Astrophotography Thread - Page 7

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Posted: 5/17/2017 8:56:45 AM EDT

[#1]

before and after gif

Posted: 5/18/2017 11:04:42 PM EDT

[#2]

I may be switching to four 10 hour shifts...

.. that would make more shooting possible

Posted: 5/25/2017 11:17:43 PM EDT

[#3]

Haven't done one of these in a while. Tonight's ISS transit, from central Virginia. And what an auspicious transit it is, seeing as how 40 years ago today this little film called "Star Wars" opened.

[Kenobi]That's no moon, it's a space station![/Kenobi]

First visibility over Des Moines, IA. The middle of the arc is over the very tip of of the "mitten" of Michigan. It passed into shadow over Lac Saint-Jean in Quebec, Canada. Total visible transit was 1,155 miles and took 313 seconds.

Single exposure, then processed to darken the sky and bring out the arc. Some damn airplane almost ruined the shot (that's the higher thin line on the left side of the image) and a few fireflies were still out looking for love in all the wrong places.

ISS Transit 20170525 by FredMan, on Flickr

ISS Transit Path 20170525 by FredMan, on Flickr

Posted: 5/26/2017 8:17:37 AM EDT

[#4]

nice, I love when I get to see the ISS fly over.

I wish it would stop fucking raining here so I could get out again. It was clear where I camped last weekend, no astronomy gear and not even a great lens for doing wide field but here is one shot I did.

Posted: 5/26/2017 11:03:06 PM EDT

[#5]

And tonight's transit. Same basic path as last night, just a little higher in the sky.

ISS Transit 20170526 by FredMan, on Flickr

Posted: 5/27/2017 8:29:28 PM EDT

[#6]

Posted: 6/4/2017 12:41:18 PM EDT

[#7]

took a quick shot of the Veil nebula before the clouds rolled in last night, its only 20 minutes of data, can't wait until I can get a few hours worth of imaging on it

Also reshot the nebulosity around Sadr, this time I dithered between shots and it did wonders on removing the correlation aka "walking" noise

Posted: 6/10/2017 12:22:25 PM EDT

[#8]

OSTagscribe

Posted: 6/10/2017 10:22:23 PM EDT

[#9]

Not a particularly good shot, but here's the International Space Station (or maybe a TIE Fighter, not sure which).

ALMOST had a Moon/ISS conjunction but the moon was a little slack in getting out of bed. If the ISS transit was about 20-30 minutes later would have had an opportunity to get the station silhouetted by the full moon. Ah, the vagaries of orbital parameters and celestial mechanics.

ISS by FredMan, on Flickr

Posted: 6/12/2017 8:24:17 PM EDT

[#10]

Does this count?

DSC_0016.jpg by gmartell69, on Flickr

Posted: 6/12/2017 9:45:55 PM EDT

[#11]

So how many of you are planning on doing some eclipse photography in August?

Posted: 6/13/2017 6:59:13 AM EDT

[#12]

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So how many of you are planning on doing some eclipse photography in August?

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I'm debating it. We'll be on the beach in Oregon for it, not sure if I want to be messing with the camera or just taking it in as it'll be my first

Posted: 6/13/2017 7:07:41 AM EDT

[#13]

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I'm debating it. We'll be on the beach in Oregon for it, not sure if I want to be messing with the camera or just taking it in as it'll be my first

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I won't be close enough to the totality band to get a full eclipse. And my photog skills sucks.

Posted: 6/14/2017 12:34:16 AM EDT

[#14]

Best I'll get up here is a bite out of the sun.

Posted: 6/14/2017 6:35:27 PM EDT

[#15]

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Best I'll get up here is a bite out of the sun.

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I'm not too far from where totality would pass through, but being a weekday puts a damper on it as it's kinda hard to get time off work.

Posted: 6/14/2017 8:35:44 PM EDT

[#16]

I sure am. I'll be on my regular spray run, but our head guy just happens to live in Columbia, SC (right in the totality path) and we've had the discussion about road-tripping if the weather looks right.

Posted: 6/14/2017 10:03:14 PM EDT

[#17]

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I sure am. I'll be on my regular spray run, but our head guy just happens to live in Columbia, SC (right in the totality path) and we've had the discussion about road-tripping if the weather looks right.

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Look up a YT channel called Smarter Every Day. He did an episode with some Dr guy that's considered one of the leading authorities of eclipses and videoing/photographing them. He gives some really good pointers on how to capture the best images.

Posted: 6/15/2017 8:50:54 PM EDT

[#18]

I've seen some of his stuff; great channel.

Will have to look it up.

First thing I need to do is get a solar filter; anyone have suggestions? Thousand Oaks keeps popping up in my searches but I know nothing about them or their products.

Posted: 6/15/2017 9:55:16 PM EDT

[#19]

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I've seen some of his stuff; great channel.

Will have to look it up.

First thing I need to do is get a solar filter; anyone have suggestions? Thousand Oaks keeps popping up in my searches but I know nothing about them or their products.

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I think that dude went over different brands/models in the longer cut on his 2nd channel. Can't remember though as it was nearly and hour long and I zoned out in a few places.

Posted: 6/16/2017 2:11:34 AM EDT

[#20]

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I've seen some of his stuff; great channel.

Will have to look it up.

First thing I need to do is get a solar filter; anyone have suggestions? Thousand Oaks keeps popping up in my searches but I know nothing about them or their products.

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This is the filter I have. A thousand oaks 77mm solar filter. It does odd stuff to the colors, though. I never did quite figure out the proper balance setting to get it right. It does the job though, you should like it.

Posted: 6/16/2017 7:12:31 AM EDT

[#21]

Its been a long time since I researched this stuff, but about 5 years ago when I was heavily into Astronomy I ended up picking these guys.Omega Filters I believe they make other applications.

I've heard of thousand oaks in the telescope community but have no first hand experience with them... Could always try facebook messaging a company that sells their products and ask, they may steer ya in a better direction.

Posted: 6/16/2017 12:52:01 PM EDT

[#22]

I'll post up some good filters when I get back in town, been getting a ton of emails from all the manufacturers

Posted: 6/16/2017 9:39:19 PM EDT

[#23]

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This is the filter I have. A thousand oaks 77mm solar filter. It does odd stuff to the colors, though. I never did quite figure out the proper balance setting to get it right. It does the job though, you should like it.

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What about the threaded kind vs. the slip-on kind?

Which is "better"?

Posted: 6/21/2017 9:34:57 PM EDT

[#24]

I took off the week of the eclipse, and I'm hoping after next week I will have my own time again (long story) and hope to get out and do some work.

Posted: 6/22/2017 12:37:05 AM EDT

[#25]

https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEgoogle/SEgoogle2001/SE2017Aug21Tgoogle.html

Posted: 6/22/2017 12:46:12 AM EDT

[#26]

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What about the threaded kind vs. the slip-on kind?

Which is "better"?

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I can't really say which is better. I can say if I end up getting one for the 400 f/2.8 it'll be a slip on.

Posted: 6/25/2017 8:59:49 PM EDT

[#27]

Last night was the first night in a while with low cloud cover, so I tried taking advantage of it.

First, a photo with the DSLR. The winds were high enough that I was getting blown around a bit while trying to hold still for the exposure...

This next photo is from a GoPro. The nighttime timelapse didn't turn out like I had planned, so I superimposed the images.

Posted: 6/26/2017 2:20:53 AM EDT

[#28]

@HammrSmashd thought you might like this thread.

Posted: 6/26/2017 7:04:56 AM EDT

[#29]

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Last night was the first night in a while with low cloud cover, so I tried taking advantage of it.

First, a photo with the DSLR. The winds were high enough that I was getting blown around a bit while trying to hold still for the exposure...

https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/203937/-DSC8062Az---1080-238524.jpg

This next photo is from a GoPro. The nighttime timelapse didn't turn out like I had planned, so I superimposed the images.

https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/203937/20170624-Star-Trails-01Az---1080-238525.jpg

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I love both shots, that second one is sweet

Posted: 6/26/2017 8:28:03 AM EDT

[#30]

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I love both shots, that second one is sweet

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The second one could have been done in-camera with slide film, but it would require careful planning to stop the first exposure prior to nautical twilight, and then a game of patience and chance for *the* sunrise shot you wanted for overlay. In fact, it could have been done in-camera with digital, as well - something that would serve as a great teaching experience for photography students.

But, I've done enough of this to know how prone I am to screwing stuff up - like sleeping through an alarm, or under/overestimating twilight and light pollution effects - so I have an immense appreciation for the piecemeal, post processing approach. The beauty of it all - or horror, depending on one's viewpoint - was that I was in my bivy sack, in and out of sleep, during most of it. When I saw the brilliant way the clouds were being lit by the rising sun, I thought to myself, "gee, I hope one of the cameras got that," and one of them did - the GoPro. The D800 stopped just short of the good lighting because I made a math mistake in setting the intervalometer.

I'll post the net result of evening's work in the timelapse photography thread.

Posted: 6/26/2017 3:50:28 PM EDT

[#31]

Rokinon 12mm, F/2.0, 10s, ISO 3200
Long Branch State Park (MO)

(Brand new to the photography game)

Posted: 6/26/2017 4:23:57 PM EDT

[#32]

God, I'm going to have to step up my game come fall apparently.
Getting shown up by the newbs.

Seriously though, awesome work guys.

Posted: 6/26/2017 9:28:26 PM EDT

[#33]

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Rokinon 12mm, F/2.0, 10s, ISO 3200
Long Branch State Park (MO)

(Brand new to the photography game)
http://i.imgur.com/RIknlV4.jpg

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Wonderful! I'm adding that to my list of places to try, 2:43 away is better than my trips down to Winona.

Posted: 6/27/2017 10:14:42 AM EDT

[#34]

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Wonderful! I'm adding that to my list of places to try, 2:43 away is better than my trips down to Winona.

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Beautiful park. I was on the Bee Trace trail. Easy terrain, great views. Downside is the tick population is insane. My clothes are permethrin treated and I was wearing Deet 100 and I still have 8 tick bites...

Another shot that turned out well I think

Posted: 6/27/2017 9:14:34 PM EDT

[#35]

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Rokinon 12mm, F/2.0, 10s, ISO 3200
Long Branch State Park (MO)

(Brand new to the photography game)
http://i.imgur.com/RIknlV4.jpg

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Can't wait to see what you capture after you've been at it a while!

Posted: 6/27/2017 10:30:01 PM EDT

[#36]

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Quoted:
Can't wait to see what you capture after you've been at it a while!

View Quote View All Quotes

View All Quotes

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Quoted:

Quoted:
Rokinon 12mm, F/2.0, 10s, ISO 3200
Long Branch State Park (MO)

(Brand new to the photography game)
http://i.imgur.com/RIknlV4.jpg

Can't wait to see what you capture after you've been at it a while!

Agreed, rundown on your setup/processing game?

Posted: 6/27/2017 11:45:20 PM EDT

[#37]

Fair amount of light pollution, and some errant clouds, but...

11mm, f/2.8, 13 secs, ISO 5000

Milky Way 20170627 by FredMan, on Flickr

Posted: 6/28/2017 6:11:04 AM EDT

[#38]

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Quoted:
Fair amount of light pollution, and some errant clouds, but...

11mm, f/2.8, 13 secs, ISO 5000

https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4212/35581245785_07e33681f1_h.jpg Milky Way 20170627 by FredMan, on Flickr

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I actually like Milky Way shots with a few clouds, just adds another dimension

Posted: 6/28/2017 9:52:03 AM EDT

[#39]

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Quoted:

Agreed, rundown on your setup/processing game?

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Sony A6000 w/ Rokinon 12mm F/2.0. Shot wide open, at ISO 3200, 10-15s shutter.
Sirui T-005X tripod; only weighs about 2~ lbs, so it's the best backpacking tripod I've found under $100.

I post in Lightroom. Graduated filter along the horizon if there's a lot of light pollution to darken it a little. Sky has the black/shadows darkened to bring out more blue. Some shots I futz with the temperature a little. Milky way has a radial filter to brighten the highlights and increase saturation.

Pre:

Post:

Pre:

Post:

Posted: 6/28/2017 4:27:52 PM EDT

[#40]

Here's my out-of-camera version of that last. Some fiddling with contrast, vibrance, levels, sharpness, etc. but no radial or gradient filters.

Milky Way 20170627 From Camera by FredMan, on Flickr

Here's one I used hella adjustment brush on; I think I overdid it.

House Milky Way by FredMan, on Flickr

This one's not quite as overdone.

Milky House Vert by FredMan, on Flickr

Posted: 7/2/2017 4:35:59 PM EDT

[#41]

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I've seen some of his stuff; great channel.

Will have to look it up.

First thing I need to do is get a solar filter; anyone have suggestions? Thousand Oaks keeps popping up in my searches but I know nothing about them or their products.

View Quote

I bought the Lee 4"x4" 20 stop solar filter for the smaller lenses.

For the big boy and binoculars I bought a couple 12"x12" sheets of the Thousand Oaks Optical solar filter material. I rigged one of those up with some cardboard to slide over the hood on the 600 today and did some test shots.

First one is a 600mm f/4G on a D7200.

This one is a 600mm f/4G with 1.4TCIII on a D7200.

These are both uncropped images.

I haven't tested the Lee filter yet. Not sure I really will have a use for it.

Some challenges I ran into today with my test shots:

Thin clouds in front of the sun.

The Wimberley mount is great for anything within 60 degrees of the ground, not so good for a sun nearly overhead. I had to flip over the mount plate and raise it all the way to the top to get sufficient clearance to aim high in the sky. This isn't as stable as I would like. I was getting a lot of camera shake trying to take pictures. I need to experiment with live view and a remote release to see if it improves things. If I can't get that to work I will have to figure some other way to get really high angle shots. I might also try putting a monopod, second tripod or camera body to tripod leg support under the camera body to help with support. This will make tracking the sun more difficult. It moves quite quickly across the sky.

I can't speak to color cast. I didn't change the two shots at all other than to pull down the exposure a couple stops. I probably could have used ~2 stops faster shutter speed to help with the camera shake. I had ISO at 400, f4 for the no teleconverter shots, f5.6 for the shots with the teleconverter and a 1/800 sec shutter speed.

The light was so bright it was hard for me to tell my exposure on the back screen so I didn't end up at the best settings.

For the other sheet of the solar filter material I will make some slip on filters with cardboard for binoculars and spotting scope.

Posted: 7/5/2017 8:28:17 PM EDT

[#42]

No idea if this is a good one or not, but passing on a deal.

This telescope camera goes on sale around 22 hours from the time of this post, as an Amazon lightning deal. No idea on discount, but is $299 now.

Celestron 95508 Skyris 132C CMOS (Black)

Designed and engineered in Germany by The Imaging Source, the leader in high-end planetary imaging, in collaboration with Celestron engineers in California.
Powered by SuperSpeed USB 3.0 technology, Skyris transfers data at the fastest possible speeds.
Features the Aptina AR0132 CMOS imaging sensor, a state-of-the-art chip used by imaging companies worldwide.

Posted: 7/17/2017 10:41:20 PM EDT

[#43]

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nice, I love when I get to see the ISS fly over.

I wish it would stop fucking raining here so I could get out again. It was clear where I camped last weekend, no astronomy gear and not even a great lens for doing wide field but here is one shot I did.

http://i.imgur.com/8wAKIvU.jpg

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zz

That is a beautiful photo

Posted: 7/17/2017 11:03:20 PM EDT

[#44]

This guy does amazing work with the sun, primarily using a hydrogen-alpha filter.

Sun, H/A

Posted: 7/18/2017 7:55:18 AM EDT

[#45]

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Quoted:
This guy does amazing work with the sun, primarily using a hydrogen-alpha filter.

Sun, H/A

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I'd love to buy a solar scope, but they get pricey really quick. Having looked through the Ha scopes its unbelievably beautiful to see the prominences on the sun, its unforgettable

Posted: 7/18/2017 8:19:15 AM EDT

[#46]

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I'd love to buy a solar scope, but they get pricey really quick. Having looked through the Ha scopes its unbelievably beautiful to see the prominences on the sun, its unforgettable

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A decent h-a scope is on my list of stuff I want to own some day. Some of the h-a solar images blow my mind. I want to be able to do that.

Posted: 7/18/2017 8:43:00 AM EDT

[#47]

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A decent h-a scope is on my list of stuff I want to own some day. Some of the h-a solar images blow my mind. I want to be able to do that.

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part of the reason I haven't bought one is I'd rather spend the money on regular astronomy gear, solar gear is only good for one thing. I will never run out of things to shoot in the night sky.

I did find a ha insert that I can buy for one of my scopes, its about $1200, if I do buy anything it will probably be that

Posted: 7/18/2017 8:58:46 AM EDT

[#48]

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part of the reason I haven't bought one is I'd rather spend the money on regular astronomy gear, solar gear is only good for one thing. I will never run out of things to shoot in the night sky.

I did find a ha insert that I can buy for one of my scopes, its about $1200, if I do buy anything it will probably be that

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The GF eventually wants to have us a place on a remote island with access to a nice mountaintop and put several different scopes up there. She's as interested in the telescopes thing as I am.

Once we get rich from all that youtube money

...it'll totally happen.

Just take a while.

Posted: 7/18/2017 9:25:37 AM EDT

[#49]

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The GF eventually wants to have us a place on a remote island with access to a nice mountaintop and put several different scopes up there. She's as interested in the telescopes thing as I am.

Once we get rich from all that youtube money

...it'll totally happen.

Just take a while.

View Quote

once our kids are out of daycare I plan on buying a bit of land that I can build a small observatory on, that I can also control from the comfort of my house

Posted: 7/22/2017 7:56:58 AM EDT

[#50]

So I ordered a 95mm threaded solar filter from Thousand Oaks, but with their backlog I'm not confident it will arrive on time.

Getting ansty, I discovered Amazon had sheets of the Thousand Oaks solar film, so I ordered up a sheet. That came the other day.

I then built a frame out of some cardboard I had laying about (actual they're dividers to separate 2.5 gallons jugs of herbicide within an outer box for shipping); good heavy corrugated; triple layer. I cut holes the size of the my hood in two of them, glued them together, then cut a third sheet with a hole a wee bit smaller and mounted the film to that. Glued that to the first two and Presto! Field expedient solar filter!