Over the years, technological advancements have impacted every field of life, including photography. While photography is well-loved by many people, a form of photography known as astrophotography has become the hobby of a few individuals fascinated by the night skies. Here are five tips for space photography.
Use a sturdy tripod
The importance of a good tripod cannot be over-emphasized. Astrophotography usually involves long hours of exposure, and any camera shake can prove costly. The use of hands isn’t advised as shaking and imbalance of the camera is unavoidable over a long time.
Mounting your camera on a good tripod ensures balance, as there would be no danger of vibrations that can disrupt the image shooting process, thus resulting in shots and images of high quality.
Shoot in Raw
In astrophotography, it is advised to shoot in raw mode and not JPEG mode on digital cameras. Shooting in JPEG mode alters the original image, as camera settings have their effects immediately after the shot. Switch and shoot in raw mode for optimal quality, and then you can edit later.
Shooting in raw mode has many advantages, as this mode gives you the freedom and opportunity to digitally edit your shoots during the post-processing process. This results in celestial shoots that are just how you want them to look.
Ensure Right Weather
Like every other type of outdoor photography, the weather conditions are important. Shoots taken under poor weather conditions like snowy, dark, and overcast skies and days can negatively influence your work as the lighting conditions are not excellent.
In astrophotography, a clear night is the best time to shoot as a resulting balance in natural lightning and clear visibility of celestial bodies ensures maximum quality shoots. Also, there’s more time for you to take your perfect shot. So, make sure to check the weather before going for a shoot.
Find Dark skies
The most important thing in space photography is the dark sky. It is under this darkness the celestial bodies are mostly visible. Shooting under light-sky conditions can result in unclear views and shots of bodies. You are to locate places without light pollution for the perfect space pictures.
The benefits of dark skies in astrophotography are innumerable as everything depends mainly on this one important condition. Also, under the dark sky, you can get the perfect contrast between the objects you are shooting and the sky.
Use Manual mode
Manual mode, as the name implies, means you control everything on the camera. In astrophotography, camera features like autofocus and others can be disturbed as they might not provide the right conditions to shoot celestial objects. So, switching to manual mode is the best. You are in charge!
Manual mode has numerous benefits: the lens can focus infinitely, the shutter remains open as long as you press, and you can select the ISO settings, aperture, and time of exposure right for you, depending on the objects you are shooting. In other words, Manual mode offers flexibility and full control.
