Keen to test the information learnt from my recent ISO Invariance article, I stopped at Rottingdean windmill on the way home from camera club a few evenings back. The temperature has been falling for the last couple of weeks, and last Thursday in particular was rather cold in the evening. When I left the club to drive home, the sky was clear of clouds, adding further to the lower temperatures.
I arrived at the windmill, which is situated in a field north of the coast road - if you go any further south, your feet would get wet! Walking up the hill, the chill began to deepen as the wind picked up. Yes, who'd have thought a windmill would be built somewhere with wind?
Anyway, I planted my tripod and set up the shot. The plan was to get the windmill in the lower third, and use the rest of the frame for a sky full of stars. As I adjusted the tripod, clouds began to quickly arrive from the north.
I managed to take six shots before there were more clouds than stars. And here's the first lesson to learn about astrophotography - check the forecast!
What could have been a good half-an-hour or more of quality photography time turned into a rather dismal seven minutes.
Secondly, ensure you're fully up to speed on what settings you need to get the best stars. I wasn't going for any motion in the night sky, wanting pin-point celestial objects.
The lens mounted was the Voigtlander f/0.95 17.5mm which has amazing light-gathering properties courtesy of its fast aperture, though I stop-down to f/1.2 to get a bit more sharpness.
Because of the 2x crop-factor of the Four Thirds sensor, the 17.5mm is equivalent to a 35mm lens on a full-frame camera. 35mm requires a ~14 second maximum shutter speed to prevent star trails (see How to Avoid Star Trails by Following the '500 rule').
My first shot at ISO1600 was taken at 15 secs, really just to make sure I had the composition I wanted. Subsequent shots were then taken to ISO3200 and 20 secs, and that's where I went wrong... although I'd set ISO to what I'd learnt was the "best" for light-sensitivity, the increased shutter speed meant moving stars. It also meant burnt-out clouds, courtesy of over-exposure - and there's no recovering that lost detail.
Thirdly, make sure you've got enough layers on. A thick hat helped, as did a scarf. And although my walking jacket provided quite a bit of insulation, my jeans did nothing to stop the winter wind.
I had gloves with me, but these were useless for photography being too big and unwieldy. Next on the shopping list: photography gloves!
The fourth thing that springs to mind is that I was up on an unlit field at night, away from roads and houses. I'd told no one that I was heading up there that evening, and the only company I had was my tripod. If some nefarious ne'er-do-well had been up there as well, they'd have had quite the opportunity to grab some pricey camera kit without much risk.
Conclusion:
Another time, perhaps.
I arrived at the windmill, which is situated in a field north of the coast road - if you go any further south, your feet would get wet! Walking up the hill, the chill began to deepen as the wind picked up. Yes, who'd have thought a windmill would be built somewhere with wind?
| Picture info: Lumix GH4, Voigtländer f/0.95 17.5mm, ISO1600, f/1.2, 15 sec |
Anyway, I planted my tripod and set up the shot. The plan was to get the windmill in the lower third, and use the rest of the frame for a sky full of stars. As I adjusted the tripod, clouds began to quickly arrive from the north.
I managed to take six shots before there were more clouds than stars. And here's the first lesson to learn about astrophotography - check the forecast!
What could have been a good half-an-hour or more of quality photography time turned into a rather dismal seven minutes.
Secondly, ensure you're fully up to speed on what settings you need to get the best stars. I wasn't going for any motion in the night sky, wanting pin-point celestial objects.
The lens mounted was the Voigtlander f/0.95 17.5mm which has amazing light-gathering properties courtesy of its fast aperture, though I stop-down to f/1.2 to get a bit more sharpness.
Because of the 2x crop-factor of the Four Thirds sensor, the 17.5mm is equivalent to a 35mm lens on a full-frame camera. 35mm requires a ~14 second maximum shutter speed to prevent star trails (see How to Avoid Star Trails by Following the '500 rule').
My first shot at ISO1600 was taken at 15 secs, really just to make sure I had the composition I wanted. Subsequent shots were then taken to ISO3200 and 20 secs, and that's where I went wrong... although I'd set ISO to what I'd learnt was the "best" for light-sensitivity, the increased shutter speed meant moving stars. It also meant burnt-out clouds, courtesy of over-exposure - and there's no recovering that lost detail.
| Picture info: Lumix GH4, Voigtländer f/0.95 17.5mm, ISO3200, f/1.2, 20 sec Unprocessed RAW |
Thirdly, make sure you've got enough layers on. A thick hat helped, as did a scarf. And although my walking jacket provided quite a bit of insulation, my jeans did nothing to stop the winter wind.
I had gloves with me, but these were useless for photography being too big and unwieldy. Next on the shopping list: photography gloves!
The fourth thing that springs to mind is that I was up on an unlit field at night, away from roads and houses. I'd told no one that I was heading up there that evening, and the only company I had was my tripod. If some nefarious ne'er-do-well had been up there as well, they'd have had quite the opportunity to grab some pricey camera kit without much risk.
Conclusion:
- Check forecast
- Read up on settings
- Ensure you're wearing the right clothing
- Bring company/inform people
Another time, perhaps.
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