Hey Brad, no problem in sharing the details of the shots, and just incase you want to know any of them, on my galleries if you hold the cursur over the picture a little window will pop open that says Photo Info.
If you click on that button, it will list all the photo info that was recorded in the EXIF data that the camera records. Pretty cool to be able to see how the photographer got the shot and what settings they used.
For this shot, I obvisouly had the camera on a sturdy tripod to start with. This is mandatory.
So it was a Canon 5D with a Sigma 17-35mm lens. I had the lens zoomed out to 24mm which is why you have the branches and so much in the frame. The 5D is a full frame camera, so any lens you put on will be the actual size and no crop factor is involved.
I set the camera shutter to stay open for 30 seconds which is right around the limit you can keep it open for before you actually start to see the stars moving. I've experimented with many different settings, and sometimes leaving it open for....say, 5 minutes will give you some cool star trails, but the noise gets pretty bad due to the shutter being open for that long. I dont have any noise-eliminating software as of yet, so I havent played around with this as much as I'd like.
I tried a few different settings for the aperature (f/stop) and usually a really low f/stop will allow too much light in when leaving the shutter open for this long, but this time the f/2.8 worked best.
So you have 30second exposure, f/2.8 and an ISO of 800.
This shot was taken in Northern Michigan with the same exact settings except a 30D camera body was used.
30second exposure, f/2.8 but an ISO of 100
Also one trick that will solve a whole lotta of frustration is to have a good, bright flashlight with you. If you try and focus on the subject in the dark, most of the time you'll find you're off a bit.
I set the camera on manual focus, then shine the subject with my Surefire flashlight and look through the viewfinder. This was I know the subject in the foreground is in focus and the stars arent really that big of a deal, they'll turn out no matter what.
That's my quick tutorial on campsite shots taken in the dark. Good luck and cant wait to see your results
