star shots-- basic tips
can't count 'em all, kalalau beach, kauai, hawaii. f2.8, 30 sec, iso 2000
Can't count 'em all is one of the two images displayed in the gallery that people ask me about the most.
How'd you do that?
What kind of filter did you use?
Are those stars?
Is that lava?
Is that on the big island?
Do you have a motor that tracks the stars?
How come the stars are't moving?
And many more questions expressing both wonder and disbelief.
Many of the questions that i am asked about that shot are concern the settings and camera, but i always answer first with the location-- kalalau beach, at the end of an 11 mile long hike, deep in the wilderness that is the napali coast. You see, i think that's the most important part of night photography-- location and effort. Quite simply, in order to get the stars to show up well in a photo you need a black sky and that means you need to get yourself to somewhere, anywhere with little to no light pollution. I live in kauai so i am relatively lucky, but you can still find a black sky near to where you are, too. Just go online and look for "black sky maps" or "dark sky maps". I'm sure something will pop up that you can use to direct you to a dark location full of brilliant stars.
The second thing you need to consider--way before even taking the camera out of the bag-- is time: both time of the year (season) and time of the month (phase of the moon). Here on kauai we get a bright milky way from the end of june to about the beginning of october. And of course the milky way is brightest during these months when we have a new or black moon. If you can't shoot with a new moon, then look for a waning crescent or a waxing crescent moon. For me, unless if i am shooting star trails, i don't even try to shoot the milky way in the fall or winter. Millions of stars just not going to show up as well as they do in the summer. Likewise, i don't even bother the night sky when the moon is big. Sleep is just too valuable to waste on those nights with poor light. So in order to shoot the milky way, you are basically down to three or four nights a month, three or four months of the year. Which means when you go out to photograph the night sky, you better make it count.
koke'e night sky and paper bark tree, koke'e, kauai, hawaii. f2.8, 30 sec, iso 2000
Oh, i almost forgot-- don't bother with an overly overcast or cloudy sky. Check the weather! Plan your night shoot! This is very important!!! But, don't let a few clouds deter you, as they can add a sense of mystery and color to the night scene. Like the shot above of the paper bark tree-- i was worried that the clouds would obstruct the milky way. But it turned out ok. Incidentally, this shot was taken with a waxing crescent moon, 6% full. The light shining on the tree is from my headlamp. It's a technique called "painting" and i'll talk more about that later.
closer than you think, polihale, kauai, hawaii. f2.8, 25 sec, iso 2000
All right, so now that we've got the preliminaries out of the way-- black sky, no light pollution, time of the year, phase of the moon, weather-- let's talk about the basic settings and equipment that you'll need to get those stellar shots.
1. camera
2. lens (wide angle preferably. i'll tell you why in a second....)
3. tripod
these are really the only things that you absolutely need. optional items would maybe be
4. remote shutter switch (for exposures lasting more than 30 seconds or to minimize camera shake. you can also shoot with the mirror looked in "UP" position).
5. motor to track the stars (very expensive. i've only used once. when i was in college. in an astronomy lab. we photographed the moon. i have no idea how they work and can't really say anything about it other than i think it would be pretty cool to have).
6. headlamp or flashlight for safety and if you want to do any light painting.
7. delicious beverage
Now, just like everything else in the universe, star shots are no different-- there are many ways to do it. What i'm about to tell you is just how i do it. Nothing more. Nothing less. Try it and see how it works for you.
OK, camera settings. I use a canon 5d3 so these are the settings that seem to work well for my camera. Yours may be different, but not significantly, i don't think... anyway, here we go..
iso-- 1600 ~ 2000.
lately i've been shooting star shots at 2000 iso. This high iso allows lots of light to soak sensor. The problem with shooting at such a high iso is that the image will take on a bit of noise or a grainy look. for this reason i always shoot with noise reduction "ON". This in-camera feature helps to reduce the resulting noise of shooting at such a high iso (as well as the resulting noise from shooting at longer exposures). You should also try to minimize the effect of noise in post processing.
aperture-- f2.8 (or the smallest f-stop that your lens allows). Basically what you want is a big hole to let in a lot of light.
shutter speed-- 500/focal length = the number of seconds you can leave the shutter open before the stars begin to streak, causing unwanted blur and general fuzziness). Now, i shoot all of my star shots with a 16-35/ 2.8 wide angle lens. I almost always leave it at the 16mm focal length. So using the above formula (500/16) i can leave the shutter open for 31.25 seconds before the stars begin to "move." If your lens of choice is a 24mm focal length lens then you have (500/24) 20.8 seconds to leave the shutter open before streaking occurs. That may not be enough time to get a good, strong, bright starry sky. My advice would be to go shopping or borrow your friends wide angle lens.
focus-- manual, infinity or do what i often do and set up early, auto focus on an object while it is still light and then set the lens to manual focus and then wait until it gets dark. very dark. the only problem with this method is that you may not know exactly where the milky way will be in the night sky. also helpful for focusing is a strong headlamp. you can shine light on an object nearby and let the lens pick it up then fire away. with this technique you will need to use a timer or remote switch.
light painting-- if you choose you can light up the foreground by shining a headlamp, flashlight, cellphone, etc... for a portion of the exposure. say 5 seconds or so. it's all trial and error so take a few shots and play with it a bit. i lit the paper bark tree for 5 above or you can leave the foreground in silhouette like i did with the tree in the photo below.
on the slopes of waimea, waimea, kauai. f2.8, 30 sec, iso 2000
As for composition, i don't really have any rules or advice. Every tip or hint or rule regarding composition can be broken to brilliant effect so who am i to tell you how to compose a shot. Just keep in mind that on some nights it may be difficult to find the milky way with the naked eye so you may need to take a couple of shots in order to locate the galaxy, but once you dial it in, you should be good to go. Just frame it however you think it looks good.
passing light, rapa nui (easter island), chile. f5, 30 sec, iso 400
And finally, remember that sometimes if you arrive early to a sunrise you may also be able to get a few star shots in while you wait.
Those are some of the basics of star shots. Good luck and have fun!
Aloha,
lee
the cosmic dance
these photos of the cosmic dance were taken during an early morning shoot at a location i call "pinnacles". it is on the south side of the island, along the heritage trail, somewhere between shipwrecks and maha'ulepu, kauai, hawaii.
light wave fly
the cosmic dance (of time and space)
stream of consciousness
how shapes take form
movement all around us (the flow of the universe)
graced by time
a slogfest to guardian falls
muddy. muddy. muddy! oh, slippery, too! full on jungle hiking/river wading/rock hopping adventure!
alas, no pictures of the bog because i was afraid i'd drop my camera and lose it forever in the deep, dark mud.
the trail to guardian falls starts where loop road ends, well passed the rainbow eucalyptus filled keahua arboretum at the end of kuamo'o road.
giant rainbow eucalyptus at the keahua arboretum
an african tulip tree at the beginning of loop road, just past the first water crossing where kuamo'o road ends
from this point on you need a 4 wheel drive vehicle to continue. the unpaved road has one (sometimes two, depending on the rains) water crossing and plenty of mud holes to drive through. fortunately, my fj loves these adventures and i am getting used to them, too.
there are several side roads that lead to various trailheads and waterholes but the main road leads to the trailhead for the blue hole (waialeale), guardian falls, and weeping wall hikes.
as i mentioned above, the trail is very muddy. some sections are literally knee deep. we hiked in tabis and although the mud greatly diminished the felt sole's rock-gripping-power of the tabis, they were probably a better choice to hiking shoes/boots as we were often off the trail and into the river. rock hopping was a little difficult on the day we hiked due to the high river, but over some sections of trail it was the better alternative to crawling on hands and knees under downed mossy trees and ewok abodes.
after about 2 hours of slogging through the bog and wading through the river (we hooked onto the wrong trail and got off course somewhere along the way) we came to guardian falls, a splendid waterfall with mt. waialeale in the distance.
guardian falls near the source of the wailua river
guardian falls with the flanks of waialeale and ever present clouds in the distance
just off to the left of guardian falls is a cool little gorge with a secondary waterfall. not sure if this area and fall has a proper name, but here it is...
originally we planned to continue on all the way to the weeping wall, but i broke one of my hiking poles sliding into an ewok hole so we decided this was enough for one day of adventure. we turned around and made good time on the way out. the trail seemed a little more straightforward and we were able to hike along the sides of the river a bit more, which also seemed to make the going easier.
a bamboo grove near to the end of the trail
all in all a difficult hike-- extremely muddy, wet, slippery, with lots of thick bush hitting you in the face and grabbing at your body. oh, and did i mention the mosquitos?!
if you venture out to guardian falls be prepared for amazing scenery and a pretty wild adventure.
aloha,
lee
it's gonna be a good one
when i looked out the window and saw the clouds-- light fluffy ones like icing-- and the little line of sky between the horizon and those clouds, i knew the sunrise was going to be good. i walked away from the window and went back a few minutes later and i knew it. i had to go take a look. i knew i didn't have much time so i hurriedly grabbed my camera and bag told naomi to meet me at anini 'cause i was going to work. and i'm glad i did.
below are some pics of this week's epic sunrise on kauai's north shore.
all of the photos were taken at a little spot that i like just before anini beach park.
aloha,
lee
it's gonna be a good one, anini beach, kauai, 6:50:22 am
rise and shine, anini beach, kauai, 6:51:22 am
anini beach, kauai, 6:53:09 am
sunstar, anini beach, kauai, 7:05:28 am
views and review of the kukui trail
the kukui trail begins with with gentle nature loop along the rim of waimea canyon and falls down to the waimea river below.
nature loop, kukui trail
you can find parking just mile marker 8 on waimea canyon drive. be prepared for a hike straight down nearly from the start.
morning dancer
the nature trail has placards indicating hawaiian flora and great views of waimea canyon and the kukui trail. when we hiked the trail in late february, 2014, the trail was in excellent condition. verdant canyon walls mixed with rich red clay and numerous waterfalls made for quite a view at each switchback.
the kukui trail
the hike down was steep in some areas, but there were only two sections that seemed dangerously narrow. and even these two areas weren't that bad. as always hiking sticks or trekking poles really made the hike easier.
naomi having fun on the kukui trail
once off the red clay you enter into a dense jungle. i read several reviews online stating that this section was difficult to navigate, but we found it to be pretty straightforward and easily recognized numerous trailblazers indicating the route. with that said, we didn't find this section to be particularly enjoyable as it was very buggy! the mosquitos were insane!
the reward of the buggy area
the campsite at the bottom wasn't much either so i think if we were to do the hike again we would stop were the red dirt ends.
verdant and red waimea canyon
the kukui trail from the start to the waimea river at the bottom of the canyon and back is 5 miles long. we started early and didn't see anyone until about a mile left to go (on our return trip back up the canyon). although the bottom (mosquito land) was muddy the main portion of the trail (canyon land) was dry.
all in all i'd give the kukui trail 3 stars. great views of the canyon, not crowded, trail is safe and in good condition, and it is a good way to get in some exercise.
aloha,
lee