# Milky Way



## tpatana (Aug 7, 2013)

Went out last night to shoot Milky Way. I had my friend's 24/1.4 with me. It was late and I was tired so I forgot to try also with my Sigma 14/2.8. But the pics with 24/1.4 came out quite nice. Even I drove to North-WA trying to get away from light pollution, still there's quite strong light on the bottom.

Comments?


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## jrista (Sep 4, 2013)

I think it looks great. Sometimes, distant light pollution can add an intriguing aspect to wide field night sky shots like that. It does tend to limit your ability to expose, and the darker the skies the better in the long run...but light pollution isn't necessarily a bad thing.


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## Don Haines (Sep 4, 2013)

tpatana said:


> Went out last night to shoot Milky Way. I had my friend's 24/1.4 with me. It was late and I was tired so I forgot to try also with my Sigma 14/2.8. But the pics with 24/1.4 came out quite nice. Even I drove to North-WA trying to get away from light pollution, still there's quite strong light on the bottom.
> 
> Comments?


Comments: Nice picture... the light pollution at the bottom seems to add to the image and gives detail on the landscape, yet fades off quickly enough to not overcome the details of the stars.. it works quite well together and makes it a more interesting image than just the stars alone. 
Questions: What was the exposure and ISO?


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## tpatana (Sep 5, 2013)

Don Haines said:


> tpatana said:
> 
> 
> > Went out last night to shoot Milky Way. I had my friend's 24/1.4 with me. It was late and I was tired so I forgot to try also with my Sigma 14/2.8. But the pics with 24/1.4 came out quite nice. Even I drove to North-WA trying to get away from light pollution, still there's quite strong light on the bottom.
> ...



Thanks for the comments.

Here's the settings: 15 sec, f/2, ISO 6400

I first shot at 30 sec, but peeking at the photos I noticed some star trails even the 24mm should be fine up to 30sec. So I decided to use faster shutter and higher ISO.


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## rpt (Sep 5, 2013)

Lovely picture. Too much light pollution where I am. I wish I could take pictures like this.


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## jrista (Sep 6, 2013)

rpt said:


> Lovely picture. Too much light pollution where I am. I wish I could take pictures like this.



Ditto. I am actually going to try to capture the zodiacal light this fall by heading up to the continental divide. It is a long way from where I live (several hours drive), up in the Rocky Mountains, but I am hoping that going so far and so high (14,000 feet) will give me the kind of dark skies necessary to capture both the zodiacal glow and the milky way.


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## privatebydesign (Sep 6, 2013)

tpatana said:


> Thanks for the comments.
> 
> Here's the settings: 15 sec, f/2, ISO 6400
> 
> I first shot at 30 sec, but peeking at the photos I noticed some star trails even the 24mm should be fine up to 30sec. So I decided to use faster shutter and higher ISO.



Not really, using the 600 rule a 24mm is only good to 25 seconds. For those unfamiliar with the 600 rule, take 600 and divide it by your focal length and that is the exposure time in seconds before the stars become trails. In this case 600/24=25.


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## jrista (Sep 6, 2013)

privatebydesign said:


> tpatana said:
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> > Thanks for the comments.
> ...



That is a generalistic rule, and not necessarily accurate in light of the fact that final output size can vary greatly. It does not take into account varying pixel pitch either. For web scale, you can usually bump the 600 "rule" up to a 700 or 800 "rule". For print, you usually want to drop it down to 500 "rule". If you usually publish online, then you could get away with at least 30 seconds, if not a bit more. Larger pixels can also handle longer exposures than smaller pixels.

To get entirely accurate maximum exposure times for any camera setup, you can use the math on this page: 

http://www.sahavre.fr/tutoriels/astrophoto/34-regle-npf-temps-de-pose-pour-eviter-le-file-d-etoiles

It is in french, but it is extremely useful stuff. It factors in atmospherics, diffraction, and pixel size in determining what the best exposure time is to avoid star trailing.


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## rpt (Sep 6, 2013)

privatebydesign said:


> tpatana said:
> 
> 
> > Thanks for the comments.
> ...


Yup! And take a look at this link. It has some calculations in there...
http://photo.stackexchange.com/questions/30263/what-is-the-rule-of-600-in-astrophotography


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## pj1974 (Sep 6, 2013)

Great photo. I also really appreciate how the light pollution actually highlights the horizon.

The fade between yellow-ish (light) and black/blue (stars) is not too obtrusive, imho.

Well captured! What was the camera you used? I'm guessing a FF (perhaps 6D or 5DmkII or 5DmkIII?)

Paul


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## lion rock (Sep 6, 2013)

I'd like to share a few.
This was the first opportunity for me to shot the Milky Way. Living in an urban environment do not allow for dark night sky. Was at the Pamlico River near the town of Aurora, NC., for a few days over Labor Day weekend.
These were shot with a 5D3 with a 24-70mm f/2.8 ver 1 at f/2.8 and ISO 3200.
The first was exposed for 15 seconds.
The second was exposed for 18 seconds. The light over the horizon on the right was from Aurora. Another in the middle was another small town. The foreground was the remains of hurricane Sandy damaged dock illuminated by house lights from behind the camera.
The third one was a goof. I set the lens at its wide end, fully extended, pointing vertically up. It started to slide back to the telephoto end, and a cuss and a curse before I could stop the lens drift and close the shutter. The effect was a bit like "warp speed". Interesting in a way. Exposure was for 35 seconds.


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## svenrue (Sep 6, 2013)

Quite nice looking. I also started with short exposures, only had my 24-70 mk II and longest exposure was around 15s without startrails. Used to make about 20 Shots and stack them together to avoid noise. But thats far to time consuming.
Its much easier to do it with an Astro-Tracker like a Polarie or more expensive Astro-Trac. Now I do 3min exposures, 3min exposure without tracking and another one without tracking which is a little brighter for post.

You should make a picture for the foreground too, otherwise we don't see anything of it .

Here is what I shot recently, its not allready finished in post and the milkyway could not be seen because of the bright moon but have a look.

/svenrue


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## CarlTN (Sep 6, 2013)

tpatana said:


> Went out last night to shoot Milky Way. I had my friend's 24/1.4 with me. It was late and I was tired so I forgot to try also with my Sigma 14/2.8. But the pics with 24/1.4 came out quite nice. Even I drove to North-WA trying to get away from light pollution, still there's quite strong light on the bottom.
> 
> Comments?



Fantastic, the light pollution does not detract. I have much worse light pollution in my area...not to mention higher humidity and air that is less clear. I am only about 900 feet above sea level here.

Which body? Was this at f/1.4 aperture? How long was the exposure?


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## tpatana (Sep 6, 2013)

pj1974 said:


> Well captured! What was the camera you used? I'm guessing a FF (perhaps 6D or 5DmkII or 5DmkIII?)



5D3


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## tpatana (Sep 6, 2013)

CarlTN said:


> Was this at f/1.4 aperture? How long was the exposure?



As I mentioned above, F2 and 15 sec exposure.

I knew the 600-rule, but I thought 30 secs would be close enough. Pixel-peeping it wasn't, but I guess for web (at that size anyway) it would have been ok. But 15 sec came out nice too.


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## rpt (Sep 6, 2013)

lion rock said:


> I'd like to share a few.
> This was the first opportunity for me to shot the Milky Way. Living in an urban environment do not allow for dark night sky. Was at the Pamlico River near the town of Aurora, NC., for a few days over Labor Day weekend.
> These were shot with a 5D3 with a 24-70mm f/2.8 ver 1 at f/2.8 and ISO 3200.
> The first was exposed for 15 seconds.
> ...


I love the 0.5697332199654399000012554354609487t6548489... warp speed photograph.


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## lion rock (Sep 6, 2013)

Thanks, RPT. Appreciate the compliments.
Sometimes we can appreciate our mistakes. Not often.



rpt said:


> lion rock said:
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> 
> > I'd like to share a few.
> ...


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## rpt (Sep 6, 2013)

lion rock said:


> Thanks, RPT. Appreciate the compliments.
> Sometimes we can appreciate our mistakes. Not often.
> 
> 
> ...


Thank you. Many a discovery were made by "MISTAKE". The big deal is to identify the difference between the "known" and the "unknown"... So "Vive la différence!"


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## cellomaster27 (Sep 10, 2013)

Love the photo that was with the first post on this thread.. been trying to do something like that but my photos always look..boring? Just the stars and lots of grey.. I get the general settings but am I missing something? How did you get the blue??


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## tpatana (Sep 10, 2013)

cellomaster27 said:


> How did you get the blue??



I guess same way than I get most photos I like: dumb luck.

Other explanation could be WB-slider?


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## batotman (Sep 10, 2013)

Great shot, definitely enjoyed seein it.


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## Skulker (Sep 10, 2013)

tpatana said:


> CarlTN said:
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> 
> > Was this at f/1.4 aperture? How long was the exposure?
> ...



Ultimately all these so called rules are only someone else's idea of what works. I agree completely with your approach. You used the rule to start with as a guide, and modified you settings based on the results. To me that makes much more sense than trying to spend ages fiddling with maths.


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## rpt (Sep 10, 2013)

tpatana said:


> cellomaster27 said:
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> > How did you get the blue??
> ...


Yup! Use WB to cool the picture. Will get you bluish hues.


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## cellomaster27 (Sep 10, 2013)

rpt said:


> tpatana said:
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> > cellomaster27 said:
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Ah! Okay. I had a feeling but I only changed it a couple clicks. Tonight's gonna be a good night.


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## CarlTN (Sep 11, 2013)

cellomaster27 said:


> Love the photo that was with the first post on this thread.. been trying to do something like that but my photos always look..boring? Just the stars and lots of grey.. I get the general settings but am I missing something? How did you get the blue??



This one seems a tad underexposed. Color shows up more with a brighter exposure...which is difficult to do unless you can shoot faster than f/2.8, or else have a longer exposure (or else shoot higher ISO)...but then you lose some contrast due to the air/atmosphere growing brighter while the stars do not (unless you're tracking on a polarie, but even with one the air grows a bit lighter than the subject over time).


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## jrista (Sep 11, 2013)

cellomaster27 said:


> Love the photo that was with the first post on this thread.. been trying to do something like that but my photos always look..boring? Just the stars and lots of grey.. I get the general settings but am I missing something? How did you get the blue??



It all depends on how you process it. I ran your photo through photoshop, got the below result in about 2 minutes:

Added Levels Layer Adjustment:
Blacks -> 17
Grays -> 1.39
Whites -> 121

Added Color Balance Layer Adjustment:
Tones: Midtones
Cyan/Red: -25
Magenta/Green: +2
Yellow/Blue: +66


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## cellomaster27 (Sep 11, 2013)

CarlTN said:


> cellomaster27 said:
> 
> 
> > Love the photo that was with the first post on this thread.. been trying to do something like that but my photos always look..boring? Just the stars and lots of grey.. I get the general settings but am I missing something? How did you get the blue??
> ...



Agree. I shot that at f3.5, 30sec, iso3200. Maybe 6400 iso.. Thanks for the tip!



jrista said:


> cellomaster27 said:
> 
> 
> > Love the photo that was with the first post on this thread.. been trying to do something like that but my photos always look..boring? Just the stars and lots of grey.. I get the general settings but am I missing something? How did you get the blue??
> ...



Wow! Thanks! It looks so much better!! ) (I'm getting Lightroom in >8 days so...  ) all you guys are so nice. Thanks!


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## rpt (Sep 11, 2013)

cellomaster27 said:


> rpt said:
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> > tpatana said:
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That song is not for taking pictures of stars!!!! 

Leverage it.


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## CarlTN (Sep 11, 2013)

cellomaster27 said:


> CarlTN said:
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I know you will enjoy LR, and there is other software specifically for astrophotography. A list of those would be nice. It can get very involved...I'm personally not at that point. 

F/3.5 (at least for a wide angle lens) is slower than ideal for shooting the Milky Way because of the noise...in my opinion...unless you're on a "polarie" or a piggy back telescope.

The only time I've been published in a national magazine (so far) was of one of my Milky Way shots...with an older crop camera, a Sigma lens, a Heliopan circular polarizer...at f/2.8 for about 40 seconds...with noise that was orders of magnitude higher than my current 6D. I've since sold all the gear I used for that shot.

I honestly wish I could do more astro pictures. But I don't get to travel much, and the air here is rarely very clear (thus when the sky is darkest)...other than when it is below freezing with a stiff wind...not ideal conditions for camera or me! But then, conditions like that usually accompany a very dark sky, most places in the world...usually at altitude.


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## Archangel72 (Sep 11, 2013)

These are my first steps in astrophotography (Milky Way and stars).

I know it could be much better than this, but this shots were taken near my hometown (light pollution was pretty intense).
Hopefully, my next shots will be far outside, in darker area, and they should "reveal" more light in the sky.

(light on the wooden house was from led light of my iPhone4s ).
Archangel72


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## CarlTN (Sep 11, 2013)

Archangel72 said:


> These are my first steps in astrophotography (Milky Way and stars).
> 
> I know it could be much better than this, but this shots were taken near my hometown (light pollution was pretty intense).
> Hopefully, my next shots will be far outside, in darker area, and they should "reveal" more light in the sky.
> ...



As photographs they're nice to look at. As honest portrayals of the beauty of the Milky Way, I find them very lacking. The Milky Way is not a neon sign in the sky, in a cartoon. Even on "Futurama" the Milky Way looks more natural than your take on the subject. But I suppose there is a market for your style, or is there? Just curious...


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## Archangel72 (Sep 11, 2013)

CarlTN said:


> Archangel72 said:
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> 
> > These are my first steps in astrophotography (Milky Way and stars).
> ...



Well, I think this is because stars looks nicer and with more vivid colors here in Croatia )
Come and check'em out, after shooting stars will head for beer and some "chevapchichi" (you should try that as well).
Here is the link for that cuisine:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%86evapi


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## RGF (Sep 11, 2013)

very nice.


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## CarlTN (Sep 11, 2013)

Archangel72 said:


> CarlTN said:
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Thanks very much for the invite...that does look like it would be tasty! I wish I could travel the world...Europe, and eastern Europe...would be high on my list. I've heard Croatia has beautiful landscape...

I would like to see an F1 race in Budapest...and then tour the area. Preferably before F1 racing goes the way of the dinosaur and gets replaced by al gore's clones racing solar sail powered bumper cars at amusement parks!! It sounds silly but it sure feels like racing is heading in that direction...


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## cellomaster27 (Sep 13, 2013)

rpt said:


> cellomaster27 said:
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Ahahaha!! You caught it!


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## rpt (Sep 13, 2013)

cellomaster27 said:


> rpt said:
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So it seems I am not alone. (Not a compliment though . )


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## joshmurrah (Sep 13, 2013)

Here's a recent shot of mine... had a good opportunity while at a beach condo facing the Gulf of Mexico on a moonless night. 

Canon 5D3, 16-35 f/2.8L II - ISO 3200, f/2.8, 16mm, 30 seconds (right around the 600 rule)
Within Adobe PS CS6' ACR tool: cooled the temp to 3300K w/ -2 tint, contrast +98, clarity +48, vibrance/saturation both +21, +52 NR w/ 82 detail, and a very slight crop.

Hope you guys enjoy and find the details helpful.


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## Wildfire (Sep 13, 2013)

joshmurrah said:


> Here's a recent shot of mine... had a good opportunity while at a beach condo facing the Gulf of Mexico on a moonless night.
> 
> Canon 5D3, 16-35 f/2.8L II - ISO 3200, f/2.8, 16mm, 30 seconds (right around the 600 rule)
> Within Adobe PS CS6' ACR tool: cooled the temp to 3300K w/ -2 tint, contrast +98, clarity +48, vibrance/saturation both +21, +52 NR w/ 82 detail, and a very slight crop.
> ...



Awesome shot and thank you for the processing information.


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## badgerpiper (Sep 13, 2013)

Found a dark spot in the middle of nowhere and got lucky with some car lights!


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## Rienzphotoz (Sep 13, 2013)

joshmurrah said:


> Here's a recent shot of mine... had a good opportunity while at a beach condo facing the Gulf of Mexico on a moonless night.
> 
> Canon 5D3, 16-35 f/2.8L II - ISO 3200, f/2.8, 16mm, 30 seconds (right around the 600 rule)
> Within Adobe PS CS6' ACR tool: cooled the temp to 3300K w/ -2 tint, contrast +98, clarity +48, vibrance/saturation both +21, +52 NR w/ 82 detail, and a very slight crop.
> ...


AWESOME ... the details are indeed very helpful ... thanks for sharing.


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## wopbv4 (Sep 14, 2013)

Milky Way in Margaret River , West Australia.
1DX, 8-15 Fisheye @ 15 mm, 30 s, F4, 3200 iso


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## CarlTN (Sep 16, 2013)

joshmurrah said:


> Here's a recent shot of mine... had a good opportunity while at a beach condo facing the Gulf of Mexico on a moonless night.
> 
> Canon 5D3, 16-35 f/2.8L II - ISO 3200, f/2.8, 16mm, 30 seconds (right around the 600 rule)
> Within Adobe PS CS6' ACR tool: cooled the temp to 3300K w/ -2 tint, contrast +98, clarity +48, vibrance/saturation both +21, +52 NR w/ 82 detail, and a very slight crop.
> ...



Good work, and the satellite kind of adds to it.


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## CarlTN (Sep 16, 2013)

wopbv4 said:


> Milky Way in Margaret River , West Australia.
> 1DX, 8-15 Fisheye @ 15 mm, 30 s, F4, 3200 iso



A bit too much noise in my opinion but its a bold striking image, good job!


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## StudentOfLight (Feb 4, 2014)

Some wide field astrophotography. Hopefully I can help bring this thread back to life.

The first two were taken on a river/camping trip outside Citrusdal. The third image is part of a time-lapse sequence shot North of Tulbagh.


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## CarlTN (Feb 5, 2014)

StudentOfLight said:


> Some wide field astrophotography. Hopefully I can help bring this thread back to life.
> 
> The first two were taken on a river/camping trip outside Citrusdal. The third image is part of a time-lapse sequence shot North of Tulbagh.



I like the third image the best. What was making the bright light?


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## jrista (Feb 5, 2014)

This is not my image, however it is the most amazing milky way image I've ever seen. Blows my mind how good it is:

http://www.astrobin.com/full/46622/C/

Love that looping dust lane with three nebula, a golden one, a pink one, and a blue one, towards the lower left corner (that is part of the constellation Scorpius, the yellow is the star Antares, the pink is Al Niyat, and the blue is IC4603). Freakin amazing image.


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## rpt (Feb 6, 2014)

StudentOfLight said:


> Some wide field astrophotography. Hopefully I can help bring this thread back to life.
> 
> The first two were taken on a river/camping trip outside Citrusdal. The third image is part of a time-lapse sequence shot North of Tulbagh.


The third image is lovely!


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## Andy_Hodapp (Feb 6, 2014)

Some shots with my Canon 5d mkii and 50mm 1.8. Most of the shots are at about 10 seconds F/1.8, iso 1600, all are in my backyard in Montana.


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## CarlTN (Feb 12, 2014)

jrista said:


> This is not my image, however it is the most amazing milky way image I've ever seen. Blows my mind how good it is:
> 
> http://www.astrobin.com/full/46622/C/
> 
> Love that looping dust lane with three nebula, a golden one, a pink one, and a blue one, towards the lower left corner (that is part of the constellation Scorpius, the yellow is the star Antares, the pink is Al Niyat, and the blue is IC4603). Freakin amazing image.



Thanks, this is a nice image, but it looks fake. The dark dust in the Milky Way, is darker than the ground and the shadows on it. The contrast is far too high in the sky, and almost too low on the ground below. It looks like a CG animation to me. If it had been done more naturally, it would have looked better.


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## CarlTN (Feb 12, 2014)

Andy_Hodapp said:


> Some shots with my Canon 5d mkii and 50mm 1.8. Most of the shots are at about 10 seconds F/1.8, iso 1600, all are in my backyard in Montana.



Very nice work! Is the third image not a stitched pano?


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## Andy_Hodapp (Feb 12, 2014)

CarlTN said:


> Andy_Hodapp said:
> 
> 
> > Some shots with my Canon 5d mkii and 50mm 1.8. Most of the shots are at about 10 seconds F/1.8, iso 1600, all are in my backyard in Montana.
> ...



The first and the third as panos


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## StudentOfLight (Feb 14, 2014)

CarlTN said:


> StudentOfLight said:
> 
> 
> > Some wide field astrophotography. Hopefully I can help bring this thread back to life.
> ...



I'm not sure but it might have been a security light on a neighboring farm or warehouse on the other side of the valley. It was reasonably bright to the naked eye and didn't move for the entire evening of timelapse shots.


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## Gareththomasjones (Feb 16, 2014)

Here is my attempt. Canon 17-85mm on a 60d. Really need something wider or faster to get anything better.


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## CarlTN (Feb 17, 2014)

Gareththomasjones said:


> Here is my attempt. Canon 17-85mm on a 60d. Really need something wider or faster to get anything better.



Not bad at all. Nice airplane blinks...


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## StudentOfLight (Apr 29, 2014)

The Milky Way over Kliphuis (Tulbagh, Western Cape, South Africa)

Canon EOS 6D, Canon TS-E 24mm f/3.5 L II
Exposure: 30.0 sec at f/3.5, ISO 6400


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## StudentOfLight (May 8, 2014)

"Reach for the stars"

My most recent Astro pic


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## Click (May 8, 2014)

StudentOfLight said:


> "Reach for the stars"
> 
> My most recent Astro pic




Very nice shot 8)


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## StudentOfLight (May 13, 2014)

My first attempt at a image stacking. (Using files from a recent timelapse sequence)

Canon EOS 5D Mark-III, with Canon EF 24mm f/1.4 L II USM
15.0s at f/2.0, ISO 1600 (16 Exposures, WB=3900K, mRAW)

I did not plan on stacking this was just an after the fact exercise. Anyway, I didn't see a huge benefit from stacking these mRAW files. When it's dark again next month I will take another trip out into the darker areas to shoot full size RAW and go through the same exercise and see how much of a difference stacking will make on full res images. It will be interesting to know how much I can lower the exposure to get more depth of field or to get a faster shutter speed.


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## jrista (May 13, 2014)

Nice milky way view there, Student. 

If you want to stack, you really need to use full RAW. The Canon mRAW format is actually more like a JPEG than anything, a 4:2:2 encoding of Y (luminance) and Cb (blue/yellow channel) and Cr (red/green channel). It is 14-bit, but it is actually not even remotely "raw". Stacking non-raw images doesn't produce nearly the same kind of results as stacking true RAW images.

For stacking to be most effective, you also want to have fairly closely temperature matched "dark frames" (same exposure time, ISO, and temperature...within a few degrees), say 30 of them, as well as about 150 "bias frames" (same ISO, shortest possible exposure time like 1/4000th or 1/8000th...super easy to create, and the more you stack, the better they are to calibrate.) 

Once you have some real RAW lights, and some darks and biases, then you can stack with DSS, and the process is largely automated. Export as a TIFF (WITHOUT applying modifications), and you can do some pretty amazing tweaking and stretching in photoshop.


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## StudentOfLight (May 13, 2014)

jrista said:


> Nice milky way view there, Student.
> 
> If you want to stack, you really need to use full RAW. The Canon mRAW format is actually more like a JPEG than anything, a 4:2:2 encoding of Y (luminance) and Cb (blue/yellow channel) and Cr (red/green channel). It is 14-bit, but it is actually not even remotely "raw". Stacking non-raw images doesn't produce nearly the same kind of results as stacking true RAW images.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the advice. I'm really looking forward to my next trip which will be into the desert so much less light pollution as well than my previous shots.


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## Kahuna (Jun 5, 2014)

Matei Fiji


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## Kahuna (Jun 5, 2014)

another from the same trip


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## StudentOfLight (Jun 5, 2014)

This is one of my favourite threads. Unfortunately my area is being hit by one of the biggest storms in a long while so it's doubtful I'll get a chance to shoot in the dark-week this month . I'm still holding thumbs that I might get one or two nights in the next few days. Otherwise I'll just have to wait a couple weeks again.


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## kkelis (Jun 5, 2014)




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## tomscott (Jun 5, 2014)

Hallin Fell, Ullswater, Cumbria, starscape by TomScottPhoto, on Flickr


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## StudentOfLight (Jun 10, 2014)

"Ascent above Simondium"

Canon EOS 5D-III
Samyang 14mm T3.1

20s at ISO 3200, (manual lens, probably about f/3.5 setting)


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## mick123 (Jun 18, 2014)

it's time of the year where the Milky Way is vertical. lucky to get clear skies for these shots





first attempt at pano. would hv been great if shot with fisheye.




another pano shooting skyward from horizon to horizon


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## Click (Jun 18, 2014)

Cool shots Mick.


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## tom r (Jun 26, 2014)

Zaca Lake in Central California on the Solstice. This is my first try with a Rokinon 14 on my 6D.


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## Andy_Hodapp (Jul 1, 2014)

Outside of Bozeman Montana, Canon 5d mkii 50mm 1.8ii, iso 3200 8 seconds f/2.2 for the stars, merged with iso 400, f/3.5, 247 seconds.


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## Click (Jul 2, 2014)

Andy_Hodapp said:


> Outside of Bozeman Montana, Canon 5d mkii 50mm 1.8ii, iso 3200 8 seconds f/2.2 for the stars, merged with iso 400, f/3.5, 247 seconds.




Great shot 8) Well done Andy.


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## StudentOfLight (Dec 24, 2014)

I reprocessed some of my pics to make this 210o stitched panorama. 
5D Mark-III - ISO 3200, round about f/4
Samyang 14mm T3.1. (14x20sec)


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## Click (Dec 24, 2014)

StudentOfLight said:


> I reprocessed some of my pics to make this 210o stitched panorama.
> 5D Mark-III - ISO 3200, round about f/4
> Samyang 14mm T3.1. (14x20sec)




Cool shot. Nicely done.


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## StudentOfLight (Dec 25, 2014)

Click said:


> StudentOfLight said:
> 
> 
> > I reprocessed some of my pics to make this 210o stitched panorama.
> ...


Thanks Click, I'm still experimenting with stitching and will probably have another run with this set of images to see if I can create another representation of this scene. I'm also looking into several innovative printing options.


----------



## larusejunior (Dec 28, 2014)

Here are my two first attempts in milky way shots. It was in Zion National Park during my road trip.


----------



## SwnSng (Jan 16, 2015)

Chasing the Dragon by Boys and Bees, on Flickr




Untitled by Boys and Bees, on Flickr


----------



## Click (Jan 16, 2015)

Awesome shots, SwnSng. Well done!


----------



## SwnSng (Jan 16, 2015)

Thanks Click!


----------



## StudentOfLight (Feb 2, 2015)

SwnSng said:


> Thanks Click!


Wow, I'm so envious of your location. I really need to plan a trip out into the desert. I have too much light pollution in the farmlands here.


----------



## StudentOfLight (Feb 2, 2015)

Here is my latest effort
[edited: included alternative postprocessing]


----------



## GaabNZ (Apr 25, 2015)

My latest attempt at the milky way



_MG_1039 edited by gaabNZ, on Flickr


----------



## Click (Apr 25, 2015)

GaabNZ said:


> My latest attempt at the milky way



Awesome. Beautiful image.


----------



## KeithBreazeal (Jun 16, 2015)

Bodie - The Milky way rising over the ghost town's morgue.
Canon 5D Mark III, Rokinon 14mm 
25 second exposure, f2.8, ISO 3200
Light painted with a amber filtered Halo LED flashlight



Bodie Milky Way at the Morgue © Keith Breazeal by Keith Breazeal, on Flickr


----------



## Click (Jun 16, 2015)

Awesome shot, Keith. Well done Sir!


----------



## KeithBreazeal (Jun 16, 2015)

Click said:


> Awesome shot, Keith. Well done Sir!



Thanks


----------



## bereninga (Jun 16, 2015)

Nice one, Keith! Great job on the lightpainting.


----------



## KeithBreazeal (Jun 16, 2015)

bereninga said:


> Nice one, Keith! Great job on the lightpainting.



Thank you. I used a high power HALO LED flashlight with an amber filter plus a diffuser. FYI a white napkin makes a great diffuser. LOL!


----------



## meywd (Jun 20, 2015)

A really beautiful photo Keith.

First try at the Milky Way with the 5D3 and the Rokinon, a bit of unplanned stacking but I guess its good for a first try.



Milky Way by Mahmoud Darwish, on Flickr


----------



## Click (Jun 20, 2015)

Beautiful picture. Well done, meywd.


----------



## meywd (Jun 20, 2015)

StudentOfLight said:


> Here is my latest effort
> [edited: included alternative postprocessing]



Great effort, I love it


----------



## meywd (Jun 20, 2015)

Click said:


> Beautiful picture. Well done, meywd.



Thank you click


----------



## M_S (Jun 20, 2015)

SwnSng said:


> Chasing the Dragon by Boys and Bees, on Flickr
> 
> 
> 
> ...



What gear did you use? Focal length? 15mm? I am on the fence of buying me a 15mm Zeiss, but a possible 16-35 III is holding me off so far. Bummer is I have to decide next month, because in August I am off to the US.
Best regards


----------



## JustMeOregon (Jun 20, 2015)

Some truly beautiful work guys!

A quick question for anyone that might know anything about image "stacking" for the purpose of noise reduction... What is the minimum number of nightscape (Milky Way) images I should stack (with Photoshop) to have a meaningful amount of noise reduction?

I'm going to be heading down to Nor Cal during the next new-moon (in July), so any & all input would be greatly appreciated!


----------



## d4mike (Jun 20, 2015)

6D Rokinon 14mm SE coast of Maine.


----------



## Click (Jun 20, 2015)

d4mike said:


> 6D Rokinon 14mm SE coast of Maine.



Lovely. Great first post. Welcome to CR.


----------



## bereninga (Jun 20, 2015)

d4mike said:


> 6D Rokinon 14mm SE coast of Maine.



How is that real? Amazing photo! Thanks for sharing.


----------



## timmy_650 (Jun 20, 2015)

I was hiking down to Supia AZ and we were leaving at 4am. I just snapped a few while i was packing my gear. It was so bright, that is pretty much straight out of the camera. I did a little PP but not much.


----------



## d4mike (Jun 20, 2015)

This was taken with the Tamron 15-30 f2.8, 30 seconds at 3000 ISO


----------



## Click (Jun 20, 2015)

d4mike said:


> This was taken with the Tamron 15-30 f2.8, 30 seconds at 3000 ISO



Awesome. Keep posting.


----------



## Click (Jun 20, 2015)

timmy_650 said:


> I was hiking down to Supia AZ and we were leaving at 4am. I just snapped a few while i was packing my gear.



Beautiful shot. Nicely done.


----------



## d4mike (Jun 20, 2015)

Back to the 14mm Rokinon, 6D, 30 seconds, 3200 ISO around 3:00am. Funny but I wasn't even tired, the stars kept me pumped up. Got to bed about 4:10am, should have just stayed up for sunrise at 5:00am........


----------



## Mr Bean (Jun 21, 2015)

d4mike said:


> Back to the 14mm Rokinon, 6D, 30 seconds, 3200 ISO around 3:00am. Funny but I wasn't even tired, the stars kept me pumped up. Got to bed about 4:10am, should have just stayed up for sunrise at 5:00am........


Wow, very nice. Love the reflection.


----------



## lion rock (Jun 21, 2015)

WOW! What an excellent shot! Greatly marvelous!
-r




d4mike said:


> Back to the 14mm Rokinon, 6D, 30 seconds, 3200 ISO around 3:00am. Funny but I wasn't even tired, the stars kept me pumped up. Got to bed about 4:10am, should have just stayed up for sunrise at 5:00am........


----------



## meywd (Jun 24, 2015)

d4mike said:


> Back to the 14mm Rokinon, 6D, 30 seconds, 3200 ISO around 3:00am. Funny but I wasn't even tired, the stars kept me pumped up. Got to bed about 4:10am, should have just stayed up for sunrise at 5:00am........



I love the composition.


----------



## meywd (Jun 24, 2015)

Milky Way by Mahmoud Darwish, on Flickr


----------



## KeithBreazeal (Jun 24, 2015)

Auroras messing with my Milky Way shoot



Auroras 23 June 2015 © Keith Breazeal by Keith Breazeal, on Flickr


----------



## Click (Jun 24, 2015)

Beautiful shot, Keith.


----------



## jrista (Jun 26, 2015)

Snake Nebula (Barnard 72), near the galactic core:


----------



## Chisox2335 (Jun 26, 2015)

A few of my shots. All with a 6D and rokinon lenses


----------



## KeithBreazeal (Jun 26, 2015)

Aurora 5 minute exposure showing the color patterns. Also note the color of the stars. Polaris is at top center.
5D III ISO 100 Rokinon 14mm f2.8


Auroras over Lake Tahoe © Keith Breazeal by Keith Breazeal, on Flickr


----------



## TGCorneliussen (Jun 26, 2015)

tpatana said:


> Went out last night to shoot Milky Way. I had my friend's 24/1.4 with me. It was late and I was tired so I forgot to try also with my Sigma 14/2.8. But the pics with 24/1.4 came out quite nice. Even I drove to North-WA trying to get away from light pollution, still there's quite strong light on the bottom.
> 
> Comments?



In my opinion the light adds to this picture. great shot!


----------



## meywd (Jun 26, 2015)

TGCorneliussen said:


> tpatana said:
> 
> 
> > Went out last night to shoot Milky Way. I had my friend's 24/1.4 with me. It was late and I was tired so I forgot to try also with my Sigma 14/2.8. But the pics with 24/1.4 came out quite nice. Even I drove to North-WA trying to get away from light pollution, still there's quite strong light on the bottom.
> ...



I agree, I like it with the light, wonderful shot


----------



## meywd (Jun 26, 2015)

A close up on the Milky Way with the 50mm f/1.8 II, I shot around 150 frames, however I am not able to stack that many with 32bit software, and Photoshop is not handling them either, so I stacked 40 with PS, single shot settings were: ISO 3200 f1/.8 10 sec




Milky Way by Mahmoud Darwish, on Flickr


----------



## telemaq76 (Jun 27, 2015)

taken with my old canon 1ds3+rokinon 14 2.8, in canadian rockies


----------



## Click (Jun 27, 2015)

telemaq76 said:


> taken with my old canon 1ds3+rokinon 14 2.8, in canadian rockies



Awesome. Well done telemaq76.


----------



## GaabNZ (Jul 17, 2015)

A couple from tonight at the Warkworth Satellite Station, just outside Auckland, New Zealand.

20 second exposure


Warkworth Satellite Station by Gary Ashton, on Flickr

and 10 second exposure


Warkworth Satellite by Gary Ashton, on Flickr

Canon 6D with Samyang 24mm F1.4 2 shot vertical panoramics


----------



## Click (Jul 17, 2015)

GaabNZ said:


> A couple from tonight at the Warkworth Satellite Station, just outside Auckland, New Zealand.




Beautiful shots. Well done, Gary.


----------



## Mickat (Jul 18, 2015)

Here is one from my back yard, shot this 5 metres from my back door.
1DX - 24mm 1.4 II - F2 - 15sec - ISO 1000


----------



## Click (Jul 18, 2015)

Great shot, Mickat. Nicely done.


----------



## Mickat (Jul 18, 2015)

Some shots from Ayers Rock, I would have liked to have stayed longer in the park but it closes at 7:30pm and the Sun is still somewhat setting.

1st image: 5D3 - 8-15mm F4 Fisheye @ 15mm - 30secs - F4 - ISO 3200
2nd image: 5D3 - 8-15mm F4 Fisheye @ 15mm - 15secs - F4 - ISO 2000
3rd image: 5D3 - 8-15mm F4 Fisheye @ 15mm - 30secs - F4 - ISO 3200


----------



## EvilZeev228 (Jul 19, 2015)

1Dx
16 35 L II F2.8
First image 
F2.8
30secs
ISO 10000

Second image
F2.8
15secs
ISO 8000


----------



## meywd (Jul 21, 2015)

Another close up



Milky Way by Mahmoud Darwish, on Flickr


----------



## Click (Jul 21, 2015)

Very nice, meywd.


----------



## LOALTD (Jul 21, 2015)

Great work everyone! Good to see I'm not the only 14mm Rokinon addict! That lens changed my whole nightscape game!


----------



## d4mike (Jul 22, 2015)

I love all Milkyway shots.

Here's one I shot last weekend. Little Sable Point lighthouse along Lake Michigan. I wanted to hike to Big Sable Point lighthouse but the state park gestapo threatened me with a ticket and a tow if I left my truck after 10:00pm, even though I had a state park sticker. I think this worked out for the best.
6D
14mm Rokinon f2.8
ISO 3200
WB 3500
25 seconds


----------



## d4mike (Jul 22, 2015)

One more.
This was a 15 min star stack facing north (to get Polaris) It was a very humid night, I had a hard time keeping the lens clean between shots.
6D
14mm Rokinon f2.8
WB 3500
ISO 2000
65 24 second exposures and star stacked.


----------



## Click (Jul 22, 2015)

Nice shots, d4mike. Well done.


----------



## tpatana (Jul 27, 2015)

How the TS-E lenses would perform in star-shooting?


----------



## CurtL5 (Jul 27, 2015)

As I was scrolling through these, I had to chuckle since the OP never really opened this up to a community post of everyone's efforts. Still, the floodgates are open and I couldn't resist the opportunity to do the same.

This was a 7-shot pano of 20s f2.8 ISO4000 images using a 16-35 2.8 on a 5DMiii.
Post processed in LR and PS to boost the obvious.

(I was mortified at the number of bad pixels that showed up. Had NO idea I had that many as this was my first adventure into the after-dark realm)

Taken last April in Lake Tahoe...


----------



## tpatana (Jul 27, 2015)

CurtL5 said:


> As I was scrolling through these, I had to chuckle since the OP never really opened this up to a community post of everyone's efforts. Still, the floodgates are open and I couldn't resist the opportunity to do the same.



We're all here to learn from each other, so I'm happy that other people also contributed their pictures and techniques.

Your picture is pretty awesome too. I should go out again, now that I have upgraded some of my gear.


----------



## TheJock (Jul 27, 2015)

I’m planning a visit out to the desert on the 15th Aug (next new moon) and just wanted some opinions on this little idea. 
The area where I’m going is in the middle of nowhere and has a nice manmade lake as a foreground subject, however it has some street lights on a main road (in the distance) due to a desert resort being not too far away. 
I was thinking that if I was to use an ND grad upside down in my Cokin filter holder, from the bottom of the frame up to the horizon it would effectively cut out any potential street light noise, I’m not that bothered with the foreground in the shot as I’m looking to shoot the Milky Way, do you think this approach would work, or am I giving myself problems??
Thanks in advance.


----------



## CurtL5 (Jul 27, 2015)

I think that will work just fine. The only possible issue is with the atmosphere itself - sometimes you run into some atmospheric filtering which I'm not sure that there is a way to predict without first-hand knowledge...

The filter idea should be fine though - especially with the soft grad edge.


----------



## Click (Jul 27, 2015)

CurtL5 said:


> Taken last April in Lake Tahoe...



That a great picture. Well done CurtL5.


----------



## TheJock (Jul 27, 2015)

CurtL5 said:


> The filter idea should be fine though - especially with the soft grad edge.


Thanks for the input Curt, love your Tahoe picture above!!


----------



## NancyP (Jul 28, 2015)

TS-E lenses' problems would be the aperture - 24mm f/3.5, 17mm f/4. Obviously you would keep the lens at "zero" position (unshifted).


----------



## applecider (Jul 28, 2015)

Here's a milky way over nantucket sound. 1DX 60 sec iso 6400 rokinon 14mm probably at 2.8.


don't like the lights on the right (west side) but that's the way it was.


----------



## siegsAR (Aug 1, 2015)

My second attempt at shooting the Milky Way.
I picked this one from a 12 sec. timelapse sequence. Turns out this was the frame w/ the smallest amount of clouds showing.

6D
Samyang 14mm UMC
30s, ISO 6400




Slanted Parallel by Archie Siega, on Flickr


----------



## Click (Aug 1, 2015)

siegsAR said:


> My second attempt at shooting the Milky Way.
> I picked this one from a 12 sec. timelapse sequence. Turns out this was the frame w/ the smallest amount of clouds showing.
> 
> 6D
> ...



Lovely shot, siegsAR. Well done.


----------



## siegsAR (Aug 1, 2015)

Thank you Click.


----------



## mikekx102 (Aug 2, 2015)

These are my favourites 

All shot with a 6D and 24mm F1.4L II

It looks like many people are getting fantastic results with the Rokinon 14mm - that may have to be my next lens.


----------



## Click (Aug 2, 2015)

mikekx102 said:


> These are my favourites
> 
> All shot with a 6D and 24mm F1.4L II
> 
> It looks like many people are getting fantastic results with the Rokinon 14mm - that may have to be my next lens.




Beautiful series. I especially like the first and 3rd pictures.

Welcome to CR.


----------



## TheJock (Aug 2, 2015)

Hi guys,

In preparation for my first ever Milky Way skyscape photo shoot on the 15th August (next new moon) I wanted to ask a question about the post processing situation.
I have Elements 11 and wondered if there is a similar “dehaze” function as found in other Adobe software? I am a complete noob with Photoshop although I have had it for over 1 year, but want to know how to bring out the best in my Milky Way shots.
I will use the Cokin ND grad to help with light pollution in the foreground (up to the horizon, which will most likely be the bottom ¼ or 1/3rd of the image.
Any ideas, links or suggestions on how to get the best results in post will be very gratefully appreciated.
I will be using both my 5DIII with a 24-105L and my 70D with a Sigma 10-20.

Many thanks in advance


----------



## telemaq76 (Aug 3, 2015)

yellowstone has probably one the best sky for milky way. Here is one picture taken in one single shot, no stacking, just one single shot with a 50 1.4..8 seconds


----------



## Click (Aug 3, 2015)

Very nice shot, Nicolas.


----------



## meywd (Aug 15, 2015)

Milky Way by Mahmoud Darwish, on Flickr


----------



## meywd (Aug 15, 2015)

Milky Way by Mahmoud Darwish, on Flickr


----------



## TheJock (Aug 16, 2015)

My first attempt at a Milky Way shot.
I used my wife's car to add to the foreground as it's so flat and boring out here, I was using a 5DIII + 16-35L
ISO 1600, 1/30th, f2.8. I PP'd with Elements 12 as that's all I have, I used the wand on the foreground and car, then I adjusted the colour, brightness and contrast in the sky, which caused some vignetting. I really need to educate myself with how to use Elements!!!


----------



## Chisox2335 (Aug 16, 2015)

While taking Milky Way photos I captured a Perseid meteor as well. 

Canon 6d, rokinon 14mm f2.8 @ 2.8, ISO 3200 20 seconds


----------



## Click (Aug 16, 2015)

Chisox2335 said:
 

> While taking Milky Way photos I captured a Perseid meteor as well.
> 
> Canon 6d, rokinon 14mm f2.8 @ 2.8, ISO 3200 20 seconds




Lovely shot. Well done.


----------



## Chisox2335 (Aug 17, 2015)

Click said:


> Chisox2335 said:
> 
> 
> > While taking Milky Way photos I captured a Perseid meteor as well.
> ...



Thank you sir


----------



## meywd (Aug 18, 2015)

I don't think this deserves a separate thread, and its related as its a product of all the Milky Way shots I got so far, which is not enough.......yet

https://vimeo.com/136604545 

Its better with headphones, and gets better as you play it more


----------



## Ozarker (Nov 8, 2015)

11/07/2015

Canon 5D Mark III and Tamron SP 15-30mm f/2.8 Di VC USD

30 seconds, ISO 1600, f/2.8

Exposure is a bit too long. The stars are starting to trail.


----------



## davet4 (Nov 11, 2015)

I finally managed to get some shots of the Milkyway, i must admit the fore ground is not too great and on the third picture someone switched on a light but overall i am happy. These were taken with a 5DmkIII, 24-105mm, set at 24mm, 30sec, F4, and ISO 4000. Even though i was at 24mm i think s super wide would have been better. Feel free to comment, any suggested improvements welcome


----------



## Click (Nov 11, 2015)

CanonFanBoy said:


> 11/07/2015
> 
> Canon 5D Mark III and Tamron SP 15-30mm f/2.8 Di VC USD
> 
> ...



Awesome. Nicely done.


----------



## Click (Nov 11, 2015)

davet4 said:


> I finally managed to get some shots of the Milkyway, i must admit the fore ground is not too great and on the third picture someone switched on a light but overall i am happy. These were taken with a 5DmkIII, 24-105mm, set at 24mm, 30sec, F4, and ISO 4000. Even though i was at 24mm i think s super wide would have been better. Feel free to comment, any suggested improvements welcome




Nice series. I especially like the 2nd picture.


----------



## telemaq76 (Dec 18, 2015)

Milky way with 50 1.4 art series, 1dx and ioptron skytracker for the sky
3 minutes exposures, iso-1250 f3.2


----------



## Click (Dec 18, 2015)

telemaq76 said:


> Milky way with 50 1.4 art series, 1dx and ioptron skytracker for the sky
> 3 minutes exposures, iso-1250 f3.2




Beautiful. Well done, telemaq76.


----------



## stan_tall_man (Dec 18, 2015)

I took this just south of Lincoln, Nebraska. 6d with Samyang 14mm 2.8


----------



## Click (Dec 18, 2015)

stan_tall_man said:


> I took this just south of Lincoln, Nebraska. 6d with Samyang 14mm 2.8




Lovely shot. Nicely done, Sir.


----------



## Mr Bean (Feb 17, 2016)

While strictly not a still image, it did take 290 stills to make the following movie 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l66Lym_EwyY

P.S. It looks better as HD


----------



## Click (Feb 17, 2016)

Mr Bean said:


> While strictly not a still image, it did take 290 stills to make the following movie



Awesome. Well done, Mr Bean.


----------



## Mr Bean (Feb 17, 2016)

Click said:


> Mr Bean said:
> 
> 
> > While strictly not a still image, it did take 290 stills to make the following movie
> ...


Thanks Click.


----------



## StudentOfLight (Feb 20, 2016)

Weird squiggly lines near the milky way. There's no camera shake as can be seen with most of the bright stars. There was significant moisture in the air and a lot of light polution, hence the galaxy is hardly visible. Not a good night out shooting  

Anyway, is this an atmospheric lensing phenomenon?


----------



## JMZawodny (Feb 20, 2016)

StudentOfLight said:


> Weird squiggly lines near the milky way. There no camera shake as can be seen with most of the bright stars. There was significant moisture in the air and a lot of light polution, hence the galaxy is hardly visible. Not a good night out shooting
> 
> Anyway, is this an atmospheric lensing phenomenon?



I see the repetition of two identical patterns to these squiggly lines. To my eye, this appears to be something we used to call multiple exposure, in this case a triple exposure.


----------



## StudentOfLight (Feb 20, 2016)

JMZawodny said:


> StudentOfLight said:
> 
> 
> > Weird squiggly lines near the milky way. There no camera shake as can be seen with most of the bright stars. There was significant moisture in the air and a lot of light polution, hence the galaxy is hardly visible. Not a good night out shooting
> ...


How do you suppose a multiple exposure could have happened? Some sort of hardware malfunction? I was shooting a panoramic series with no issues on any of the other shots. Curiously it's just on this one image and not affecting all the stars equally.


----------



## cazza132 (Feb 20, 2016)

Full spectrum modified 6D + Zeiss 135mm f2.0. A multi-panel mosaic.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/20029858014/


----------



## Edward Paul (Feb 20, 2016)

telemaq76 said:


> Milky way with 50 1.4 art series, 1dx and ioptron skytracker for the sky
> 3 minutes exposures, iso-1250 f3.2



Beautiful. Ok, if you're tracking the stars how come the foreground isn't trailed? Is it a separate exposure for the foreground layered onto the sky shot?


----------



## Click (Feb 20, 2016)

cazza132 said:


> Full spectrum modified 6D + Zeiss 135mm f2.0. A multi-panel mosaic.
> https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/20029858014/



Stunning picture. Well done, cazza132.


----------



## rfdesigner (Feb 20, 2016)

StudentOfLight said:


> Weird squiggly lines near the milky way. There's no camera shake as can be seen with most of the bright stars. There was significant moisture in the air and a lot of light polution, hence the galaxy is hardly visible. Not a good night out shooting
> 
> Anyway, is this an atmospheric lensing phenomenon?



It's all one frame.

Check each "cluster" of squiggles.. one "vertical" one and a "patch".. then go and find another "patch" and hey presto there's another vertical just to the side of it... it's a bit like lining up complex patterns on wallpaper, it seems impossible until you get your eye in.

So the camera moved.

I've had loads like this when I was trying to get tracking working in the early days... the movement involved is not terribly much and easy to miss in the dark.


----------



## StudentOfLight (Feb 20, 2016)

rfdesigner said:


> StudentOfLight said:
> 
> 
> > Weird squiggly lines near the milky way. There's no camera shake as can be seen with most of the bright stars. There was significant moisture in the air and a lot of light polution, hence the galaxy is hardly visible. Not a good night out shooting
> ...


The mystery is solved. 

You are indeed right. My brother (an astrophysics student) helped fill in the last piece of the puzzle. The camera was not properly locked down and did in fact move. And the clouds did impact the image as well. 

There were two instances of movement one vertical sag and one horizontal twitch. The passing cloud obscured some of the stars during those two instances. As a result some stars weren't exposed during the various phases of movement and were captured as sharp, while stars which were exposed during the movement(s) would have one or a combination of the movement trails.

It is indeed difficult to see minute movements in the dark. Dark sky photography requires concentration, and with that light pollution and overhead cloud I guess my head was not in the game.


----------



## JMZawodny (Feb 20, 2016)

StudentOfLight said:


> JMZawodny said:
> 
> 
> > StudentOfLight said:
> ...



Either a test or intentional deception.


----------



## rfdesigner (Feb 21, 2016)

StudentOfLight said:


> rfdesigner said:
> 
> 
> > StudentOfLight said:
> ...



Great!.. you now know why the mount is the key element in any astronomy setup and remote shutter release is also very useful.

As it fringes onto this discussion, if you decide to go for a scope please to come back and ask for help, I'll say right now that for astrophotography, spend most of your budget on the mount. As you now know it doesn't matter how good your camera/lens/scope is if you can't point it in the right direction consistantly then you're totally sunk.


----------



## cazza132 (Feb 22, 2016)

Click said:


> cazza132 said:
> 
> 
> > Full spectrum modified 6D + Zeiss 135mm f2.0. A multi-panel mosaic.
> ...


Hey, thanks Click on three counts. Cheers mate!  The new Canon tech with on sensor chip ADCs - I really hope they maintain good long exposure integrity (low dark current and amp glow). They reckon the 7DII is excellent in that respect. We already know that the new tech is better for pushing 5 stops at ISO100 (not required for even my landscape work), and producing very good high ISO with digic NR. Hoping for a good snr 5DsR II with good QE and low dark current with new sensor tech. Looking forward to seeing some long exposure/high ISO raws!  We will see that with the 80D first.


----------



## StudentOfLight (Feb 23, 2016)

cazza132 said:


> Click said:
> 
> 
> > cazza132 said:
> ...


Hi Troy, I stumbled on an article about the award you won last year. Congratulations. You've brought some incredible images to the fore here on CR and it is amazing that you've gained recognition from your peers. I hope you keep inspiring us here for years to come. Best regards!


----------



## StudentOfLight (Mar 8, 2016)

Image pulled from time lapse sequence. The passing satellite (I assume) in this frame makes for a more interesting shot. 

Exposure: 20s @ f/2.5, ISO 6400.
In aiming for a good exposure of the LMC, I ended up overexposing some of the milky way stars. You live you learn...


----------



## Click (Mar 8, 2016)

Beautiful shot. Well done, StudentOfLight.


----------



## rfdesigner (Mar 8, 2016)

StudentOfLight said:


> Image pulled from time lapse sequence. The passing satellite (I assume) in this frame makes for a more interesting shot.
> 
> Exposure: 20s @ f/2.5, ISO 6400.
> In aiming for a good exposure of the LMC, I ended up overexposing some of the milky way stars. You live you learn...



not bad at all.. Southern hemisphere?.. I've never seen the Magellanic Clouds.

It's worth doing say 4 or 5 exposures all the same then doing a median stack if you want to remove satellite/aircraft trails


----------



## StudentOfLight (Mar 8, 2016)

rfdesigner said:


> StudentOfLight said:
> 
> 
> > Image pulled from time lapse sequence. The passing satellite (I assume) in this frame makes for a more interesting shot.
> ...


I don't mind satellites and meteors as they leave a clean line, but airplanes leave dashed lines which are quite harsh and distracting.

I'll definitely give the LMC another go (with image stacking) probably with a longer focal length so it fills more of the frame.


----------



## StudentOfLight (Mar 10, 2016)

Don't you love just finding a memory card lost in some obscure corner of a drawer...

I shot an out-of-town wedding in September last year and went to scout the locations the weekend before. I took the opportunity to shoot some astro as a short drive from the small town has nice dark skies. 

Anyway... I unfortunately had two hard drive failures in the past 6 weeks and lost the images I had imported. For some reason I left the card in my desk drawer and never formatted it so last week when clearing out I found two memory cards and voila I'd found some really nice astro pics, some of which I never had time to edit.

Attached are 145 degree overhead panoramas. On the RAW image I decided to trace out some of the constellations to learn where they are for future reference. With the second image I pushed the RAW file as far as I think I could. I'm quite astonished by how much detail lies buried in the RAW file.


----------



## Khufu (Mar 10, 2016)

This thread (or the fraction I've seen of it so far) is amazing! Thank you everyone, who's sharing their efforts and insight 

I've lots to learn but I really, really want to! I've been threatening to convert my EOS M to Full Spectrum for a little while, thinking I might give it a go myself, having seen some online deconstructions etc, but I'm no expert on these things. 

I love the idea of going FF/FullSpectrum like you have with the 6D, cazza132, your results are wonderful... but I think I'll start with the EOS M  Is yours a total filter-removal job, and is this the preferred way for Astro-'togs? I'm aware there are various filter replacements with different frequency ranges for different results but if there's no reason to replace one bookend with another I'll be happy to go properly Full-Spec and filterless! 

Also any advice on where to start with the essentials (tracking equipment etc? Software?), as direct advice or respected online resources worth reading through, would be super appreciated! I'll start with the rest of this thread, from the beginning, and take notes 

Happy shooting, everyone!


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## Click (Mar 10, 2016)

Great shot, StudentOfLight.


----------



## StudentOfLight (Mar 10, 2016)

Click said:


> Great shot, StudentOfLight.


Thanks Click


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## bart13 (Mar 10, 2016)

cazza132 said:


> Full spectrum modified 6D + Zeiss 135mm f2.0. A multi-panel mosaic.
> https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/20029858014/



Wow!!!!! Really nice. Love the colors.


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## Valvebounce (Mar 11, 2016)

Hi Khufu. 
I am no expert but I think you will at least need to put a piece of glass of the same thickness, and possibly refractive index? I think I read about this in some detail on one of Roger Cicala's (lens rentals) posts. I have a feeling it was one about the machinery they recently bought for testing lenses. I also watched a video ages ago about removing the filter and thing there was something about it there too. I think that one was about a 300D. 

Cheers, Graham. 



Khufu said:


> This thread (or the fraction I've seen of it so far) is amazing! Thank you everyone, who's sharing their efforts and insight
> 
> I've lots to learn but I really, really want to! I've been threatening to convert my EOS M to Full Spectrum for a little while, thinking I might give it a go myself, having seen some online deconstructions etc, but I'm no expert on these things.
> 
> ...


----------



## telemaq76 (Mar 30, 2016)

Edward Paul said:


> telemaq76 said:
> 
> 
> > Milky way with 50 1.4 art series, 1dx and ioptron skytracker for the sky
> ...



YES absolutly, tracking for stars, and another shot with no tracking for the ground, both blended with photoshop


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## douglasgritzphoto (Apr 27, 2016)

This is next to the Pawnee Buttes in northeastern Colorado.


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## Click (Apr 27, 2016)

douglasgritzphoto said:


> This is next to the Pawnee Buttes in northeastern Colorado.



I really like this picture. Nicely done.


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## d4mike (Apr 28, 2016)

My first time ever in Utah and my first morning in Moab. Just me, the La Sal Mountains, the howling coyotes and the Milky Way at 4:15am.
6D, Rokinon 14mm, f2.8, ISO 3200, 25 seconds.


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## PatchedUp (May 14, 2016)

douglasgritzphoto said:


> This is next to the Pawnee Buttes in northeastern Colorado.



What are the red lights in the background, almost looks like an airfield, but then again doesn't?



Halley VI Research Station, Antarctica. Taken on a foggy morning with a fair bit of light pollution for here as a result. Samyang 14mm 8 seconds @ ISO 3200


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## cjlove72 (Aug 21, 2016)

Best shot from a recent trip up to The Pinnacles Desert in Western Australia.

Small and Large Magellanic Clouds on the left, Mars and Saturn are below the galactic core just left of centre. Light glow from a small town called Cervantes on the far right...lights on the left are from a Tronox titanium mine near the town of Cataby.

Shot with a Canon 6D and Samyang 24mm f/1.4. Aperture was wide open at 1.4, shutter speed was 20s and ISO was 3200.

This was a 60-shot panorama (10 wide x 6 high) stitched together in PTgui Pro. I don't have a panoramic head for the tripod (yet!), so the rotation/panning was done manually.


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## rpt (Aug 21, 2016)

cjlove72 said:


> Best shot from a recent trip up to The Pinnacles Desert in Western Australia.
> 
> Small and Large Magellanic Clouds on the left, Mars and Saturn are below the galactic core just left of centre. Light glow from a small town called Cervantes on the far right...lights on the left are from a Tronox titanium mine near the town of Cataby.
> 
> ...


Wow! Nice pano. Welcome to CR!


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## Click (Aug 21, 2016)

cjlove72 said:


> Best shot from a recent trip up to The Pinnacles Desert in Western Australia.
> 
> Small and Large Magellanic Clouds on the left, Mars and Saturn are below the galactic core just left of centre. Light glow from a small town called Cervantes on the far right...lights on the left are from a Tronox titanium mine near the town of Cataby.
> 
> ...




Beautiful shot.

Welcome to CR


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## clbayley (Aug 28, 2016)

My first try from Nakusp, BC, Canada. Darkest clearest sky I had ever seen.

This is just a jpeg touched up with Adobe Express. I have RAWs that I really need to learn how to edit...

CB


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## tpatana (Aug 28, 2016)

Hmm... you could have probably framed it bit higher, and I think if you cooled it down and some more edits (clarity/sharpness) in LR you could make it pop better.


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## benperrin (Aug 28, 2016)

5Ds


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## Click (Aug 28, 2016)

Awesome. Great shot, benperrin.


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## clbayley (Aug 30, 2016)

tpatana said:


> Hmm... you could have probably framed it bit higher, and I think if you cooled it down and some more edits (clarity/sharpness) in LR you could make it pop better.



My first try using Canon DPP...

I note I need a more interesting foreground...

Thanks for the comments.

CB


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## DannyPwins (Aug 30, 2016)

I've been lurking on this forum for at least the last few years. I always enjoy the images posted and techniques shared. This was/is my first attempt to shoot the milky way. The noise is high because I had to boost the ISO using a slow a 17-40 f4. I couldn't get the milky way that great on the moving cruise ship because they were playing a movie on the main deck and thats the blue light kind of covering it. I did luck up and get a lightning strike though. Not amazing like stuff I've seen here, but I wanted to share anyway. 
Taken a little north of Cuba:


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## privatebydesign (Aug 30, 2016)

Danny, very unusual, great capture and welcome to the forum.


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## DannyPwins (Aug 30, 2016)

privatebydesign said:


> Danny, very unusual, great capture and welcome to the forum.



Thanks..I need a fast 14 or 20mm next.


----------



## Ryananthony (Aug 30, 2016)

Very nice Danny !


----------



## applecider (Aug 30, 2016)

From a dark pocket on the Oregon coast near hug point. Rokinon 14mm wide open.


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## KeithBreazeal (Aug 30, 2016)

applecider said:


> From a dark pocket on the Oregon coast near hug point. Rokinon 14mm wide open.



Very nice!


----------



## KeithBreazeal (Aug 30, 2016)

A few shots from Bodie during the Ghost Walk.
Canon 5D Mark III & Rokinon 14mm f2.8



Bodie Ghost Walk Church 4409 © Keith Breazeal by Keith Breazeal, on Flickr



Bodie Ghost Walk 2016 Wagon &amp; Hotel 4432 © Keith Breazeal by Keith Breazeal, on Flickr



Bodie Ghost Walk 2016 Bodie &amp; Milky Way 4395 © Keith Breazeal by Keith Breazeal, on Flickr


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## Click (Aug 30, 2016)

DannyPwins said:


> Taken a little north of Cuba:



Awesome. very nice shot, Danny.


----------



## Click (Aug 30, 2016)

applecider said:


> From a dark pocket on the Oregon coast near hug point. Rokinon 14mm wide open.



Beautiful shot. Well done, applecider.


----------



## Click (Aug 30, 2016)

KeithBreazeal said:


> A few shots from Bodie during the Ghost Walk.
> Canon 5D Mark III & Rokinon 14mm f2.8



Great series, Keith. I especially like the first picture.


----------



## applecider (Aug 30, 2016)

Keith love your stuff, where is this Bodie? Looks like you light painted the structures, in that vein here is my attempt to light paint the foreground for the MW. My self critic is that the light was too cool, but it was the only one I had with me.

Again from the Oregon coast around Hug Point rokinon 14mm probably at f 2.8, the rock looks like a seal to me...


----------



## Click (Aug 31, 2016)

Nice shot, applecider.


----------



## lion rock (Aug 31, 2016)

Everyone,
Beautiful shots!
-r


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## benperrin (Aug 31, 2016)

Great shot applecider!


----------



## KeithBreazeal (Aug 31, 2016)

applecider said:


> Keith love your stuff, where is this Bodie? Looks like you light painted the structures, in that vein here is my attempt to light paint the foreground for the MW. My self critic is that the light was too cool, but it was the only one I had with me.
> 
> Again from the Oregon coast around Hug Point rokinon 14mm probably at f 2.8, the rock looks like a seal to me...



That's a really nice capture!
Bodie is a State Historic Park on the east side of the Sierras in California just north of Mono Lake. A few times a year they have a "Ghost Walk" that is guided tours and story telling. This is the only time the park is open till 10 pm instead of 6 pm. Spring and late summer is the only time there is enough dark after sunset before they chase us out. This gives about 45 minutes to an hour to shoot! There are about 50 photographers trying to do the same thing, so it's really crazy. 9 out of 10 shots will be messed up by stray light from other photographers and people on the tours. When there is a group of us trying to shoot the same thing, we are courteous and coordinate our painting. It's really amazing when a group bans together for the common good and help each other with key and fill light painting.
I use a 300 lumen LED "HALO" flashlight that I modified with a warming filter and a diffuser that eliminates hot spots. I have a tube that I can put on the end to eliminate a lot of foreground burnout. I also have a floodlight for far away painting. It's taken several attempts to get it dialed in.

This is Bodie during the Ghost Walk. Most of the buildings that are visible are actually in process of light painting! 



Bodie Ghost Walk 2016 Bodie &amp; Milky Way 4395 © Keith Breazeal by Keith Breazeal, on Flickr

This shot is a coordinated painting where I'm filling light for another photographer to my right.



Bodie Ghost Walk 2016 churck back 420 © Keith Breazeal by Keith Breazeal, on Flickr


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## Click (Aug 31, 2016)

I especially like the first picture. Well done, Keith.


----------



## matthias (Aug 31, 2016)

My first try from the Lecknertal in Austria. On the right side of the Milky Way you can see Andromeda. Taken with my 6D and a Smyang 14mm, 20 second exposure.
https://matthiasnester.smugmug.com/Experimente/i-xgpTwQP/A


----------



## Click (Aug 31, 2016)

Very nice shot, Matthias. I love the reflection in the water


----------



## Amaroc_GL (Sep 1, 2016)

From Nuuk, West Greenland. This is the most of the Milky way we get. It won't be until February to April were its possible to get it to arch across the night sky. Provided there isn't much aurora borealis to disturb too much.


----------



## Don Haines (Sep 1, 2016)

Amaroc_GL said:


> From Nuuk, West Greenland. This is the most of the Milky way we get. It won't be until February to April were its possible to get it to arch across the night sky. Provided there isn't much aurora borealis to disturb too much.


Nice picture! Welcome to the forum!


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## Click (Sep 1, 2016)

Amaroc_GL said:


> From Nuuk, West Greenland. This is the most of the Milky way we get. It won't be until February to April were its possible to get it to arch across the night sky. Provided there isn't much aurora borealis to disturb too much.



Very nice first post. 

Welcome to CR.


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## lion rock (Sep 1, 2016)

Amaroc_GL,
Either way, you win!
Milky Way is great!
Aurora is great!
Some people are just too lucky!
Great photo here. Expect to see more from you.
-r


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## Amaroc_GL (Sep 1, 2016)

Thank you guys. I've been lurking around since 2010 or 2011. Signed up a week ago to read more about the 5d4.
Looking forward to have it my hands  

Either way heres an Milkyway pic from Ilulissat. March 2015. This was taken around 3am. Dawn is already started in the high arctic.

Composite picture of 6 vertical frames taken with 24mm 1.4L II with 5d3.


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## DannyPwins (Sep 7, 2016)

I see lots of amazing shots in this thread. It just motivates me to do better!


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## Amaroc_GL (Sep 11, 2016)

I was out doing some pictures with some friend. Used a Zeiss 15mm for the bottom part of the picture. Then I used my 85mm to create the milkyway part. Not the best composite and blend. Still learning.




Composite Milky way shot. by EightysixNuuk, on Flickr


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## Don Haines (Sep 11, 2016)

I got this shot while out camping on the weekend.... a bit of everything.... the milky way, campfire glow on the trees, a solitary meteor, and even a bit of glow from the northern lights....


----------



## underbjerg (Sep 11, 2016)

Thanks for the inspiration everyone! A few weeks ago I decided to give it a try myself, and was surprised at how well it turned out for a first-timer  

Canon 5D mark III, EF 24mm f/1.4L II, 15 sec, f/2, ISO 6400


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## Click (Sep 11, 2016)

underbjerg said:


> Thanks for the inspiration everyone! A few weeks ago I decided to give it a try myself, and was surprised at how well it turned out for a first-timer
> 
> Canon 5D mark III, EF 24mm f/1.4L II, 15 sec, f/2, ISO 6400




Nice shot, Erik.


----------



## Click (Sep 11, 2016)

Amaroc_GL said:


> I was out doing some pictures with some friend. Used a Zeiss 15mm for the bottom part of the picture. Then I used my 85mm to create the milkyway part. Not the best composite and blend. Still learning.



That's a very nice image. Well done, Amaroc GL.


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## KeithBreazeal (Sep 11, 2016)

I'm thinking of getting the Rokinon(Samyang) 12mm. I'm using the 14mm now and I love it. 
Has anybody used both and have an opinion on the 12 vs the 14 for Shooting the night sky?


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## sedwards (Sep 12, 2016)

You guys are getting some fantastic shots ! You have got me wanting to try so bad i had to get the samyang 14mm f2.8. I am far from getting the quality you guys are getting but i was able to manage this shot.
5DIII ,samyang 14mm @ f2.8, 32 seconds ,iso 3200


5D3_0527 by Stuart Edwards, on Flickr


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## Click (Sep 12, 2016)

Beautiful shot, Stuart. 8)


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## alexthegreek (Sep 16, 2016)

And here's a little something from me!


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## Click (Sep 17, 2016)

alexthegreek said:


> And here's a little something from me!



Great shot, Alex.


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## meywd (Sep 17, 2016)

Click said:


> alexthegreek said:
> 
> 
> > And here's a little something from me!
> ...



Indeed, love the colors


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## alexthegreek (Sep 17, 2016)

meywd said:


> Click said:
> 
> 
> > alexthegreek said:
> ...


Thanks guys!I must apologize if this is a "one shot" milkyway thread as my picture is a stack


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## Click (Sep 17, 2016)

No apologies required, it's beautiful. 8)


----------



## tpatana (Sep 17, 2016)

alexthegreek said:


> meywd said:
> 
> 
> > Click said:
> ...



Please share the details.


----------



## meywd (Sep 17, 2016)

alexthegreek said:


> meywd said:
> 
> 
> > Click said:
> ...



don't worry, my shots of the milkyway are usually stacks, the last ones I posted(from last year) were a stack of 90 shots.


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## alexthegreek (Sep 18, 2016)

tpatana said:


> alexthegreek said:
> 
> 
> > meywd said:
> ...


Sure, this is a stack of 36 (iso 800,13 s, f 2,8) images.The light in the foreground comes from a near by lighthouse.Camera used is a 500d


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## Mr Bean (Oct 24, 2016)

3 pic pano of the southern night sky, taken near Thredbo (a ski resort town in Australia)
Canon 5D3 with Zeiss 15mm
30 seconds @ f2.8
ISO 6400
Tweaked in Lightroom
(hopefully it shows, as I've been having issues with Google Photos)


----------



## lion rock (Oct 24, 2016)

Holy cow!
-r



Mr Bean said:


> 3 pic pano of the southern night sky, taken near Thredbo (a ski resort town in Australia)
> Canon 5D3 with Zeiss 15mm
> 30 seconds @ f2.8
> ISO 6400
> ...


----------



## meywd (Oct 25, 2016)

Mr Bean said:


> 3 pic pano of the southern night sky, taken near Thredbo (a ski resort town in Australia)
> Canon 5D3 with Zeiss 15mm
> 30 seconds @ f2.8
> ISO 6400
> ...



it doesn't show anymore


----------



## lion rock (Oct 25, 2016)

Mr Bean,
Question for you:
I noticed that the assembled photo takes on a strange shape. Did you use photoshop?
I had been doing several panos using Microsoft ICE (a windows product, don't think it can be ported to MAC OS), and the result is quite well behaved, edge trimming is minimal.
-r



Mr Bean said:


> 3 pic pano of the southern night sky, taken near Thredbo (a ski resort town in Australia)
> Canon 5D3 with Zeiss 15mm
> 30 seconds @ f2.8
> ISO 6400
> ...


----------



## Mr Bean (Oct 25, 2016)

lion rock said:


> Mr Bean,
> Question for you:
> I noticed that the assembled photo takes on a strange shape. Did you use photoshop?
> I had been doing several panos using Microsoft ICE (a windows product, don't think it can be ported to MAC OS), and the result is quite well behaved, edge trimming is minimal.
> -r


Hi Lion rock,
I used the merge tool in Lightroom. There's an option to trim (crop) the image, but I quite like the appearance, plus it shows more of the image.
Cheers,
Nick


----------



## Mr Bean (Oct 25, 2016)

meywd said:


> Mr Bean said:
> 
> 
> > 3 pic pano of the southern night sky, taken near Thredbo (a ski resort town in Australia)
> ...



Hi meywd,
It appears for me now. I did go into Google Photos and tweak the "sharing" options. In theory at least, the image should be available to anyone. I'll have to look into this aspect of Google Photos, because its becoming really annoying, just to have the ability to quickly share images. It never used to be such a problem, 12 months ago.
Cheers,
Nick


----------



## meywd (Oct 25, 2016)

Mr Bean said:


> Hi meywd,
> It appears for me now. I did go into Google Photos and tweak the "sharing" options. In theory at least, the image should be available to anyone. I'll have to look into this aspect of Google Photos, because its becoming really annoying, just to have the ability to quickly share images. It never used to be such a problem, 12 months ago.
> Cheers,
> Nick



it still not showing here, is there a geo lock?


----------



## Mr Bean (Oct 25, 2016)

No geo lock. But, I just went into this post and I couldn't see the image either. If I start another tab and log into Google Photos, the image then appears in this page. For some reason, it only shows when I'm logged in. I'll try to sort it out tonight.


----------



## rpt (Oct 26, 2016)

Mr Bean said:


> 3 pic pano of the southern night sky, taken near Thredbo (a ski resort town in Australia)
> Canon 5D3 with Zeiss 15mm
> 30 seconds @ f2.8
> ISO 6400
> ...


Lovely! What are those two globular things on the left of the image? Is one of them Andromeda?


----------



## rpt (Oct 27, 2016)

Mr Bean said:


> lion rock said:
> 
> 
> > Mr Bean,
> ...


I started off by using Autopano. It is good. However one needed to download every few months as the license would expire. Then I moved on to ICE. That was good too. Ever since Lightroom introduced the pano option, I use that.


----------



## Mr Bean (Oct 27, 2016)

rpt said:


> Mr Bean said:
> 
> 
> > 3 pic pano of the southern night sky, taken near Thredbo (a ski resort town in Australia)
> ...



Thanks rpt.

Its the Large and Small Magellanic Cloud. I'm in Australia and these are southern sky objects. Essentially, two satellite galaxies of the Milky Way.


----------



## Mr Bean (Oct 27, 2016)

rpt said:


> Mr Bean said:
> 
> 
> > lion rock said:
> ...


I used to use the merge tool in PS. But since LR has this feature, and it generally works fine for what I need.


----------



## rpt (Oct 27, 2016)

Mr Bean said:


> Thanks rpt.
> 
> Its the Large and Small Magellanic Cloud. I'm in Australia and these are southern sky objects. Essentially, two satellite galaxies of the Milky Way.


Right! Southern sky! Thanks. Forgot about that.


----------



## PBguy (Jun 23, 2017)

Shot this last night at the Mammoth Mountain Ski resort in the Eastern Sierra Nevada mountains of California. Single exposure with a Canon 6D and Rokinon 24mm 1.4 lens. 30s at f2 ISO 1600 using an iOptron Skytracker Pro. Processed in Adobe Lightroom CC.


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## Click (Jun 23, 2017)

Very nice. Well done, PBguy.


----------



## hbr (Jun 23, 2017)

Lovely image, PBguy. Very colorful.


----------



## timmy_650 (Jun 24, 2017)

At the North Rim of the grand canyon


----------



## Click (Jun 24, 2017)

timmy_650 said:


> At the North Rim of the grand canyon



Very nice shots. I especially like the first one. Well done.


----------



## KeithBreazeal (Jul 24, 2017)

I finally took the 5DS out for a night shoot just to see how it did compared to the 5D IV. 
All in all, not bad. It did slow down Lightroom when I was brushing, but OK. 
Noise reduction was minimal but it didn't kill resolution as fast as with 5D IV shots.

5DS, Rokinon 14mm, 25 seconds, ISO 4000, f2.8 Light painted



Galaxies to Granite © Keith Breazeal by Keith Breazeal, on Flickr


----------



## Don Haines (Jul 24, 2017)

KeithBreazeal said:


> I finally took the 5DS out for a night shoot just to see how it did compared to the 5D IV.
> All in all, not bad. It did slow down Lightroom when I was brushing, but OK.
> Noise reduction was minimal but it didn't kill resolution as fast as with 5D IV shots.



Nice!


----------



## Click (Jul 24, 2017)

Beautiful shot, Keith.


----------



## KeithBreazeal (Jul 24, 2017)

Don Haines said:


> KeithBreazeal said:
> 
> 
> > I finally took the 5DS out for a night shoot just to see how it did compared to the 5D IV.
> ...



Thanks Don & Click


----------



## KeithBreazeal (Jul 24, 2017)

This is straight from my Canon EOS M5 mirrorless with the Rokinon 8mm f2.8 fisheye lens unprocessed jpg
ISO 5000, f2.8, 25 seconds



Canon EOS M5 mirrorless with the Rokinon 8mm f2.8 fisheye lens unprocessed jpg © Keith Breazeal by Keith Breazeal, on Flickr


----------



## Don Haines (Jul 24, 2017)

KeithBreazeal said:


> This is straight from my Canon EOS M5 mirrorless with the Rokinon 8mm f2.8 fisheye lens unprocessed jpg
> ISO 5000, f2.8, 25 seconds



that's impressive performance for a M5. I shot a few myself last week, but my skies were nowhere near as clear as yours....

Shot with a 7D2 and a 17-55F2.8 at 30 seconds and ISO6400


----------



## LarsCS (Jul 25, 2017)

I take a lot of night photos with my 6D. Probably have a few hundred MW photos at the least...


----------



## Click (Jul 25, 2017)

LarsCS said:


> I take a lot of night photos with my 6D. Probably have a few hundred MW photos at the least...




Awesome. Beautiful pictures, LarsCS.


----------



## KeithBreazeal (Jul 25, 2017)

LarsCS said:


> I take a lot of night photos with my 6D. Probably have a few hundred MW photos at the least...



WOW! Superb images!!!


----------



## lion rock (Jul 25, 2017)

LarsCS,
Hats off!
-r



LarsCS said:


> I take a lot of night photos with my 6D. Probably have a few hundred MW photos at the least...


----------



## rpt (Jul 25, 2017)

Fantastic pictures LarsCS!


----------



## applecider (Jul 25, 2017)

Yes kudos, I especially like the one with the waterflow on the right.
Like to ask the general location.


----------



## LarsCS (Jul 25, 2017)

Thank you.

My friend had a light with him that we used at the base of the 'waterfall' (very temporary and created by snowmelt). This was on Independence Pass, Colorado.

Second shot is me driving down Cottonwood Pass, Colorado with my car.

Third is in the Snowy Range, Wyoming.


----------



## bholliman (Jul 25, 2017)

KeithBreazeal said:


> This is straight from my Canon EOS M5 mirrorless with the Rokinon 8mm f2.8 fisheye lens unprocessed jpg
> ISO 5000, f2.8, 25 seconds



Great shots from both the 5Ds and M5 Keith!

I picked up a Rokinon 12mm f/2 lens two weeks ago specifically for night sky photography. I took some shots with my M5 and the new lens last week in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. I'm still very much a novice at night sky photography and my previous attempts have been pretty poor, so these were a step forward for me even if not very good. 

This one has some unintentional light painting - a truck passed by on the lonely highway at my back during this exposure and lit up the trees in front of me. The highway curves so the headlights did a pretty complete sweep of the area. 

20 second exposure, 12mm f/2, ISO 800, M5


----------



## bholliman (Jul 25, 2017)

LarsCS said:


> I take a lot of night photos with my 6D. Probably have a few hundred MW photos at the least...



Excellent Lars! I especially like the last one.


----------



## bholliman (Jul 25, 2017)

Keith and I are using the same camera's if not lenses...

Here is one with my 5DsR and 16-35 f/4 IS, also in the UP, west of St. Ignace looking over Lake Michigan. There was a little wind, so some movement of the leaves of the birch tree if you look closely. Its amazing how many stars you can see once you get away from light pollution! The night sky was really spectacular.

f/4 is a little slow for night sky photography. I will probably need to pick up a Rokinon 14 f/2.8 at some point if I continue with star photography.

25 seconds, f/4, ISO2500, 21mm 5DsR with 16-35 f/4 IS


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## KeithBreazeal (Jul 28, 2017)

Waiting for darkness. 



Canon 5DS &amp; Sigma 14mm f1.8 DG Art © Keith Breazeal by Keith Breazeal, on Flickr


----------



## Don Haines (Jul 28, 2017)

KeithBreazeal said:


> Waiting for darkness.



I recently got the 20F1.4...... it has rained or been cloudy every night since.....


----------



## LarsCS (Jul 28, 2017)

I live in Colorado Springs and usually it is way too bright here with the light pollution to capture the Milky Way. Once in a while we do get some inversion clouds and the low clouds block the light pollution and therefore making some night photography possible.

Milky Way over North Cheyenne Mountain (NORAD) right at the edge of Colorado Springs..






Close up of the mountain. A still from a timelapse where the motion of the clouds looks like waves..






Few weeks ago I almost got my perfect shot of the Milky Way right over Pikes Peak. Got there and was able to take two photos..






Before I got fully engulfed in the fog for the rest of the night. Third photo of that night; taken about 60 seconds after the previous photo..


----------



## Don Haines (Jul 28, 2017)

LarsCS said:


> I live in Colorado Springs and usually it is way too bright here with the light pollution to capture the Milky Way. Once in a while we do get some inversion clouds and the low clouds block the light pollution and therefore making some night photography possible.



Nice pictures.... I particularly like the first two!


----------



## gbeinke (Jul 28, 2017)

Photo taken at Edeowie Station, Flinders Ranges, South Australia. 

Canon 5D Mk iii, 49sec @ F4, Canon 16-34 F4 L IS USM @ 16mm


----------



## Mikehit (Jul 28, 2017)

LarsCS said:


> I live in Colorado Springs and usually it is way too bright here with the light pollution to capture the Milky Way. Once in a while we do get some inversion clouds and the low clouds block the light pollution and therefore making some night photography possible.



Oh, wow! I love the effect of the light coming up through the cloud and makes those some of the most impressive nightscapes I have seen. KUDOS!


----------



## bholliman (Jul 28, 2017)

KeithBreazeal said:


> Waiting for darkness.
> Sigma 14mm f1.8 DG Art



f/1.8 should really help keep ISO's down. How is the comma performance on this lens?


----------



## bholliman (Jul 28, 2017)

LarsCS said:


> I live in Colorado Springs and usually it is way too bright here with the light pollution to capture the Milky Way. Once in a while we do get some inversion clouds and the low clouds block the light pollution and therefore making some night photography possible.



Stunning images LarsCS! I love the first 2. I bet your time lapse with the clouds moving is excellent.


----------



## Click (Jul 28, 2017)

LarsCS said:


> I live in Colorado Springs and usually it is way too bright here with the light pollution to capture the Milky Way. Once in a while we do get some inversion clouds and the low clouds block the light pollution and therefore making some night photography possible.




Very nice series, LarsCS.


----------



## bholliman (Jul 28, 2017)

gbeinke said:


> Photo taken at Edeowie Station, Flinders Ranges, South Australia.
> Canon 5D Mk iii, 49sec @ F4, Canon 16-34 F4 L IS USM @ 16mm



Great shot gbeinke, the milky way really shows up well over the station.


----------



## KeithBreazeal (Jul 28, 2017)

LarsCS said:


> I live in Colorado Springs and usually it is way too bright here with the light pollution to capture the Milky Way. Once in a while we do get some inversion clouds and the low clouds block the light pollution and therefore making some night photography possible.



WOW! I really like the cloud "motion". Well done!


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## KeithBreazeal (Jul 28, 2017)

Took the new Sigma 14mm f1.8 ART and 5DS out for a test last night. 
Exposure of 13 sec., f1.8, ISO 3200
Fast, sharp, with a slight after taste of coma.



Sigma 14mm f1.8 ART test Milky Way 1595 © Keith Breazeal by Keith Breazeal, on Flickr



Sigma 14mm f1.8 ART test Milky Way 1595a © Keith Breazeal by Keith Breazeal, on Flickr



Sigma 14mm f1.8 ART test Milky Way 1595c © Keith Breazeal by Keith Breazeal, on Flickr



Sigma 14mm f1.8 ART test Milky Way 1595b © Keith Breazeal by Keith Breazeal, on Flickr


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## mdmphoto (Jul 28, 2017)

....shot on Haleakala a few weeks ago....:


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## Click (Jul 28, 2017)

@ KeithBreazeal, gbeinke and mdmphoto,

Great shots, guys.


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## KeithBreazeal (Jul 28, 2017)

Sigma 14mm f1.8 Art lens: One side effect of being able to shoot faster shutter speeds to reduce star trails is you have less time to light paint. It drove me a bit crazy trying to get a different method ironed out.



Sigma 14mm f1.8 ART test Milky Way 1585 © Keith Breazeal by Keith Breazeal, on Flic


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## bholliman (Jul 28, 2017)

Click said:


> @ KeithBreazeal, gbeinke and mdmphoto,
> 
> Great shots, guys.



+1


----------



## bholliman (Jul 28, 2017)

KeithBreazeal said:


> Sigma 14mm f1.8 Art lens: One side effect of being able to shoot faster shutter speeds to reduce star trails is you have less time to light paint. It drove me a bit crazy trying to get a different method ironed out.



I really like this one! How low were you able to drop you ISO?


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## mdmphoto (Jul 28, 2017)

Click said:


> @ KeithBreazeal, gbeinke and mdmphoto,
> 
> Great shots, guys.



....Thanks...


----------



## KeithBreazeal (Jul 29, 2017)

bholliman said:


> KeithBreazeal said:
> 
> 
> > Sigma 14mm f1.8 Art lens: One side effect of being able to shoot faster shutter speeds to reduce star trails is you have less time to light paint. It drove me a bit crazy trying to get a different method ironed out.
> ...



Thanks  I went down to 2000 but stars trails were getting too long at 20 seconds. 13 seconds was getting much better detail.


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## KeithBreazeal (Aug 1, 2017)

"The Old Man"
Mono Lake Tufas
Canon 5D Mark IV, Sigma 14mm f1.8 Art
ISO 3200, 16 sec. F1.8



&quot;The Old Man&quot; Mono Lake Tufas Milky Way 3458 © Keith Breazeal by Keith Breazeal, on Flickr


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## Click (Aug 1, 2017)

Beautiful shot, Keith.


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## Ryananthony (Aug 1, 2017)

Great shot Keith. How is the Coma performance on that lens? I don't do any astro photography, so I can't really say how this compares to others on the market. From my perspective it looks pretty good to me, but like I said, I'm not one to say.


----------



## mdmphoto (Aug 1, 2017)

KeithBreazeal said:


> "The Old Man"
> Mono Lake Tufas
> Canon 5D Mark IV, Sigma 14mm f1.8 Art
> ISO 3200, 16 sec. F1.8
> ...


----------



## KeithBreazeal (Aug 1, 2017)

Thanks for the nice comments


----------



## KeithBreazeal (Aug 1, 2017)

Ryananthony said:


> Great shot Keith. How is the Coma performance on that lens? I don't do any astro photography, so I can't really say how this compares to others on the market. From my perspective it looks pretty good to me, but like I said, I'm not one to say.



It has coma, but it's a tradeoff for sharpness, speed, and low distortion.


----------



## KeithBreazeal (Aug 1, 2017)

The old mine head at the ghost town of Bodie, CA.
5D Mark IV, Sigma 14mm f1.8 Art
12 sec., ISO 3200, f1.8



Bodie Mine Head &amp; Milky Way 3330 © Keith Breazeal by Keith Breazeal, on Flickr


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## Ryananthony (Aug 1, 2017)

Thanks Keith. This last photo you posted is spectacular. My favorite you posted so far.


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## KeithBreazeal (Aug 1, 2017)

Ryananthony said:


> Thanks Keith. This last photo you posted is spectacular. My favorite you posted so far.



Thanks! I just push the button, then move all sliders to the right.


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## Click (Aug 1, 2017)

KeithBreazeal said:


> The old mine head at the ghost town of Bodie, CA.
> 5D Mark IV, Sigma 14mm f1.8 Art
> 12 sec., ISO 3200, f1.8



Awesome. Nicely done, Keith. 8)


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## KeithBreazeal (Aug 1, 2017)

Click said:


> KeithBreazeal said:
> 
> 
> > The old mine head at the ghost town of Bodie, CA.
> ...



Thanks Click


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## tpatana (Aug 1, 2017)

Goddammit Keith. That last one is phenomenal. Don't make me buy yet one more lens...


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## KeithBreazeal (Aug 1, 2017)

tpatana said:


> Goddammit Keith. That last one is phenomenal. Don't make me buy yet one more lens...



LOL! Twisted your arm?



Canon 5DS &amp; Sigma 14mm f1.8 DG Art © Keith Breazeal by Keith Breazeal, on Flickr


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## Don Haines (Aug 1, 2017)

KeithBreazeal said:


> tpatana said:
> 
> 
> > Goddammit Keith. That last one is phenomenal. Don't make me buy yet one more lens...
> ...


beware....
I got a 20F1.4 and it has been cloudy every night since.......


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## KeithBreazeal (Aug 2, 2017)

The office. No phones, no internet, no power, no people, just subjects.



Camper and Milky Way at Mono Lake 3339 © Keith Breazeal by Keith Breazeal, on Flickr


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## Click (Aug 2, 2017)

KeithBreazeal said:


> The office. No phones, no internet, no power, no people, just subjects.



This is the life. 8)


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## bholliman (Aug 2, 2017)

KeithBreazeal said:


> The old mine head at the ghost town of Bodie, CA.



Your mine and Old Man shots are spectacular Keith!


----------



## KeithBreazeal (Aug 2, 2017)

bholliman said:


> KeithBreazeal said:
> 
> 
> > The old mine head at the ghost town of Bodie, CA.
> ...



Thanks!


----------



## lion rock (Aug 2, 2017)

Great shots KeithBreazeal,
Not only best equipment but also importantly LOCATION, Location location!
Done well, Keith.
-r


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## KeithBreazeal (Aug 2, 2017)

lion rock said:


> Great shots KeithBreazeal,
> Not only best equipment but also importantly LOCATION, Location location!
> Done well, Keith.
> -r



Thank you. I have changed my focus from aviation to other interesting subjects. I love night photography for the challenges, with light painting becoming a major part of the learning curve.


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## KeithBreazeal (Aug 2, 2017)

I think the 5D IV and the Sigma 14mm f1.8 Art lens is a really good match for this work. The lens is sharp enough wide open to allow some aggressive cropping. I'll be selling my Rokinon 14mm f2.8 after using the Sigma for a couple weeks. Even though the Rokinon out performs the Sigma for coma, I like the lower distortion for the horizon lines. The 5D IV & Sigma weigh 4 pounds- but it won't blow over in the wind.


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## scyrene (Aug 2, 2017)

I knew looking at this thread would make me envious! Oh to have dark skies*.

*Within range of public transport and guaranteed clear weather!


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## rpt (Aug 3, 2017)

And with the rains in India, dark skies everyday really means 50 shades of grey (more or less)


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## lion rock (Aug 3, 2017)

GAS is one thing some of us can alleviate, sometimes. But, weather and cities' light pollution are not what any of us can control. Travel to remote areas is one thing a few of us can achieve occasionally, only to encounter weather situations. Ahhhh ... facts of life.
-r


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## applecider (Aug 3, 2017)

Keith very nice images.

Did you consider the rokinon 2.4 before acquiring the sigma? If so what was the deciding factor?

The old rokinon had that mustache distortion that made putting panos together difficult. Have you tried any panos with the sigma?

And finally for this post is there a profile for this lens that you can plug into your photo editing software?

Regards Steve


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## Don Haines (Aug 3, 2017)

lion rock said:


> GAS is one thing some of us can alleviate, sometimes. But, weather and cities' light pollution are not what any of us can control. Travel to remote areas is one thing a few of us can achieve occasionally, only to encounter weather situations. Ahhhh ... facts of life.
> -r



and don't forget being close enough to the equator to see the core..... it is starting to dip below the horizon where I live, and to make things worse, it is the rainiest year on record


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## KeithBreazeal (Aug 5, 2017)

No light pollution and the sound of coyotes off in the distance.



Camping under the stars 3336 © Keith Breazeal by Keith Breazeal, on Flickr


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## applecider (Aug 15, 2017)

I like that image with the unpainted camper, but please don't give up the planes.


KeithBreazeal said:


> Thank you. I have changed my focus from aviation to other interesting subjects. I love night photography for the challenges, with light painting becoming a major part of the learning curve.




Have you tried to do any panos with the sigma? I'm wondering if the distortion lends itself to this. With the rokinon 2.8 I always had weird distortion near the merging of pano images. This would be done to cover a bigger area and try to exclude any coma at the edges.

But I forget you have no phone, no power, no computer? no internet, no worries. 

Have you tried trapping any jack rabbits yet? 


Does amazon deliver to "camper, desert, behind sagebrush"?


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## KeithBreazeal (Aug 15, 2017)

applecider said:


> I like that image with the unpainted camper, but please don't give up the planes.
> 
> 
> KeithBreazeal said:
> ...



I haven't tried a pano yet, but the distortion is minimal. With sufficient overlap, the edge coma shouldn't be an issue. The sigma is insanely sharp and should produce some really great panos.


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## KeithBreazeal (Aug 15, 2017)

The Milky Way in moon light.
Canon 5D IV, Sigma 14mm f1.8 Art



Milky Way in Moon Light 3860 © Keith Breazeal by Keith Breazeal, on Flickr


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## KeithBreazeal (Aug 15, 2017)

Moon rise. The evening of shooting the Perseids draws to a close.
Canon 5D IV, Sigma 14mm f1.8



Perseids 2017 Bear River Moon Rise 3833 © Keith Breazeal by Keith Breazeal, on Flickr


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## KeithBreazeal (Aug 22, 2017)

Last weekends adventure- Red Rock Canyon, CA.
Canon 5D Mark IV, Sigma 14mm f1.8 Art



Red Rock Canyon &amp; Milky Way 4675 © Keith Breazeal by Keith Breazeal, on Flickr


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## Click (Aug 22, 2017)

Beautiful picture, Keith.


----------



## TLau74 (Aug 22, 2017)

Hi All,
I have followed Canon Rumors for ~6yrs now, but never really posted any pictures officially in the forum. The pictures posted here are really amazing and I always felt my were no where close to the caliber. Anyways, here is officially my first one...I welcome any critiques. I hope you enjoy it.

Tlau74


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## rpt (Aug 22, 2017)

TLau74 said:


> Hi All,
> I have followed Canon Rumors for ~6yrs now, but never really posted any pictures officially in the forum. The pictures posted here are really amazing and I always felt my were no where close to the caliber. Anyways, here is officially my first one...I welcome any critiques. I hope you enjoy it.
> 
> Tlau74


Lovely shot! Where did you shoot it?


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## lion rock (Aug 22, 2017)

Keith and TLau74,
These images are wonderful!
-r


----------



## Click (Aug 22, 2017)

TLau74 said:


> Hi All,
> I have followed Canon Rumors for ~6yrs now, but never really posted any pictures officially in the forum. The pictures posted here are really amazing and I always felt my were no where close to the caliber. Anyways, here is officially my first one...I welcome any critiques. I hope you enjoy it.
> 
> Tlau74



This is a beautiful shot. Keep posting.


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## KeithBreazeal (Aug 22, 2017)

Click said:


> Beautiful picture, Keith.



Thank you


----------



## KeithBreazeal (Aug 22, 2017)

lion rock said:


> Keith and TLau74,
> These images are wonderful!
> -r



Thanks!


----------



## TLau74 (Aug 22, 2017)

rpt said:


> TLau74 said:
> 
> 
> > Hi All,
> ...



Thanks for the kind words. It was shot in Joshua Tree National Park near the Yucca Valley (North West) park entrance.


----------



## KeithBreazeal (Aug 25, 2017)

Cyclops Skull Arch at Alabama Hills, California
5D Mark IV, Sigma 14mm f1.8 Art 13 sec., f1.8, ISO 4000
This was the most challenging subject I have light painted so far.
One light inside the "skull", one to the left of frame, and one at the cameras position.



Cyclops Arch &amp; Milky Way 4697b © Keith Breazeal by Keith Breazeal, on Flickr


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## Click (Aug 25, 2017)

KeithBreazeal said:


> Cyclops Skull Arch at Alabama Hills, California
> 5D Mark IV, Sigma 14mm f1.8 Art 13 sec., f1.8, ISO 4000
> This was the most challenging subject I have light painted so far.
> One light inside the "skull", one to the left of frame, and one at the cameras position.




Excellent shot! Well done, Keith.


----------



## KeithBreazeal (Aug 25, 2017)

Click said:


> KeithBreazeal said:
> 
> 
> > Cyclops Skull Arch at Alabama Hills, California
> ...



Thank you


----------



## tpatana (Aug 26, 2017)

Happened to be in Oregon last weekend, took couple test shots:


----------



## basketballfreak6 (Aug 27, 2017)

Canon 5D4 + Sigma 14mm 1.8



Milky Way over Glass House Mountains by Tony, on Flickr


----------



## Click (Aug 27, 2017)

basketballfreak6 said:


> Canon 5D4 + Sigma 14mm 1.8



Lovely shot. Nicely done, Tony.


----------



## Valvebounce (Aug 27, 2017)

Hi Kieth. 
Very nicely done, nice balance of the light. 
When you say light painting, I'm guessing from the description of one inside the skull etc you are doing it with flashes and not a flashlight shone here and there during the exposure? 

Cheers, Graham. 



KeithBreazeal said:


> Cyclops Skull Arch at Alabama Hills, California
> 5D Mark IV, Sigma 14mm f1.8 Art 13 sec., f1.8, ISO 4000
> This was the most challenging subject I have light painted so far.
> One light inside the "skull", one to the left of frame, and one at the cameras position.


----------



## Valvebounce (Aug 27, 2017)

Hi tpatana. 
An interesting take on the subject, very different. 

Cheers, Graham. 



tpatana said:


> Happened to be in Oregon last weekend, took couple test shots:


----------



## Valvebounce (Aug 27, 2017)

Hi Tony. 
Very cool shot, nicely done. Please tell me you planned and tested and revised the plan to get this shot of the Milky Way pouring out of the Glass House Mountains?

Cheers, Graham. 



basketballfreak6 said:


> Canon 5D4 + Sigma 14mm 1.8


----------



## basketballfreak6 (Aug 27, 2017)

Click said:


> basketballfreak6 said:
> 
> 
> > Canon 5D4 + Sigma 14mm 1.8
> ...



thanks mate 



Valvebounce said:


> Hi Tony.
> Very cool shot, nicely done. Please tell me you planned and tested and revised the plan to get this shot of the Milky Way pouring out of the Glass House Mountains?
> 
> Cheers, Graham.
> ...



haha Graham if i am being honest we only started looking at google map trying to locate a decent vantage point on the actual day and ended up looking for a different spot on the night in the dark...it just ended up working out that way lol

at one stage we almost thought we weren't going to get anything coz unexpected clouds came rolling in (said clouds ruined our shot of the ISS passing through the moon as well  )


----------



## KeithBreazeal (Aug 28, 2017)

Valvebounce said:


> Hi Kieth.
> Very nicely done, nice balance of the light.
> When you say light painting, I'm guessing from the description of one inside the skull etc you are doing it with flashes and not a flashlight shone here and there during the exposure?
> 
> ...



Graham- It was lit with two LED headlamps in fixed positions. The third light was at the camera position for fill and balance on the side.


----------



## Don Haines (Aug 28, 2017)

FINALLY!!!!! I got a clear night. Shot this last night in Algonquin Park, Ontario, Canada....

BTW, what software do people use to image-stack pictures like this? I tried registax but I was only able to make the image worse.....


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## KeithBreazeal (Aug 28, 2017)

Bodie ghost town- at the morgue. Back in the day, the morgue was a busy establishment.



Bodie Milky Way over the Morgue 6690ab 2017 Web © Keith Breazeal by Keith Breazeal, on Flickr


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## Valvebounce (Aug 28, 2017)

Hi Kieth. 
Thanks for the clarification, I like the morgue shot too, some foreground detail makes the milky way shots far more interesting. 

Cheers, Graham. 



KeithBreazeal said:


> Valvebounce said:
> 
> 
> > Hi Kieth.
> ...


----------



## rnl (Aug 28, 2017)

Volcano caldera and Milky Way


----------



## rnl (Aug 28, 2017)

full Milky Way ...pardon me if this is repost

taken next to the keck observatory ...big island, Hawaii


----------



## Click (Aug 28, 2017)

Beautiful. Well done, Richard.


----------



## KeithBreazeal (Aug 29, 2017)

rnl said:


> full Milky Way ...pardon me if this is repost
> 
> taken next to the keck observatory ...big island, Hawaii



WOW! Very nice. Love your backdrop.  Well done.


----------



## rnl (Aug 29, 2017)

...here's the view from that backdrop towards Subaru and Keck 1 and 2


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## rfdesigner (Aug 29, 2017)

Don Haines said:


> FINALLY!!!!! I got a clear night. Shot this last night in Algonquin Park, Ontario, Canada....
> 
> BTW, what software do people use to image-stack pictures like this? I tried registax but I was only able to make the image worse.....



nice shot

I use IRIS, it's old and it's last update was I think 3 or 4 years ago, but it's free. Registax would be my usual advice.

IRIS is like wading through treacle to drive it but it's so powerful you can do almost anything with it..

With wide field images it's very easy to make things much worse (sky gradients, forground confusing things, clipped stars etc, so many stars it can't align images and so on)

I assume you are stacking raw or TIFF images and not jpegs.


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## KeithBreazeal (Aug 29, 2017)

Red Rock Canyon, California.



Red Rock Canyon &amp; Milky Way 4675a © Keith Breazeal by Keith Breazeal, on Flickr


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## Click (Aug 29, 2017)

KeithBreazeal said:


> Red Rock Canyon, California.



Beautiful. Great shot, Keith.


----------



## scyrene (Aug 29, 2017)

rnl said:


> full Milky Way ...pardon me if this is repost
> 
> taken next to the keck observatory ...big island, Hawaii



Amazing vista, but if I may, I'd love to see it with a less blue white balance.


----------



## scyrene (Aug 29, 2017)

KeithBreazeal said:


> Red Rock Canyon, California.
> 
> 
> 
> Red Rock Canyon &amp; Milky Way 4675a © Keith Breazeal by Keith Breazeal, on Flickr



Superb colour!


----------



## KeithBreazeal (Aug 29, 2017)

Click said:


> KeithBreazeal said:
> 
> 
> > Red Rock Canyon, California.
> ...



Thank you Click. I am really liking the Sigma 14mm Art. It is the easiest lens to manual focus on a star. The Rokinon 14mm is good at focusing, but the Sigma seems to be at least twice as fast to snap a star into critical focus manually.


----------



## chrysoberyl (Aug 29, 2017)

What wonderful contrast!



rnl said:


> Volcano caldera and Milky Way


----------



## KeithBreazeal (Aug 29, 2017)

scyrene said:


> KeithBreazeal said:
> 
> 
> > Red Rock Canyon, California.
> ...


Thanks scyrene  This was actually an early test shot before I did some light painting. The warmer tones are much better for the natural colors of the landscape there.


----------



## scyrene (Aug 29, 2017)

KeithBreazeal said:


> scyrene said:
> 
> 
> > Superb colour!
> ...



I am very envious - what an amazing place to be! Except maybe the scorpions


----------



## KeithBreazeal (Sep 17, 2017)

The "Cyclops Skull" arch at Alambama Hills just outside of Lone Pine, California.



Cyclops Skull Alabama Hills 2017 4694a © Keith Breazeal by Keith Breazeal, on Flickr


----------



## Click (Sep 17, 2017)

Very nice shot, Keith. 8)


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## basketballfreak6 (Sep 19, 2017)

last night's effort



Milky Way setting over Lake Moogerah by Tony, on Flickr


----------



## Click (Sep 19, 2017)

basketballfreak6 said:


> last night's effort



Beautiful.

Nicely done.


----------



## basketballfreak6 (Sep 20, 2017)

Click said:


> basketballfreak6 said:
> 
> 
> > last night's effort
> ...



thank you


----------



## rpt (Sep 21, 2017)

Click said:


> basketballfreak6 said:
> 
> 
> > last night's effort
> ...


+1

Lovely! I love the sky and the contrast of the number of stars between the sky and the reflection in the water.


----------



## spandau (Dec 24, 2017)

Taken with Canon 70D and Canon 35MM F1.4 L lens 20 second exposure at ISO 500 +2.7 exposure.


----------



## Click (Dec 24, 2017)

spandau said:


> Taken with Canon 70D and Canon 35MM F1.4 L lens 20 second exposure at ISO 500 +2.7 exposure.



Very nice shot. Well done, spandau.

Merry Christmas!


----------



## KeithBreazeal (Apr 23, 2018)

Bodie ghost town
The moon was low on the the horizon and providing just enough light to illuminate the landscape without washing out the night sky.
5D Mark IV, Sigma 14mm f1.8 Art
16 seconds, f1.8, ISO 1600



Bodie by Moonlight © Keith Breazeal by Keith Breazeal, on Flickr


----------



## razashaikh (Apr 23, 2018)

KeithBreazeal said:


> Bodie ghost town
> The moon was low on the the horizon and providing just enough light to illuminate the landscape without washing out the night sky.
> 5D Mark IV, Sigma 14mm f1.8 Art
> 16 seconds, f1.8, ISO 1600
> ...


Great Shot!


----------



## AlanF (Apr 23, 2018)

Remarkable shot!

Alan


----------



## Click (Apr 23, 2018)

KeithBreazeal said:


> Bodie ghost town
> The moon was low on the the horizon and providing just enough light to illuminate the landscape without washing out the night sky.
> 5D Mark IV, Sigma 14mm f1.8 Art
> 16 seconds, f1.8, ISO 1600



Excellent shot. Well done, Keith.


----------



## chrysoberyl (Apr 23, 2018)

KeithBreazeal said:


> Bodie ghost town
> The moon was low on the the horizon and providing just enough light to illuminate the landscape without washing out the night sky.
> 5D Mark IV, Sigma 14mm f1.8 Art
> 16 seconds, f1.8, ISO 1600



I am stunned. Thank you very much for posting this!


----------



## KeithBreazeal (Apr 23, 2018)

Thanks for the nice comments guys. 
For those that would like to shoot at Bodie, be patient with all the people walking through your shot. At night, it is chaos with all the stray light from flashlight and car lights. 
Bodie offers the "Ghost Walk" a couple times a year and the park stays open until 10 pm. That is when I go there to shoot. The time window for shooting the night sky is very narrow before the park closes- maybe 30 minutes.
Go to the park to shoot all day and plan you night shoot location then. 

Thumbnails as an example of the light chaos.



Bodie Milky Way thumbnails- light chaos © Keith Breazeal by Keith Breazeal, on Flickr


----------



## Valvebounce (Apr 24, 2018)

Hi Kieth. 
I really like the main shot you have of Bodie and the Milky Way. 
With the thumbnails, is the bright red one someone light painting with a red light source, or just reflecting some super bright brake and tail lights from a car? 
Although most of the light is a nuisance especially for getting the night sky, a couple of those look like they have given a reasonable result! 

Cheers, Graham. 



KeithBreazeal said:


> Thanks for the nice comments guys.
> For those that would like to shoot at Bodie, be patient with all the people walking through your shot. At night, it is chaos with all the stray light from flashlight and car lights.
> Bodie offers the "Ghost Walk" a couple times a year and the park stays open until 10 pm. That is when I go there to shoot. The time window for shooting the night sky is very narrow before the park closes- maybe 30 minutes.
> Go to the park to shoot all day and plan you night shoot location then.
> ...


----------



## basketballfreak6 (Apr 29, 2018)

Milky Way and the Trees by Tony, on Flickr

something different to what i normally do, a composite with MW and foreground taken couple nights apart and with different focal lengths (but from the same Western Australia road trip that i was just on), mainly because i loved the dead trees in the salt lake when we went through it in WA but was bummed that i wasn't able to get a good MW attempt due to timing/bad weather (and not sure if i'll get to visit WA again anytime soon :'( ), so decided to have a little fun and get (pretend) a little artsy


----------



## Click (Apr 29, 2018)

Stunning picture. Well done, Tony.


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## chrysoberyl (Apr 30, 2018)

basketballfreak6 said:


> something different to what i normally do, a composite with MW and foreground taken couple nights apart and with different focal lengths (but from the same Western Australia road trip that i was just on), mainly because i loved the dead trees in the salt lake when we went through it in WA but was bummed that i wasn't able to get a good MW attempt due to timing/bad weather (and not sure if i'll get to visit WA again anytime soon :'( ), so decided to have a little fun and get (pretend) a little artsy



I love it! This is probably what it looks closer to the core.


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## basketballfreak6 (May 1, 2018)

Click said:


> Stunning picture. Well done, Tony.





chrysoberyl said:


> basketballfreak6 said:
> 
> 
> > something different to what i normally do, a composite with MW and foreground taken couple nights apart and with different focal lengths (but from the same Western Australia road trip that i was just on), mainly because i loved the dead trees in the salt lake when we went through it in WA but was bummed that i wasn't able to get a good MW attempt due to timing/bad weather (and not sure if i'll get to visit WA again anytime soon :'( ), so decided to have a little fun and get (pretend) a little artsy
> ...



thanks guys 

the core was taken with a 50mm lens


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## basketballfreak6 (May 23, 2018)

Milky Way rising over Lake Moogerah by Tony, on Flickr


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## Click (May 23, 2018)

Awesome. Great shot. Well done, basketballfreak6.


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## basketballfreak6 (May 23, 2018)

Click said:


> Awesome. Great shot. Well done, basketballfreak6.



thanks mate!


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## infared (May 26, 2018)

I spent the night here! 8)


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## basketballfreak6 (Jun 23, 2018)

almost forgot to post this one from my western australia trip couple months ago, taken at Nature's Window in Kalbarri National Park



Milky Way rising over Nature&#x27;s Window by Tony, on Flickr

side note continuing to love my sigma 14mm art lens, got it basically day 1 and have zero regrets, amazing optics and a joy to use, almost tempted to invest in the exy nisi 150mm filter kit setup that allows the use of a cpl as well for this lens, optically superior to my 16-35L f4 IS (which is a very fine lens in itself) in pretty much every way except for maybe flare resistance (tough with the bulbous front element, but still quite good)


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## Click (Jun 23, 2018)

Awesome. Beautiful picture. Well done, basketballfreak6.


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## lion rock (Jun 23, 2018)

Really 'mazing!
-r


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## Joules (Jun 23, 2018)

I agree, really nice images! I really like your color and the glow you give your milky way images, basketballfreak6! Any insight into your processing or tipps on where you got your technique from perhaps?

I gave Astro photography a first try at the end of last year and had two chances to be out during clear nights this year and enjoy it a lot. I find it hard to find a good balance between natural appearance and visual intensity though. I've attached my two favorites so far. One is during the darkest part of the night and the other a large panorama just before the end of astronomical twilight.


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## Click (Jun 23, 2018)

Beautiful pictures, Joules. I especially like the second one.


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## lion rock (Jun 23, 2018)

I second the second!
-r



Click said:


> Beautiful pictures, Joules. I especially like the second one.


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## basketballfreak6 (Jun 25, 2018)

Click said:


> Awesome. Beautiful picture. Well done, basketballfreak6.





lion rock said:


> Really 'mazing!
> -r





Joules said:


> I agree, really nice images! I really like your color and the glow you give your milky way images, basketballfreak6! Any insight into your processing or tipps on where you got your technique from perhaps?



thanks guys! Joules in terms of tips, trying to shoot from dark site on a moonless night is a given, exposure wise try to shoot it so the peak of the histogram is around the middle even to the right a bit, it will look overexposed on your lcd but really you're maximising SNR, processing wise nothing fancy, high contrast ("s" shaped tone curve) plus your standard raw processing stuff like saturation noise reduction sharpening etc, i used photoshop to make the stars smaller, couple ways around it you can purchase this astronomy tools action for a decent price which are a set of actions developed by someone or you can do it manually via the minimum filter method 

i expose the foreground separately using starlight (some people light paint, some people even get to location early while there are still a bit of light in the sky, whichever works for you) then blend it using photoshop


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## razashaikh (Jun 25, 2018)

Joules said:


> I agree, really nice images! I really like your color and the glow you give your milky way images, basketballfreak6! Any insight into your processing or tipps on where you got your technique from perhaps?
> 
> I gave Astro photography a first try at the end of last year and had two chances to be out during clear nights this year and enjoy it a lot. I find it hard to find a good balance between natural appearance and visual intensity though. I've attached my two favorites so far. One is during the darkest part of the night and the other a large panorama just before the end of astronomical twilight.


Fabulous!


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## basketballfreak6 (Jul 22, 2018)

pano from top of Mt Ngungun in Queensland Australia, started our hike just before 1am, of course we had to pick the coldest recorded morning of the year, was just casually freezing to death waiting to get the shot 



MW Pano from top of Mt Ngungun by Tony, on Flickr


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## Click (Jul 22, 2018)

basketballfreak6 said:


> pano from top of Mt Ngungun in Queensland Australia, started our hike just before 1am, of course we had to pick the coldest recorded morning of the year, was just casually freezing to death waiting to get the shot



Awesome. Beautiful picture.


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## basketballfreak6 (Jul 28, 2018)

Click said:


> basketballfreak6 said:
> 
> 
> > pano from top of Mt Ngungun in Queensland Australia, started our hike just before 1am, of course we had to pick the coldest recorded morning of the year, was just casually freezing to death waiting to get the shot
> ...



thanks mate!


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## Joules (Aug 11, 2018)

I've been to a dark area near my city, the Lüneburger Heide, a couple of times, but each time something didn't go as planned and I didn't even get to see the milky where. Yesterday I went again, to watch some shooting stars while the wheater allowed it and was amazed at the darkness!


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## Click (Aug 11, 2018)

Very nice shot, Joules. Well done.


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## ethanz (Aug 11, 2018)

Please forgive me if this was answered already, but how do you guys stack images when the stars move in the frame? Especially with objects in the foreground. Thanks


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## Joules (Aug 11, 2018)

Thanks Click!



ethanz said:


> Please forgive me if this was answered already, but how do you guys stack images when the stars move in the frame? Especially with objects in the foreground. Thanks


I use Sequator, its a very nice free software that handles the alignment and stacking automatically. It only needs a little input like Starry Landscpae Stacker that tells it what's foreground and what's sky and that's it. It can also reduce light pollution.

It's not quite perfect with certain foregrounds though, I saw creating a few artifacts with a tree in one of my shots.


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## basketballfreak6 (Aug 13, 2018)

had to wait like 8 hours to get this shot since gates to this location closes early so had to get on site before it did lol



Milky Way at Wyaralong by Tony, on Flickr


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## Don Haines (Aug 13, 2018)

basketballfreak6 said:


> had to wait like 8 hours to get this shot since gates to this location closes early so had to get on site before it did lol



Nice shot!


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## Click (Aug 13, 2018)

basketballfreak6 said:


> had to wait like 8 hours to get this shot since gates to this location closes early so had to get on site before it did lol



Beautiful picture. Well done, Tony.


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## basketballfreak6 (Aug 13, 2018)

Don Haines said:


> Nice shot!





Click said:


> Beautiful picture. Well done, Tony.



cheers


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## basketballfreak6 (Sep 12, 2018)

Milky Way over Lake Moogerah by Tony, on Flickr


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## Click (Sep 12, 2018)

Stunning picture. Well done, Tony.


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## basketballfreak6 (Sep 13, 2018)

Click said:


> Stunning picture. Well done, Tony.



thank you Click


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## Bundu (Sep 27, 2018)

Who needs 5-star accommodation if you can have millions of stars
Kalahari Longdrop - Central Kalahari Game Reserve - Botswana


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## Bundu (Sep 27, 2018)

Should have taken two foto's. The Milky way out of focus.


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## ethanz (Sep 27, 2018)

Great concept and idea. You are right though, it is out of focus. I recently tried getting some star shots and it took so long to get the focus and still it wasn't 100%. The wooden fence almost looks like it was photoshopped in or not real. The scene is beautiful, I bet it was awe inspiring to be there.


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## Bundu (Sep 28, 2018)

@ethanz 
The Central Kalahari Park is really special and awe inspiring. And so the Kgalakgadi Transfrontier park. My favorite places for photography. No photoshop, but I did have to bring the exposure in the walls down with lightroom. A bit nerve wrecking doing your thing on the longdrop and the lions start roaring outside!


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## Bundu (Sep 28, 2018)

There is the Kalahari longdrop in the background for those who do not know what it is!


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## Bundu (Sep 28, 2018)

And this is the night sky. No post processing whatsoever! It is really dark at night.


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## Click (Sep 28, 2018)

I really like the last picture. Well done, Bundu.


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## ethanz (Sep 28, 2018)

"long drop" is that for dropping 'things' you don't want anywhere near you? 

Nice job with the last image.


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## Bundu (Oct 1, 2018)

Thank you Click. @ethanz - yes, for things you do not want near you. And with the lions roaring outside you drop those 'things' rather quick. A great help actually!


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## Don Haines (Oct 5, 2018)

First clear night in ages..... so I went out to play....


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## Click (Oct 5, 2018)

Nice shot, Don.


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## applecider (Oct 5, 2018)

Ok dumb question, so dumb answers appreciated..

Why is the Milky Way and for that matter the plane of the ecliptic curved in most images of the Milky Way/sky?
Is it a lens thing or is it some kind of atmospheric effect or the sun''s position off the galactic equator? Or any combination of the above.

Dons last picture does not demonstrate this effect but basketballfreaks6's does in spades. In that image a lens effect is more possible as he seemed put the lake in the middle and thus less likely to be in a distorted position.






Milky Way over Lake Moogerah by Tony, on Flickr
Whereas this image of BBfreak has a level horizon and an apparently straight Milky Way.


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## brad-man (Oct 6, 2018)

applecider said:


> Ok dumb question, so dumb answers appreciated..
> 
> Why is the Milky Way and for that matter the plane of the ecliptic curved in most images of the Milky Way/sky?
> Is it a lens thing or is it some kind of atmospheric effect or the sun''s position off the galactic equator? Or any combination of the above.
> ...




"It's those Changes In Latitudes
Changes In Attitudes
Nothing remains quite the same..."

Beautiful images


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## karishmab (Oct 9, 2018)

tpatana said:


> Went out last night to shoot Milky Way. I had my friend's 24/1.4 with me. It was late and I was tired so I forgot to try also with my Sigma 14/2.8. But the pics with 24/1.4 came out quite nice. Even I drove to North-WA trying to get away from light pollution, still there's quite strong light on the bottom.
> 
> Comments?


Good image. The light pollution in the image is great.


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## Joules (Oct 10, 2018)

applecider said:


> Ok dumb question, so dumb answers appreciated..
> 
> Why is the Milky Way and for that matter the plane of the ecliptic curved in most images of the Milky Way/sky?
> Is it a lens thing or is it some kind of atmospheric effect or the sun''s position off the galactic equator? Or any combination of the above.
> ...


The Milky Way always looks curved to the eye. The earth is a sphere and from our point of view on the earth, the Milky Way is a circle around that sphere. We never see the entire circle, since some part of it gets blocked by the earth we're standing on. So we see a half circle.

The seemingly straight and curved images come from differences in the field of view and potentially some distortion from the imaging process. The larger the section of the milky way, the more apparent the curve will become in images.

If you look closely, the two images you used as examples contain different sections of the milky way - the curved one has the full half cirlce. The other one just appears straight because the section of the milly way shown is too short to perceive the curve.

In addition, many images of the night sky are compesed of multiple shots. Panorama stitching software may introduce some distortion to deal with the extreme perspectives.

Perspective can get hard to imagine based on words alone. I suggest you try some ultra wide shots of the milky way yourself if you want to get a feel for it.

Edit: I guess another way to think about it: If something curves around you, meaning it is to your left, right and above you, how would you capture that in a 2D image? The left and right part is easy, just put it left and right of the images center (direction you're looking in). The "above" part is conveyed through putting it above the center in the image's 2D plane - but that automatically requires the thing to appear curved.


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## basketballfreak6 (Oct 15, 2018)

applecider said:


> Ok dumb question, so dumb answers appreciated..
> 
> Why is the Milky Way and for that matter the plane of the ecliptic curved in most images of the Milky Way/sky?
> Is it a lens thing or is it some kind of atmospheric effect or the sun''s position off the galactic equator? Or any combination of the above.
> ...



sorry haven't been looking at the forums, but as Joules nicely explained it's a matter of perspectives and the scale in which you're seeing the MW

Don's picture the MW would've been high up in the sky therefore it looks straight when you're looking directly from under it, think for example an arch, if you're looking from in front it will look like well, an arch, but if you were to stand directly under it and look up it now looks straight

my 2 shots there that you linked both MW were setting towards the west so it was getting quite low, the first one was a pano stitch which gave a grander scale allowing you to see the arch, whereas the second tighter shot was a single frame, using a circle as an example, if you view it further out it's going to look like a circle, but if you zoom in heaps where you're only looking at a tiny section of that circle that tiny section you're looking at is going to look a lot more "straight", hope this makes some sense lol


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## DSP121 (Oct 15, 2018)

applecider said:


> Ok dumb question, so dumb answers appreciated..
> 
> Why is the Milky Way and for that matter the plane of the ecliptic curved in most images of the Milky Way/sky?
> Is it a lens thing or is it some kind of atmospheric effect or the sun''s position off the galactic equator? Or any combination of the above.
> ...


Amazing pic. I am a nature lover!


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## basketballfreak6 (Jun 9, 2019)

The Dolphin and the Stars by Tony, on Flickr


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## Click (Jun 9, 2019)

Beautiful shot. Well done, Tony.


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## basketballfreak6 (Jun 9, 2019)

Click said:


> Beautiful shot. Well done, Tony.


Cheers mate!


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## basketballfreak6 (Aug 25, 2019)

Milky Way over Lake Moogerah by Tony, on Flickr


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## Click (Aug 25, 2019)

Great shot, Tony.


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## basketballfreak6 (Aug 25, 2019)

Click said:


> Great shot, Tony.



Thanks Click!


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## basketballfreak6 (Mar 24, 2020)

Attempted this last year but the tide was high so was not able to get close to the rock; perfect conditions this time around



The Dolphin and the Stars by Tony, on Flickr

Quite happy with the amount of Milky Way detail I was able to extract from Bortle 4 light pollution


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## Click (Mar 24, 2020)

Awesome. Beautiful picture, Tony.


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## basketballfreak6 (Mar 25, 2020)

Click said:


> Awesome. Beautiful picture, Tony.



Thanks Click!


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## PBguy (Apr 22, 2020)

Here's one of my favorites from last fall on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. I shot 20 images of the foreground to stack for noise reduction then shot a single tracked exposure of the Milky Way. Blended the two resulting images in Photoshop using a simple layer mask. 

I was disappointed that I didn't have clear skies but now I think they really add to the image.


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## Click (Apr 22, 2020)

Great shot! Well done, PBguy.


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## PBguy (Apr 23, 2020)

Click said:


> Great shot! Well done, PBguy.


Thanks! I appreciate it.


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## PBguy (Apr 23, 2020)

cellomaster27 said:


> Love the photo that was with the first post on this thread.. been trying to do something like that but my photos always look..boring? Just the stars and lots of grey.. I get the general settings but am I missing something? How did you get the blue??


There's definitely an art to processing Milky Way shots. First, shot the core. It rises about midnight right now in the northern hemisphere. Make sure it's properly exposed (base exposure is 30s f2.8 ISO 3200). Adjust exposure and contrast as needed in Lightroom. Boost vibrance and saturation as needed. Ensure proper white balance, for my 6D that's usually about 4000K with +6 tint. But white balance is subjective and will depend on location due to light pollution.

There are some great tutorials on Youtube from photographers such as Ian Norman (Lonely Speck), Michael Shainblum, and Chris Ewen Crosby Photography.

For adjusting white balance I use the technique that Ian Norman mentioned in a video - bump vibrance and saturation to 100 and then adjust temperature and tint for proper balance. First adjust the temperature until there's a balance between blue and yellow in the image, then adjust tint until there's a balance between magenta and green. You might have to go back and adjust temperature again after adjusting tint. If you prefer an image that's more blue then adjust the temperature down slightly. Once you have the temperature and tint balanced reset the vibrance and saturation to zero. If you have a neutral white balance the image should appear to be black and white. Now you can boost the vibrance and saturation to a pleasing level.


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## PBguy (Apr 23, 2020)

Milky Way over Tioga Lake in the eastern Sierra Nevada Mtns just outside Yosemite National Park. Shot last year in early summer. The yellow on the horizon is from the central valley of California over 70 miles away. Milky Way was tracked for 4 minutes ISO 1250 f4. Canon 6D and Sigma ART 14-24mm f2.8 lens. Foreground is stacked from 20 images for noise reduction.


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## StoicalEtcher (Apr 24, 2020)

PBguy said:


> There's definitely an art to processing Milky Way shots. First, shot the core. It rises about midnight right now in the northern hemisphere. Make sure it's properly exposed (base exposure is 30s f2.8 ISO 3200). Adjust exposure and contrast as needed in Lightroom. Boost vibrance and saturation as needed. Ensure proper white balance, for my 6D that's usually about 4000K with +6 tint. But white balance is subjective and will depend on location due to light pollution.
> 
> There are some great tutorials on Youtube from photographers such as Ian Norman (Lonely Speck), Michael Shainblum, and Chris Ewen Crosby Photography.
> 
> For adjusting white balance I use the technique that Ian Norman mentioned in a video - bump vibrance and saturation to 100 and then adjust temperature and tint for proper balance. First adjust the temperature until there's a balance between blue and yellow in the image, then adjust tint until there's a balance between magenta and green. You might have to go back and adjust temperature again after adjusting tint. If you prefer an image that's more blue then adjust the temperature down slightly. Once you have the temperature and tint balanced reset the vibrance and saturation to zero. If you have a neutral white balance the image should appear to be black and white. Now you can boost the vibrance and saturation to a pleasing level.


PBGuy,
That's a great run-through. 
Thanks for taking the time to set out your approach, and kudos for some great milky-way shots.


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## Click (Apr 24, 2020)

Great shot, PBguy


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## basketballfreak6 (May 10, 2021)

It's been a while



Milky Way Over Dolphin Rock by Tony, on Flickr


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## HenryL (May 10, 2021)

basketballfreak6 said:


> It's been a while
> 
> 
> 
> Milky Way Over Dolphin Rock by Tony, on Flickr


That is a beautiful image! Well done!


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## basketballfreak6 (May 10, 2021)

HenryL said:


> That is a beautiful image! Well done!


Thanks Henry!


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## Click (May 10, 2021)

Awesome. Beautiful picture, Tony.


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## basketballfreak6 (May 10, 2021)

Click said:


> Awesome. Beautiful picture, Tony.


Thanks Click!


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## basketballfreak6 (Jul 3, 2021)

MW core and the moon eclipse



Blood Moon and Milky Way Core by Tony, on Flickr


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## Click (Jul 3, 2021)

Stunning picture. Well done, Tony.


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## basketballfreak6 (Jul 3, 2021)

Click said:


> Stunning picture. Well done, Tony.


Thanks Click!


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## Aussie shooter (Jul 4, 2021)

There were some indicators of possible Auroral activity last night. Alas, it did not eventuate so I had to settle for some impromptu milky way photography


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## Click (Jul 4, 2021)

Beautiful pictures, Aussie shooter.


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## SteveC (Jul 6, 2021)

Aussie shooter said:


> There were some indicators of possible Auroral activity last night. Alas, it did not eventuate so I had to settle for some impromptu milky way photography
> View attachment 198775
> View attachment 198776
> View attachment 198777


You should be ashamed of yourself settling for garbage like this.

(Absolutely, positively, SARCASM. It is, in fact, wonderful stuff!)


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## Aussie shooter (Jul 7, 2021)

SteveC said:


> You should be ashamed of yourself settling for garbage like this.
> 
> (Absolutely, positively, SARCASM. It is, in fact, wonderful stuff!)


I know right. Bloody horrid option wasn't it?


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## Aussie shooter (May 25, 2022)

Haven't shot the milky way for ages but pretty satisfied with this one.


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## Click (May 25, 2022)

Great shot!


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## becceric (May 26, 2022)

Aussie shooter said:


> Haven't shot the milky way for ages but pretty satisfied with this one.
> View attachment 203870


Quite cool! Can you share exposure details?


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## Aussie shooter (May 26, 2022)

becceric said:


> Quite cool! Can you share exposure details?


Off the top of my head it was f2.8, ISO3200, 15sec exposure. Fairly standard astro numbers although I did increase the exposure by about 1/² stop in post


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## becceric (May 26, 2022)

Aussie shooter said:


> Off the top of my head it was f2.8, ISO3200, 15sec exposure. Fairly standard astro numbers although I did increase the exposure by about 1/² stop in post


Thanks. I’ve shot ISO 2500, 15-20 seconds at f4, but had a lot of fiddling in post. I look forward to another attempt at your settings.


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