Due to rainy weather, this event, which had originally been scheduled for 21 May, has been moved to 18 June.

This event is weather-dependent.
Check your e-mail inbox and the website at noon on 18 June to get the final updates.

Disclaimer:
By necessity, night activities happen in the dark, and members are responsible for their own safety.

The Club outing to Palm Beach for astro-photography consists of three components. For all of them we will meet at the northern-most car park on the ocean beach (see map).

1. Optional: 4pm - 5:30pm  |  Golden Hour shoot
   The result can be blended with the night-sky photo in post production. Note that if you want to make use of this concept, you can take the foreground shot at a location of your own choice.
   
2. Optional: 5:30pm - 6:00pm  |  Snack
   Bring a sandwich.
   
3. 6:00pm - 9:00pm  |  Night sky shoot
   

Click image for more details

Facts & Figures

• Golden Hour starts at 4:15pm and ends at 5:11pm.
• Sunset is at 4:53pm at 297.9°.
• Blue Hour starts at 5:11pm and ends at 5:21pm.
• The Milky Way's galactic centre is best visible from 6:22pm (at 111.5°) until 5:29am the next morning. "Best visible" meaning that the sun is more than 18° below the horizon and we are outside the so-called astronomical twilight.
  
• It is 30° above the horizon at 7:06pm.
• The moon rises at 11:42pm in the East (92.3°). Its phase is a 55.2% waning crescent.

Milky Way Photography Tips & Tricks

Recommended Gear

• Camera with manual modes for focus and exposure settings
• Wide-angle lens
• Sturdy tripod
• Torch or head torch to find your way and operate the camera, but also for light painting. If possible one with a red light setting.
• Warm clothes
• Sturdy shoes if you want to venture out onto the rocks

Optional:

• Remote control to reduce camera shake when pressing the shutter button
• Night filter (to suppress the impact of artificial lighting)
• Spare or external batteries, power bank, as your main battery may drain quickly in the colder temperatures of the night.

Suggested Camera Settings
Manual is key! Both for focusing and for exposure settings.

• Shoot in RAW format with auto-white balance.
  
• Focus: Note that if you dial in ∞ on the focus ring, stars will not be perfectly in focus!
  Instead, focus on an easily visible object in the distance, for instance the horizon, a headland, suburb lights. Don’t zoom in, then focus, then zoom out again! Use the viewfinder magnifier if available.
  
• Aperture: As wide open (small f-stop) as possible, for instance f/2.8 or f/4.
• ISO: For f/2.8 start with 1600, for f/4 try 3200.
• Shutter speed: Use the Rule of 500 (see below).
• Take test shots. Once the core of the Milky Way is visible, you have found the right settings.
• Some cameras have a long exposure noise reduction feature. Turn it off!
  The feature works by taking a second "dark frame" exposure, with the same settings as the photo itself, but with the shutter closed. It then compares the original image to the dark frame and subtracts the noise (hot pixels) from the original. However, this means that it takes twice as long to take a photo.
• Turn off image stabilisation in the camera or lens.
  When using a tripod, it may actually introduce vibration.

Rule of 500
When taking a long-exposure photo, the rotation of the Earth will result in stars that leave a trail, but aren't pin-sharp.
The Rule of 500 is a rule of thumb to calculate the maximum shutter speed that will produce sharp stars without trailing in your images of the night sky.

Maximum Shutter Speed = 500 / (Focal Length × Crop Factor)

Examples:

• On a full-frame camera with a 12 mm lens, maximum shutter speed is 500/12 ≅ 40 seconds.
• On a full-frame camera with a 50 mm lens, maximum shutter speed is 500/50 = 10 seconds.
  Side note: This shutter speed is a quarter of the one in the first example. Hence, only 25% light will enter the sensor. You will therefore have to quadruple the ISO, which introduces more noise. This is the reason why your widest possible lens is recommended.
  
• On a 1.5-times crop-sensor camera with a 20 mm lens, it is 500/(20 × 1.5) ≅ 15 seconds.
  
• On a 1.6-times crop-sensor camera with a 12 mm lens, it is 500/(12 × 1.6) ≅ 30 seconds.
• On a 2-times crop-sensor camera with a 24 mm lens, it is 500/(24 × 2) ≅ 10 seconds.

Handy Hints

• To avoid camera shake when pressing the shutter button, use the shutter delay mode or a remote control.
  
• On cold nights, before returning to a warm environment (your car or home), put your camera in a tight plastic bag. This reduces condensation on the lens.