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| The Milky Way - Page 1 | |
| Developing techniques. | Rate Topic |
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| Posted: Wed Nov 15th, 2017 13:50 |
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1st Post |
Robert
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Last Sunday, (12th November 2017) the sky was so clear I could not resist trying my hand at making some exposures of the Milky Way. Actually almost the entire sky! I had made two sets of star trails, so to try to make good use of the time while I was waiting for the Moon to rise, I pointed the lens vertically up. I couldn't tell at the time but I had the ground visible at each corner of the image in pretty much equal amounts. The 16mm fisheye is 180º across the corners. I also forgot to make a note of where North was. I took about 30 exposures at f2.8 for 25 seconds at ISO 1600, at one minute intervals. Using 'Starry Landscape Stacker', I experimented and using ten images, I stacked them. They were aligned perfectly by the software and that had the result of eliminating noise AND the pesky airplane trails. The software baulks at using images exposed over too great a time span because the earth rotation means shifting the alignment too far within the bounds of the preferred reference frame. I should have also created a similar number of 'dark frames', exposures made at the same time, after the sky exposures with identical settings but with the lens cap on. The stacking software uses the dark frames to deal with dead and hot pixels, to exclude them from the calculations. I cheated! I put the D3 on my desk with the lens cap on and set it off making 30 exposures at the same settings as the original live exposures. I had to alter my usual processing method, zero contrast and slight exposure adjustment is all that is recommended prior to stacking. After stacking, quite extreme adjustments are needed to extract the most from the image. I should have used the mask to shield the corners from the sky processing but I think the bits in the corners would have been a messy distraction.  This is one of the original files with the contrast turned down prior to processing. I have rotated the final image 180º because I believe the original exposure orientation was with North at the bottom. So in the final image I think North is at the top, roughly. 
____________________ Robert. |
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| Posted: Wed Nov 15th, 2017 13:56 |
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2nd Post |
jk
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Superb processing and image.
____________________ Still learning after all these years! https://nikondslr.uk/gallery_view.php?user=2&folderid=none |
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| Posted: Wed Nov 15th, 2017 14:00 |
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3rd Post |
Robert
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Thank you JK, I currently have stars in my eyes!  I was a bit tired when I first processed the final image but this evening, a bit fresher I had another go and fine tuned it. I am really impressed with this lens, I think there is a bit of CA in the corners but that image is sharp, pretty much all over, even at 100% zoom on the screen. Would probably seem a bit mushy on the D850 but it mates with the D3 perfectly.
____________________ Robert. |
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| Posted: Wed Nov 15th, 2017 14:51 |
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4th Post |
Robert
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I have just added my Portfolio site URL to my signature. A full resolution version of this image can be found there. Also another taken the same evening but not stacked.
____________________ Robert. |
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| Posted: Wed Nov 15th, 2017 18:06 |
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5th Post |
Eric
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I am in awe of your expertise and night time stamina. Off to bed with my hot milk.
____________________ Eric |
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| Posted: Wed Nov 15th, 2017 18:23 |
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6th Post |
Eric
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Along the bottom of the frame in your last post you have captured the constellation of Taurus with Aldebaran (bulls right nostril) and the Pleiades cluster (bulls belly)....along with surrounding Auriga (Capella is the bright star straight up from Aldebaran)and Perseus. I've cropped this image similarly... Attachment: 7BF31374-AA7A-43BF-A075-FE5464E4C1C2.jpeg (Downloaded 17 times)
____________________ Eric |
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| Posted: Wed Nov 15th, 2017 18:36 |
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7th Post |
Eric
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Never found way to imbed two or more images in same post This is your image cropped similarly. Attachment: 0CEC641B-694D-472D-B4AF-7154D93E93DD.jpeg (Downloaded 17 times)
____________________ Eric |
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| Posted: Thu Nov 16th, 2017 03:28 |
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8th Post |
Robert
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Thank you Eric, I enjoy it, honestly! I omitted to mention that I gave up waiting for the Moon rise, according to the available data Moon rise was 01:09 that night, at 02:35 it still hadn't shown so as I became rather tired, Christopher had gone to sleep and I hit a 'wall' I packed up and went, I had good hours drive back to Lancaster and it was freezing quite hard. I didn't get the Moon rise. As we drove back through the lanes the Moon hove into sight, it was a lovely laid back crescent Moon which I had really wanted to capture breaking over the rocky crags, next time maybe. Perhaps I may be a bit obsessed with this particular location but it's very isolated, not too hard to reach and seems to enjoy reasonably dark skies, despite the best efforts of the Sellafield nuclear site. The summit of Stickle Pike is not too difficult to reach with stunning views over the Western aspects of the Lake District and part of The Isle of Man is clearly visible. The only person we saw that night was a cyclist, who raced up from the Duddon Valley, turned up towards Stickle Pike and without pausing or slacking speed climbed the steep grassy hill and disappears from sight, he may still be going!!! A motorbike probably wouldn't have been much faster. These athletes never fail to amaze me, when we used to climb Coniston Old Man, runners would pass us on the way up, react the summit and pass us again as they came back, we were still less than half way up!!! Posting more than one image in this forum via the forum image feature isn't possible. In most cases I use Flicker, which has the added advantage I can make the image whatever size I wish and the IQ isn't degraded. The constellations are something of an enigma for me, I know Ursa Major and Polaris/Ursa Minor, now thanks to your prompt last week Orion but most of the others are a mystery, I must find an app which gives a reliable and less 'flowery' map of the stars, currently I use an 'iCandy' app which is pretty good, it shows the location and orientation of the stars in real time but the names only stay visible for a second or two before they fade from the screen, which is less than useful. I want to be able to study them and get them into my head. It needs more than a second or two to do that. Apparently from the star map you posted the bottom of my second star image is North? I have been trying to find Ursa Major and Polaris to confirm the orientation but am uncertain what do you think? I was going by the upper right corner of the second image which shows a farmstead in the Duddon valley which is to the North West of our location, so I rotated the finished image 180º so the farm was at the bottom left of the frame and north at the bottom. Which is how I usually view this scene, perhaps North should be at the top? Whoops, things to do! BBL
____________________ Robert. |
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| Posted: Thu Nov 16th, 2017 04:01 |
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9th Post |
Eric
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I use Star Walk app on the iPad. If you switch off the annoying sounds! You get all the satelittes, Hubble and the ISS floating by in real time. The constellations can be a bit vague to see. Those ancients had fanciful ideas! Skywalk allows you to overlay or lose these graphics by slight movement and zooming in/out. The following two screen grabs are a minuscule sideways movement causing the Orion graphic to fade and Taurus to come out. I've chosen these two as it links Orion (that you now know) with Taurus (as discussed above). You will see Aldebaran is actually the link star between the two constellations. Viz the star on the bulls right nostril is also the star on Orions club .... with which he is wellying poor old Taurus! Adeosll is a satellite passing underneath Aldebaran. Attachment: 91B69110-85DB-48DF-84D9-91D3DB05834A.jpeg (Downloaded 17 times)
____________________ Eric |
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| Posted: Thu Nov 16th, 2017 04:02 |
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10th Post |
Eric
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and then.... Attachment: 34B07261-D9B2-4968-BA8B-944A4070E1B9.jpeg (Downloaded 17 times)
____________________ Eric |
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