Struggling with night time shots

[Sam]

Basically I cant seem to keep the sky black but highlight the stars? I want to get the hang of it as this weekend im planning on getting some shots from Arthurs seat in edinburgh. Here are a few examples of what I shot tonight...



Here the lighting is correct, with the orange glow of the towns and villages fading into a black nights sky but the sky isnt as star filled as I want it to be, for an almost surreal effect.



Above; The sky shows its full potential, the result of a 30s exposure but the colours arent as powerfull as they could/should be. The sky should be black and glistening with an orange glow from below



Above is just a random pic of my mate that I like, ideally again I would like to bring the stars right out.


Thanks for your help and advice in advanced, Sam

[shepgti]

Best way to go about this is to use 2 separate exposures and blend them together. inequality for the stars and one for city lights. hth.

[Sam]

Best way to go about this is to use 2 separate exposures and blend them together. inequality for the stars and one for city lights. hth.

brb

[Sam]

This is a little better non?

[DubFan]

Yeah that's better.
It's very tricky to get it all exposed right in one shot, so the 2 or 3 shot method will give you better results.

Also you will find if you use a higher ISO and then pump up the brightness in Photoshop you'll see lots of noise, so it's better to use a lower ISO but with a longer exposure.

This one I took shooting straight up into the sky (out in the countryside) with ISO 800 and an 8sec exposure.
The problem with longer exposures is that the dots of the stars start to look less defined and not so sharp.

Nightsky by AlistairBeavis, on Flickr

[shepgti]

i read somewhere that the best focal point for shooting satrs a little off infinity on the lens.

[Sam]

I was rocking 200 iso, I think the slight blur is down to the long exposure, wind and a f**king sh!t tripod. I think layering up would be best, just need to hope for a clear night tonight 

[shepgti]

just had a play with your 2nd pic, doesnt edit to bad using grad filters and sharpening

[Winso]

Unfortunately the biggest problem here is light pollution. It's a bit of a catch 22 really... Expose the shot enough to catch the stars and you pick up a lot of ambient light in the sky. Reduce exposure so you lose the orange glow and you lose the stars. Only real solution is to try and shoot away from any urban areas which is pretty impossible in this country. I've heard the Australia outback is good though...

[Sam]

Unfortunately the biggest problem here is light pollution. It's a bit of a catch 22 really... Expose the shot enough to catch the stars and you pick up a lot of ambient light in the sky. Reduce exposure so you lose the orange glow and you lose the stars. Only real solution is to try and shoot away from any urban areas which is pretty impossible in this country. I've heard the Australia outback is good though...

Best order some tickets then...

Thats the thing, I wanted to catch the spew of orange fading into this amaizing nights sky. Kinda showing what we see, and what there is to see at the same time. Its pitch black If I turned 180deg the other way.

Here is another edit, im happy with this one now