angle lens to capture the entire sky, and part of the horizon, if you choose.
- 3
  Turn the camera on, set the quality setting to "RAW" and toggle through the menu fields until your reach the window for "Noise Reduction." Select this option and change the setting to "On" or "Enable." This feature is designed to reduce the amount of noise generated during extend exposures.
- 4
  Press the "ISO" button on your camera and select a mid-range ISO. Don't go above 400. While today's digital cameras can record images at very high ISOs, selecting a lower ISO gives you better image quality.
- 5
  Turn the exposure mode dial to "Aperture Priority," turn the dial and select an aperture between f5.6 and f8.0. Turn the "Exposure compensation" dial to -2.0.
- 6
  Angle your camera to the sky and press the shutter release. The shutter will likely stay open for some time, so do not knock the tripod during the exposure. Press the review button when the image is done; make any adjustments and continue to shoot.

Photography