Sensible stepwise approach to photography?

[Neutrinosoup]

Apologies if I can find all this with the search function!!

My 13 year old daughter interests are Art & IT & visual astronomy and academically physics and maths.

- are there any photography courses for land and nightsky scapes & basics of DSLR that any of you could recommend? We live in Dumfries and Galloway

- is there a guide for a stepwise approach to astrophotography focusing on land and nightsky moving on to deepsky (rather than planets)

- likewise on equipment, I can teach her how to use an EQ mount and polar align etc. I’m guessing something like a star adventurer mount and 2nd hand Canon DSLR to start with? Then add in a Redcat 51 etc…

It would be nice to have an upgrade path that started simple but had kit that could be added to rather than immediately replaced.

p.s if this is all in a sticky thread somewhere please just link that and apologies again!!

Niall

[Elp]

Tbh a lot of photography I've learned through experience, you don't really need to follow a guide, just put the camera in manual and you'll quickly learn how to use it (a lot of people don't use manual modes when using cameras hence think it's a dark art when trying to take more creative looking photos) it's not like the film days when you took an image and had little idea of how it turns out until you developed the film, even back then you learned about what grades of film to use, how to work with the lighting at hand, shutter speeds etc as there was little room for mistakes.

Most of the "good" photos comes from a having an eye for composition, that you cannot really learn as when you're out and about a photographer will see many ways to creatively composite and take an image with what's presented, it the same as a painter artists composition skills. Some other photos come from being at the right place at the right time such as with events photography. The rule of thirds is the most basic form of photo composition. The best form of learning is through hands on experience, an artist is not formed from following tutorials, by all means look on YT to understand camera functions.

In terms of AP, I'd just start with the camera on a fixed tripod, long exposure around 5-10s at least, delay timer (intervalometer is best to avoid camera shake), iso 800-1600 approx (a lot depends on camera and subject, the moon for instance will be fractional seconds exposure and low iso).

Edited March 16 by Elp

[Gfamily]

If you contact the Dumfries Astro Society, they may be able to help your daughter get the advice she's looking for. They seem to meet on the second Tuesday of the month - https://dumfriesastronomy.wordpress.com/

Otherwise, there are several nightscape tutorials online (though I can't comment on their quality), for example - https://nightscapephotographer.com/category/tutorials/ 

 

[happy-kat]

Hi

As an example you don't need to start with a star tracker, there a lot to learn with a camera, lens and tripod. This link was taken with a 50mm lens and no star tracker reading the post

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/420162-comet-12ppons-brooks/

[Elp]

I'd just start with a tripod mounted mobile phone as long as it has manual control, if it's a Pixel then you can utilise the AP mode.

Some of the most fun I've had imaging the stars is with compact cameras with built in lenses.

[ollypenrice]

You wouldn't go far wrong with this, on the astrophotography side.  https://www.firstlightoptics.com/books/making-every-photon-count-steve-richards.html

Like most things in life, DSLR photography is best approached by thinking things through from the basics. There are really not so many of those and this is, for me, the big one:

Understanding F stops and light cones. https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/63155522 When a lens is wide open it lets in more light and therefore shortens exposure time, freezing fast action, but the steep light cone has a shallow depth of field meaning only selected parts of the image can be in focus. This can be good or bad, depending on the photographer's intentions. A stopped down lens has a greater depth of field but lets in less light and, therefore, needs longer exposure - which can introduce motion blur.

If you were to go out with a basic DSLR and experiment with this single set of related parameters, and really get the feel for them and how they play out, you'd be self-educating very effectively, I think, and would have a grounding for further learning.

For land and sky photography, check out the free Sequator software.  https://www.startools.org/links--tutorials/free-image-stacking-solutions/sequator

On image processing and U-tube tutorials, the instant you hear the presenter say, 'I just play with the sliders till I like what I see,' turn them off and never go back to them! 

Most astrophotographers are autodidacts and the best ones are the best because they seek to understand before they act.

Olly

 

Edited March 17 by ollypenrice
typo

[saac]

@Neutrinosoup, for landscape astrophotography, the Samyang 135 mm lens is one of the most often praised lens matched with a DSLR. You may also find some useful information from Paul Haworth's Youtube channel. Paul is member of the forum (FenlandPaul) and he produces some of the most amazingly creative astro landscape photographs.  I'd start experimenting with a DSLR and a suitable tracking mount, the SkyWatcher Star Adventurer or AZ GTi are are nice portable setups and often pop up in the second hand market. Once you're ready for a scope then the RedCat 51 is an excellent choice and if you marry it to a ZWO AsiAir (computer controller)  and ZWO auto focuser and camera, then you have again a really versatile and portable wide field setup.  

Jim 

https://www.youtube.com/@nightscapejournals

Edited March 17 by saac

[Elp]

135mm is a bit long for landscape AP, a 12/14/24mm will be wide, more FOV and more forgiving for tracking, likely you don't even need to track with such lenses, a 50mm will also be decent. With a 135 you definitely need to track unless your exposures are short.

Edited March 17 by Elp