How to take moon star and northern light photo with D3100
The night sky is one of the endless inspirations for most of the photographers. They always deserve to explore and capture the amazing moments of the infinite universe. When we mention to the night sky, we never forget the fanciful beauty of the moon, stars and northern lights which are the primary factor to create the impression for the entire cosmos. As you know that moon, stars and northern lights are so tiny, and it is very challenging for taking the photos. However, it also is not impossible because everything has how to deal. The thing you need to do is that learn and discover the way and the techniques to archive the perfect picture. With a Nikon D3100, nothing is unbearable. Therefore, in this article, we would like to provide how to shoot the moon, stars and northern lights by D3100, we hope that you can be creative to capture for yourself the best works.
How to capture Moon with Nikon D3100
Here are some tips for you:
Some tips
First of all, we will concentrate on capturing the moon which is considered as the lady of the universe. Some of the people always try at some points without the purposes and techniques so it can result in the blurry or even the bright speck photos on the film. Anyway, don’t worry, getting the great moon pictures is very simple because you just need to know several tricks. To ensure that you will get the perfect moon pictures, you have to have a camera which allows you to control the shutter speed and aperture. Besides, a zoom capability about 300mm, a tripod, Superman power and $5000 lenses are quite necessary. Waiting for the day with the beautiful weather because it decides how the moon looks like and how bright moon is. Nikon D3100 is one of the best choices for you, in this case, don’ t need to hesitate anymore!
Photo of Moon with D3100
Follow the steps to take your moon photos:
The next thing, we will show you the detail steps which are an essential part of getting the marvelous moon picture. Firstly, you have to mount your Nikon D3100 to a sturdy tripod which can support your camera firmly to avoid shaking when capturing. The second step is that if your lens has the vibration reduction, you should turn off it first and then zoom to full telephoto. After that, you look for the manual of D3100 to find out how to turn off the noise reduction. The important step is to set up your ISO up to 100 because it is the best regulation for taking the photo at night and it can make the moon more remarkable. Then on the mode dial, you enable the Aperture priority to set your aperture bout f/8 that is reasonable. Continue with adjusting your metering mode to reach “spot” metering, if it is too tough for you, you can read the manual to carry out it easily. Do not forget to enable the self-timer, setting about 2 or 3 seconds is better (find out how to set at page 54 and 143 of the manual). Finally, you have to especially focus on the moon, your primary object and then flip the AF/MF switch on your lens to MF to wait for the best moment.
Taking pictures of stars and northern lights with Nikon D3100
Because stars and northern light nearly have the same characters, so we can use the similar method to take photos of them.
Some tips
Stars, northern lights, and the moon, share the same thing is that they all appear in the night. However, they have the big different, moon can stand alone but stars and northern light never and they are tinier than the moon. Sometimes, you feel incredibly overwhelmed in front of the sky with full of twinkle stars, and you can not wait for shooting some pictures. However, it is not simple because you can see that the stars are so tiny, smaller than the moon so much. The following is some of the tricks which can help you to photography the finished star pictures. So don’t stop reading!
Photo of Star with nikon D3100
When you have the photography plan for the stars, you always have to choose the scouting location without the ambient light such as street light, traffic and city light. You can use Google maps to look for the place with a good light source. Normally, the small town and the villages are the best places for the light and broad view. The second thing is that you have to consider the weather. Sometimes, some of the clouds are very nice because your picture can be more natural or maybe you need pictures without clouds. Thus, you have to follow the weather forecast to get the photos as your expectation.
Follow the steps to take your stars and northern light photos:
The next thing that you have to know is preparation for your camera. Firstly, like taking the moon photo, you have to mount your Nikon D3100 to a sturdy tripod and then turn off the VR which is vibration reduction in the case your lens comes with it. Remember turn off the Noise reduction and set your ISO to 100. On the mode dial, enable manual mode and specially set up your aperture to f/4, plus to install your shutter speed to 30 seconds. The next step is enabling the self-timer and set it to 2 seconds (read the page 54 and 143 of the manual to know the detail information). Especially, do not be fail to remember the set your AF mode to Single-servo. In the end, you should focus on your distant subjects then flip your lens to MF. Get ready for taking a series of shots.
Photo of Northern light with D3100
Owing to installing in places, you can carry out the set of shots, but you don’t need to pay attention to camera shake. D3100 has the useful function; it has the ability to photography a 30 seconds exposure that is only enough before stars and the northern light star to take the movements. You can keep your ISO at 100 to get the dark sky if you want to emphasize the stars and northern light. In contract, if you wish the brighter sky, you can change and increase the ISO up to 800.
Thank your for reading my post of how to take a beautiful Moon , stars and Northern light photos.
