Observing Orion from down under

[naskies]

I quite liked some of the recent nightscapes here that have used cloud cover to reflect a bit of skyglow into the image... here's my latest attempt.

I arrived just a tad late and unfortunately didn't get time to set up properly before heavy clouds rolled in.

Details: Blend of two exposures (30 sec & 60 sec), 14 mm, f/2.8, ISO 12800 (H1), taken with a Canon 5DmkII and 14 mm f/2.8L II.

Larger 1500 px version (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/13644418/iis/ObservingDownUnderOrion-1500px.jpg)

[lacad01]

That is a super shot, nice work :thumbsup::thumbsup:

[iceman]

Beautiful, nicely done Dave.

[gregbradley]

Great shot.

How'd you get away with ISO12800? There is minimal noise in the image.

Greg.

[Octane]

Nice one, Dave!

I'm thinking of getting that 14mm lens.

How do you find edge performance? I know it's rectinlinear, but, still, what's your experience with it?

H

[Larryp]

Very nice!

[RickS]

Nice colours, Dave!

[stardust steve]

You have done well. I see that you have got those large colourful stars to stand out, something that I have seen in the good nights cape images I have been following. :thumbsup:

[naskies]

Thanks Adam, appreciated!



Thanks Mike!



Thanks Greg. I used the in-camera noise reduction again... seems to work quite well on the 5DmkII. I turned off *all* sharpening during RAW processing (i.e. the one that's designed to counter-act the effect of the anti-alias filter), as it usually sharpens the noise instead.

I also avoid stretching the histogram / using curves with ISO >= 6400 as it brings out the fixed pattern noise quite quickly.



The centre is excellent but the edges are definitely soft and heavily vignetted, i.e. enough that I usually work it into the composition rather than try to fix in post.

I did briefly play around with another IIS member's Nikon 14-24 mm and the corners on the Nikon did seem much sharper on it.

The overall performance of the 14L is excellent though - it's part of my magic imaging kit with the 35L, 85L, 135L, etc.



Thanks Laurie!



Thanks Rick!



Thanks Steve! High cloud seems to do the trick, but really bright objects like Jupiter and Sirius have a habit of becoming comically large. I'm told a soft diffusion filter or fog/dew on the lens does a great job of it too.

[ourkind]

Beautiful shot Dave I love it too!

I really like how the Orion and Sirius glow so bright as well as in other very good nightscape photos, I just assumed it was post processing.

In some of my recent nightscapes during post processing I've been selecting these stars and increasing their vibrance in order to get this glow but unsuccesfully.

Great Job!

[naskies]

Thanks Carlos!