Long time reader, first time poster. Awesome shots. Just awesome!
Thank you for the tips! I must try it someday.
Thank you for the tips! I must try it someday.
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RomanRacela said:@Axilrod - What was your ISO when you shot these? Was the moon out? If it was, what phase of the moon was it? I'm not sure if having moonlight is important so the foreground illuminated a bit. I too have had difficulty focusing at night.
Axilrod said:For those of you looking for dark skies, this light pollution map is great:
http://www.blue-marble.de/nightlights/2010
AmbientLight said:@Axilrod: Thank you for the useful tips. I would love to take shots like that. I especially like the first one.
My only serious problem is that I happen to be almost constantly in densely populated areas with massive light polution, so seeing the milky way like this just doesn't happen. Should I ever happen to get to a reasonably empty area at least now I know the settings to use.
Axilrod said:Keep in mind these are individual exposures, most of the really insane pictures of the Milky Way you see are a bunch of stacked exposures, but I don't have a tracking mount yet so I couldn't do that.
I know alot of astronomy buffs may be sickened by these, but the general public love shots that look like this. It was a learning experience and I'm thrilled to have had the chance to finally get some shots like these. I'm going back in the summer since that's when the brightest part of the Milky Way is visible.
RomanRacela said:@ Axilrod - thanks for the info. I'll definitely try your tips.
I was in Death Valley last month just before Christmas and was thinking of shooting some Milky Way stuff at Racetrack Playa but the temp was in the 20s and I just couldn't hack the cold. I just ended up shooting some sunrise and sunsets there. Plus, like you said, the Milky Way's bulging disc in the middle wasn't visible so it looked a bit odd to me and didn't give me any extra motivation to stay up. I'll go back there in late spring or early summer and maybe I'll take home with me a Milky Way image.
Here's one from that trip.
20Dave said:Axilrod said:Keep in mind these are individual exposures, most of the really insane pictures of the Milky Way you see are a bunch of stacked exposures, but I don't have a tracking mount yet so I couldn't do that.
I know alot of astronomy buffs may be sickened by these, but the general public love shots that look like this. It was a learning experience and I'm thrilled to have had the chance to finally get some shots like these. I'm going back in the summer since that's when the brightest part of the Milky Way is visible.
A few quick comments:
1) Excellent photos! I love the colors and the contrast.
2) I'm somewhere between "general public" and "astronomy buff" (closer to the latter in visual experience and knowledge, but a newbie in terms of astrophotography skills and experience), and I can assure you that nobody would be sickened by these. For starters, this is precisely the right way to start taking nighttime images. And these are phenomenal regardless of how long you've been doing it.
3) You can actually stack photos without tracking, although you might need to do a little photoshop work with the landscape. There is stacking software that takes into account the movement of stars, both lateral and rotation.
And, it is possible to stretch images and sqeeze data out of even relatively short exposure images. Here is an image that I took a number of years ago of Comet 17P-Holmes on a tripod, only 4 seconds exposure at ISO 3200, 200mm @ f/2.8 with a 20D. Not eye-popping by any means, but just showing what you can capture in just a few seconds at a longer focal length (8 seconds started showing exaggerated star trails).
Keep 'em coming!
Regards,
Dave
Axilrod said:Go to the Indian Pass Peninsula!
emag said:These were shot from VERY light polluted Pensacola Beach during a public stargaze. Before and after gussying up to counter the light pollution. They were taken with a modified 40D using a Sigma 70-200 at 200/2.8. You can pick up a T3i for a song now and have it modified for astro work. Plop it on an equatorial mount with a drive and you have a setup that can do some amazing work. The camera is on my grab and go astrophoto setup. The tripod and drive base are from an old scope that I have since mated to a much better computerized mount. Nothing fancy but it does the job and fits neatly in my motorcyle sidecar when I don't feel like lugging the big guns.
emag said:These were shot from VERY light polluted Pensacola Beach during a public stargaze. Before and after gussying up to counter the light pollution. They were taken with a modified 40D using a Sigma 70-200 at 200/2.8. You can pick up a T3i for a song now and have it modified for astro work. Plop it on an equatorial mount with a drive and you have a setup that can do some amazing work. The camera is on my grab and go astrophoto setup. The tripod and drive base are from an old scope that I have since mated to a much better computerized mount. Nothing fancy but it does the job and fits neatly in my motorcyle sidecar when I don't feel like lugging the big guns.
Axilrod said:R1-7D said:Absolutely beautiful shots!
20 seconds, hey? That's all it takes to get all the stars like that without a dolly?
Not sure what you mean about the dolly, I guess maybe you're referring to a tracking mount? Yeah this is what you get from 20 seconds when it's pitch black, that's the crucial part.
R1-7D said:Finding a completely dark sky is the difficult part.