How to capture the night sky with a phone & camera | 3 TIPS for astrophotography beginners

Today I'm sharing all my tips and tricks for capturing the stars in the night sky with both a smart phone and a DSLR camera whilst under some of the darkest skies in the Maldives. Plus I pit the iPhone 11 against an iPhone 12 mini and an iPhone 13 pro in a "night mode face off" to see which is best. All so you can get those instagram worthy shots #astrophotography #astrotourism #stargazing

00:00 - Introduction
01:14 - iPhone night mode shots
02:14 - Tip #1 - Prop up your phone or use a tripod
02:40 - Tip #2 - Use a remote or a delay timer
03:14 - Tip #3 - The 500 rule for exposure times
05:19 - iPhone 13 Pro vs iPhone 12 mini vs iPhone 11
06:59 - Using a DSLR camera on manual mode
08:23 - Getting a timelapse
08:50 - Light-painting the foreground
09:35 - Outro & THANK YOU
10:42 - Bloopers

And even though none of you asked, my polka dot shorts (also seen worn as a full co-ord set) are from @Roxy and my white shirt is an old season H&M.

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👩🏽‍💻 I'm Dr. Becky Smethurst, an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford. I love making videos about science with an unnatural level of enthusiasm. I like to focus on how we know things, not just what we know. And especially, the things we still don't know. If you've ever wondered about something in space and couldn't find an answer online - you can ask me! My day job is to do research into how supermassive black holes can affect the galaxies that they live in. In particular, I look at whether the energy output from the disk of material orbiting around a growing supermassive black hole can stop a galaxy from forming stars.

[lianfernandes]

Gonna try my best to explain it in Android terms here!
1. There is a night mode if you have a Samsung phone (other androids should have it too). The icon she shows should be just below your selfie camera.
2. Timers are available on your camera settings. You can also use the volume button to click the picture.
3. That tip goes about for all android users as well.
(another tip which my astrophotographer friend gave me when I was part of a Star B Q here in Ireland. Go to Pro mode on your camera (phone users). Use the maximum ISO setting you have and a shutter speed of 2. And click the picture! And it's AMAZING!)

[liamclarke]

Great episode!! As a professional photographer, I can honestly say, this is the first video where I have fully understood the meaning of every word you said :-)

[DoktorApe]

On an iPhone, pressing the volume controls will trigger the shutter. But this works any way you trigger the volume control, including Apple wired earbuds or a Bluetooth audio device with a volume button. So if you have anything like that you don't need an additional remote trigger.

[BenDavidZ]

So nice to be reminded that camera we probably all already have in our pocket is capable of some pretty remarkable shots. Thanks!

[mawkernewek]

One of my most amazing stargazing experiences was on the Isles of Scilly, which is a bit like the Maldives. One of our neighbours had a timeshare holiday house there and they invited us over there for the week, and it was amazingly dark (excepting a few lighthouses), and a clear horizon in all directions, and it was the first time I had really seen the Milky Way all the way to Saggitarius properly. The following year they invited several of my family but not me because the mother of the family insisted I needed to stay home to revise for my GCSEs.

[Mattdad]

Brilliant video Dr Becky. I have family and have lived on Sark (the worlds first dark sky island) and the night sky is stunning. There are no streetlights or cars so once your eyes have adapted the Milky Way is as clear as anything and the number of stars is unbelievable. Many a time I have walked into things because my eyes are fixed on the sky and not where I am going..

[PatrickPoet]

If you struggle to understand ISO, think of it as a volume knob. Just as a volume knob controls an amplifier for a sound signal, the ISO (on digital phones and cameras) controls an amplifier for the light signal. Higher ISO cranks up the volume. Get it too high and you blast the light up until it all blows out to just white. If it's too low, it turns everything dark. Now it might be that a wide open aperture and a long shutter open time lets in PLENTY of light and you'll need the ISO all the way down. So set the aperture for the shot you want, set the shutter timer for the shot you want, and take a shot. If it's too dark turn the ISO up. If it's too light turn it down.

[DSOImager]

Fantastic video! If the astrophotography bug hits hard.. the next step is an equatorial mount, telescope, and a dedicated astronomy camera :)

[nocturneastro]

Nice video, just wanted to add a few things:
1) The key is to stack your images. Because the majority of the area in an astrophotography photo is essentially, nothing (dark/black), it's just going to come up as noise. And because this noise is random, if you stack your images, you can increase the signal to noise ratio. The noise will cancel itself out (because it's random), and you can boost the signal of whatever it is that you're trying to image.
2) Turn off autofocus. In astrophotography, autofocus is virtually useless because your camera is designed focus on human/animal faces and big bright objects. Not faint nebula and a billion dots in the night sky. Always use manual focus.
3) Dark sites are great, but not everyone has access to them. You can still do astrophotography at the comfort of your home as long as you have an unobstructed view to the night sky. Consider getting an equatorial mount so it can track your object as it moves along the night sky.
4) Since you were using camera lenses (they're not optimized for stars, but of course, use what you already have before spending more money), most camera lenses at wide-open aperture will produce bloated and funky looking stars. If you think your stars look weird, try going one stop before wide-open for your lens. So if your lens can go down to f/2.0, try using f/2.8 instead.

[ARWest-bpyb]

Getting a phone adaptor for the tripod makes it so much easier. I've experimented with the pro settings on my S8, lots of trial & error for sure. Great tip about the 500 rule! 👍👍

[bimmergeezer]

Dr. Becky, such a fun episode. Two of my sons and I spent last week sailing the US Virgin Islands and for several nights we had very clear and dark skies. We laid out on the trampoline at the front of the catamaran and watched the night skies for hours at a time. Quite wonderful!!

[uschi]

The 500 rule is a good rule of thumb, and absolutely it's best to keep it simple for folks wanting to take a casual picture of the night-time sky. But for anyone that wants to get into a little more detail, I would suggest putting "NPF rule" into your favorite search engine. It's more complicated, but can yield better results for the length of time you can expose a picture without star trails.

[ericthompson]

Doc, you never fail to make me smile.

[AnaandTheBooks]

I absolutely love this channel! I had always loved astrophysics and wanted to study it at university but the only school that I was able to attend due to my financial situation only had astronomy as a minor, which I did, but ultimately I decided to study environmental science. I like to think that studying the earth is "astronomy" but only focusing on one planet, our own. haha

[MoonDragonne]

Thanks for the tips! I've tried to take photographs of the night sky with my phone before but with no good results, now I know how to have a better result and I can't wait to try again!

[Sad_King_Billy]

I went on a cruise to Central American a few years ago and loved sitting on the deck and watching the stars.

[FlashGeiger]

One often neglected tip for taking pictures of any kind with your phone: Clean off the lens! Cameras covered in fingerprints and pocket lint don't take sharp images.

[antonypage]

Be careful everyone this is how it all starts. I got addicted and brought a full astrophotography setup. Many thousands of pounds and many hours of learning how to use it, but worth every penny when those pictures appear on your screen.

[mikeday]

Looks like you’ve had a wonderful time. I’m so pleased for you 👍

[roopshadasgupta]

This is great! I've always wanted to do this but never knew the correct techniques.