Photos were taken in Ithaca and Lansing, NY in early August, 2016.
This was my first attempt at star photography. These were taken with a samsung nx3000 manual camera and a wide angle lens. I found that a narrow aperture and 20-30 second shutter speed worked best. I started to get star trails, where the stars moved positions in the sky enough to have a subtle streaking effect, in some of my 30 second shutter shots. A few of my shots captured planes moving across the night sky. Those shots have a visible light streak from the plane’s running lights.
The sky and area surrounding my camera had to be very dark in order for the shots to turn out. A tripod is absolutely required for these shots as any motion during a prolonged open camera shutter will cause the image to blur. The photos were edited in Adobe Lightroom. I found that a slight overexposure helped bring out some of the background stars and the galaxy arms. I hope to take some more celestial shots next time I’m away from city lights.