

But modern APS-C, four thirds or micro four-thirds cameras work too. This is because of the low noise at high ISO. Here are the things you need to be able to wet your feet in night photography.įull frame cameras are the best here. The night landscape image is 50% planning/composition, 20% gear and 30% editing skills. It’s not all about it, but it has a role to play. You just have to follow some simple rules. You will still get plenty of amazing shots of that majestic starry night. If you are on a budget like most of us, fear not. And some ultrafast and amazing lenses.Īlright, enough dreaming. And then you could buy the latest medium format digital camera with a giga-pixel sensor. Ideally, you’re growing your own money tree in your garden. Gear and Camera Settings for Shooting a Perfect Night Landscape Having a good location isn’t only about the stars, but also the nighttime scenery you will include. You should also focus some of your attention on the nighttime landscapes. They will let you know in advance if, when, and how much of the core you will see from a given location.

The core appears below the horizon, visible from the Southern hemisphere only.Īnyway, there are plenty of websites and mobile apps that calculate the location of the core. Until it reaches a point just above the horizon where the orange glow from light pollution is at its max.ĭuring winter, the nights are longer. Moving north, the core becomes lower and lower in the sky.

The closer you are to the Equator, the better. How much of it you can see, as well as its height above the horizon, will depend on your latitude. In the Northern hemisphere, the galaxy core is visible in the night sky from April until late September. Which stars and how much of the Milky Way you can see depends on the period of the year. Unfortunately, the Universe is quite indifferent to your photography needs. What’s the Best Location for Nighttime Landscape Photos? As you can see, the Belgian sky is, on average, a very bright one. Light pollution map for Belgium: brighter areas are in red while the darker ones are in black. You can capture satisfying night landscapes, even in light-polluted locations. Even when I travel far away from the major cities, the darkest sky I can achieve will score a 5 or 9 in the Bortle scale. I live in Belgium, under one of the most polluted skies in Europe (do I dare to say in the world?). There you can also see how light pollution has changed over the last 5 years. To get an idea of the light-pollution in the world, visit the Light-Pollution Map website. The best thing you can do is to travel as far as possible from large cities and towns. It comes from street lamps almost everywhere across the continent. This is due to increased light pollution. It’s becoming more and more difficult to find a really dark sky. To record stars as fixed points rather than trails, you are forced to use a short exposure time. Following the nighttime landscapes will blur the stars. Following the stars blurs the landscapes. What makes night photography so challenging is the nighttime landscape. But I still consider it much easier than shooting night landscape photography for one simple reason. I do not mean astrophotography.Īstrophotography has its own set of challenges. When I talk about ‘night landscape photography’, I mean shooting the starry sky with nighttime scenery.
