First try: the Milky Way shots

blackstar

Senior Member
Hi, On Father's day, I went to a friend's nut-tree farm to celebrate the beginning of the summer. Where I stayed until late night and tried my first MW shots:

Site condition: (1) it's the outskirt of the city -- in the brown zone of light pollution (Bortle scale=5) vs the red zone (BS=6~7) in the city, so not the best place but better than in the city. (2) no moon. (3)much open sky view without closed buildings.

Mistakes made: (1) times shots taken -- checked with photopills @11:30 for the best visibility, but shots were mistakenly taken at 10:30. (2) aware of the heavy light pollution, iso was mistakenly set @400 resulting in under-exposed images. (3) ?

Next step: (1) "MAY" acquire a new Rokinon or Samyang 14mm f2.8 (2) plan a camping trip to Sierra Mt, there will be green (bs=4), blue (bs=3), greyish black (bs=2), and black (bs=1) light pollution zones all across the route planned. Would like to receive your opinion on which zone to go for the MW shots? (Light Pollution Atlas seems not to endorse bs=1,2 as best condition for the MW view as some user states "Rising Milkyway confuses some into thinking it's dawn".)

2020-06-21 22.18.15-DT-nik3-s.jpeg

2020-06-21 22.33.48_01-DT-dfine+vz+outsharp+VZblue-s.jpeg

2020-06-21 22.35.20-dt-dfine-vz-outputsharp-s.jpeg
 

blackstar

Senior Member
Thanks, Dawg, for your kind encouragement. I know capturing the MW is still far from "photographing" it right and well. Mind giving your always insightful and helpful thoughts? Thanks
 

blackstar

Senior Member
Ah Ha, just what I need: more practice! Maybe next month when the moon is gone again. The camping trip is planned in Aug as a summer flee though. Thanks again, Dawg.
 

blackstar

Senior Member
Ok, would correct the inappropriate perception on the Bortle scale zones (in my OP):
Black zone: bs=1, Excellent dark-sky, the Scorpius and Sagittarius regions of the Milky Way cast obvious shadows

Grayish black: bs=2, Typical truly dark sky, the summer Milky Way is highly structured

Blue: bs=3, the summer Milky Way still appears complex

Green, yellow: bs=4, the Milky Way well above the horizon is still impressive but lacks detail

Orange, brown: bs=5, the Milky Way is very weak or invisible near the horizon, and looks washed out overhead

Red: bs=6, 7, the Milky Way is only visible near the zenith, the Milky Way is nearly or totally invisible

Light gray, bs=8, the sky is light gray or orange

White: bs=9, The sky is brilliantly lit, the only objects to observe are the Moon, the planets, and a few of the brightest star clusters
 

Scott Murray

Senior Member
Hi, On Father's day, I went to a friend's nut-tree farm to celebrate the beginning of the summer. Where I stayed until late night and tried my first MW shots:

Site condition: (1) it's the outskirt of the city -- in the brown zone of light pollution (Bortle scale=5) vs the red zone (BS=6~7) in the city, so not the best place but better than in the city. (2) no moon. (3)much open sky view without closed buildings.

Mistakes made: (1) times shots taken -- checked with photopills @11:30 for the best visibility, but shots were mistakenly taken at 10:30. (2) aware of the heavy light pollution, iso was mistakenly set @400 resulting in under-exposed images. (3) ?

Next step: (1) "MAY" acquire a new Rokinon or Samyang 14mm f2.8 (2) plan a camping trip to Sierra Mt, there will be green (bs=4), blue (bs=3), greyish black (bs=2), and black (bs=1) light pollution zones all across the route planned. Would like to receive your opinion on which zone to go for the MW shots? (Light Pollution Atlas seems not to endorse bs=1,2 as best condition for the MW view as some user states "Rising Milkyway confuses some into thinking it's dawn".)

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These images do look ok, as you said they are slightly under-exposed. But this can be fixed in post processing. Do you use LR or something similar?
Light pollution is a pain and if you can get fully away from it then do so, if not post processing with a graduated filter can reduce the impact.
Once my LR catalogue is complete I will try and do some simple edits on your milky way shots, the Rokinon 14mm 2.8 is a great lense and suited me for many years.
 

blackstar

Senior Member
Thanks, Scott.

Yeah, I use Darktable (for RAW editing), Gimp, and Nik-collection for the post process. The originally shot images, both raw and jpg, are "extremely" under-exposed. The images I posted already under heavy process (best as I can, but may still miss some). Thank you for the tips and help.
 

Whiskeyman

Senior Member
To me, the first consideration for astro-photography is a dark sky, devoid of as much lunar and terrestrial lighting as possible. The second consideration is clear skies. It doesn't matter how good you are and your equipment is; if the subject isn't clear and in contrast to the background, you're starting at a significant disadvantage. You might be fortunate to have more than three to six nights each year when conditions are really good for deep space photography. These nights typically occur in the cooler months, right after a frontal passage.

WM
 

blackstar

Senior Member
Thanks, WM.

Totally agree with the "clear sky" necessity. But seems hard to predict the days of clear skies in the trip plans. Can photopills (or other tools) provide such info at certain times and places?
 

Scott Murray

Senior Member
Thanks, Scott.

Yeah, I use Darktable (for RAW editing), Gimp, and Nik-collection for the post process. The originally shot images, both raw and jpg, are "extremely" under-exposed. The images I posted already under heavy process (best as I can, but may still miss some). Thank you for the tips and help.

This is what I was able to do with a few mins in LR, low res jpeg is never easy to work with. ANd much more could be done with the raw file.

Original.

2020-06-21 22.33.48_01-DT-dfine+vz+outsharp+VZblue-s.jpeg

Edited

20200621-2020-06-21 22.33.48_01-DT-dfine+vz+outsharp+VZblue-s.jpg
 

blackstar

Senior Member
WOW! Can't believe my eyes seeing that. Scott, mind sharing some tips on how many and which processes you ran the image? Appreciate. Would like to try and learn with the RAW or fine jpg.
 

Dawg Pics

Senior Member
Thanks, WM.

Totally agree with the "clear sky" necessity. But seems hard to predict the days of clear skies in the trip plans. Can photopills (or other tools) provide such info at certain times and places?

Check out the Clear Sky Chart for your area. Humidity, Good Seeing, etc. A night of "good seeing" is when you have a pretty stable atmosphere. ClearDarkSky
 

Dawg Pics

Senior Member
Improved the contrast on it.
I go back and edit older images now that I have learned better processing. There is always something to learn, which is one of the things I like about this hobby.
 
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