Some astrophoto's...(first pic post)

These are a couple of astrophotographs I took recently. I hope they uploaded okay (first time posting pics). Feel free to post coments, tips, whatever.

I took them with:

Canon Digital Rebel XT
EF-S 18-55mm lens
mounted on Manfrotto tripod

The first image was taken in Elkwater, AB, Canada. It was a 44 sec. exposure at ISO 800.

The second image was taken about 30min. drive outside od Medicine Hat, AB, Canada. It was a 958 sec. exposure at ISO 400.

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Geoff I used to live in Medicine Hat in 1972-73! We were at BATUS, my dad was one of the original staff there. Elkwater was one of our favourite camping spots.
Nice shots, I've always wanted to try that - you certainly have plenty of sky up there!

i like that second one a lot...to bad there is a little light pollution in the lower left.

Beautiful starry sky. We don't get that around here, too many city lights.

Thanks for the coments.

Ya, the light polution in that one picture was unavoidable in that location unfortunatly. I really want to try that type of star trail picture again when I get a chance to go out to Elkwater. There are plenty of secluded areas far away from any significant light polution.
I hope one of these days I can either afford a good telescope on a motorized mount, or afford just a motorized mount I can put my camera on. Then I can finally do so propper long exposures.

Always good to meet a former (or current) "Hater". It's changed alot since then Elisabeth-Ann. Well since I was born in '79 anyways....hehe.

Man I'd love to see sky like that! Maybe I should start looking into astrophotography.

Astrophotography is very interesting indeed. I does take a lot of patients and practice though. I've been working on it for about a year now, mostly trial and error and some tips from various books and websites.

I've always loved astronomy so I guess that's helped me alot. I typically do landscape and wildlife stuff, but sometimes I see a landscape before me and think to myself that it would look awsome as a night sky photo (see first photo for a basic example).

If you do try it, share some of the pics with us!

Great looking shots, I like #1 personally

So how does it work (basics)?
I presume you find the North Star (or whichever one is "fixed" in the sky) and lock on to that?
But then, how do you make sure the shot is framed perfectly on that star?

Well, I've never been able to actually find Polaris (north star), but I know approximately where it is though. Depending on what you want the shot to look like, it doesn't really matter where Polaris is in the shot frame. I've seen shots like this where Polaris isn't even in the frame and it still works, so experiment. Have a look at a star chart to get an idea where each constelation should be in the sky where you are, including Polaris.

For these kinds of shots, if you are going to just do a single shot, expect to be standing (or sitting if you remembered a chair...hehe) for at least 15 minutes or more to get desent star trails.

This website (http://web.canon.jp/Im​aging/astro/index-e.html) is fairly good for starter information. It's helped me a bit. I'll try and remember a few others.

Geoff_Shawcross wrote in post #2075102
Thanks for the coments.

Ya, the light polution in that one picture was unavoidable in that location unfortunatly. I really want to try that type of star trail picture again when I get a chance to go out to Elkwater. There are plenty of secluded areas far away from any significant light polution.
I hope one of these days I can either afford a good telescope on a motorized mount, or afford just a motorized mount I can put my camera on. Then I can finally do so propper long exposures.

Always good to meet a former (or current) "Hater". It's changed alot since then Elisabeth-Ann. Well since I was born in '79 anyways....hehe.

OMIGOSH - I was 17 in 1972 - you weren't even a twinkle in your mother's eye then! Which school did you go to, Crescent Heights or Medicine Hat High? do they still even exist ?

I went to Medicine Hat High School, and yes, both still exist. They have both grown in size as well since then. The city is still very nice to live in and has a population of about 59,000 people right now. I'll have to aventually post some city scape pictures so you can see what it looks like now. Probably the same in some areas and different in others.

Geoff_Shawcross wrote in post #2079453
I went to Medicine Hat High School, and yes, both still exist. They have both grown in size as well since then. The city is still very nice to live in and has a population of about 59,000 people right now. I'll have to aventually post some city scape pictures so you can see what it looks like now. Probably the same in some areas and different in others.

Thanks I'd love to see them - sounds like the Hat as a little more than doubled in size since I was there. I actually lived in Ralston, just down the road from the BATUS base, and went to CHHS. I'm originally from the UK, my parents now live in Edmonton. They emigrated there after the army sent us back to the UK - Dad decided he'd had enough, and the brief taste of life in Canada was enough to lure him back! I love it there, can't wait to visit again next year. Probably be going to Jasper though.

Well, I'll see what I can do. It might be a little while, but I'll post it here in a thread or something. Regardless, I'll let ya know when I have them.