Tips on shooting star lapses?

30 second shutter speed

I shoot my aperture wide open, some people like to stop down by a stop or 2 because it's sharper, but the iso performance is not very good on my t2i

I try not to shoot higher than 800iso due to noise. You can do some test shots with different iso's to see which you prefer.
Set your focus to manual and put it just shy of infinity.

Choose a white balance you like, just make sure it's not on auto, or else it could make the final product look a bit funny

I usually set my interval to 30 seconds, meaning the shutter only closes for a split second between 30" exposures, so I have the option of doing star streaks, or a timelapse

Photo resolution is way higher than video, you can keep it bigger if you want more room to key movements and zooms in post, or shoot at a lower resolution (closer to that of video) to save room on your card

So here are a few thing that I try and do when doing star timelapse:

1/ always add some kind of static object in the shot, for example a cork, tree, mountain etc.

have an iphone/smartphone, download a star app that shows you where certain stars will be at certain points of the night. Definitely handy with finding out where/when the moon will rise and in what direction.

Shoot when the moon is not out, it provides a ton of light that will interfere with the stars.

watch this for inspiration:

Kessler Timefest 2011 - BTS from Tom Guilmette on Vimeo.

that was awesome

This is is good advice, no offense to Sklar, but the stuff he's saying isn't really true.

Also, make sure you're in an open space and not near any trees (having trees in the frame is ok). If you're too close, the swaying branches are really distracting.

Shoot with a wide angle. Something around 24mm gives a nice wide perspective, but not too wide. If you use a long lens, the stars will become lines instead of dots. Make sure that's not the case!

SHOOT RAW

SHOOT IN MANUAL MODE

Your 60D should be able to handle ISO 1600, put it there.

If you see stars pop up on your screen, don't think that's good enough. Using a longer exposure will give you MANY times more stars. Try it at least and see how bad the noise is. Noise reduction software can do an amazing job at reducing noise, so don't be afraid to shoot at high ISO's where you see the grain (even not zoomed in)

Use long intervals. Your exposures will probably be around 25 seconds, depending on your aperture. Take some time off. Otherwise the stars will move slowly, which is boring. 25 second exposure, one minute off, all night long will give you a sick timelapse. Just make sure it isn't raining or anything. Use a plastic bag with a hole in it to cover up your lens and body and put a rubber band or two around the lens barrel. That should do the job.


Most of all: take at least 15-20 test pictures. The best advice is not to sacrifice the amount of stars for a lower ISO and thus, less noisy image.

anyone have tips for long exposure noise reduction? I usually find that I get more stars to show up with it off (with the same exposure), but sometimes it doesn't make much of a difference and it really can reduce the noise considerably

I haven't done very extensive research as far as long exposure noise reduction goes, but I really don't find it useful. That means, I don't use it. Maybe I should try it again, but I found that noise reduction software does a great job.

ya, tonight I took a few test shots with each, and all it did was take twice as long but with slightly less noise. Unfortunately, the clouds moved in by the time I got set up

I'm going to check outside right now to see how it is. I'm in Denver, but don't think it's very awesome here. Light pollution and all. Besides, meteor showers aren't super rare I think. I incidentily captured one some time.

Just came back from outside: nothing to be seen here. I can see barely any stars with the naked eye, so I can't imagine it'll be very exciting with a cam. I'll look up some amazing lapses by pro's to see what it is really like.

ya I'm in vt. I went back out and decided to do a quick timelapse of the clouds. putting it together now. hopefully its clear tomorrow night

welp i forgot my intervalometer last night

That's sick. I've tried this a few times yet my shots are always way too dark, no idea what I'm doing wrong. Got a 550D, non-auto white balance, open apature, high iso.

Use a longer SS.

Those guys are pretty hardcore about their night timelapses!

password is ns

I've shot in a sp of 30 and it first the stars were plenty bright, but later on, they became dimmer and faded out to black. I'd recommend starting off with a much longer shutter speed, maybe 1 or 2 minutes and review the pics as you go.