Post your night time long exposure photos here!

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Creative Convention > The Dorkroom > Post your night time long exposure photos here!

theHUNGERian: Feb 23, 2006

Uuuuh,

I didn't know there was a thread here for this stuff.

Check out my latest pics of Orion. Basically it's my first real HDR attempt.

4 min subexposures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/geza_kurczveil/5262886116/
HDR version: http://www.flickr.com/photos/geza_kurczveil/5262342411/

# ¿ Dec 16, 2010 05:24

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# ¿ May 21, 2024 07:07

theHUNGERian: Feb 23, 2006

After many months of bad weather, equipment problems, and too much work, I finally had a good night to shoot this.

# ¿ Jun 20, 2011 02:17

theHUNGERian: Feb 23, 2006

And another narrowband image.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/geza_kurczveil/5873954476/in/photostream

I hope this weather holds up for a couple of months.

# ¿ Jun 26, 2011 20:34

theHUNGERian: Feb 23, 2006

Here is a hyper wide shot of M27.

This is probably the last one for this new moon period.

# ¿ Jul 4, 2011 05:28

theHUNGERian: Feb 23, 2006

And another narrowband image. I have been on a roll lately, no bad weather in the last month or so. Now if only it could get colder at night.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/geza_kurczveil/5919162915/lightbox/

# ¿ Jul 9, 2011 22:07

theHUNGERian: Feb 23, 2006

JAY ZERO SUM GAME posted:

I don't even know what's going on with those shots, but I like them a lot. Like this one, too http://www.flickr.com/photos/geza_kurczveil/5262342411/lightbox/

Thanks.

That HDR Orion is probably one of my "worst, but liked by many, pictures" as I butchered the color in the nebula (it's supposed to have far more red). That aside, I was more interested in the dust on the left and the blue nebula on the far right, so overall I consider the picture a success. In addition, it made a nice print which wowed my family on Christmas morning.

Since that picture I have become more careful in my shooting schedule. I still shy away from HDR targets, and I tend to target objects where I know I can expose for 3+ hours.

# ¿ Jul 10, 2011 04:50

theHUNGERian: Feb 23, 2006

Jekub posted:

The Cocoon Nebula (IC5146) and Barnard 168 Dark Nebula by tmarkuk, on Flickr

About 43x5 minute exposures, and my first proper attempt at astrophotography since the beginning of April. I need to see about having my job moved to the Spanish office, sure the wife and kids won't mind to much.

Very nice. I like the low noise level.

Here are my attempts from a few nights ago.
http://geza.zenfolio.com/p995757898/had6cbc9#had6cbc9
http://geza.zenfolio.com/p995757898/h2eb7ef92#h2eb7ef92

Not as flashy/colorful but I am a sucker for dark nebulas/dust.

# ¿ Aug 2, 2011 06:33

theHUNGERian: Feb 23, 2006

Jekub posted:

Those are beautiful, I really like your heart and Soul image as well, they are on my target list for some point soon, I'm on holiday in the middle of nowhere in the south of France at the end of the month and taking my portable kit with me so that might be the location to do it justice. On the whole I really need to get out into the country more often for my imaging, the middle of town under bright white street lights is not ideal.

As for my image, I'm looking at it now thinking I went a bit harsh on the processing and should have another go. The noise reduction was done using Pixinsights Atrous Wavelet Transform tool. This allows you to tune noise reduction to object scale within the image, normally I use the more blanket ACDNR tool.

Thanks.

Dark skies are more rewarding than any accessory in this hobby. I pretty much only shoot from 'blue' or better zones as anything else is a waste of time.

kmcormick9: Nice.

Another pic from last night: NGC 7822

# ¿ Aug 6, 2011 21:21

theHUNGERian: Feb 23, 2006

King Hotpants posted:

So this is my first attempt ever. I'm moderately happy with it.

Orion by kinghotpants, on Flickr

And you should be. My first attempt looked like noise.

Anyway, as much as I wanted to shoot deep sky targets last night, the wind forecast scared me, so I shot Startrails! This was done with an 8mm Rokinon Fish-eye on a Canon XSi. 320 1min exposures stacked in "Startrails" with a soft light gradient removal in PS.

# ¿ Oct 30, 2011 21:08

theHUNGERian: Feb 23, 2006

Finally got some clear skies to test out my new mount, a third hand Losmandy GM-8 non-Gemini. I'm pretty happy with the mount, but I'll focus on more exotic target in the future.

Cone nebula

# ¿ Dec 5, 2011 03:31

theHUNGERian: Feb 23, 2006

Here is a widefield image of the Owl nebula and M108 galaxy I took last night. The moon limited the number of objects suitable for a serious imaging run, and this one was the most promising candidate.

Wide Owl

# ¿ Jan 30, 2012 03:28

theHUNGERian: Feb 23, 2006

Jekub posted:

Ha! One day you'll regret that, once you have been introduced to the wonderful world of drift alignment, periodic error correction, field rotation, star alignment and deep space image processing.

Feel free to pop into the Astronomy thread in DIY and Hobbies if your after advice on that front though!

Edit - new page should probably have a picture.

Galaxies M95 and M96 with Supernova 2012aw by tmarkuk, on Flickr

Good stuff.

Here is my loot from last night.
M51
Blue Horse
South of Anser

# ¿ Apr 21, 2012 21:17

theHUNGERian: Feb 23, 2006

I finally got a chance to try out my new CCD. It's a keeper.

http://geza.zenfolio.com/p17317512/h35d67999#h35d67999

# ¿ Jun 24, 2012 20:51

theHUNGERian: Feb 23, 2006

A crummy picture from a full moon (troubleshooting) session.

http://geza.zenfolio.com/p17317512/h17da3a0b#h17da3a0b

Thankfully all the problems were resolved.

# ¿ Jul 7, 2012 21:31

theHUNGERian: Feb 23, 2006

Choicecut posted:

Nice work. Browsing through your other photos it looks like you recently upgraded to the SBIG? I just switched over from Nikon D90 to a Canon 1000D for my AP work (kept the Nikon for regular photography), which I successfully performed the Gary Honis Baader modification myself. I haven't had a chance to use it yet, but I should get better results than I did with my Nikon. Also picked up an SSAG and Orion short tube to guide with. I have been without power the past 7 days and just got it back, so hoping to get out this week for some testing. Biggest hurdle using Nikon for AP work is the lack of good compatible camera control software like BackyardEOS and APT.

Did you notice a significant difference going from DSLR to dedicated CCD for your work? Also, you should give PixInsight Trial a shot if you haven't used it. I get significantly better results from PI than DSS for processing.

Thanks.

Yes, the SBIG is just barely 2 months old. It's the best upgrade ever. Much lower noise than a DSLR.

I used ImagesPlusV4 for some of my images, but I never saw an improvement when compared to DSS. Ever since upgrading to a mono CCD, the only (minor) parts I don't like in my images is due to the lens. But I guess a better stacking software could get me an extra boost. I was planning on giving CCDStack a try as PixInsight has a very steep learning curve from what I heard. Do you think PI's learning curve is blown out of proportion?

Hats off for modding the Canon yourself, good luck with your first light, and I hope you get to keep your power.

# ¿ Jul 8, 2012 04:45

theHUNGERian: Feb 23, 2006

I tried to combine some H-alpha data with OIII data, but clouds rolled in before capturing OIII data. So for now, I am stuck with only half the image, but I am pretty happy so far.

http://geza.zenfolio.com/p17317512/h83ee189#h83ee189

# ¿ Aug 12, 2012 19:19

theHUNGERian: Feb 23, 2006

There is something that attracts me to faint nebulae that I have no business shooting with my equipment. I spent ~7 hours shooting last night and these pics are still noisy (and low res) as hell.

http://geza.zenfolio.com/p17317512/h4331f6fc#h4331f6fc
http://geza.zenfolio.com/p17317512/h4332484e#h4332484e

Still, I'm very happy with these.

theHUNGERian fucked around with this message at 02:30 on Sep 17, 2012

# ¿ Sep 16, 2012 23:55

theHUNGERian: Feb 23, 2006

First shot with new setup, so I went with a bright target.
http://geza.zenfolio.com/p17317512/h47ff8658#h47ff8658

# ¿ Oct 21, 2012 00:51

theHUNGERian: Feb 23, 2006

InternetJunky posted:

Very nice shot and setup. I just splurged on some astrophotography gear and am getting pretty excited for it to come in. Shots like yours are pretty inspiring.

Thanks. Don't forget to post images once you have your gear.

# ¿ Oct 21, 2012 01:50

theHUNGERian: Feb 23, 2006

Jekub posted:

That is a very nice little scope, color me jealous! Great image as well, my savings for a proper CCD is going far to slowly.

Thanks. Buying the controversial Tak was a difficult decision, but in the end it made the most sense (barely beating the TMB 92SS).

Are you looking at the used market for the CCD? I am the fourth owner of my Tak and the third owner of my mount. Only in exceptional circumstances do I buy new gear.

# ¿ Oct 23, 2012 03:37

theHUNGERian: Feb 23, 2006

Thank god for narrowband filters. Without them I would have spent the weekend cursing the moon.

Click

# ¿ Nov 25, 2012 22:40

theHUNGERian: Feb 23, 2006

Nothing fancy given the light pollution in my backyard but still an image.
Click

# ¿ Jan 18, 2013 05:10

theHUNGERian: Feb 23, 2006

Another awesome night under dark skies.

A kickass dark nebula
The Cocoon nebula

# ¿ Jun 15, 2013 22:25

theHUNGERian: Feb 23, 2006

I had some good weather for a picture of some dark nebulas with a planetary nebula in there too.

# ¿ Jul 5, 2014 17:12

theHUNGERian: Feb 23, 2006

I had several good nights, but I sold my tracking mount a long time ago, and so it was a battle between ISO and star trailing. While I don't think I won that battle, I could have done worse.

# ¿ Jul 19, 2020 18:26

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# ¿ May 21, 2024 07:07

theHUNGERian: Feb 23, 2006

Jim Silly-Balls posted:

Is this the official/unofficial telescope thread?

If so, I have an Orion 130ST EQ with their EQ-2 mount: https://www.telescope.com/Orion-SpaceProbe-130ST-Equatorial-Reflector-Telescope/p/9007.uts

I just bought a T-mount for it with a Canon EOS ring on it so I can take pictures. I can already tell from watching a million youtube videos on the subject that the next thing I'll want is some sort of motorized mount to follow the stars/planets/moon. I'm not ready to pony up for a go-to mount yet, but there has to be some sort of affordable kit to add clockspring functionality to a regular mount, right? Its very literally just moving a servo motor or a stepper motor at a known speed.

Any advice in this area?

I forgot where the astronomy thread was, ...

... but you can get a non-goto mount with a super nice drive for <$1k in the form of a Losmandy GM8. They are old models, but with very little work (they were designed to be worked on) you can get them to deliver very good tracking, and excellent guiding if you ever go down that path.

If you do find the astronomy thread, people who do astrophotography will tell you that the mount is the most critical part of the setup. Whatever your budget, half of it should go towards the mount.

Edit: Found it: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3155317

# ¿ Jul 25, 2020 01:56

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Creative Convention > The Dorkroom > Post your night time long exposure photos here!