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How do I take a picture of stars with Canon Rebel t6 with 50mm lens?

graciela11
Apprentice

I recently purchased a Rebel T6 with two different lenses 18-55mm and 50mm and I want to take pictures of the sky at night, I am a beginner and I have not figure out how to take the pictures.  Please someone share tips with me. 

11 REPLIES 11

Waddizzle
Legend
Legend

@graciela11 wrote:

I recently purchased a Rebel T6 with two different lenses 18-55mm and 50mm and I want to take pictures of the sky at night, I am a beginner and I have not figure out how to take the pictures.  Please someone share tips with me. 


First, buy a good sturdy tripod.  And, I mean sturdy.  You want one made from metal, not made out of plastic like they have in the Big Box stores.  It is best to get one with an interchangeable head, too.  With your camera and lenses, I'd recommend one that handle a load of 10-20 pounds, the more load capacity the better.

 

Taking pictures of stars comes in two basic flavors.  Wide angle photos of the night sky, and extreme closeups of planets, nebulae, and galaxies and such.  Which type of astrophotography are you looking for?  The moon is a good place to start.

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"The right mouse button is your friend."


@kvbarkley wrote:

Not much moon with a 55 mm lens. Look here:

http://www.bobatkins.com/photography/tutorials/astrophotography.html


Should be plenty of stars with an 18mm lens, though.  The Moon is just a good starting point, though.  I know it taught me a lot simply using the 70-300mm lens that came with my T5.

 

The Moon can be quite challenging. Capturing an image when it is full is like trying to photograph the dust on a lit light bulb.

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"The right mouse button is your friend."

Thank you so much for all the help, like I mentioned I am beginner and all information helps.  What kind of lens should I get to take night pictures? I am going to get a tripod today. 

diverhank
Authority

@graciela11 wrote:

I recently purchased a Rebel T6 with two different lenses 18-55mm and 50mm and I want to take pictures of the sky at night, I am a beginner and I have not figure out how to take the pictures.  Please someone share tips with me. 


You will need a sturdy tripod and a shutter release (cable is better than wireless - less fumbling in the dark once you have it hooked up).  I recommend that you use Live View with Exposure Simulation enabled (do not use face recognition or Quick Mode).  With Live View, you generally can see what your picture will look like before you take the picture.  Use full manual mode (M) with manual control of Av, Tv and ISO.

 

Depending on what you want to take pictures of in the sky.  

 

For moon shots, you'd need more focal length than 55mm.

 

For night sky photography, you'll be more successful when there's a new moon and away from city lights.  

You should download apps for your phone to show where the stars are.

 

For starry skies (like the milky way), the stars appear to move and stretched if you expose more than 25 seconds so use that as a maximum exposure time.  Because you want very little moon and very little ambient light, you will need a relatively high ISO and smallest aperture value.  Your 50mm f/1.8 or f/1.4 may come in real handy to minimize ISO.  50mm is not wide enough unfortunately and your 18-55mm may not be fast enough.  Stars alone may not be as interesting as stars with foreground (like a famous landmark) so in that case you may need a flashlight to light up the landmark.  You will also need a flashlight to focus your camera then switch the lens to manual (MF)

 

For star trails (circular streaks of light) you can expose much longer so you can use ISO 100 and you don't need small aperture values.  You may need to take multiple exposures and combine them in post to get the circles of light.  If you need to expose for more than 30 seconds you will need to use Bulb mode and you won't be able to see on Live View.  You need to know how to calculate the required time for exposure and a stop watch function for timing.

 

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Diverhank's photos on Flickr

Thanks for your help! I am getting a tripod today.  We recently redesigned our rooftop and I want to take pictures at night of the sky.  I went out there the first day I got the camera but everything on the live screen looked dark, I didn't know what I was doing.  All information helps, I am trying all your tips until I get it right. 

Where do you live? don't expect much if you live in Manhattan.

I shot this of Orion's belt with my 150-600 at 150 mm, just because it was on the camera. Any lens you have should work fine. This was taken at f/5, 15 seconds, ISO 400.

 

IMG_3688.JPG

I live in Nashville. I am going out there tonight and try again, hopefully this time I get something.

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