I got the opportunity to take some more star photos at the weekend when I camped in deepest darkest Dorset. This was better than France as there was no moon and even less light pollution – there were an incredible amount of stars on display.
Tweaking the images a bit in Lightroom showed one thing – there is a huge amount of information hidden in those images. Check out the two copies of one image below – one as it came out of the camera, the other with auto-levels applied.
The two long exposures were about 45 mins and have come out really well, but I think I need to experiment a bit more with the short exposures. 2 minutes at ISO400 is producing just a bit too much movement in the stars and makes the image look out of focus, so I probably need a shorter exposure – but that means a higher ISO and therefore more noise. More experimentation required I think. Still, at least it’s easier during the winter as it’s properly dark so much earlier!
