BBC Science Focus - 03.2020

1

KNOW THE BASICS

Do you know the basic

technique for photographing

the night sky? It’s all about taking long

exposures. With a DSLR or mirrorless

camera on a tripod, put as wide-angle

lens as you can get on manual focus, set

it to infinity focus (the ' symbol), and set

the aperture to as open-wide as it can

get. That’s the lowest number it will go

to (typically f/4.5 or f/2.8). Now choose

ISO 800 and take a long exposure for

about 20-25 seconds, recording it in a

raw format for a large file size (a SanDisk

Extreme memory card is handy here). If

the photo is too dark, swap to ISO 1600,

ISO 3200 or higher. Whatever camera you

get, learn how to operate in a blackout,

and understand that whatever you see

on your camera’s LCD screen can be

vastly improved upon in Photoshop.

2

FIND A DARK SKY

Capturing stars doesn’t

have to be daunting, but it

does have to be dark. Astrophotography

is the art of collecting limited light –

that of distant stars – which can be

blotted-out easily by light pollution. The

darkest locations include International

Dark Sky Parks, International Dark Sky

Reserves and Dark Sky Discovery Sites.

However, the trick isn’t just to avoid

artificial light. Many beginners forget

all about one big light-polluter that can

ruin astrophotography; the moon. It

bleaches the night sky considerably, so

avoid the week or so either side of the

full moon. Useful apps include ‘Dark

Sky Finder’ and ‘Light Pollution Map’.

3

CAPTURE THE

MILKY WAY

In the UK, the best time

to capture the Milky Way is from May

through to October. Prepare for summer

by choosing a full-frame DSLR camera

like Canon’s EOS 6D Mark II or the very

latest and greatest Nikon Z6, Canon EOS

R or Sony Alpha A9, which have very high

ISO to detect more light while retaining

a clean image. You can up your chances

even further by using a wide-angle lens.

Good pairings include the Fujifilm X-T

and the Fujifilm 16mm f1.4 R WR lens,

the Nikon Z6 and Nikon Nikkor Z 24mm

f/1.8 S lens, the Canon EOS R and a

Samyang MF 14mm f/2.8 (Canon RF Fit)

lens. Or there’s the cream of the crop:

the Sigma 14mm f/1.8 DG HSM Art

lens for Canon, Nikon and Sony DSLR

cameras. When summer arrives you’ll be

ready to try for the bright heart of the

galaxy. Download the brilliant ‘PhotoPills’

to help you line-up a shot in advance.

4

CREATE A

STAR-TRAIL

It’s perhaps the most

intoxicating kind of astro-photo out there,

and it’s easy to do. With your camera

pointed towards Polaris, the North Star,

you can take multiple images that record

how the positions of the stars gradually

shift. Since Earth’s axis is pointed straight

at Polaris, every other star will appear to

make concentric circles around it. The

trick is to keep your camera absolutely

steady while you take an identical image

100 times (or more), then use the free

StarStaX stacking software to create

one mesmerising star-trail image. Get

a study tripod like the Sachtler 4588

Speed Lock 75 Carbon Fibre Tripod,

and use an intervalometer to make the

entire process automatic. While you wait

beside your camera, a pair of Canon’s

incredible 10x42 L IS WP Binoculars

will give you an unrivalled view of star

clusters, and even some distant galaxies.

5

PHOTOGRAPH THE

NORTHERN LIGHTS

The aurora borealis

or northern lights are on every

astrophotographer’s bucket list.

The technique isn’t difficult. In

fact, it’s almost exactly the same

as taking any night-scape.

Location and timing are everything

if you’re to capture the effect of by

charged particles from the sun striking

atoms in Earth’s atmosphere. First, get

yourself to the ‘aurora zone’ at around

64°-70° North latitudes; Iceland, southern

Greenland, Lapland (the northern parts of

Norway, Sweden and Finland), northern

Russia, Alaska and northern Canada.

Then wait until it gets dark ... and hope

for clear skies. You don’t need special

equipment, but extra batteries (which

run down quickly in the cold) can help.

As spring arrives but spectacular starry sights of winter night sky still

linger, discover these tips on targets and equipment you can source

from MPB, the world’s best marketplace for used photo and video

kit, so you can get the most from the galaxy of wonders above us

How to get

better pictures

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