How (not) to guess at the settings for photographing the ISS

WHAT THIS IS
I woke up at 5:00 one morning to photograph the International Space Station as it passed overhead. It was my first time attempting to capture the ISS, which looks like a bright, fast-moving star when it’s visible in your area.

This video shows how I set up the shot, waited for the moment to arrive, and then changed it all at the last minute when the ISS emerged higher up in the sky than I was expecting. The final photo, a 222-second exposure in the light pollution of Osaka city in Japan, is shown towards the end of the video.

CAMERA SETTINGS TIPS
Also at the end of the video are some tips about camera settings for long exposures. You don’t have to take multi-minute test exposures to check your ISO and aperture settings; you can do it with 30-second exposures and some simple math.

MENTIONED IN THIS VIDEO:
• ISS Spotter iPhone app (free):
• GIMP free image manipulation software:

THANKS FOR WATCHING!
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