Guest badrobit Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 I was finally able to get out and see aurora myself for the first time in my life. I also managed to snag a pic It is blurry and out of focus so any suggestions on how to take them clearer next time would be very much appreciated! It was taken using a 30 second exposure at ISO 400. Let me know what you think and any suggestions you have. - Mat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest wouterds Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 Very nice picture! The only tip I can give you is setting the focus to manual, than turning it to infinity and than just slightly a few mm back to get the best results when photographing stars/space/sky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest badrobit Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 Thanks for the tip, might you be able to explain why that would improve the quality of the photos? (I will definitely try it but I was hoping to understand why it would help too) - Mat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jasper Dijkstra Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 Thanks for the tip, might you be able to explain why that would improve the quality of the photos? (I will definitely try it but I was hoping to understand why it would help too) - Mat Did you use a tripod? That always helps to improve the quality! A good lens, and preferably a (d)SLR will give you the best results. You don't need a fancy, super expensive DSLR, i've made some pretty impressive pics with my nikon D3200. From my experience, I think it is best to put your camera in aperture-priority mode (the button/dial with the big A), and open up your aperture to the maximum: the lower the F/... value, the better. This is probably something like F/3.5, but that depends on your lens. Your camera will then calculate the appropriate shutter speed. Depending on your cameras sensor size and noise reduction, I would suggest an ISO of 400-800. I usually go for 800. You'll probably need to experiment a bit with your settings, because it really depends on the camera, lens, and photographer what yields the best results. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest badrobit Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 Hi Jasper, I did use a tripod and I started it using a remote so that there wouldn't be much shake from me hitting the shutter button. It was taken with a Sony alpha-65 DSL with the stock 50-135mm lens. I think I took it in shutter priority mode. I will have to give aperture mode next time (hopefully I will have time to grab more than just the one photo ) I am still pretty new to the astrophotography and aurora stuff. I used ISO 400 because that is what I had seen other people doing on here but I am not really sure what the difference is and what effects it has on the photos I am taking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jasper Dijkstra Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 Hi Jasper, I did use a tripod and I started it using a remote so that there wouldn't be much shake from me hitting the shutter button. It was taken with a Sony alpha-65 DSL with the stock 50-135mm lens. I think I took it in shutter priority mode. I will have to give aperture mode next time (hopefully I will have time to grab more than just the one photo ) I am still pretty new to the astrophotography and aurora stuff. I used ISO 400 because that is what I had seen other people doing on here but I am not really sure what the difference is and what effects it has on the photos I am taking. Hi Mat, Looking at your photo, I think ISO 400 is probably the max. If you go to higher ISO, your photo will probably be ruined because of too much noise. I think the main issue with you photo is the focus. Autofocus usually ruins the picture in aurora photography, because the cold and the darkness make the autofocus unable to focus properly. So as wouterds said, if you focus to infinity and a little back, you can get amazing pictures. Aurora photography really isn't that difficult, and you don't need a $1000+ camera to get nice pictures. When I started with aurora photography, I had never touched a DSLR in my life. The first few pics I took of the aurora were out of focus like yours, until a friend told me to use manual focus and the A-priority, and suddenly I started to get amazing pics like the one below: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest badrobit Posted March 19, 2015 Share Posted March 19, 2015 Wow that is an awesome photo I will definitely give the manual focusing a shot! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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