September–October 2015 12710
13Location: Find an area with minimal light
pollution, generally far from a big city.
Timing: The Milky Way is at its brightest
around the time of the new Moon, during
the middle of the year. Try an app or program
such as Stellarium or Photopills to plan your
shoot according to the position of the
Milky Way on a particular day.
Weather: A clear night is best because there
will be no clouds to obscure the stars.
Stability: Because the shutter of the camera
will be open for a long time during the
exposure, use a sturdy tripod and a shutter
remote to avoid camera movement. The
self-timer works too if you don’t own a
shutter remote.
Lens: Wide-angle lenses are generally best
because they allow for longer exposure times
before star trailing can be seen. They also fit
more of the sky in the frame.
Camera: Use manual mode to control shutter
speeds and aperture.
Exposure time: If the shutter is open too
long the stars start to become blurry due to
the Earth’s movement. Begin with an exposure
time of 30 seconds and reduce that if required
until you get the best results.
ISO: Choose the maximum ISO value offering
images with an acceptable level of noise. This
is generally in the range of ISO 1600–3200.
Aperture: Choose the widest possible
aperture (lowest F-stop value) to allow as
much light to enter the camera as possible.
This is generally between F/2.8 and F/4,
depending on the lens.
Focus: Focusing can be difficult in the dark;
essentially the focus should be set at infinity.
This can be done by selecting ‘infinity’ on the
focus scale of the lens, or sometimes focusing
on the Moon or a bright object far in the
distance. Trial and error may be required to
get it right; don’t forget to review your
images after they are captured to confirm
they are in focus.SHOOT FOR
THE STARS
There are several factors to consider
when photographing the night sky,
says photographer Luke Tscharke,
whose image of Mt Kosciuszko was
featured on our May–June cover.