You want to do this after sunset and on days when there is no moon, so that the only light comes from the stars. The best time to take deep sky pictures is when the sky is completely dark and clear. Even though the night seemed near pitch dark to my eyes, you can see in the picture that there was some light pollution coming from the right. I took the above picture on a beach near Long Beach, Washington. So you need to find a place that is away from populated areas. Unfortunately city lights prevent us from seeing much of the sky due to a phenomenon called light pollution. You need to be in a very dark place so that the camera can pick up more detail in the sky. You obviously need a tripod or some other form of support that can keep the camera fixed through the exposure.Ĭhoosing the right location is one of the most important decisions to get a great picture. A short lens also enables longer exposure times before stars show trails due to the rotation of the Earth. Pictures are more impressive when a long stretch of the Milky Way appears in the frame. The larger the field of view the more of the sky you can capture.

For Canon shooters Magic Lantern provides programmable exposure times in bulb mode, so you don't have to keep the shutter pressed. Many cameras have a bulb exposure mode that is great for this.

The above picture was a 60 second exposure. Your camera must have a manual mode that can take very long exposures. A camera can only 'see' into it in the highest ISO settings. You can't take a picture of the night sky with any camera, there are a few requirements: In this article I'll give you a few simple rules you need to follow to maximize the chances of getting breathtaking deep sky photographs. For example, I took the above picture with a Canon 60D DSLR and an entry level 8mm fisheye lens (click on the picture to see a larger version). These days it is possible to take spectacular pictures of the night sky with regular cameras and equipment.

Magic lantern canon 60d remote shooting