Night Sky photography

[htid]

I'll be off to Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park in South Africa in October and will be staying in rest camps in the park. Electricity is cut at all camps (of which there are only 3, around 200 miles apart) and there's nothing else for 100s miles around so it should be pitch black. I was thinking this would be the perfect opportunity to take some pics of the night sky (I'm looking at you for advice Dave/g8ina!). I have what's in my sig and only want some simple pictures, nothing amazing...something like this

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JHNE8ThfA3...ndscapes_2.jpg

Would I be able to achieve this with what I have plus a sturdy tripod, or do you need specialised equipment to achieve that?

Cheers!

[g8ina]

That sig appears to be out of order...

But, what you need to do is grab a copy of Registax, or Deep Sky Stacker softwares.

Take as many 20-30 second exposures as you can of one location (Orion is good) at wide angle (Sigma 10-20 is ideal) and wide aperture, manual focus (set it on the moon on auto, then lock to manual focus), ISO 400.

The stack em in Registax or DSS.

You might want to grab some darks and flats (google is your friend) and add those into the mix. Visit ukastroimaging forum for more info and samples, bunch of great astro togs in there, always happy to help.

Sounds like a fabulous trip, Im very jealous !

Oh and grab a brick to suspend from the tripod for extra stability and use mirror lock up if you have it.

[Bobster]

Would I be able to achieve this with what I have plus a sturdy tripod, or do you need specialised equipment to achieve that?

Cheers!

there's actually a video from the guy about how to take those shots..

[htid]

there's actually a video from the guy about how to take those shots..

I might be blind, but I've just scoured every word on that page and I can't see anything mentioned videos...could you elaborate please?

[Bobster]

ok wasnt him, but similar photography technique > https://vimeo.com/16833554

[Bagnaj97]

You could do worse than spending a while looking through the Stargazer's Lounge imaging forum, especially this sticky on widefield imaging with just a camera and tripod. It's probably worth a trip or two out to a darkish sky site to practice first, that way you should be able to make the most of your trip to SA.

There's a fairly extensive list of useful software here. G8ina's already mentioned Registax and DSS, but some other software of interest may be:

APT (Astro Photography Tool) will be helpful if you have a Canon DSLR - allows you to control it from a PC for automation purposes. Tell it to take 20 30sec subframes and let it do its thing etc.

Startrails This lets you create startrail pictures from several shorter exposures rather than 1 looooooong exposure. This keep noise levels down and keeps the background sky darker.

Stellarium Free and awesome planetarium software. Allows you to see what you're looking at. Get this even if you're not taking pics!

[oldboy47]

I used to do a lot of night photography. One of the biggest problems was movement. To add stability to the tripod (no matter how sturdy), a sock (yes sock) of sand or soil hung from the tripod added a little more firmness without adding much to your overall load.

Like the others said, we envy your opportunity and look forward to the results.