Best camera settings for astrophotography

Take a shot in the dark… but make sure you’ve set up your camera first. Our series of pre-shot checklists comes to a close with a look at the best camera settings for astrophotography.

You’ll need to find a really dark location for successful starscapes, which means that you won’t want to be changing too many settings in the pitch black, so setting up your camera in advance can be a life-saver.

SEE MORE: How to shoot a landscape using the moon as your only light source

Things you can pre-set
Shooting in almost complete darkness means that you will need to set your camera to manual mode.

However, unlike with most other night photography techniques, to get successful starscape images you can’t use really long exposures as this will cause the motion of the stars to be recorded as star trails in your final image.

To avoid this you should set the ISO to a high value such as 3200, the shutter speed to around 5 secs and the aperture to the widest available on your lens. Ideally this should be a very wide aperture such as f/2.8 or f/4.

You should also set manual focus mode, as it will be impossible to use autofocus to shoot the stars.

Of course, it’s so dark when shooting starscapes that even manual focusing can be difficult to use, so the best solution is to pre-set focus to infinity.

If you’re using a zoom lens, you should also set the zoom to its most suitable setting – usually a wide-angle setting such as 18mm.

Then point your camera at a distant subject and carefully focus. To prevent this moving you can use a small piece of tape to keep the focus set at this position.

To minimise the noise in your images you should select the RAW file format, and also turn on the long exposure noise reduction mode in the camera settings menu.

SEE MORE: How to photograph the Northern Lights

Settings to change on the day
There are many challenges when shooting starscapes, but focusing in the complete darkness is one of the most tricky.

Having pre-set the focusing, you shouldn’t need to change it, but if you have to alter the zoom setting, or the focus setting has been changed, then you’ll need to focus your lens on the far distance.

Try turning on Live View, and find the brightest object in the sky that you can see. You can then zoom in on the Live View image using the magnify button on the back of the camera (not the zoom on the lens), and adjust the focus manually.

Even when using this method it can take time and patience to focus accurately, though, and you’ll find the whole process rather easier if you give your eyes plenty of time to become accustomed to the darkness.

To do this you’ll need at least 10 to 20 minutes on location without looking at any bright lights, using a flashlight or even activating the rear screen on your DSLR.

Once you’ve focused, you will need to take a test shot using the settings that you have pre-set, and then check the exposure.

The results should appear quite dark, with little detail in the foreground, but make sure that the stars are clearly visible.

If your test shot is too bright you can use a shorter shutter speed, such as 2 secs. If it’s too dark you’ll need to adjust the ISO to a higher value rather than using a longer shutter speed, to avoid recording the movement of the stars.

SEE MORE: 8 things you may not know about long exposures, but probably should

Typical camera settings for starscapes

File format
RAW

Exposure mode
Manual

Aperture
f/2.8

ISO
3200

Shutter speed  
5 secs

Focus mode
Manual

Drive mode  
Single shot

White balance
Tungsten

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