This was one of my first attempts at "star photography". I had attempted to shoot star trails once before several years ago and learned a valuable lesson when I changed lenses right near a campfire. My sensor was filthy after that and I had to have it cleaned (I have since learned to clean my camera sensors myself).
I recently listened to a great podcast called "Alpha Mirrorless" hosted by Juan Pons and Andy Williams. The podcast centers around mirrorless cameras and more specifically, Sony mirrorless but they touch on a wider gamut of photography topics. Recently they discussed star photography and nighttime photography and I decided to give this a shot at my camp on Galway Lake.
The key to these types of exposures is to shoot at a wide aperture (2.8 or wider is ideal) and a long shutter speed but not long enough to obtain star trails (unless that is your goal). I shot this with my D610 and my old Nikkor 20mm F/2.8 prime.
There is a ton of room for improvement but I was pleased with the way this came out after editing in Lightroom. I look forward to going back and shooting some more images like this once there is less "light pollution" around the lake. Sections of Galway Lake are more or less seasonal use only so once late fall/early winter hit, there is a lot less artificial light around the lake.
Please feel free to check out the Alpha Mirrorless podcast that I mentioned.
http://thisweekinphoto.com/category/alphamirrorless/
