Photographing stars - the best tips

You don't have to be a professional to photograph stars with your camera. With a little practice, you can create chic night shots. For the best results, you should use a digital SLR camera with many settings. But you can also create exciting pictures with other cameras.

For beginners: photograph star trails

If you photograph the starry sky, you can create so-called star trails. You should allow some time to prepare for this, you don't need an expensive camera:

• First place your camera on a tripod. This way your pictures won't blur later. If you don't have a tripod with you, you can place your camera on a straight section on the floor.
• Set an exposure time between 10 minutes and up to half an hour. The brighter your surroundings, the longer the exposure time should be.
• It is best to go to a place that is far from cities or houses. This is the only way to avoid disturbing lights and devote yourself entirely to the stars.
• Cover your camera's viewfinder. Many models have a rubber piece on the camera strap that you can attach to the eyepiece.
• If you need a light, you should cover your flashlight with a red sheet. So your eyes stay used to the dark and you don't disturb the picture.
• It is best to use a remote or cable release so that your tripod does not shake.
• Also bring some time with you. Depending on the weather and cloudiness, one or two photos can go wrong. So you should definitely take several pictures.

For professionals: take pictures of static constellations

If you are already an experienced hobby photographer, you can also represent standing stars. In addition, you can achieve noticeably better results here with a good camera.

• Again, you should put your camera on a tripod.
• Take the pictures in RAW format. So you can get more out of the recordings afterwards.
• Open your aperture as far as possible. This allows more light to fall on the sensor. A more expensive lens is noticeable here.
• Your ISO should not be too high so that the picture does not noise. The value depends on your camera. With values ​​around 1600 you usually do everything right.
• The exposure time should be several seconds. Play around a little with the settings here until you find the right exposure time.
• Use a remote or cable release here as well.

If the ISO settings are too high, your recordings can unfortunately become noisy. With the program "Lightroom" you can reduce this noise.