i haven't mentioned it much because i'm kind of in denial... but next month i am going to Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories with the hopes of catching some northern lights... a bit dubious as it's mostly cloudy there in September, but the plane ticket was a gift and i figure i'll get to see SOMETHING different up there - even if i don't see the aurora borealis...
in the meantime, i want to practice my night sky photography so that if there IS anything to see, i will have a half decent chance of capturing it on on the camera...
so this shot is for practice... there is way too much light here, so the settings are likely not what i'll be using next month...
i disabled all the noise reduction aspects of the camera based on a number of different things that i've read... also used comparatively wide f stops - which let me keep my ISO at 100 (i expect to have to go up to 800 or so next month), and a comparatively short exposure to avoid trails... surprisingly enough, you can actually see stars in the sky, with colour and everything! easier if you look at large on black...
So good to practice these night shots! I love the lights on the left, so clear and twinkling but on the right, all I can see are large fingermarks on my screen- out with the cleaning cloth!
Go all the way wide on the aperture -- f/6.3 is too narrow. I can't remember what lens you have but it probably goes to at least f/3.5 at 17mm. Even if it goes down to f/2.8 at 17mm, everything that's more than about 10 feet away from the camera will be in focus, so you don't need to worry about depth of field.
I'd strongly recommend enabling long exposure noise reduction, unless you are shooting star trails. It's the one type of noise reduction that can't easily be done in post-processing, and while you won't notice the effect at ISO 100, it will make a difference at ISO 800, 1600 or 3200.
Get some practice at focusing accurately to infinity without any man-made lighting to help you. Live View on the T2i probably isn't sensitive enough to show the stars, so you'll have to either learn how to set it by trial and error, or remember to set the lens to infinity before it gets dark (and then switch it to MF and tape it in place).
You'll want to be at ISO 1600 or above for general night sky photography, but if you do see the Northern Lights, you'll want to drop your ISO, as even a reasonably bright show will be too bright for those high ISO settings. Make sure you check your histogram, as overexposure will cause the colours to turn white.
As Yellowknife is so far north, depending on when in September you go, you may only have a relatively short amount of time when the sky is dark enough for really good star photos. At the beginning of September, astronomical twilight is between 12:15am and 2:50am. If you're going at the end of September, it's much more reasonable, starting at 9:45pm and ending at 5:00am.
Wow, what a great opportunity. Hope it all works out as planned. In the meantime, this practice shot is great. I love the hint of civilization on the right side of the image, with that darkness engulfing most of the image. Fav
Alexis is spot-on as usual, but don't be too restrictive with the ISO; be ready to play around a bit while you are shooting. This shot was taken at ISO 2000 because I wanted to lighten up the foreground, and I was able to capture the aurora pretty well. http://365project.org/grizzlysghost/the-projects/2013-08-15
I also think, in this instance, that had I gone with a lower ISO I might not have gotten the aurora as it was very light. Experimenting before you go is a very wise decision.
Lastly, when I'm shooting stars I manually set up my focus. My lens has a focus indicator showing me the distance it is focusing at, and as with many autofocus lenses it is capable of focusing "beyond" infinity; so just twisting all of the way will cause you to pass the focus point. Here's a photo showing the focus I use for stars (another tip I'm pretty sure I got from Alexis): http://i1097.photobucket.com/albums/g349/GrizzlysGhost/ScreenShot2013-08-18at105707AM_zpsb1766662.png
@abirkill tx a million Alexis! so helpful... yes - i was wondering about the noise reduction... one of the things i read was trying to, i think, combine doing sky shots with star trails... i am thinking to keep it relatively simple to start with and sticking with the sky...
i have the wide angle lens (10 to 22mm) which i think does between f/3.5 and 4.5... i also have the 17-55mm that goes down to 2.8... i had read about keeping f stop as low as it can go... i only used the higher f stop last night because it was so light and it seemed somehow "wrong" to be doing a night shot in under 5 seconds ;p
i'll be going up right in the middle of september (the weekend of the 13th)... i had assumed i wouldn't be sleeping much - guess i was right!
@grizzlysghost tx Aaron... ok - i'm pretty sure my lenses show the focus indicator... but good point about inifinity focus... my eyes suck so i don't like to rely on them in the dark for tiny points of light on the camera's screen ;p
August 18th, 2013
Leave a Comment
Sign up for a free account or Sign in to post a comment.
Go all the way wide on the aperture -- f/6.3 is too narrow. I can't remember what lens you have but it probably goes to at least f/3.5 at 17mm. Even if it goes down to f/2.8 at 17mm, everything that's more than about 10 feet away from the camera will be in focus, so you don't need to worry about depth of field.
I'd strongly recommend enabling long exposure noise reduction, unless you are shooting star trails. It's the one type of noise reduction that can't easily be done in post-processing, and while you won't notice the effect at ISO 100, it will make a difference at ISO 800, 1600 or 3200.
Get some practice at focusing accurately to infinity without any man-made lighting to help you. Live View on the T2i probably isn't sensitive enough to show the stars, so you'll have to either learn how to set it by trial and error, or remember to set the lens to infinity before it gets dark (and then switch it to MF and tape it in place).
You'll want to be at ISO 1600 or above for general night sky photography, but if you do see the Northern Lights, you'll want to drop your ISO, as even a reasonably bright show will be too bright for those high ISO settings. Make sure you check your histogram, as overexposure will cause the colours to turn white.
As Yellowknife is so far north, depending on when in September you go, you may only have a relatively short amount of time when the sky is dark enough for really good star photos. At the beginning of September, astronomical twilight is between 12:15am and 2:50am. If you're going at the end of September, it's much more reasonable, starting at 9:45pm and ending at 5:00am.
Good luck.. I am envious :) Beautiful shot x
I also think, in this instance, that had I gone with a lower ISO I might not have gotten the aurora as it was very light. Experimenting before you go is a very wise decision.
Lastly, when I'm shooting stars I manually set up my focus. My lens has a focus indicator showing me the distance it is focusing at, and as with many autofocus lenses it is capable of focusing "beyond" infinity; so just twisting all of the way will cause you to pass the focus point. Here's a photo showing the focus I use for stars (another tip I'm pretty sure I got from Alexis): http://i1097.photobucket.com/albums/g349/GrizzlysGhost/ScreenShot2013-08-18at105707AM_zpsb1766662.png
i have the wide angle lens (10 to 22mm) which i think does between f/3.5 and 4.5... i also have the 17-55mm that goes down to 2.8... i had read about keeping f stop as low as it can go... i only used the higher f stop last night because it was so light and it seemed somehow "wrong" to be doing a night shot in under 5 seconds ;p
i'll be going up right in the middle of september (the weekend of the 13th)... i had assumed i wouldn't be sleeping much - guess i was right!
@grizzlysghost tx Aaron... ok - i'm pretty sure my lenses show the focus indicator... but good point about inifinity focus... my eyes suck so i don't like to rely on them in the dark for tiny points of light on the camera's screen ;p