Night sky Pictures

[jr8801]

Hey guys, im new here and to photography. I have a Nikon D40 and i have been trying to take pictures on the sky at night but cant get anything but black. its very clear out and the moon isnt in sight. I have my settins on Manual with Iso at 400 shutter speed at 30" and i cant get my apature F5.6. i have the lens that comes with the camera. Is that the problem or are my settings wrongs any advice will be appreciated


Justin

[djwixx]

Depending on what is in the sky 30 sec may not be enough. Try setting the lens to manual and focused on infinity, then leave the aperture to whatever you decide and let the camera decide on the exposure time (in Aperture priority). I'm not sure what the longest exposure on the D40 is, probably 30 secs, but bulb might be a better option, but that will need a cable to start and stop the exposure. Assuming all you are after is a dark sky and the stars the amount of light will be extremely limited so you'll need a long exposure which will essentially render the stars as lines. At ISO400 and a long exposure it will also be surprising how much light noise there is. The lowest ISO possible will increase the time for the exposure, but again the stars will look like small streaks. There just isn't enough light from them to pick it up on a quick exposure.

[jypsee]

generally made with a telescope; but perhaps you mean you want to photograph star trails because long exposures needed in a dark night sky will show the movement of the earth.
Here's an article for you to read for star trails
http://www.naturescapes.net/112006/ej1106.htm

[jr8801]

Thanks for your help this is what i got. well the best of what i got. it was in RAW format but i havent really learned to mess with the settings so in Photoshop CS3 i just put it on auto. any advice on how to make these better just let me know. Thanks