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I was able to snag a couple of the meteors last night.  IMG_6398 by Shane Duff, on Flickr  IMG_6419 by Shane Duff, on Flickr
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Aug 12, 2012 20:29
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| # ? May 28, 2024 20:32 |
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I tried snapping some meteor pics last night but had no luck. I was bummed. I've been trying my hand a star/sky photography since i finally moved to an area with a LOT less light pollution that I've lived before, but my question is, since looking at all the night sky photos/time-lapse vids, how do you shoot the Milky Way? Is there a direction you should be pointed in? Is area a factor? Does there have to be NO light pollution? thanks for any info.
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Aug 14, 2012 03:56
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barkums posted:I tried snapping some meteor pics last night but had no luck. I was bummed. You can see the Milky Way in the first image I posted, but better in this one:  IMG_6384 by Shane Duff, on Flickr The EXIF is still attached to the image, but the trick is to pump up your ISO (this photo was at 3200), open your aperture and use the rule of 600/focal length to determine your max time the shutter can be open before you start creating star trails. Mine is a 17mm lens, so I have about 36 seconds to work with. The Milky Way is more visible in the fall months versus spring, at least for me in California. I'm also in an incredibly remote area with very little light pollution. I can visibly see the Milky Way after driving 10 minutes out of town. I hope that helps, oh and of course you'll need a remote release. Or at least it makes things much easier.
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Aug 14, 2012 05:37
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Spent a couple hours at Devil's Tower a couple weeks ago, had this idea to use moonlight to light the tower (it was about 50% full that night) and get some star trails orbiting Polaris. When all the sudden some rear end in a top hat climbers decided to descend.  So I switched modes and took time lapses of them rappelling down.  Not sure on the processing, I think it needs some attention. The screen on my macbook gets nasty banding and it makes it hard to do things right. So if anyone has suggestions I'd love to hear them.
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Aug 14, 2012 06:10
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Long enough to require a tripod, at least! DSC00402.jpg by richardhkirkando, on Flickr
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Aug 15, 2012 05:26
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  Caught the tail end of the perseids the other night. I wish I focused better and there was less noise, but whatcha gonna do. I think they turned out alright.
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Aug 15, 2012 07:17
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Casu Marzu posted:
Lurker here. Gorgeous work!
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Aug 15, 2012 12:13
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xzzy posted:Spent a couple hours at Devil's Tower a couple weeks ago, had this idea to use moonlight to light the tower (it was about 50% full that night) and get some star trails orbiting Polaris. I think the subject of someone descending is actually more interesting to me, I've never seen it before. If you crop into it, is it close enough to make out any detail of the climbers or their path? This is from my hosting: 
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Aug 16, 2012 04:39
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Took my new X100 out to a festival tonight, where they float hundreds of paper lanterns down a section of river. I was shooting entirely handheld which meant ISO3200, f/2 and as steady a hand as I could muster. I think this is my favourite shot. It looks a lot darker on my iPhone than on my computer though. I think I need to recalibrate my screen.  I'd give my left nut to retake this without slight motion blur on her face but it was a one-off shot. Oh well.   And a token urban trails shot, because. I want to find some inspiring places to shoot these in Kyoto, so there should be better to come I hope. 
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Aug 16, 2012 15:50
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I tried my hand at photographing the perseids as well. Was hoping to get a great stacked image of 10+ meteors but I don't think I had the patience to stick with the same composition for ~4 hours. Trillium_285 I did get the ISS though... I have 4 more exposures like this that I will stack to show its full path  Trillium_095l
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Aug 16, 2012 17:05
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That reflection is pretty badass.
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Aug 17, 2012 00:39
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  Sadly I was stuck in my apartment, but I couldn't resist. Wish I had a better view! ISO100, 10-15 sec, f/5.6 Dunno how I forgot to clone stamp out the power line in the second one... I've done it now but can't be bothered to go through the hassle of transferring and reuploading (computer -> phone -> imgur -> here)... Nelson Mandela fucked around with this message at 12:56 on Aug 17, 2012 |
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Aug 17, 2012 12:29
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Took advantage of the moon being absent last night and spent about 4 hours on the Veil Nebula. Stack of 20x200s, 15x300s, 15x360, Darks. I think I may have went a little heavy on saturation, but I am pretty happy with the result. Veil Nebula 8-18-2012 Final by elimisel, on Flickr
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Aug 19, 2012 18:18
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how, that's pretty amazing... how much would you say you've invested in astrophotography gear? I see people list off equipment like you're using every now and then but I have no concept of what an initial investment to shoot deep space stuff like this looks like.
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Aug 19, 2012 18:36
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I have a maybe 3500 in the rig I am using right now. It's possible to get started under a grand though if you already have a dslr and buy some used gear.
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Aug 19, 2012 18:42
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Wokka Wokka Wokka! NGC281 - The Pac-Man Nebula by tmarkuk, on Flickr It's the Pac-Man nebula, NGC281, taken last night. 41x300s exposures on my 250mm f4.8 reflector.
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Aug 19, 2012 18:54
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Another from the weekend: M101 - Pinwheel Galaxy 8-18-2012 Final by elimisel, on Flickr Stack of 20x360sec. Dark subtraction.
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Aug 19, 2012 20:05
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I love stars. Too bad I can't really see them in London. Is 1/4s is the longest I have ever done I think. I don't know why I bother doing bracketed shots. I always make them look like I processed a single RAW anyway.  Chelsea Bridge. by Clwn, on Flickr
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Aug 19, 2012 22:54
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Jekub posted:Wokka Wokka Wokka! Choicecut posted:Another from the weekend: these are amazing... so, are there some kind of processing scripts you run when you're doing this stuff? is there an overview/tutorial written up somewhere? I'm still trying to figure out the best way to process my handful of photos from the Perseid meteor shower so I can stack the exposures with the ISS into a single shot. I'd love any processing advice you guys may be able to offer. I've already got a DSLR body and an intervalometer, it'd be a ton of fun to start shooting deeper space stuff at some point but I'm not sure it'd make sense to invest in the equipment while I'm living in a big city. I wish I could find a place to rent some of this for a camping trip or something.
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Aug 20, 2012 00:33
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MMD3 posted:these are amazing... I use a combination of Pixinsight and Adobe lightroom to stack and process my images. Pixinsight is pretty involved, but there are some great tutorials out there on it and you can get a 45 day trial by visiting their website http://pixinsight.com/. Jekub puts out killer images using PI and I have learned quite a bit from him. In fact, he recommended it to me a long time ago. Really glad he did! You can also give Deep Sky Stacker a shot, which is free. I know lots of folks put out great images using that software.
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Aug 20, 2012 02:45
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  Spent a few hours overlooking the Ekka festival in Brisbane waiting for the fireworks.
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Aug 20, 2012 12:58
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Choicecut posted:Another from the weekend: Showing some excellent improvement in your processing there, much improved colors and less clipping, good work!
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Aug 20, 2012 14:42
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Thought I'd post an older shot I took possibly about a year ago.. 20 minute exposure on Portra 400VC film, shot with a Fujica 6x9. The rainbow effect was a lighting installation that changed colours as people walked up/down the stairs...
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Aug 20, 2012 16:02
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Clown posted:I love stars. Too bad I can't really see them in London.
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Aug 20, 2012 16:22
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Jekub posted:Showing some excellent improvement in your processing there, much improved colors and less clipping, good work! Thanks! I think the settings you recommended to change in PI really helped out with the color. Spending more time on subs is helping out as well. Really looking forward to Horsehead Nebula this winter. I have been wanting that target for years now!
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Aug 20, 2012 16:30
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Are there any resources for learning more about intro astrophotography? really really curious to find out more about what the necessary equipment is to get started. shots like this are incredibly inspiring: http://www.feraphotography.com/AM14/M42.html I just always assumed it cost tens of thousands of dollars to get the gear needed to pull something like that off. When you say your DSLR is modded is that a permanent mod or something you can revert back easily? Do you have a DSLR dedicated to this astrophotography or do you use it for everything?
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Aug 21, 2012 00:23
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Clown posted:I love stars. Too bad I can't really see them in London. This is just perfect.
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Aug 21, 2012 01:32
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MMD3 posted:Are there any resources for learning more about intro astrophotography? really really curious to find out more about what the necessary equipment is to get started. shots like this are incredibly inspiring: http://www.feraphotography.com/AM14/M42.html I just always assumed it cost tens of thousands of dollars to get the gear needed to pull something like that off. There is quite a bit of discussion over in the Amateur Astronomy thread in DIY & Hobbies, lots of links to resources and discussion of kit : http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3155317 The DSLR mod is to remove the IR Cut filter which cuts out a lot of the red light emitted by objects, such as the Pac-Man nebula above. This is Hydrogen-Alpha, a specific spectral line emitted by hydrogen. It's largely invisible to the human eye, and your camera blocks much of it out by default. By removing the filter we can capture these objects much easier. In general you either replace the filter with a more permissive version, or with a clear glass filter. Both will allow the camera to autofocus as normal. Or you remove the filter entirely which causes problems. Some people also like to remove the anti-alias filter to create a completely open camera, but at that point you accept that it's never taking normal photos again.
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Aug 21, 2012 09:36
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You guys! I'm Tumblr Semi-Famous!
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Aug 21, 2012 19:57
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 Tumblr From a couple of nights ago. New moon and cloudless sky and I couldn't resist. What do you guys think? I'm worried that I put it through too much processing and it just looks kinda fake.
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Aug 22, 2012 12:44
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That's all kinds of badass
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Aug 22, 2012 14:41
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Yea that's sick. It doesn't seem fake, it seems surreal.
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Aug 22, 2012 16:32
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Trambopaline posted:
How did you keep the sodium lights from washing out the milky way?
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Aug 22, 2012 21:01
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Jekub posted:There is quite a bit of discussion over in the Amateur Astronomy thread in DIY & Hobbies, lots of links to resources and discussion of kit : What else is needed, like do you HAVE to have a tracking tripod, or can any average joe with a normal tripod and a filterless camera go out and try to take some pictures. Also, I live in los angeles so we can only see like 2.5 stars on any given night. Would it be stupid of me to try to get a 20d or something to take the filter out of since I can't really see any stars?
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Aug 22, 2012 21:05
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Miso Beno posted:How did you keep the sodium lights from washing out the milky way? I think this might actually be mostly luck. I live in a reasonably small town in New Zealand and this photo was taken a little ways from the city centre and from brief research there has been a movement in previous years from the regional council to move towards more energy efficient street lighting like low pressure sodium lights. The lights in the foreground aren't lights from any city but are just lamps from various farmhouses. The mountain itself in the background is a national park, so a bonus of no lights coming from there at all. The other half of it is that I really put it through the wringer in terms of processing which brought on my first question on whether it looked just fake. I did it in two layers in photoshop, with the sky I tried to bring out the exposure and increase contrast to get the milky way visible and I blended it with the foreground which I adjusted on its own too. Here's one of the original frames showing Crux and the coalsack nebula straight out of the camera for reference: 
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Aug 23, 2012 00:20
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SaNChEzZ posted:What else is needed, like do you HAVE to have a tracking tripod, or can any average joe with a normal tripod and a filterless camera go out and try to take some pictures. Also, I live in los angeles so we can only see like 2.5 stars on any given night. Would it be stupid of me to try to get a 20d or something to take the filter out of since I can't really see any stars? there is the 20Da out there with a factory fitted filter that allows more hydrogen lines, and a new 60Da Astrophotography version, but its a bit price prohibitive. As for gear, lets do an experiment. There is a telescope cafe near me open on friday nights for Joes to come down and have a look. I'll take my 550D and do some test shots with a tracking and a non tracking telescope and publish the results.
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Aug 23, 2012 00:54
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I was thinking more along the lines of a $300 used 20d body on craigslist, but that's  that they made that available here  Or $150, like this one: http://losangeles.craigslist.org/ant/pho/3223092563.html
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Aug 23, 2012 01:08
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For deep space long exposure photography tracking is a must, and depending on your focal length and exposure time you'll also need autoguiding to correct for mechanical and alignment errors in the mount. It's a deep and slippery slope of expense and technical frustrations that occasionally leads to a nice picture. Don't bother taking apart a camera until you've had a chance to take a few shots and see if this is really something you want to get in to.
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Aug 23, 2012 09:39
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I have an array of lenses for my 5D already, I guess it would mainly be just to shoot on a tripod somewhere dark. As far as getting a tracking mount I don't think I could do that any time soon, so the filterless camera would kinda be useless until that happens. And 20d's will only get cheaper.
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Aug 23, 2012 18:09
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Be kind, I'm a beginner   Camping on Evan-Thomas Creek by Trips in the Rockies, on Flickr  Milky Way over The Wedge by Trips in the Rockies, on Flickr  Smoking Log by Trips in the Rockies, on Flickr  Satellite over Mt. Robson by Trips in the Rockies, on Flickr  Milky Way over Berg Lake Back Country Campground by Trips in the Rockies, on Flickr I just got my DSLR a month and a half ago and have only been out at night a couple of times, so I'm still experimenting, and own no fancy filters. But I think so far, I'm doing alright.
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Aug 26, 2012 05:36
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