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Shoutout to the guy at the Cherry Springs star party who showed me his camera settings
I was at Cherry Springs State Park in Pennsylvania last fall, trying to get a shot of the Milky Way with my old DSLR. I mean, I'd watched a bunch of videos, but my photos kept coming out just a dark, grainy mess, you know? This guy named Mark, who was set up near me, saw me getting frustrated and just walked over. He didn't make a big deal about it, just said 'mind if I take a look?' and spent maybe ten minutes showing me his exact setup. He had me set my ISO to 3200, my aperture as wide as it would go, and a 20 second exposure. Idk, maybe it's just me, but seeing those numbers on my own screen, right there in the dark with the actual sky above us, just clicked. I got a decent shot that night, not perfect, but it had real stars. Has anyone else had a simple tip from a stranger totally change how you shoot?
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eric_hunt646mo ago
Honestly, that 20 second exposure would just give me star trails with my kit lens.
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lewis.barbara6mo ago
Kit lenses are basically star trail machines past 10 seconds. Tried it once on a tripod and got blurry smears that looked like a toddler drew them. Makes you appreciate the people who actually get clean shots. My camera's high ISO looks like TV static anyway, so it's a lost cause.
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