Thapar Students Love Astrophotography — 5 Questions They Asked Me
I recently got a chance to interact with the amazingly enthusiastic students of the prestigious Thapar University in Punjab. I was invited to share my journey as a photographer and talk about my long term project, ‘Life in Spiti’.
After my hour long talk and presentation, there were some common questions they asked me that I didn’t get the time to answer in detail. Most of them were about talking pictures of stars at night.
So I have prepared a list of 5 questions followed by links to few other great articles about Astrophotography. It is a very simple process.
1. Traveling is expensive for students, when you started traveling, how did you manage the funds for it?
Travelling is not expensive if you are ready to give up on luxury. When I was traveling at first, I was traveling in busses, staying in really cheap guest houses. Travelling in expensive only when you want the luxury of your home at the places you travel to.
2. What equipment do you use to capture stars and time-lapses at night?
I normally use a Canon 16–35 2.8 and Sigma Art 35mm f1.4. But when there is moon light available, I also take pictures with Canon 70–200 2.8 IS.
3. How do you focus at night?
Keep your focus at the Infinity Point and if your lens doesn’t have the option to see your focus points, then you can easily do it by trial and error. Won’t take much time.
4. Are there cheaper lenses to shoot stars?
The Rokinon 24mm f/1.4 ED AS UMC is a good choice for people on a budget. You can also get other Rokinon Prime lenses that can open up to f/2.8.
5. What if we don’t have a tripod?
Though tripod is a must for night photography, but if you didn’t carry it for some reason, then you can just keep your camera on a stable surface. You can make a platform with big rocks. Just make sure its stable. It will limit your camera movement and make your job a lot harder but still you will get the shot.
Resources
I learnt everything on the internet. So can you. Here are some resources that might help you.
Pictures from the Event
Originally published at https://khagta.com on October 30, 2016.
