Photo/Photographer thread.

['Dale]

What it looked like in my neck of the woods on Saturday morning.

Wow ????????????????????????

[Slowbee]

 

*hope this works*

 

This is a 360 degree sky shot. Looks a bit better. The milky way starts coming over the horizon is basically east, and extends all the way west. Very tricky to try capture this amazing spectacle.

 

The blue haze on the right is as the full moon glow below the horizon (behind me taking the image). The left hand orange is the light haze from Cradock. You can see the Pointers of the Southern Cross just above the horizon on the bottom left (the Cross is below the horizon). The Large and Small Magellanic Clouds are also visible (these were more to my left). The galactic core was in front of me. The image was taken on a different night to the one I posted above.

 

Zooming in you can see Scorpio. If you know your way round the Galaxy then you will know all the other constellations and planets.

[Slowbee]

http://www.constellation-guide.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Large-and-Small-Magellanic-Clouds.jpg

 

There is alot of editing in the attached image - but this is what I am working towards...... hopefully!

[Frosty]

http://www.constellation-guide.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Large-and-Small-Magellanic-Clouds.jpg

 

There is alot of editing in the attached image - but this is what I am working towards...... hopefully!

I believe editing is an integral part of digital photography, even though some people dislike the photoshopped effect. If do e properly, it can be as good as what the eye can see.

 

This image was "stolen" from a FB friend's page... the photographer is his friend, not mine.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[bertusras]

Not so much editing/Photoshopping as making use of all the light data captured by your camera sensor. A camera cannot see what the eye can see, hence the need to digitally enhance the image.

[ABrooks]

The best way, and one of the most expensive, is with a dedicated macro lens. Next best would be extension tubes. Usually come in seta of three relatively inexpensive. They move the lens away from the sensor allowing closer focusing and since they contain no optical elements quality is not much compromised.. there is some quality loss however as the lens being used is not made for close work so compromises are made. Next would be a macro adapter similar to a filter that goes not the front of the lens.

 

Try the cheapest option to see if you enjoy it. Personally I hate macro photography. If I have an away trip that's important to me I will spend a day shooting macro on n the garden to get my eye in. A bit like a pianist practicing scales. Useful but boring.

Thank you for the input. Will have a look at all the options you mentioned.

[DJR]

From what I understand, those amazing night time images are often made up of many different ones overlaid on top of each other. Basically, you cannot take a long enough exposure without getting star movement and thus blurring. So, you take many shorter exposures and overlay them to get a very sharp image with stars brighter and sharper than you can get it any other way.

 

Some also use a tracking camera, which is mounted on a base for a telescope, and that is programmed to follow a certain part of the sky, keeping the stars in exactly the same spot and thus eliminating blur.

[bertusras]

From what I understand, those amazing night time images are often made up of many different ones overlaid on top of each other. Basically, you cannot take a long enough exposure without getting star movement and thus blurring. So, you take many shorter exposures and overlay them to get a very sharp image with stars brighter and sharper than you can get it any other way.

 

Some also use a tracking camera, which is mounted on a base for a telescope, and that is programmed to follow a certain part of the sky, keeping the stars in exactly the same spot and thus eliminating blur.

 

Well even with a tracking setup you will still stack images, for several reasons:

 

1) You get more data with multiple exposures than you would a single exposure. Think about it as painting. If you just keep painting over the same spot with the same colour and same brush stroke, all you're doing is making the paint thicker and discarding what paint was applied lower down. When you stack an image, you take all the best data each pixel has collected and aggregate it.

 

2) The longer your exposure, the hotter your sensor becomes, and a) the more noise it generates, and b) the bigger your chances of hot pixels become. Again, by taking shorter exposures and stacking images you allow the software to distinguish between light data and noise data, and eliminate hot pixels from appearing in your final picture.

 

3) Doing it properly by taking the full range of lights, darks, flats and bias photos will give even more definition to your photos. Read this for some more info regarding this topic and what the purpose of each set of images is.

 

4) The last thing you need at the end of your single 10/20/30/60 minute exposure is a gust of wind or a bat destabilising your rig and screwing your entire image. Long exposures aren't a more pure technique, it's a silly technique in my book.

[Slowbee]

From what I understand, those amazing night time images are often made up of many different ones overlaid on top of each other. Basically, you cannot take a long enough exposure without getting star movement and thus blurring. So, you take many shorter exposures and overlay them to get a very sharp image with stars brighter and sharper than you can get it any other way.

 

Some also use a tracking camera, which is mounted on a base for a telescope, and that is programmed to follow a certain part of the sky, keeping the stars in exactly the same spot and thus eliminating blur.

Star stackers are very popular for star trails, some are free, some not, some are tricky to learn, others not. They are also very popular with the guys involved in Deep Space Photography. This one is most respected, but shucks is a steep learning curve.

http://deepskystacker.free.fr/

 

They are also starting to bring out presets for Adobe that you can also use:

https://www.lonelyspeck.com/tag/astrophotography-presets/

(ps lonelyspeck is an EXCELLENT resource to get you started).

 

In terms of hardware, you might try normal motorised camera mounts (takealot is a good starting place), or here:

http://telescopeshop.co.za/shop/index.php?main_page=page&id=2&chapter=20

(ps this is an EXCELLENT shop for starting out in astronomy)

 

Another popular option is the barn door mount. Here is an example:

http://barn-door-tracker.co.uk/

 

Otherwise you can try make your own.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Build-a-star-tracker-for-your-DSLR-and-make-your-o/

 

(ps very frustrating when you have two left thumbs and your parents never contributed a single teeny part of DNA to your ability to make things).

 

EDIT: I have not spent alot of time researching this and not do I have a passion for things in the sky, so dont ask.

 

EDIT EDIT: This is also a great place to start:

http://www.budgetastro.net/tracking-the-stars.html

[Slowbee]

 

You can see the star trails in the water, but the stars are focus points in the sky.

 

When we get more rain, I would like to try something like this at Steenbras.

 

EDIT: sorry guys, this is taken from 500px. Should have put the photo credit in first before the likes got added.

[Veebee]

stock-photo-72359763.jpg

 

You can see the star trails in the water, but the stars are focus points in the sky.

 

When we get more rain, I would like to try something like this at Steenbras

 

thats a sweet shot Slowbee. Well done.

[Slowbee]

thats a sweet shot Slowbee. Well done.

sorry Veebee, I wish I could take credit ! Its not mine, its a stock photo from 500px.

[Fruity]

Copied and pasted from Facebook, so excuse the quality of the image.

 

Edit: from our visit to Oviston last year.

Edited August 25, 2017 by WeekendWarrior80

[Veebee]

Spent 4 days in the Mweni area of the Berg this past weekend. Hiked up Rockeries pass, 1300m elevation gain in 8km. We had about 10cm of snow fall on Saturday night, temps got down to - 6.

 

[Slowbee]

Spent 4 days in the Mweni area of the Berg this past weekend. Hiked up Rockeries pass, 1300m elevation gain in 8km. We had about 10cm of snow fall on Saturday night, temps got down to - 6.

 

Mweni-Pano-Sharpened-version.jpg

 <comic sans font on> This is a terrible photo and should be removed immediately. <comic sans font off>

 

#jealousymakesyousaythewrongthing

[Veebee]

 <comic sans font on> This is a terrible photo and should be removed immediately. <comic sans font off>

 

#jealousymakesyousaythewrongthing

 

haha, we just got lucky on the last morning. will post a few more soon, more snow shots and a few astro images.