Preface (Pseudo)#
The 22nd century is an era of human migration into space. In the historically rich hometown of Zhang Heng, every household is equipped with astronomical telescopes, whether it's the domestic white-label Huaqiangzhong® products, the trendy micro-krypton Linglong Lens®, or the cheap diesel hand-held stargazing machines pieced together by Gengjiang™️. There are even low-magnification telescopes made from second-hand parts through DIY efforts. This city is the first in the country to truly realize the concept of "everyone gazing at the stars," having completed the draft of the cosmic infrastructure construction plan, dubbed "Secretary's Throat Stone," in the 53rd Five-Year Plan, making an outstanding contribution to building a strong communist interstellar nation. Now, let’s turn to our chief reporter Bingjian from the New Zixu® newspaper for real-time coverage!
...
So, how did this pattern come to be? Let's rewind a hundred years back to the end of the last century when New Zixu® was still an obscure studio. An astronomy enthusiast among the staff spent a lot of effort conducting experiments with the Inverse Field Rocket (full name: Reusable Manned Universal Anti-Gravity Propulsion System). In the early stages of the experiment, it attracted significant attention from the local leaders in the Zhang Heng hometown area, who provided substantial equipment support. Hard work pays off; after the twelfth ignition, a successful round trip between fire and earth was finally achieved. After that, as everyone knows, the hometown quickly changed its development strategy, cutting a large number of hot general-purpose AI embedded system R&D projects and focusing on the commercialization of the inverse field rocket. After five years of construction, it became the center of interstellar exploration.
In an interview, this employee stated that her interest in astronomy was sparked by stumbling upon an old article in the studio. Although the writing was crude and somewhat childish, it was worth reading.
The full text is as follows:
Half-Moon Photography Marks#
Today is August 25, and it has been nearly half a month since I got my new camera. Although I have taken some pretty good-looking photos (which will be showcased in the photography display area below), I am still far from the vision I had when buying the camera—breaking away from the old photography style.
If I haven't managed to take a photo that truly reflects my skills within half a month, it would further prove that the issue lies not with the equipment but with myself, making that impulsive purchase clearly unnecessary.
I am aware of my photography level and where my technical improvement bottlenecks lie.
First is street photography. When you think about it, there isn't really anything particularly technical about it; street photography emphasizes cleverness. When the timing is right and the parameters are not problematic, it is quite easy to capture something that looks decent.
Second is exposure. Previously, whether using a smartphone or a compact camera, I always relied on automatic mode and rarely adjusted parameters manually. This means I still do not understand the basic operation of photography—accurate exposure.
Thus, I began to practice: over the past half month, I divided my shots by location and took eight sets.
Movie Night Return#
Z Mountain Park#
### Sweeping the Dam
B Door Light Trail Experiment#
Sweeping the Dam for the Second Time#
Tidal Flat Edge Star Trails#
Starry Sky Photography#
Among these subjects, the most challenging is starry sky photography. This type of photo has extremely strict requirements for exposure. In last night's third experiment, I struggled hard to capture a satisfactory image. The first two attempts had too many mistakes, so I won't mention them; this article will share the experience of successfully capturing the third attempt.
By the way, let me list the equipment here (specific equipment images can be seen on this page).
- Camera: APS-C format, 5568 * 3172 resolution, ISO from 100 to 51200 (Hi can go up to 204800)
- Lens: 16-50mm f/3.5-6.3 (16mm equivalent full-frame is 24mm, which is the best equivalent focal length for astrophotography according to Teacher Zhan Xiang, "It can achieve a good balance among the factors of the visual range of the image, the details of the starry sky, and the control of the landscape." (Unless otherwise specified, all star trails in this article are shot at 24mm equivalent focal length))
- Tripod and head: A hundred-yuan aluminum tripod gifted by a well-reviewed seller + a very difficult-to-use three-dimensional head.
- Mobile software:
- Remote shooting via SnapBridge® (Nikon camera accessory)
- Finding optimal observation conditions via Astronomy Tong™️
- Positioning via Starry Sky Walk®/Star Chart®/Stellarium™️
- Post-processing via Lightroom®
- Multiple exposures via Snapseed® (composing star trails)
- Others: Two batteries (1000mAh capacity, actually shot for two hours, only used half a battery), bicycle front light (removed to illuminate the foreground), 700ml thermos (still the warm boiled water quenches thirst)
Timing, Location, and Human Factors#
Generally speaking, every successful exposure requires timing, location, and human factors. From a certain perspective, for a creative person, any location, any time, and any scene can simultaneously meet the requirements of timing, location, and human factors.
However, for certain specific subjects, one must exert subjective initiative to meet these requirements.
Cao Cao has a poem that says, "The moon is bright and the stars are few, the crows fly south." It simply expresses the impact of moonlight on the brightness of the starry sky. The best time for starry sky photography is generally from the end of the month to the beginning of the month—first and last quarter moons—also known as the new moon period, when the light pollution caused by moonlight (a term in astrophotography referring to the degree of light pollution) is generally at its lowest. Another point is that it should be clear and less cloudy (obviously). This time, the shooting was chosen for the two hours between moonrise and sunset last night.
From the light pollution map, it can be intuitively seen that places where people live have strong light pollution, which reflects in specific parameters as a very high level of light pollution. Generally, the minimum requirement for photographing the Milky Way is a level of 4, under which the general outline of the Milky Way can still be seen; if it is stronger, the Milky Way is basically invisible. Such places are generally located in the suburbs of cities. For example, the location I scouted for my third experiment was at the end of a dirt road in a tidal flat aquaculture area, with basically no light to the east, and the light pollution level could reach about three.
Finally, during the shoot, there should be a sense of safety around, and the environment should be stable; otherwise, it would be impossible to shoot with peace of mind. Because during the full moon, the timing of the shoot is greatly related to the moon, and it also coincides with the cycle of tidal flat seafood catchers—moonrise brings high tide, moonset brings low tide, and before the new moon, the tide is at its lowest, so they need to catch their haul before the tide rises. The chosen location happened to be where they parked, and there were people talking and moving around (speaking in a Ningbo dialect), providing a strong sense of safety.
Experience#
At first, I thought about whether I could simply describe this shoot in an article without a title, but as soon as I started writing, I realized that it was impossible. For technical articles, I have completely lost the ability to detach from the reliance on titles and sections.
After finishing the night shift, I slept all day and went upstairs to tidy up around five in the evening. After dinner, there was a high probability that no one would pass by downstairs for half an hour, making it the most suitable time to go out.
At first, I packed a huge pile of things: computer (to view star charts with Stellarium), drone (to fly when bored), Kindle (to read while shooting star trails), basically everything from the equipment page 😂. Finally, I looked in the mirror with a big backpack: I looked like I was going home for the New Year with two fish in hand instead of going to shoot stars. In the end, I simplified it down to just the tripod and camera—carrying two bags on my left shoulder, I rode my bike towards the planned tidal flat area.
Usually, I come here mostly to watch the sunset and relax, feeling very laid back, but this time, with a clear shooting plan, I felt fulfilled all the way, even getting excited without needing a song boost.
Three kilometers of asphalt road along the dam, one kilometer of dirt road down to the tidal flat, bumping and jolting, I suddenly arrived at the place closest to the sea in City C.
At the end of the road, around sunset at six-thirty, I encountered three young people watching the sea, enjoying the sea breeze, taking random photos, while I was just tidying up my equipment nearby. Shortly after, an old fisherman dressed in waterproof plastic pants (the thin kind) picked up a large plastic/wooden board and headed towards the sea.
The sea breeze was strong, and although the tidal flat was shallow, the waves still came in layers. Watching the old man head into the sea, we were all stunned. He turned around and smiled at us (a smile that was three parts bitter, three parts self-deprecating, and three parts greeting), then placed the board in the water, knelt on one leg, and pushed off with the other leg, sliding towards the fishing net like on a skateboard.
I felt pity and sympathy once again.
They watched the old man go off safely and began discussing the triangular fishing net nearby, concluding that as the tide rises, fish and shrimp flow in with the seawater, and as the tide recedes, they will get stuck at the top of the triangular net, allowing the fishermen to collect their catch.
As the sun set, they whistled and hurriedly left, seemingly terrified of the night. Calm as I was, I watched the darkening sky to the east while slowly setting up the tripod. Occasionally, I opened the thermos to sip some warm water, feeling like the waves, my heart racing with joy and rhythm.
Waiting and waiting, finally around seven-thirty, the stars in the sky began to shine brighter, and the outline of the Milky Way became vaguely visible. I was overjoyed, focused the lens, adjusted a few parameters, and captured my first Milky Way photo (this image is uncompressed and may load slowly).
Because the angle adjustment of this tripod was very troublesome, the threads would misalign when tightened, and it would wobble in the wind if too high, so I had to weigh it down with stones to make it barely usable. After determining the exposure parameters, I tried many times to find a suitable composition.
During the adjustment, the night deepened, and I felt a bit scared at first. After a while, I heard two fishermen talking on the rocks behind me. Although I couldn't understand their dialect, their relaxed tone led me to initially judge they were resting. An old man had gone into the sea at six-forty, and these two were still chatting at seven-thirty. (Eventually, around eight, they all "skateboarded" into the sea). With people behind me, I shot more earnestly, but the terrain was relatively low, and the landscape was not good for composition; out of dozens of shots, only this one of the Milky Way looked decent.
As the tide gradually receded, it seemed as if a path opened up in the tidal flat, leading where? To Shanghai?
To find a good landscape, I walked back and noticed a row of fishing boats by the roadside, took two shots, and the results were decent.
Walking back again, I spotted a simple wooden hut built by fishermen, which was simply the perfect landscape! I immediately set up my position, using a flashlight to illuminate and confirm the composition.
The results turned out great, especially after I illuminated the top of the hut with the flashlight, giving it a cinematic feel.
Star Trail Pre-composition#
The composition of the fishermen's hut was quite suitable, making it perfect for shooting a star trail. So I used what Nikon calls "interval shooting" to capture the star trails. This shooting method is essentially timed shooting: exposing at intervals, which can be automatically compiled into a video, providing much greater stability compared to a single exposure.
In the second star trail experiment, I used a remote control for a single exposure, but clouds came later, resulting in a disastrous outcome:
Initially, I planned to shoot until nine-twenty, aiming for about sixty exposures, but after capturing 23 images, I noticed clouds forming in the east, and the light became very poor. Continuing to expose would be meaningless, so I pressed "OK" on the shooting interval to stop. The images are as follows:
After shooting, I didn't want to go back and edit on the computer; I wanted instant gratification, so I sat on a rock and manually composed each one using Snapseed's multiple exposure feature:
During the shooting, there were many planes, basically every ten minutes, which greatly affected the starry sky. However, if I abandoned them, it would lead to discontinuity in the star trails. So I used Snapseed's "layer" editing feature to adjust the "multiple exposures":
The final product image is as follows: (because the original images were automatically transferred to the phone as compressed jpg files, the resolution is not very high)
Serious Composition#
The above composition involved batch color adjustment, then compositing using the exported files, which resulted in moiré patterns (see the above image). Tonight (8.26), I recomposed it and then adjusted the colors, finally achieving a satisfactory effect 😎
Close-up Images#
Others#
There are also techniques for stargazing, the first being positioning. In summer, the primary positioning in the Northern Hemisphere is the so-called Summer Triangle: a triangle formed by the stars Vega (magnitude 0.75) and Altair (magnitude 0.00) on either side of the Milky Way, along with Deneb (magnitude 1.25) in the constellation Cygnus.
Additionally, for smartphones, although it appears that their photography capabilities are getting stronger, with larger lens apertures, improved pixel sensitivity, and even the addition of separate low-pixel black-and-white cameras to enhance image quality.
In reality, the image quality is not very ideal. The CMOS sensors in smartphones are quite small, and as pixel density increases, image quality is affected.
Although some smartphones (like Xiaomi and Redmi) have added many features for astrophotography, allowing for long exposures and even in-camera star trail photography, using such smartphones for stargazing is also worth trying.
For example, the starry sky I shot last year had an aperture of 1.79 and an exposure of 30s, with no major issues in parameters, but after painstaking post-processing, the details still weren't sufficient.
The specific shooting principles and methods are no different from using a camera for star photography. However, the image quality of the starry sky captured by smartphones is still significantly inferior compared to the aforementioned cameras, so if you want to take good star photos, you still need to rely on a camera at this stage.
Epilogue#
This experiment had no major mistakes, except for:
- Exposure times were too long, 25s and 30s, which caused small trails to appear when the starry sky was enlarged. Buying an equatorial mount is impossible, so next time I need to reduce the shutter speed to 10s and increase the ISO to compensate for insufficient exposure.
- Issues with interval shooting parameter settings led to the star trails not being very continuous. I had set the exposure time to 25s and the interval to 30s, thinking they were timed simultaneously, so I let the camera rest for 5s midway before continuing to expose, resulting in only one shot per minute. It seems the interval time is literally the time between closing and opening the shutter—next time I’ll set it to 5s.