Hi Lorna. Yes, it certainly is a vast area and depending on what you want to shoot in the sky, can be very simple or so complex it will make you pull your hair out

The easiest and least expensive type of astrophotography is "widefield" and for someone who has a DSLR, tripod and cable release (or IR remote) it will cost you nothing. You should be able to get 20sec or more, exposures without star trails using a wideangle lens, and of course if it's star trails your after then the exposure can be as long as you like. All you need is a clear night and just point your camera (mounted on tripod) at the stars and start shooting, presuming you have manual focused, used manual or bulb mode and set your aperture to a stop above the widest setting, eg if your lens is f4.0, then f5, or f5.6 would be ideal. For this type of astrophotography, having the horizon included of perhaps buildings, cityscape, structures, or trees etc can make these widefiled star images more dramatic.

For someone starting out, I would suggest getting to know the night sky first (even if you don't own a telescope or bino's) it really will help getting to know some stars, planets and constelations out there. I'm certainly no expert and I really only know a small part of the winter sky/constelations but that does help with imaging.

When you want to start shooting longer exposures of the night sky with telephoto lenses or small telescopes, then this is when we need to be able to track the stars and this is when it starts getting complicated

and start using stuff like this http://www.yophotographer.com/page.p...lescope&page=3 post 26

although there are much cheaper alternatives and certainly portable options as well, if you will only be using camera lenses, wide or tele.

The only chance I get for astro imaging is in the winter months but more often than not i'm shooting terrestrial photography instead and I prefer doing that. Astrophotography has taken a backseat at the moment but thats not to say I have lost interest, far from it, I just hope we get more clear sky's this winter

An excellent, informative and great post there DJ! I think I'll have a go when we have a clear night!
xx

Nice interview and brilliant tips there DJ. Well done.

It was one of Phil's Glencoe shots ( Buachaille Etive Mor, I think ) that I first noticed when I came to Yo, and it set the bar that made me want to get better as a photographer.

Phil, you are indeed, an inspiration!

Fab post thank you for the tips!!

Great read Grant. I am very glad that I spoke to you that day at the highland wildlife park.
I only wish I had what it takes to produce the stunning images that you do so well mate, keep up the fantastic work.

Goggs.... (Gordon Baird)