Further in to Smartphone Astrophotography

     In my previous post, I discussed the fundamental aspects of Smartphone Astrophotography. In this article, I would like to share some personal tips and tricks that I have learned from my experience to make things easier.

Before we dive into the tips, let's have a quick recap of the basics. If you are not familiar with them, you can check out my previous article titled "Astrophotography using Smartphones," where I covered topics such as using the Professional mode and various settings to use in different scenarios.

Now that we know how to use our phone to capture the night sky let's talk about how to locate the objects we need to capture and when to capture them. To do this, you can use a Star tracking app from the Play Store or the App Store. These apps track your location and show you all the stars, planets, galaxies, and even satellites above you in real-time. If your phone has a gyroscope sensor, you can point it to the sky and see all those objects in the direction it's pointing. Even if it doesn't, you can still get a good idea of their location by observing the direction and the sky map. My personal favorite is an app called "Star Walk 2" because of its user-friendly interface and a wide range of features. Some of its features are behind a paywall, but they are not expensive, and they are one-time payments. Moreover, you can track the location of objects into the future, making it easier for you to plan ahead. The app also features an astronomy calendar, a notification system that informs you of future events, an Augmented Reality mode, and much more.

Another useful tool is a light pollution map, which indicates the areas where there is excessive artificial lighting and where there is not. The less light pollution, the better, as it can obscure the stars. So relocate to a location with minimal light pollution and elevated to capture a wide area of the sky without obstructions from trees and buildings.

When it comes to editing, there are no techniques specific to astrophotography. You can edit it like any other photo, just play around with the settings. You will need to adjust color curves to draw in the desired colors or realistic colors as some astrophotos end up looking muted and to draw out hidden details. Personally, I recommend Adobe Lightroom, but it's not the only.

Now, let's discuss some common mistakes to avoid. Turn off notifications on your phone, and set your phone to mute, as the vibration can cause the phone to move during the exposure time. Be sure to turn off the flash. If you want something in the foreground to be lit, use a separate light source indirectly, but only for a short time, like a second, and don't use astrong light to avoid overexposing.

These tips and tricks are based on my personal experience of experimenting with different apps and settings and learning from my mistakes. The more experience you gain, the more you understand and become better at it. So, keep playing around with different settings, and soon you'll be making guides like this.