Okay, so last night I tried to take some pictures of the stars. It was a bit of a spur-of-the-moment thing, and let me tell you, it was a learning experience!
Getting Started
First, I grabbed my camera, a basic DSLR, nothing fancy. I remembered I also needed my tripod, otherwise, everything would be a blurry mess. I headed out to my backyard, which, thankfully, is away from most of the streetlights.
The Struggle is Real
It was way darker than I expected! I fumbled around trying to get everything set up. I mounted the camera on the tripod, and that’s when the real fun began.
Settings, Settings, Settings
- ISO: I’d read online to crank this up. So I set it pretty high, starting at around 1600. I think I even tried 3200 at one point.
- Aperture: I opened this up as wide as my lens would allow, which was f/3.5. I think a wider aperture, that’s the small ‘f’ number thingy, would’ve been way better.
- Shutter Speed: This was the tricky part. I started with a 30-second exposure, I read online, and the longer I made it the more light and starts will show.
- Manual Focus is MUST: I turned to M focus, and I also found that my camera lens has a sign look like “∞”, and it did help a lot.
Trial and Error
I took a few test shots, and honestly, they looked terrible at first. Mostly black with a few blurry dots. I kept adjusting the ISO and shutter speed, taking shot after shot. It was a lot of trial and error, squinting at the tiny screen on the back of the camera.
Finally, Some Stars!
Eventually, I started to see something! I managed to get some faint stars to show up. They weren’t super sharp, but hey, it was progress! I realized that focusing was a HUGE issue. It’s really hard to focus on tiny points of light in the dark!
What I Learned
This little experiment taught me a few things:
- Patience is key. You need take a long time to do testing.
- Need a better lens. A wider aperture and sharper focus would make a big difference.
- Darker skies are better. Even my backyard had some light pollution.
- Manual Focus. I found that my camera has “∞” on focus, which means infinite, and it helped me to take the photos.
So, it wasn’t perfect, but I had fun, I got a few semi-decent shots, and I’m definitely going to try this again. Maybe with a better lens next time!
