As comets, meteor showers and full moons fill our night sky with good looks this summer, it’s time for photography enthusiasts to take out their cameras and hone their skills. But capturing Earth’s peaceful displays can be difficult. The moon looks blurry and those shooting stars look black. That’s why I enlisted the help of Dakota Snider, the professional photographer at Mammoth Lakes Tourism. He’s been taking pictures of star stars all over the Eastern Sierra in recent weeks, and I sat down with him to get his tips and tricks on night photography, even with a phone camera. Here’s what I had to say.
“Light and darkness are the ideal situations for photographing the night sky,” Snider said. “You must have the darkest sky as possible. Ideally, the closest thing to a new moon or very little moon is visible. It also has as few clouds and pollutants as possible.”
“Tripods are preferable for night shots because they allow you to slow down the shutter and decrease the ISO to minimize noise,” he said. “Tripods are a must because when you take photos at night, the camera sensor is exposed to as much softness as possible. While the shutter is open, you can’t move. Otherwise, you’ll get a blurry item. The tripod is a must for the camera to stay still. The shutter stays open for a long time, even the wind can make the symbol look blurry.”
“While self-centering has evolved a lot in recent years, manual focus is the way forward for night photography,” he said. “Due to the darkness surrounding the sky with self-centered, you may not be able to locate a reference point, which blurs the concentrate. Using manual concentrate, when you have discovered your bright spot in the sky, zoom in and start by adjusting the concentrate ring until the tip becomes sharp. This will capture clear and sharp objects.”
“The f diaphragm is its opening, which is just an adjustable-sized gap (to let in other degrees of softness),” he said. “A low F diaphragm means that the aperture is very giant and that all excess softness is allowed to enter. For nighttime photography, this is ideal because it needs as much smoothness as you can imagine to enter the sensor. Remember, with an F diaphragm, the decrease number corresponds to the maximum open aperture. Then set your ISO to a higher level, but not so much as to get a grainy return. Try to stay below ISO 3200”.
He added: “Finally, aim for an exposure of 15 to 20 seconds. Anything that’s longer means your camera will be open enough for you to actually get a star moment. You don’t need your exposure to be longer than that, unless you’re looking for traces of stars (more than 20 seconds, capture the moment from Earth) ».
“I always say that the most productive camera you have is the one with you at all times,” he said. For many people, their cell phone accompanies them all the time; in this case, it is the most productive camera to use. The latest generation of cameras for iPhone and cell phone that exists is quite unreal. When shooting with a mobile phone, I would recommend the same recommendations and techniques as with the main camera (you will always need to use a tripod and have the camera as still as you can imagine when taking pictures). “
Although I’m now a qualified editor and holistic physical trainer, things haven’t exactly started that way. For almost ten years I was a show journalist. yes my
Although I’m now a qualified editor and holistic physical trainer, things haven’t exactly started that way. For almost ten years I was a show journalist. Yes, my life revolved around red carpets, fancy parties and Kim Kardashian. I’m not going to lie; it was a laugh for a while, but I looked for more. I was tired of writing about other people’s lives instead of living mine. So I gave up my job as a gossip journalist, started and graduated from the Institute of Integrative Nutrition. Since then, I have gone to more than 30 countries on each and every continent (including Antarctica when I was five months pregnant) and have written for media outlets such as Conde Nast Traveller, Travel Leisure, The New York Times and more. I also gave the impression on TODAY, MSNBC and E! because of my experience. Follow me on Twitter (@jordilippe) and Instagram (@jordilippe).