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Alex wrote:
Those are great shots Michael! I really like that Moon photo. Looks like you need a sturdier tripod for the star photos though Razz

Perhaps, or I just need to use a remote control. If I used the app that links to the camera, I could trigger it to take a photo wirelessly and thus remove any movement/blurring. You’ve got a good eye though, I didn’t think there was a problem with the photos at first.

I would like to get a shot of the Milky Way band sometime, although I didn’t see that on this camping trip.

Perhaps I need to go further out from any big cities, but I would really like to get more stars and more clarity in my photos.
The band is going to be a bit hard to see, especially with a moon as bright as that. Go out during a New Moon and far from the city and you'll definitely see the outer band of the Milky Way at this time of the year.

If you have any questions about getting better shots at night, just ask! I'll be happy to help where I can Smile
Welp. It's started. Got my star tracker last weekend and a tripod for it this week.



I needed a new tripod because the star tracker is ~4 pounds, my camera + lens is ~4 pounds and my existing tripod is only rated to 5 pounds. I did put everything together on my existing tripod and it held fine, but when (not an if) I put the 10 pound counter weight on, things may be different. I'd rather spend the money and get a tripod rated for 22 pounds. This way, if the tripod fails it and my gear are (hopefully) covered under warranty. I should check up on that...

The tripod is great, it extends to 6'7" but I'll never need to make it that tall because currently the spotting scope on the star tracker is just about at my eye level, and I'm 6'2". The center column on the tripod can extend up another 6 or 8 inches but doing that creates instability and is more susceptible to shake and vibration. And when shooting at long focal lengths, you want everything to be as stable as possible.



The photos were less than stellar but I'll get there!

This photo was at 22 seconds. I think it was when the tracker was working because there's a pretty solid point where the stars are and some comatic aberration, where the photos appear to have "wings". But the giant bright star (actually Mars, I think?) in the middle of the image makes me think the tripod had a bit of vibration at some point.


This here is a 5 minute photo when the star tracker wasn't working. I ruled out the "not moving fast enough" thing because if it was moving, the stars would not look like this. It was a cloudy night and the North Star, Polaris, was covered by clouds. So, I highly doubt I blindly centered Polaris in the alignment scope this perfectly.



In the meantime I'll be learning about taking "dark" and "bias" frames and how to utilize them in processing astrophotography. I'm only using a 300mm for practice, and because mistakes (such as the Polar Alignment) are easier to spot at these longer focal distance. Once I get confident I'll move back to 14mm and 50mm.

The 2018 Astrophotography Winners were posted a few days ago, so I've got plenty to look up to as next Summer approaches.

As always, I'll be sure to share my results and what I've learned as I go through this next step in my night sky photography over in the Astrophotography topic since I'll be focusing on Deep Space Objects (DSOs) such as Andromeda and other celestial bodies. Then when I focus on nightscapes again, I'll post here Smile
Eggs in my backyard


Some mountains
Very nice shots of that nest BattleSquid! I don't remember, have you told us what camera you're using?

As for what I did, I made a pumpkin, then took a picture of said pumpkin!
(I used a Canon PowerShot G9X)

If you don't recognize the logo, click on the image to see what I based the design off of. Very Happy

I'm very pleased with how it turned out, it looks even better in person since you can see the candles flickering.
TheLastMillennial wrote:
I'm very pleased with how it turned out, it looks even better in person since you can see the candles flickering.

You could've done a gif Razz
TheLastMillennial wrote:
Very nice shots of that nest BattleSquid! I don't remember, have you told us what camera you're using?


I use my trusty Fujifilm Finepix JX250.
This guy has been showing up at work the past few days and finally managed to get some great photos. He was a little skiddish over the week but this morning seemed to be OK with people walking around


Blue Heron by Alex Glanville, on Flickr


Blue Heron by Alex Glanville, on Flickr


Turns out that's because these suckers eat fish and he was after our Koi. He didn't eat the last few days this morning was probably super hungry. A couple hours after these photos I found him with a fish. Then a few hours after that all but two fish were gone. Which is sad.

Earlier this year we had 40 koi fish that have been around the office campus since the company started 12 years ago. Then the pH balance or something got out of whack and killed, again, all but two in a matter of a week. Property Management added about 6 baby koi and left it (since they're expensive). Then this Heron comes buy and gobbles them up. Sad

I would have made efforts to scare him off had I known they are basically predators. Oh well, got some great photos!
IMG_3271.jpg by Nikky, on Flickr
Your mom is a skylight

IMG_3108 by Nikky, on Flickr
I got a new camera maybe 2 or 3 weeks ago, and have been getting some good shots lately, but I seem to have forgotten about this thread... anyways, I'm back! And I captured all these with a Canon EOS Rebel T4i.

Pre-stargazing, looking at an observatory building


Stargazing (yes, I know it's not perfect, shut up please)


At a downtown shop


Some GaryVee motivation


Hope you like these! Be sure to follow my instagram for more.

Edit: My Instagram Link
Those shots of the observatory are incredible! Looks like some people brought telescopes as well. Were you guys out there for the Geminids on Thursday?

Also, you didn't link to your Instagram. Or if you don't want to post it publicly send me the name!
Alex wrote:
Those shots of the observatory are incredible! Looks like some people brought telescopes as well. Were you guys out there for the Geminids on Thursday?

Also, you didn't link to your Instagram. Or if you don't want to post it publicly send me the name!

Thanks! There is actually an astronomy club here in Tulsa that owns this land, and the members who are part of it like to bring their own telescopes for a public observing night once a month.

I was not out for the Geminids, and unfortunately I didn't know about that before you mentioned it! These shots are from December 1st.

I meant to link to my instagram- it's the same as my username on here. And it's public so go give me a follow Smile
It's nothing you haven't seen before, but here's a new shot I took of the moon. I took some advice I got recently on night photography and decided to lower my ISO as much as possible while increasing exposure time and adjusting the aperture.

It might be possible to get it more into focus, but this is what I got in the moment.

Shot on Canon EOS Rebel T4i.
1/10th exposure, aperture 20, ISO 100
250mm lens

A few months ago I got a new phone. Was super excited about it because I'd be able to take RAW photos and have fewer excuses to take my DSLR everywhere. Also, because my last phone was 4 years old and I was due for an upgrade. A few weekends ago some buddies & I went for a drive into the mountains. I, of course, brought my DSLR but I couldn't help but take some photos with my phone. What we have below was taken and edited on my phone using Adobe Lightroom CC. Color me impressed.



Drive by Alex Glanville, on Flickr

While mobile phones can take great photos, shooting in RAW isn't super important; just move the exposure up a bit and there's tons of noise. I've shot plenty of photos in RAW using my phone and they all turn out a bit noisy, probably because I underexpose a tad to save the highlights from clipping.

I shot the photo of my friends Mustang using Auto HDR in Lightroom and it's perfect. Lightroom took the photo, tweaked the settings, and that was it. I went in and adjust color, applied a gradient adjustment, and a few tweaks. Here's that photo with no edits applied (either from me or the app).


I feel confident that should I go traveling I won't need to bring a DSLR with me. The phone won't be a replacement for my nightscapes or anything but if I'm going to visit friends my phone will be satisfactory. I don't feel confident enough to do all my editing using Adobe Lightroom CC, I still prefer Adobe Lightroom Classic CC, so I won't be switching to a mobile friendly editing format anytime soon but it's really handy in a pinch.




The following three photos are from my DSLR. We came out of a pretty dense forest to this amazing clearing and we watched the sunset. My third friend brought a DJI Mavik Pro 2 and started getting some aerial shots set up. Took about 3 hours so we'll have to go back another day to get those shots and the video.


Color by Alex Glanville, on Flickr

Extension by Alex Glanville, on Flickr

My '08 JCW Mini Cooper S, looking pretty dull when compared to a bright and colorful Ford Mustang; I'm convinced my next car is gunna be a fun color.

Mini Sunset by Alex Glanville, on Flickr
Those are all absolutely beautiful, Alex! Makes me want to go buy a sports car... but I'm saving up for other things Smile
Oh right, I did this quick'n'dirty astrophotography:

The Milky Way cuts across this frame at about the bottom third. I did some work after the fact to work out what exactly the camera was pointed at (since I took this just by propping the camera up on the ground with some rocks). An out-of-focus frame makes the brightest items pop a bit more:

I knew this was taken facing west-ish, so I was able to determine with a little sleuthing exactly what part of the sky was in frame:





Here are some birds, too. Sulfur-crested cockatoo, spotted dove, fairy wren.


Wow! Alex, that first picture with the mustang looks like the hill is on fire! Razz

Tari, I don't think I've ever seen a fairy wren before. I like the blue in it though, what'd you use to get such close shots? Or are you just a bird-whisperer?
Those are awesome shots Tari, genius idea about shooting an out of focus frame; I never considered that. Looks liken you got a pretty serious telephoto for those bird shots?
I'm surprised no one else has posted anything here recently...

Got a shot of the moon the other night. Shot on a 200mm. Click for full size
  
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