I am incapable, please help me out. I was trying to take star

>>3119033
Your EXIF says the ISO was 6400 which explains your problem. Turn down your ISO a bit, stop down a bit so that stars will be in focus and not just the clouds (you only need to stop down so far on a wide-angle before the focus becomes infinity), and up the shutter speed so it's all exposed properly.
You'll probably need a tripod if you have to slow the shutter speed that much. If you don't, keep the ISO high up and just stop down until the pic isn't over-exposed.
And once you're bored of working your ass off to take some dull shot of the star pic a real subject. And don't be afraid to use the programed modes, the mark of the newbie is using full manual for no good reason

>>3119033
Go research astrophotography.

>>3119033

Use the 500 rule for maximum exposure time without star trails. That means divide 500 by the focal length of your lens so if you're using a 12mm, 500/12= 41s max exposure.

Now with that kind of exposure time you can probably get away with 1600iso or maybe even 1200.

Shoot in raw and turn off noise reduction.

Open your RAW in darktable or even perhaps ACR. If you're in ACR goto sharpening and under noise reduction increase Luminance to about 25 and luminance detail to about 35. That should help smooth out some of the noise while preserving detail.

Another thing is you can't just point it at the sky and expect great results. The sky needs to be clear, also find out what time galactic center rises (if you use an iphone you can ask siri) or get the photo pills app and it will show you an augmented reality overlay of when and where the milky way will be when you're shooting.

Put those things together and you'll make a more interesting photo.

>>3119033
The stars are out of focus.

File: ring nebula.jpg (5MB, 4288x2848px) Image search: [Google]

5MB, 4288x2848px

I just wanted to point it out.

[EXIF data available. Click here to show/hide.]

Camera-Specific Properties:
Equipment Make	NIKON CORPORATION
Camera Model	NIKON D5000
Camera Software	GIMP 2.8.22
Maximum Lens Aperture	f/3.5
Sensing Method	One-Chip Color Area
Color Filter Array Pattern	686
Focal Length (35mm Equiv)	27 mm
Image-Specific Properties:
Image Orientation	Top, Left-Hand
Horizontal Resolution	240 dpi
Vertical Resolution	240 dpi
Image Created	2017:07:22 22:56:46
Exposure Time	25 sec
F-Number	f/3.5
Exposure Program	Manual
ISO Speed Rating	6400
Lens Aperture	f/3.5
Exposure Bias	0 EV
Metering Mode	Pattern
Light Source	Unknown
Flash	No Flash
Focal Length	18.00 mm
Color Space Information	Uncalibrated
Rendering	Normal
Exposure Mode	Manual
White Balance	Auto
Scene Capture Type	Standard
Gain Control	High Gain Up
Contrast	Normal
Saturation	Normal
Sharpness	Normal
Subject Distance Range	Unknown

>>3119033
>I only have a kit 18-55mm lens.
Get a better lens, you want a wide angle one that is good in low light.

>>3119038
>>3119116
>>3119046
>>3119124
Thank you!

>>3119157
Can't afford one right now but it's on my list.

>>3119163
>Can't afford one right now but it's on my list.
Get a vintage lens with a cheap adapter.

http://www.nightofmanywords.com/articles/budget-lenses-for-astrophotography

>>3119166
That's a good tip, thanks anon!

>>3119163
Get the EF 24/2.8

>>3119765
Oh, Nikon. Get the Sigma 17-50/2.8

>>3119124
This happens to me too. How are you able to focus on the stars in such low light conditions? I can't just twist the lens to maximum distance focus because then they will def be out of focus

>>3119789
not him, but what i do to focus when i'm out doing night shots is go into live view and crank the iso all the way up and zoom in as far as possible on the screen at something far away to try and find focus.

if you're going somewhere where it's dark enough to see a lot of stars then there might not even be enough light for that though... maybe invest in a flashlight with a really long range to do what i described above?

>>3119789
live view or focus on something that's far away and lock it
>>3119033
one major problemhere is the clouds. especially in an area with light pollution these will kill your contrast. the best way to fix this is go somewhere else, but you can wait for a clear night and do OK
you can actually get decent results with a kit lens if you stabilize and use signal averaging, but it's a lot of work

>>3119033
Well first you need to focus properly. Zoom in the image as much as you can using live view and adjust it, then crank the ISO up as much as you can and take a few shorter exposures to see if the focus is right. Adjust accordingly. When you're sure it's perfect change the ISO back to what you need and take the actual shot.

File: 3.webm (3MB, 760x507px) Image search: [Google]

3MB, 760x507px

>>3119033
okay, let's point out a few things
>your focus is a bit off
>no PP at all
>clouds
>you've literally pointed the camera upwards and took a photo, this is not how it works unless you're going for real astro and photographing certain object on the sky

iso 2000 sounds okay. use live view to focus and find a brightest star you can find. Also, from my (still not really vast) experience it's best to shoot night sky with the little bit of the moon, or right after the moon disappears behind the horizon. It gives a sky nice blue color, as opposed to crappy red glow from street lights. Also, find a nice landscape to put on the photo. Even without a proper subject, it's still better to have a landscape silhouette than just a sky.

Pic related was shoot with the assistance of the moon behind the horizon on iso either 1600 or 2000, yet look how nice the sky color is. Camera settings are one of least important aspects of astro, really. It's mostly about knowing where and when the sky should look the best.

File: 9.webm (3MB, 1280x853px) Image search: [Google]

3MB, 1280x853px

>>3120581
i found one more of my webms (i could swear they looked better back when i was shooting them). This one seems to be failed, but it shows nicely how the nice blue sky transistions into ugly red-ish mess because moon is gone.

File: Milky way run 4.jpg (4MB, 4802x3140px) Image search: [Google]

4MB, 4802x3140px

>>3119033
focus, go into live veiw, put in the settings for the maximum exposure possible and manually focus the lens untill the stars are as small as possible. And then put in the settings you want and expose on a tripod with either a cable release or a timer.

[EXIF data available. Click here to show/hide.]

Camera-Specific Properties:
Equipment Make	Canon
Camera Model	Canon EOS 1200D
Camera Software	Adobe Photoshop CC 2015 (Windows)
Photographer	William Shaw
Maximum Lens Aperture	f/3.5
Image-Specific Properties:
Image Orientation	Top, Left-Hand
Horizontal Resolution	240 dpi
Vertical Resolution	240 dpi
Image Created	2017:04:04 01:24:56
Exposure Time	25 sec
F-Number	f/3.5
Exposure Program	Manual
ISO Speed Rating	6400
Lens Aperture	f/3.5
Exposure Bias	0 EV
Metering Mode	Pattern
Flash	No Flash, Compulsory
Focal Length	18.00 mm
Color Space Information	Uncalibrated
Image Width	4802
Image Height	3140
Rendering	Normal
Exposure Mode	Manual
White Balance	Auto
Scene Capture Type	Standard