Practical Photography - UK (2020-04)

Adamsays:Standingout

inthecoldanddarkisn’t

everyone’sideaof fun,butit’s

certainlyworthit forcapturing

the MilkyWay.It’ssucha

magnificentsightthatnever

fa ilsto inspirewonderin us

photographers,andmakesfor

somestunningimages.But to

captureit successfullytakes

a di fferentapproachthan

shootingstartrails.TheMilky

Way requiresa slightlyfaster

shutterspeedthantheminutes

you woulduseforstartrails.

The starsappearto moveacross

the skymorequicklythanyou

mightthink.Evenoverthe

courseof a 30secexposure

theywillbe visiblystreaking

inyourimage.

Gettingtheshot

Togetpinpointstarsrather

thanstreaksyou’llwantto use

a shutterspeedof around20sec

fo r a wide-anglelens,andeven

fa sterfora longerfocallength.

Agoodruleof thumbis to

di vide 500 by yourfocallength.

Sofora 20mmlenswe divide

50 0 by 20 fora shutterspeed

of25sec.Thisis onlya starting

point– if youcheckthebackof

yourcameraandthestarsare

st illstreaking,you’llneeda

fa stershutterspeed.TheMilky

Way isn’tverybright,so getting

thesefastershutterspeeds

can be tougher.Thewideryou

can openyouraperture,the

better.Thebestlensesfor

astrophotographyopenup

toaperturesof f/2.8or wider.

Withthewidestapertureyou

havedialledin,it’stimeto

in creasetheISO.You’llwant

toincreaseit as muchas you

dare.If yourcameracanhappily

handleISO1600,or even3200,

thenstartthere.Thehigheryou

pushtheISO,thebrighterthe

st arswillappear,butif it’s

pushedtoofarthennoisewill

st artto becomea problem.

Gi vea boostin theedit

Don’tworryif yourstarsare

lo okinga littleunderexposed,as

you canincreasetheirintensity

inPhotoshop.Right-clickon

yourimagein theLayerspalette

(Window>Layers) and select

DuplicateLayer.Thenheadup

totheBlendingModeoptions

atthe topof theLayerspalette

and setthatto Screen.

Know

Your Stuf f

All your technique and gear questions answered by

our team of experts [email protected]

I’ve been shooting a lot of astrophotography over

the winter – mainly star trails – and recently I’ve been

trying to get some Milky Way shots. The problem is,

I just can’t get my stars to come out as pinpoints. They keep

streaking. What am I doing wrong?

Tina Baggley, Cornwall

How can I shoot

stars without

them streaking?

68 PRAcTIcALPhOTOgRAPhY

Chris Parker

PP’s deputy

editor is an

experienced

tutor, landscape

photographer and

videographer.

AdamAtkins

PP’s features

writeris an

accomplished

pr ofessional

sportandtravel

photographer.

Kirk Schwarz

Knowledgeable

wedding,fashion

and product

photographer

Ki rkhasan eye

fo r finerdetails.

LeftChoosing

a wide-angle

le nswill reduce

thedistance

th e starsmove

re lativeto

your se nsor,

which allows

yo u to use a

slowershutter

speedto let

in morelight.