Milkyway nightscapes

alexg212 wrote in post #16630069
^^ awesome program, no idea why or how it is free... not asking the question...

It's open source, I believe. Most open-source programs are free (as in beer).

I've been testing out LR5.3 by reprocessing a couple of photos taken over the last 2 years. Here's the results:

Self-portrait with the Milky Way (May 2013)

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …stephenmudge/12​128571163/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …stephenmudge/12​128571483/

Testing the rokinon 16mm

IMAGE LINK: https://imageshack.com​/i/n9xc5hj

NCHANT wrote in post #16623020

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/mikeymack/12064​894743/
Bridge to the Milky Way by Mikey Mack, on Flickr

This is just so cool!

virginie24jb wrote in post #16640345
This is just so cool!

Thank you

Here's one from a hunting trip last year:

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/mikeymack/12202​044256/

NCHANT wrote in post #16627436
Here's another one, re-edit of an older shot with fresh eyes.

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/mikeymack/12082​770945/
Muriwai Panorama - small by Mikey Mack, on Flickr

That's a really awesome photo, love it. And its nice seeing someone else from NZ posting

NCHANT wrote in post #16647376
Thank you

Here's one from a hunting trip last year:

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/mikeymack/12202​044256/
Milky Way by Mikey Mack, on Flickr

Awesome!

Visiting Moab this weekend and got a little Zodiacal light.

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/drdphotos/12206​407505/

@SRM/Stephen: that first photo is just incredible. It must've been at least 25s exposure? How did you manage to stay still for so long/look so sharp in the photo? Would love to give that a try myself. Thanks in advance!

Also, do you guys generally shoot with the in-camera noise-cancelling turned on or off?

Thanks NCHANT for some tips. Bit of a rubbish shot and terribly framed but it was stinking hot, cloudy and the humidity was through the roof. Quick in and out job... Happy for a first attempt - will do better next time! Conditions worse today.... rains less than 300mm a year here and it's all about to drop tonight I think...

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spiralblast wrote in post #16651938
@SRM/Stephen: that first photo is just incredible. It must've been at least 25s exposure? How did you manage to stay still for so long/look so sharp in the photo? Would love to give that a try myself. Thanks in advance!

Also, do you guys generally shoot with the in-camera noise-cancelling turned on or off?

Thanks very much Jane! It was a 30 second exposure, and staying still was not easy! It took a few tries to get a shot where I hadn't moved too much. It was shot at 11mm though, so a little bit of movement with such a wide angle lens was OK.

For a single image like this I turn in-camera noise reduction on. When I'm doing star trails or stacking multiple images, however, I turn it off and run some dark frames at the end of the series.

Cheers,
Stephen

S.R.M. wrote in post #16656982
I turn it off and run some dark frames at the end of the series

I've never really understood this technique of dark frames for night sky pictures. Could you explain please (both doing that that dark frame and processing it with the pictures)?

virginie24jb wrote in post #16657037
I've never really understood this technique of dark frames for night sky pictures. Could you explain please (both doing that that dark frame and processing it with the pictures)?

Ok, taking dark frames is very easy. Just put the lens cap on and shoot with the same settings that you used for the actual photos. So if you're shooting the Milky Way using 30 seconds and 3200 iso, take 10 or 20 shots with the same settings but with the lens cap on. This way all you capture is the background noise. But do it immediately after taking the actual photos, because the noise is temerature dependent so you want the air temp to be equal.

In terms of processing: For stacking, most use DeepSkyStacker, which is free software. When you run this, it asks for light frames (which are your actual images of Milky Way etc.) and dark frames. When you upload the dark frames the software computes an average dark frame, and subtracts this from the stacked light frames. Star trails software (such as www.startrails.de) basically does the same thing.

I hope this makes sense...

Cheers,
Stephen

S.R.M. wrote in post #16657091
I hope this makes sense...

Oh it does! Thank you very much. I really have to try this.

A shot from a wedding we attended last night, couldn't help myself

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/mikeymack/12265​062393/