10 replies to this topic

[Kerry Gordon]

Thought I'd share this with you.  My very first Milky Way shot done on my recent canoe trip.  Can you imagine, 29 days on the water and only 3 clear nights!  The final night, however, gave me a chance at both Milky Way and Aurora.  This was the first, though.  Having had even that limited amount of experience has opened my eyes to the value of photo stacking and also preparing a foreground at lower ISO and more specific focus - just like doing any landscape.  I'll be heading back out into canoe country this coming week and if the sky cooperates, I'll have an opportunity to try star trails under moonlight conditions as well as a dark enough sky to try some Milky Way shots.  Anyway here's my very first effort.  Comments and critique always welcome.

Attached Files

•  Nightsky Kingham.jpg   317.85KB   1 downloads

[PeterPP]

Great image!

 

I might try running it through NIk DeFine ( free from Google )  or Topaz DeNoise (not so free) to reduce some of the apparent noise in the foreground.

[P Bender]

Great first shot!

[Kerry Gordon]

Thanks for the suggestion Peter.  I ran it through Dfine2, just the automatic adjustments - there is probably some more I could do in manual but I don't think this image is worth spending more time on - and it certainly did make a difference: 

 

Also, thanks Paul. 

Attached Files

•  Night Sky Kingman 2.jpg   269.24KB   0 downloads

[David Pavlich]

Nicely done!!

 

David

[Roderick]

Great job!

Lovely photo

[elcab18]

Nice image Kerry!

[Kerry Gordon]

Thanks for all your positive affirmations.  I'm off today for another week of canoeing and general frivolity.  I'm hoping that the skies will stay clear  so I can try out some more advanced techniques - photo stacking etc.   I'm hoping to try shooting under moonlight (85% waning gibbous :>)) but I might also get some dark enough nights for more Milky Way shots.  But water and clear skies don't necessarily go together.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

[geedee]

Superb image, let alone for a first attempt... Well impressed...(-:

[mapleleaf-mick]

Wow wow wow. I just love it. I am just trying to get my head around trying astral photography and seeing your first try just gives me more confidence to give it a try. I know nothing about stacking and really how to effectively use Lightroom but I have all the required resources I. e. great camera,fast lenses,solid tripod,Lightroom and light free locations. Thanks for giving me the incentive to give it a shot...👍

[Kerry Gordon]

Superb image, let alone for a first attempt... Well impressed...(-:

 

Very kind of you to say.  Support is always appreciated.

Wow wow wow. I just love it. I am just trying to get my head around trying astral photography and seeing your first try just gives me more confidence to give it a try. I know nothing about stacking and really how to effectively use Lightroom but I have all the required resources I. e. great camera,fast lenses,solid tripod,Lightroom and light free locations. Thanks for giving me the incentive to give it a shot...

These one shot dark sky images are easier to capture than you might imagine.  Really the hardest part is getting tack sharp focus (I'm still struggling with that!)  But I'm also coming to realize that photo stacking is the only way to really deal with the noise that comes with shooting at high ISOs and that's a level of technical skill that I have yet to master.  That being said, knowing that that is what is needed means that I can at least capture the necessary information and work with it as my skill set expands.  

I just got back from a short canoe trip during which I had nice clear, cold nights.  The first night was perfect in that I was able to shoot the Milky Way under black skies.  Once I got the the image focused and set up I shot 10 frames as well as a few with the lens cap on.  I woke up three hours later having left my camera set up.  By now the moon was up and I went back refocused on the foreground, lowered my ISO and changed the f stop and reshot for the foreground.  So now I have all the information, foreground and background, captured in RAW.  I have a rough idea of what I need to do now - star stack for the Milky Way and then photoshop the foreground and background together.  All I need is to find somebody to walk me through the processing and I'll have an amazing photo (I think.)