Astrophotography

[Sam '43003' Tanner]

Hi guys & girls,

I'm kicking off a thread and hoping there isn't one similar! Show us what you've got from the skies above us.

My initial contribution is a short timelapse video and a couple of startrail images from the last few days. I'll have to leave you with the link for the video.

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/caerusaviation/9529481210/

 

Decay by Caerus Aviation, on Flickr

 

Tree by Caerus Aviation, on Flickr

Sam.

 

[Barry Ten]

Nice pictures, Sam. Here's my one of Jupiter, an effort from last year:

 

 

I really should get out more but the weather hasn't been kind here in the valleys.

[A_S]

I'm just getting into landscape photography myself and have just bought myself a (rather expensive) set of Lee filters. No help here of course but it has raised my awareness of star trails and they are definitely on my to do list when conditions and location allow.

 

Have you got any advise Sam? What method do you use - 1 exposure or many combined?

 

Andrew

[Adams442T]

I don't know if it fits in with your interests or not but last Monday I visited the "Visions of the Universe" exhibition at Greenwich.  It contains some stunning photographs of celestial objects and amazing photos from the Hubble Space Telescope, the Mariner Lander (a 360 degree rotating projection onto a long wall of the Martian landscape), and many other gems.

 

It's only on 'til 15th September, but if you can get there I'm sure you'll be amazed by it, as Jane and I were.  The tickets are a bargain and also allow entry to Cutty Sark, The Royal Observatory, and other sites for a 30 day period.

[Sam '43003' Tanner]

Lovely stuff Barry. I'm investing in a better telescope to start getting some deep space objects. We shall see what happens with that!

Andrew, I shoot multiple exposures and then combine them in a program called Startrails.de. The method outlined in the tutorial below suggests setting your camera to 30s, setting it to continuous mode then locking the shutter release down. I personally use a timer remote release and manually set the exposure and delay between shots or use a software program called "DSLR Remote Pro" ($175), but you'll still get the same results. The link for Startrails.de is also provided in the tutorial. I'm already looking forward to your results, especially if you get a stunning landscape involved with the shot.

 

http://digital-photography-school.com/an-introduction-to-shooting-stars-trails

 

Adams, thank you for the information. It interests me an awful lot! I'll look at getting there soon.

 

Sam.

[A_S]

Lovely stuff Barry. I'm investing in a better telescope to start getting some deep space objects. We shall see what happens with that!

 

Andrew, I shoot multiple exposures and then combine them in a program called Startrails.de. The method outlined in the tutorial below suggests setting your camera to 30s, setting it to continuous mode then locking the shutter release down. I personally use a timer remote release and manually set the exposure and delay between shots or use a software program called "DSLR Remote Pro" ($175), but you'll still get the same results. The link for Startrails.de is also provided in the tutorial. I'm already looking forward to your results, especially if you get a stunning landscape involved with the shot.

 

http://digital-photography-school.com/an-introduction-to-shooting-stars-trails

 

Adams, thank you for the information. It interests me an awful lot! I'll look at getting there soon.

 

 

Sam.

 

 

Thanks Sam, I use a program (firmware hack) called Magic Lantern (http://www.magiclantern.fm/) which gives me a lot more control over bulb exposures, bracketting and for this purpose adds an intervalometer to my 7D whereby I can set the camera to shoot a set exposure (or even vary the exposure) at set intervals for a set amount of time/images so i'm all set to go - I just need to go somewhere far enough away from the city on a clear night to capture some good images!

[69843]

The 'Supermoon' (full moon at the closest point to earth), as seen whilst on holidays on Oahu, Hawaii in June:

[froobyone]

Great thread and some great pics too.

I'm known to dabble in the black arts of AP. Not had a chance to get some starlight into my scopes for too long, but here's some of my pics.

 

 

A tiny Jupiter.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited to explain this is the Andromeda galaxy. 250 Million light years away and closing fast.

 

 

 

 

The great nebula in Orion. M42

 

 

 

The Seven Sisters with absolutely no nebulosity. Which is annoying as it's the only reason to capture M45.

 

 

 

 

This isn't a great pic, except that it shows both the M81 and M82 galaxies. 

 

Thanks for looking.

[Sam '43003' Tanner]

That's some lovely stuff there Frooby! That's the kind of stuff I'm looking to do when I upgrade my kit.

Andrew, a lovely piece of kit there! It's a shame my 400D isn't supported, but I'll be getting rid of that soon for a 5D Mk.III, so I shall be keeping an eye on that software. Where abouts are you based? I'm about a mile from Basildon town center and I capture some relatively nice trails regardless..

This one was shot looking Eastwards directly towards the town: 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/caerusaviation/9152840123/in/set-72157627847180249

 

This one to the South: 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/caerusaviation/6278048623/in/set-72157627847180249

And this one towards the town a couple of miles out on the shortest night of the year:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/caerusaviation/6278567720/in/set-72157627847180249

It all depends on what you're looking to achieve I guess. I had to shoot these at ISO1600 to get the amount of stars that I have.

 

Sam.

[Barry Ten]

Stunning pictures!

[A_S]

That's some lovely stuff there Frooby! That's the kind of stuff I'm looking to do when I upgrade my kit.

 

Andrew, a lovely piece of kit there! It's a shame my 400D isn't supported, but I'll be getting rid of that soon for a 5D Mk.III, so I shall be keeping an eye on that software. Where abouts are you based? I'm about a mile from Basildon town center and I capture some relatively nice trails regardless..

 

This one was shot looking Eastwards directly towards the town: 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/caerusaviation/9152840123/in/set-72157627847180249

 

This one to the South: 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/caerusaviation/6278048623/in/set-72157627847180249

And this one towards the town a couple of miles out on the shortest night of the year:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/caerusaviation/6278567720/in/set-72157627847180249

It all depends on what you're looking to achieve I guess. I had to shoot these at ISO1600 to get the amount of stars that I have.

 

Sam.

 

Very Nice Sam, I love the purple sky. I might have to try it here then - all the tutorials i've read advise being away from the city but i guess some practice here (Sutton Coldfield just north east of Birmingham) first wouldnt go a miss.

[Sam '43003' Tanner]

If you give it a colour tweak during post-processing, it really does destroy a lot of the horrible orange light pollution. As you say, try the techniques from home. You may be very surprised. City trails can be most rewarding. These aren't mine, but..

 

Star Trails Quezon City by Emil Jaranilla, on Flickr

 

Auckland City Startrails by Mikey Mack, on Flickr

Sam.

[A_S]

I'm loving these photos.

 

What lenses/telescopes are these images of Jupiter/The moon taken with?

 

I had a go tonight as there was a full moon and a lot of moon light. Taken with my 300mm + 1.4x TC taking it to 420mm (on a 1.6x crop camera)

 

190813 moon by Andrew_S84, on Flickr

 

 

Not really astrophotography but another I shot tonight as there was a lot of cloud about:

 

IMG_0341 as Smart Object-1 by Andrew_S84, on Flickr

 

[Barry Ten]

My pic of Jupiter was taken with a CCD camera plugged into my Celestron. I used to do this for a living, mind...

[froobyone]

Hi my Jupiter was using my Canon 60D cropped video mode then stacked in Deep Sky Stacker. The moon was 60D through my C80 ED prime focus. All the others were through my C8 NGT.

 

Some greats pics on here so far. Impressive.

[A_S]

hmm that second one looked much better in photoshop. not to sure about it now.

 

Daniel - I presume the C80 ED Prime focus and C8 NGT are telescopes - how do you connect your camera upto them and are they mega expensive (I presume they are..!)

 

Andrew

[froobyone]

Hi Andrew, yes both are telescopes, sorry I omitted to mention that. The C80ED is a refractor (long straight one) and the C8NGT is a newtonion reflector. 

I have a special mount that replaces the lens of the camera and that goes into the eyepiece holder instead of an eyepiece.

 

Price wise, the C80 is the cheaper of the two, but they are like the proverbial rocking horse excrement. It's a great scope so people tend not to sell them very often. New they cost about £350. They give lovely views of moon and planets but not so great at deep space objects.

 

The C8NGT is more suited to DSOs but costs around £850. It comes with a computer controlled mount that tracks the target as the Earth spins, which you need to avoid star trails when taking long exposures.

 

Hope this helps.

[A_S]

Thanks, it certainly does, I'm curious as I dont know anything about telescopes. Prices seem reasonable compared to the price of a decent zoom lens - i was expecting more. How do you focus them?

 

 

Andrew

[Barry Ten]

There's normally a wheel or dial for focussing, but once you've set up an astronomical telescope, it doesn't normally need much focussing - everything's effectively at infinity, unless you're spying on the neighbours.

 

Here's me and my Celestron Ultima, which must be about 16 years old now. I've got a red CCD camera plugged in the back, and my laptop on a stool. This was the biggest scope I could easily move around on my own, an important consideration - and even then I've done my back in moving it. If you don't live somewhere with dark skies, you may need to be able to get your scope in and out of your car, so it's worth bearing that in mind. Woolie hat and gloves by M&S.

 

[froobyone]

Hi Andrew. As Barry Ten stated, you essentially move the entire camera using the focus rings on the scope. It can cause problem with focus shift when a DSLR is pushing vertically down on the focuser. you have to hope that your focus lock holds.

Focussing was something I always struggled with, especially before I started to use a laptop to monitor with live view. A small LCD screen at the back of a camera isn't really up to the job. One thing to I did to sort the problem out completely was to make a 

 

Bahtinov mask out of some plasticard left over from my railway. It took an age to make, and I only made one for the 8 inch, but it works a treat. You can find instructions on the web.

The best advice Barry Ten gave was about size. The bigger and better your scope, the less you will use it. I use my 4" refractor much more than the 8" simply because I can grab the 4 whenever the sky looks promising and the set up time is zero, apart from the cool-down period. The 8" has to be stripped down before I move it into the garden, then re-assembled, aligned to polaris, then electronically aligned to my lat and long position. Then I have to wait for an 8" piece of solid and coated perspex to cool sufficiently to stop the stars looking like they are made of jelly. The whole process has to be started before it gets dark to have any chance of getting some photo captures. Or I can grab the 4 inch...

I would definitely recommend astronomy as a hobby. It is both rewarding and educational and it gives you a whole new perspective on who we are and what it means.