I went camping this weekend at a place called Starland recreation area- so it seemed fitting that I should try a few night shots.

I should have researched it before going, but I was busy with other things.. so...
The shots I did take were not very interesting or impressive.

I didn't have much patience to experiment that night as the mosquitos were brutal.

I used a tripod, set camera to M and played with shutter speed from 'bulb' to 20" I think I set distance to infinity and let camera autofocus.

I do not have remote release.. I now realise I could have used timer to avoid the shake

but- didn't think of that.

Anyway- I've seen some fantastic night sky pictures (fireworks - Aurora boreallis etc)

Samples of what I'd like to capture


How do I go about capturing some night sky pictures without loosing image to noise?

How can I focus on what I want in the dark?


Here are the pictures I did take- these are after I tried cleaning them up.. so not even close to what I'd like.


ISO: 800
Exposure: 30.0 sec
Aperture: 4.0
Focal Length: 10mm

SO: 800
Exposure: 30.0 sec
Aperture: 4.0
Focal Length: 10mm

ISO: 800
Exposure: 41.0 sec
Aperture: 4.0
Focal Length: 14mm

ISO: 800
Exposure: 43.0 sec
Aperture: 4.0
Focal Length: 14mm

ISO: 800
Exposure: 53.0 sec
Aperture: 4.0
Focal Length: 14mm