Celestial photography: 

We often overlook the universal beauty that is all around us and just beyond our vision. Astrophotography can help capture that beauty and transmute it into something that is quantifiable and sharable if only as a representation of a fleeting glimpse of all that was, is, and will be.

If you do try it out for yourself please email your results to adamjcappello.info@gmail.com I'd love to check it out!

For astrophotography it is optimal to be in a very dark area without excess ambient light. It is helpful to think about it as essentially using the camera like a net to try and gather up as much light as possible. If there is too much local light you're going to overwhelm the subtle sparkle that is far off and distant starlight. Typically you'd also want a clear sky but as you will see further into the article a light cloud cover can make for some excellent effects. You will also probably want a tripod or a sturdy surface to set your camera down on to minimize micro-movement since we will be leaving the sensor exposed for long periods of time.

Before reading any further, lets run over some basic camera terminology and how it applies:

The "sensor" is the photoreceptive part of a camera that gathers light data and converts into a photo-graph. With film, this data conversion happens chemically within the film when it is exposed to light. Its safe to say that the film itself is the sensor. In digital cameras and smartphones this light data collection is performed on a photodiode, which is typically a doped silicon crystal that produces electrical signals when exposed to light. These electrical signals are sent to the CPU of the device where they are interpreted and converted into a photo-graph. An interesting fact about digital camera sensors is that all the light that's collected isn't always only visible light, but all light collected is converted by the device into a visible light spectrum that humans can see! This is why if you open up your camera app and point a remote at the camera you will see the remote light up on the screen when you click the button! Another interesting experiment you can do if you have access to two iPhones is you can record the infrared light the FaceID system uses to illuminate your face in the dark! (this is not a reason to go buy a second iPhone just go find a friend)

"ISO" (The International Organization for Standardization set the parameters and Apple already took IOS so people just call them both ISO) is the measurement of the camera's sensitivity to light. The higher the number the more sensitive the camera will be to light.

Shutter speed is how long the sensor is exposed. A higher number means the longer amount of time the sensor is exposed to light. Shutter speed is usually a direct count in fractions of a second or seconds that the shutter will be open and exposing the sensor.

The "aperture" is how big or small the opening in the camera is that lets light pass through the lens to the sensor.

The f/stops are the measurements of the aperture opening. As the f/stop number goes up, the aperture gets smaller. Think of f/stop number as correlating to the percentage of how much the sensor is covered. The higher the f/stop number the farther out the field of view goes, for example if you want to take a close up photo you'd use the lowest f/stop for a close field of view.

These three components; shutter speed, ISO, and f/stop, make up a camera's exposure triangle. Together these three settings control how much light reaches the camera's sensor.

Remember for astrophotography the goal is to let as much light hit the sensor as possible. For f/stop values this can seem counter intuitive because normally the f/stop would be set to the highest value to focus on a far away object like something off on the horizon but here the goal is to gather as much light as possible so you want to set the f/stop to the lowest number for the widest opening.

Typically on a smartphone the f/stop is a fixed value meaning the size of the aperture cannot be changed. This is mostly due to the logistical difficulty of fitting a mechanized aperture into the small form factor of a smartphone. It has been done before on phones like the s10 by Samsung but users said it was "flawed" and Samsung discontinued it on future phones. More recently the iPhone 15 came out with variable f/stops that are achieved through using clever software tactics. This has sparked debates amongst purists who dispute whether or not photos taken on an iPhone or smartphone should be considered "real" since they go through so much processing (they are and that is an ignorant take; any way you take a photo requires some form of processing, if you think otherwise then I am sorry). Most smartphone manufacturers got over the f/stop hurdle simply by including more lenses with differing fixed apertures correlating to zoom length; longer zoom:smaller hole.

If you're using a smartphone it's needless to say you probably do not need to worry about the f/stops unless you wanted to. In fact, most phones have a dedicated astrophotography setting now; which makes it super easy for users to point and shoot great astrophotos without much effort! You could probably just stop reading here and scroll down to look at the pictures if that is your case but if you're using a big-boy camera or want to experiment with the variables and process of capturing celestial photos then keep reading!  

ISO and shutter speed are more intuitive, to let in as much light as possible you will want to have the highest settings of each. For shutter speed this is typically around 30 seconds and for ISO it is usually 3200. 

To access these settings on an Android smartphone most native camera apps have a "pro" camera mode where you can manually dial in the values of each setting. To access this pro-mode you simply swipe along the bottom of the screen in the camera app until the mode comes into selection. If you can't find it right away sometimes it requires an initial configuration in the camera app's settings menu. This can vary from manufacturer to manufacturer.

 On iPhones you will have a more limited access to settings unless you download a third-party app, I like FotoGear for its easy to use interface. There is a paid version of that app but I use the free version and it works perfect. To access the native settings of the camera app in iPhone you open the camera and swipe up from the middle of the screen. From here you can click on the moon icon, this controls the shutter speed on a slider from minimum to maximum. The maximum can vary from 10 second to 30 seconds, the phone chooses for you which it thinks would be better. Next you can swipe through the icons until you find a plus and minus icon, this controls the exposure on the same type of sliding scale. You will want to set both to maximum in order to capture the most light. 

Most big-boy cameras have dedicated buttons to access each setting. If there is no button, settings can typically be accessed through the camera's "menu" or "settings" button. Each configuration varies from manufacturer to manufacturer but the same process holds true. You will want to initially set your ISO to 3200 and exposure time to around 30 seconds with an f/stop of 1.4 or however low and wide your camera goes.

Once your camera is initially configured, you're ready to take your first celestial photo! Remember, this is an experiment so the results may vary and nothing is set in stone. From here on out you can dial in the settings according to your shooting conditions and take more photos until you reach your desired outcome. Since the sensor will be exposed for a prolonged amount of time this also gives you a great opportunity to experiment with light! You can bring along a laser pointer and try to point out a specific star or constellation in the sky or you could use a flash light to create interesting bokeh and patterns. Once you understand the fundamental mechanics you can do whatever you want! Just like Nas said: "who's world is this?" (you have to finish the line or it doesn't work right).  

York, ME, USA

Jawbone Canyon, CA, USA

Canandaigua Lake, NY, USA

Webster, NY, USA

Written By: Adam J. Cappello 

Published: April 12th, 2024