[SmilinBob]

I am applying a 12 megapixel camera; a 24mm equivalent, f/2 lens; tripod; UV filter; red-filter illumination; and remote to solve this problem.

What shall I look for in exposure and shutter speed? Shall a use a skylight instead of a UV filter? Aside from using red illumination, are there any other lighting considerations? Any advice would be much appreciated.

Be well, my photographer friends.

SmilinBob

[SharkyCA]

You may enjoy this!
PENTAX: The choice for astrophotography / Beautiful Photo-life | RICOH IMAGING

[AstroDave]

Why any filter? There's not much UV around in the dark, and you don't want to lose any of the light that you have.

Similarly, what do you mean by "red illumination" and why? Night sky observers often use red lights or red filters on any other light they are using, but that's to help preserve night vision (the ability to see faint stuff), not to enhance any kind of subject illumination.

Are you hoping for sky illumination of your portrait subject? Unless there is some moon light, I doubt that will work (and (s)he will have to sit very still for 30 seconds or so!). So, you need some extra light for your subject. You could "paint" him/her with a flashlight during the exposure (i.e. sweep the flashlight across the subject at some point during the exposure). You'll need to experiment with the amount of "paint" needed (and perhaps worry about color balance - daylight works fine for the sky part but you will want a flashlight with similar color characteristics).

[mattt]

I can tell you that your milky way will take anywhere from 30-90 secs to expose properly. Your portrait figure will need to be painted in, but i caution that you must keep the portrait victim in place for the duration of the milkyway exposure or you will get a ghostly effect of stars shining through your portrait sitter...



A colour exposure of link above for your convenience.... I'm not so sure about your use of filters. Generally speaking a Red filter adds 1.5-2 stops to exposure times which will be very noticeable when you have esposures measured in minutes...

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Last edited by mattt; 07-06-2019 at 08:26 PM. Reason: added colour photo

[Oldbayrunner]

Good information here..... Nightscape Images - YouTube

[SmilinBob]

You may enjoy this!
PENTAX: The choice for astrophotography / Beautiful Photo-life | RICOH IMAGING

Thanks for the advice, Sharky. I'll find out more about the ASTROTRACER. Bob

---------- Post added 07-07-19 at 08:30 PM ----------

Why any filter? There's not much UV around in the dark, and you don't want to lose any of the light that you have.

Similarly, what do you mean by "red illumination" and why? Night sky observers often use red lights or red filters on any other light they are using, but that's to help preserve night vision (the ability to see faint stuff), not to enhance any kind of subject illumination.

Are you hoping for sky illumination of your portrait subject? Unless there is some moon light, I doubt that will work (and (s)he will have to sit very still for 30 seconds or so!). So, you need some extra light for your subject. You could "paint" him/her with a flashlight during the exposure (i.e. sweep the flashlight across the subject at some point during the exposure). You'll need to experiment with the amount of "paint" needed (and perhaps worry about color balance - daylight works fine for the sky part but you will want a flashlight with similar color characteristics).

Thanks, Dave. I am interested in the painting by flashlight. Which flashlight filters, if any, have worked for you?

---------- Post added 07-07-19 at 08:37 PM ----------

I can tell you that your milky way will take anywhere from 30-90 secs to expose properly. Your portrait figure will need to be painted in, but i caution that you must keep the portrait victim in place for the duration of the milkyway exposure or you will get a ghostly effect of stars shining through your portrait sitter...



A colour exposure of link above for your convenience.... I'm not so sure about your use of filters. Generally speaking a Red filter adds 1.5-2 stops to exposure times which will be very noticeable when you have esposures measured in minutes...

Thank you for the advice, Matt.

---------- Post added 07-07-19 at 08:40 PM ----------

Good information here..... Nightscape Images - YouTube

Thank you for the referral.
Be well,
Bob

[AstroDave]

Thanks, Dave. I am interested in the painting by flashlight. Which flashlight filters, if any, have worked for you?

Giving advice is easy - I haven't actually ever tried this!!

That said, I would give it a try with some kind of LED flashlight. Many LED lights tend to have spectral characteristics not too far from daylight. It's easy to try - just go out tonight and take a long exposure (10-30 seconds) of anything handy (a tree might be a good subject) and use what ever flashlight(s) you have. Experiment with how fast or slow you sweep the light across your subject to get a feel for what you want for a result.

If you have any old film-era filters, you could play with them on the flashlight to see what effect they have.

[SmilinBob]

Giving advice is easy - I haven't actually ever tried this!!

That said, I would give it a try with some kind of LED flashlight. Many LED lights tend to have spectral characteristics not too far from daylight. It's easy to try - just go out tonight and take a long exposure (10-30 seconds) of anything handy (a tree might be a good subject) and use what ever flashlight(s) you have. Experiment with how fast or slow you sweep the light across your subject to get a feel for what you want for a result.

If you have any old film-era filters, you could play with them on the flashlight to see what effect they have.

I appreciate your response.

[Kobie]

For light painting, especially at night while doing Astrophotography, I've just used the flashlight on my smartphone.
You don't need a whole lot of light for the portrait/object in relation to the longer exposure for the night sky.
I'll post the image later where I lit the road and my car while capturing the stars during the Perseid meteor shower.
The other nice thing about light paining when it's really dark is that once you turn off the light, the camera won't see the subject because it'll be too dark so the model can move and not be picked up in the exposure.
It takes a few attempts to get the balance right, but if you have a smartphone, you can just use that, it does work, and works very well.