Bought a 'light pollution filter' for my phone camera. Total joke.

Saw an ad for a cheap filter that promised to cut city glow and show the Milky Way. Cost me $25. Tried it last night from my backyard in Phoenix. The photos looked exactly the same, just a weird purple tint. Anyone know a real way to get decent shots without driving hours away?

2 comments

2 Comments

hannahcoleman12d ago

What camera settings did you use? I read a whole thread about how those cheap filters are basically colored plastic. They might help a tiny bit with orange streetlights, but they won't cut the heavy glow from a place like Phoenix. You need to do what robert_smith36 said and stack a bunch of long exposure shots. I saw a guy online who got a decent shot of Orion from a bright suburb by stacking like fifty 10-second pictures. It's all about gathering more light over time, not a magic filter.

robert_smith3612d ago

I used to believe those filters worked until I tried stacking 30 second exposures in my Denver backyard. That actually pulled out some faint stars.