A BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO SHOOTING THE NIGHT SKY: Part 1
This is the first in a series of entries covering night sky photography for beginners. If you're just starting out in Astrophotography, this session will covers what gear you'll need to have a successful, and enjoyable, session.
Before getting into the camera setup I used to capture star trails and the Milky Way, let's first review what items I use to capture my night skies.
Okay, so you can't bring this with you but there's no point in venturing out if it's going to be cloudy, or worse. Be sure to check the hourly forecast in addition to the daily. Just because it's cloudy at sunset doesn't mean those clouds won't move out of the area before the stars come out (and, if shooting the Milky Way, you may have several hours before it rises, well after sunset).
I use a Sony a7r iv, a full frame, 61mp camera body. You'll want a body that can handle higher ISOs without adding a lot of sensor noise, especially as you'll be taking potentially hundreds of shots for star trails and building up some sensor heat.
Generally speaking, you're going to want two things out of your lens for astrophotography: wide angle and fast. I usually take two lenses with me. Since I'm shooting with a full frame and not a crop sensor (APS-C senor). I take my Sony 16-35 2.8 GM and my 14mm 1.8 GM primary lens. If you have a crop sensor camera and lenses, you’ll want to bring your widest lens with the widest aperture, preferably 2.8 or wider.
Be wary of relying on a light weight or flimsy tripod as you don't want your camera shaking during longer exposures (or, even worse, falling over). Ideally, you'll have a model that has a center hook from which you can hang your camera bag or tripod weights to help with windy conditions. I prefer and use SLIK Tripods and ball head. You can purchase directly from Slik Tripods website or on Amazon.
I used PhotoPills to identify when and where the Milky Way or Polaris if I’m doing circle star trails, moon phase and position, and much more. It also has built in tools to help you: calculate your maximum exposure time to avoid star trailing (accounting for your camera's sensor size and your lens' set focal length), plan for time lapses, find hyperfocal distances… and a ton more. There is a lot to absorb and play around with and, fortunately, the developers provide tutorials for using all the tools (I spent about 90 minutes watching videos the night before the group outing). The mode I found most useful, however, is the night AR (altered reality) mode. Click on this and you're taken to a live view of your surroundings with an overlay of the sky. You can use this view to scroll back and forth through times and dates to preview where the Milky Way will be in the future; a great tool to plan your shot well in advance, especially when it won't be visible until 3am! Additionally, you'll likely discover that a star finder app will be useful, if you're trying to find/identify constellations or just need help finding the North Star (and can't remember your basic education, like me).
Jump past the Milky Way for a rundown of some other items you'll need, or should consider, for night sky sessions.
If wind is in the forecast, consider some weighted bags for your tripod. I found some on Amazon for a good price and filled them with play sand from the local hardware store. The set I ordered has four bags, enough to place one on each tripod leg and to hang one from the tripod's center hook. If you don't want to use weighted bags, or forget them, you can always hang your camera bag from the hook in a pinch.
More important for star trails than shooting the Milky Way but you'll want an extra battery or two. Shooting 240 30-second exposures for star trails chewed through about 70% of a fully charged battery for my Sony a7r iv, and I ended up using all three batteries I brought for the overnight session (only one was completely drained, the other two each had roughly 15-20% left). The next worst thing to not checking the weather forecast beforehand would be having perfect conditions and running out of juice halfway through your shooting.
INTERVALOMETER/WIRED REMOTE AND EXTRA BATTERIES
Another must-have for shooting star trails. Yes, you could shoot manually but who wants to stand or sit next to your camera for 2-3 hours hitting the shutter button every 30 seconds? I also discovered that the built-in interval timer on the Sony a7r iv allows for up to 9999 shots, but some cameras only allow up to 99 shots. As for batteries, the intervalometer/remote probably doesn't draw much power but, again, you don't want to get halfway through your shots only to have the batteries unexpectedly die. I always bring spare batteries and a portable battery charger just incase. It’s always nice to be prepared then not have it.
A headlamp is a must. Make sure it has a red lamp mode. Also I always carry a compact flashlight just incase- for light painting, getting around, and for emergencies - and a head lamp that has a red light option. I only used the flashlight a few times to sweep the foreground during long exposures of the Milky Way but I used the red headlamp frequently as I walked to and from my camera and my chair or car, or as I needed to check various things on my camera or intervalometer here and there through the night. Remember, ideal shooting conditions are during the new moon; between that and (hopefully) being far away from light pollution, it will be much darker than you expect!
Balaclava (best purchase I've made for chilly nights!)
Pillow (I caught a snooze in the back seat of my car... the pillow helped... some)
And a lens warmer. This is needed for those long cold nights or high humidity nights where frost or dew can form on your lens over time. There’s. I thing like shooting a 700 image star trail or time lapse and seeing the last 200-300 images are hazy due to frost or dew.
This covers what I typical bring and equipment I use for Astrophotography. You can always add to list as the nights are long, or you can always kick back while the camera is clicking away and read some more of my blogs or checkout my tutorials and adventures on YouTube. But keep that screen light away from your camera, you don’t want to introduce any unwanted light pollution!
Don’t forget to subscribe and stay update with new blogs and more!
