Stars + Planets
Stars + Planets
All photographs are the Copyright © of Tiger Paw Print and Alastair Lloyd.
All the above photographs are available to purchase at A3 in size (29.7cm x 42cm) upon request.
Star and solar system photography tips
What you need to take good night photos:
- A tripod
- A camera or phone with a low F-stop. If using a DSLR camera you want a 50mm lens
- A clear night, although a bit of wispy cloud can add in some atmosphere
- A coat, as it can get cold standing around in the dark taking photographs
- A torch and a safe space to take photos away from street lights and road traffic, preferably in a dark skies area if possible
- And finally a bit of patience, play around with exposure length for each photo once you have a composition you like (a longer exposure time equals brighter photographs and a shorter exposure time is darker)
On my handheld camera I use these setting:
- Mode: Manual
- Speed: ISO 3200 (or ISO 1600 depending on the camera)
- Aperture: F1.8 or the lowest possible
- Time: 15 seconds is my ideal window, as 20 seconds can start to introduce motion blur in the stars. If 15 seconds is too bright then I will often try 13, 10 and 8 seconds and I sometimes go as low as 1 second or less if a full moon is adding in light pollution. The ideal window is a week before a New Moon and a week after as the sky is darker (a 2 weeks window of darker skies). The closer you get to the Full Moon the more light pollution you get. With the Aurora Borealis on 10-11 May 2023 I had to lower my exposure time to 3.2 seconds due to the light pollution (the day before and after I was back up to 15 seconds). But with the Aurora Borealis on 10-11 October I could go for longer exposures as it was further away from the longest day of the year and it was just at the end of the ideal window (a week after a New Moon)
Tiger Paw Print – Animal Alphabet – Photographic Book 1 by Alastair Lloyd
Buy Now
Help children to learn the A to Z animal alphabet with this fun full coloured photographic book of creatures from the animal kingdom. With fun facts and interactive games including a Memory game, Word search, Spot the difference, Dot to dot and Animal facts quiz. Each animal is colour matched to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species conservation status.
Available from Amazon as a paperback or ebook.
