Nights sky photography

Camera settings.

For a starting point you should have 25 second exposure, f/2.8, ISO 1600 or if the lens doesn't open up to f/2.8 try a 30 second exposure and f/4 with the same ISO.

Note: this type of photography will not work if there is a moon out (at all). The best place for this type of photo graphs is  deep into nature, away from a city so it minimalists the light pollution.

Why these settings? 

The most important factor of these settings is the 25 second exposure. This is because any longer and you'll start to get a star train which is a completely different type of photography. Since you are limited to the 15-30 second shutter speed you still need to let in more light. So the largest aperture you can find on a fisheye lens is f/2.8 and am this may still not be bright enough. So this is where the ISO comes in to play it will vary with different types of cameras but on full frame cameras you can usually get the ISO to 2000 without seeing much noise. However, I don't have a full frame camera so I'll have to resort to a slightly edited photo. 

Lightroom 

In this it's usually good to boost the exposure by a stop or two and the 'noise reduction tool' which is under the detail section, this will reduce any unwanted "noise".

These are the setting pretty much the settings she uses ever time.

She boosted the whites up to around 50 and took the blacks down to -50 this is so that there is more emphasis on the stars. Pushed he clarity up to 55 which also helps divine the stars against the sky and the saturation was increased so that it highlighted any sutul colours. 

In the second panel she sharpened the image slightly, brought up the noise reduction to 33 to smooth out and star trails and brought up the colour to 25 for the same reasons. 

Tips.

To make the sky appear 'magical' you can alter the hue and the temperature. 

Make sure your not just taking a picture of  the sky, put a palm tree or something in there to give the photo abit of a story and meaning behind it. 

Use apps like 'Sky Map' to see what stars are directly above you so that your not just shooting aimlessly.