[Gareth (Gareth)]

Hi!
I am currently taking advantage of the clear sky tonight in Sydney and what looks like a good few days of viewing ahead thanks to the lack of clouds.

I am very new to photography, and while I wait for my astronomy gear to arrive to learn on that front, I'm going to get into "milky way" photography, or basically just photos of the night sky, to practice stacking, blacks, post processing etc.

Anyway! I currently own a shiny new Canon 600D with the twin lens kit (18-55mm is and 55-250mm is) and i'm looking for a bit of help setting it up.

I've read most of the manual, so i'm familiar with the camera well enough, and according to various guides I want to be looking at an exposure time of no more than 30 seconds, ISO of about 300 and aperture of f/2.5 - 3.

Now, first question - what settings should the white balance be on? When I change them, I get VERY different results. Auto seems useless, and I can find no guide that tells me about it. Second question - the largest I can set my aperture to is f/4 - is that a limitation of my lens? (Sorry that must seem like an obvious question!) Is there any way to help with that? I read that a higher ISO may help?

The rest is just practice from what I understand. Getting the right combination of the above depending on how the conditions are that night. Once I understand what the white balance is all about, and the aperture vs. ISO I should be able to understand what's going on!

Thanks in advance, and sorry for waffling!
Gareth