Talk by Blair Adamson at Manorhamilton Library.

Ever wonder how photographers get those insane, glowing Milky Way shots stretching over an old mountain or castle ruin? It’s called landscape astrophotography, and it is entirely possible to learn how to do it yourself!

You don’t need a massive telescope to pull this off. All it takes is a decent camera that lets you shoot in manual mode, a wide-angle lens that lets in a massive amount of light, and a rock-solid tripod. That tripod is absolutely non-negotiable because you will be leaving your camera’s shutter open for up to 25 seconds just to soak up the faint starlight.

The real magic happens when you take control of your camera settings. You have to open your lens aperture as wide as it goes, crank up your ISO so the sensor becomes ultra-sensitive, and manually focus on the brightest star in the pitch-black sky. The secret to keeping those stars looking like sharp pinpricks instead of blurry streaks is a little math trick called the 500 Rule: just divide 500 by your lens size to find out your maximum exposure time before the Earth’s rotation blurs the shot.

Most importantly, you have to get out of the city, find true darkness away from light pollution, and plan your shoot when the moon isn’t washing out the sky. Frame those stars over a cool foreground, and you’ve got yourself a masterpiece.

Manorhamilton Library

Phone: (071) 965 0453