How to Photograph the Night Sky With Light Pollution

There are filters that reduce light pollution in big cities and in the wild. But believe it or not, you don’t necessarily need them. They can certainly help if you’re trying to photograph the night sky, but you could end up working in post-production to darken certain areas of the sky. What if we (the staff who tested this stuff together) told you that you don’t have to do tons of extra post-production to get the photos you want? Well, we will show how to do it.

The gear you need

To do this, here is a set of gear that we recommend. Choose any of these you would like:

We choose this gear for several reasons. First of all, OM SYSTEM cameras have this pretty awesome feature called Live Composite. For astrophotography, you would typically photograph a series of moments of the scene and then stitch them together in post-production using layering and more. But you don’t have to do that here. Instead, the camera does it for you, and you watch the photo come to life right before your eyes.

OM SYSTEM calls it Live Composite, but it should be affectionately called “Love Composite” because it will make you love composite shoots. For those living in cities or suburbs with a lot of light pollution, this is the great balance that makes photographing the night sky such a blast.

How to photograph the night sky and eliminate the effects of light pollution

When using these cameras, there are different menu systems that offer different options for configuring how they work. But let’s focus on exposure settings first. Here are some tips:

• Start with a lens that is wide open or stopped down by just one f-stop. We strongly recommend not stopping beyond f4.
• You can certainly use a higher ISO setting like ISO 6400, but we recommend going for something more modest like ISO 400 or ISO 200. These give you the least amount of grain and also allow for longer exposures. If you’re looking for star trails, this is your key!
• Lock the white balance. The cameras already do this for you, but we think you should use an actual white balance setting. With Simulated OVF mode off, cycle through the white balances until you get a look you like. We tend to choose 3200K tungsten.
• Use a tripod. This is mandatory for photographing the night sky and ensures you get the greatest possible consistency.
• Set the camera to Bulb mode. From there you can select the Live Composite setting. Press the menu button in Live Composite and you can set the base exposure. I usually start with a half second exposure, but to each their own.
• Before choosing the exposures and bulb mode, go into the camera’s LIVE/COMPOSITE/BULB settings to configure exactly how you want it to work.

After composing the scene, choose the settings you want. Set the auto focus mode to Starry Sky AF to photograph the night sky. This mode ensures that the stars and sky are sharp. Of course, if you’re using one of the lenses we recommend, make sure the focus ring is in the right spot for autofocusing. It won’t work otherwise. If you’re using a manual focus lens, it won’t work either.

OM SYSTEM amazingly ensures that the stars are always crisp, unlike other camera systems we have seen and used. Part of that is how Micro Four Thirds sensors operate with twice the depth of field of full-frame sensors, but the same light-gathering abilities at similar apertures.

In post production

OM SYSTEM has its own software that includes things like AI Noise Reduction. It does a fantastic job. We know most people use Lightroom or Capture One. But our employees use Capture One because they work more with companies to better support RAW files.

This is where our work with white balance comes into play. Having only a fixed white balance makes it easier to edit your scene. When the sky is set to blue due to white balance, sometimes all you need to do is darken the luminance of the blue channel. Mix in some black levels and contrasts to suit your taste and you’re suddenly cooking with fire!

If you are looking for a starry sky, then wait for a clear night sky. Otherwise, adding drama to a scene with clouds can sometimes be stunning. If you set the camera to only take a long exposure of the clouds, they look perfectly smooth. But with Live Composite in OM SYSTEM cameras, they get a unique texture that is impossible without spending a lot of time layering in Photoshop. I don’t know about you, but I don’t have the time or patience to sit and work on a single image over and over again. If I have to work on a photo for more than a day, it never gets finished.

Most importantly, sometimes it’s not fun to sit in front of your computer longer than you’ve been behind a camera. We’re photographers, and the computational photography in OM SYSTEM cameras makes it easy to do all the cool things you want a lot easier. If you’re brave enough, try it in the rain with cool rain clouds overhead. The system has an IP rating for durability, ensuring it will survive. Happy shooting!

This piece is presented in partnership with OM SYSTEM. We have independently and ethically verified all of the products in this post without sponsorship. And we’ve worked with them to recommend a few key gems for you.