One Minute Astrophotography

Here’s something cool, but dangerous. If you fall in love with it, it’s going to cost you lots of time, $, and garage space. 

And that is astrophotography. If you searched online, there are lots of excellent tutorials, but most are long, comprehensive, geared towards astronomy geeks and retired engineers. They might be overwhelming to complete beginners. 

So, here is the shortest, simplest guide you’ll ever find. This guide is what I wished I had, to get started. 

Planning 
Think of a dark place, away from the light pollutions, ideally with an interesting vista. 

Bring a camera with a focal length of 35mm or wider eg. 18mm. And a stable tripod. 

Go when the moon is much less than half full, the wind is minimal and the sky is clear. If it helps, bring a friend, tea and warm clothes.

First try
Landscape 
You can start with the following setting: 10 second exposure, ISO 1600, around F2.8, manual focus at infinity. After that, you can play with lengthening the exposure time e.g. to 15 seconds, increasing the ISO slightly or trying a different composition. 

Portrait
If you want to take a portrait of your friend with the stars in the background, then change the manual focus distance to 1-2m. During the 10 second exposure, the subject would need to stay very still. To make sure the subject’s face is lit during a moonless night, wave the light from your phone screen for a second. 

…

That’s it. Experiment. Play. Let me know how you go.