calling photographers

[Jake]

Get 'er on a tripod. Set it to manual (M) mode. Keep your lens all the way out at 18mm. The lens or body should have a toggle to go between Auto and Manual focus... click that to Manual and set the lens' focus to Infinity. That's assuming the lens has a meter to show that. Otherwise, focus it on something close, and then spin the focus ring all the way the other direction.

Aperture should be wide open, so the lowest it will go. Your kit lens is probably a f. 3.5 at 18mm which is fine.

Shutter maximum is most likely 30 seconds. You can use that, or see if there's a setting called Bulb. Bulb will open the shutter when you hit the button, then leave it open as long as you keep the button held down. If you have a remote (or clever use of some tape and a penny) you can keep it on Bulb without having to stand there and hold the button.

Set your ISO to like 640 or 800. Most newer DSLRs can do that high of ISO without much noise.

When you do this, if you don't use Bulb (and instead set shutter @ 30sec), use the self-timer on the camera to eliminate any shake that you'd get by your hand hitting the shutter button.

You can get some cool solo shots, or you can do something like I did at the last meteor shower and take a bunch of 30 sec. exposures and combine them in Photoshop. Had I not moved the camera (it was on a lightweight tripod and a little flimsy) the trails would line up better. This was a Nikon D300, ISO 800, f 2.8, combined 30 sec. shots.



Good luck and don't hesitate to ask if you need help with stuff! A good site to check out is Digital Photography School. They have some interesting articles and good 'how to' stuff as well.