Got called out for my washed out star photos last month

Someone on this forum said my Andromeda shot looked 'like a white blob' and told me to drop my exposure from 120 seconds to 90. Tried it last night and the core detail is way better now. How do you guys decide on the right exposure time for different targets?

2 comments

2 Comments

gonzalez.anna10d ago

Honestly I read somewhere that you should aim for the histogram peak to be about a third of the way from the left. That's been my basic rule. For bright stuff like andromeda you can go shorter, but for faint galaxies you might push it longer before the sky gets too washed out. It's a lot of trial and error with your own camera and sky conditions though. Glad dropping the time worked for you, it's crazy how much difference 30 seconds can make.

betty_scott1810d ago

My histogram peak is usually so far left it's practically off the chart. I guess my trial and error is mostly error.