Milky Way

[gregbradley]

I took lots of Milky Way images over 3 beautiful clear nights last week with 3 different cameras and several lenses.

This was one where I was experimenting with ideal settings and how to best use the Polarie.

Fuji XE1, Fuji 14mm F2.8, 2 panel panorama 5 minutes 20 seconds each and ISO2000. There was some backburning going on nearby hence the muddy colour down low.

http://upload.pbase.com/gregbradley/image/150246809/large

Greg.

[MortonH]

Interesting colour. Is the Fuji sensor more sensitive to blue? (like their film was)

[Paul Haese]

Nice composition Greg. I think maybe just tone down the saturation just a little and this is going to be one nice shot.

[Larryp]

Very nice, Greg!

[gregbradley]

No its because I've processed it to be cooler in temp. I probably took it too far but most Galaxy images show the spiral arms as bluish and the core yellow with some whitish stars and some yellow and some blue. I was trying to capture that look rather than the brown hues it often comes out of the camera with.



Cheers Larry.
Is a great little camera and the lens is very nice as well.



Thanks for the tip Paul. I did that now. I usually leave an image for 24 hours after processing for a fresh view and did not do that on this one so got a bit carried away!

Greg.

[iceman]

Really nice Greg, I like that a lot!

You've been giving that Polarie a work out. Looking forward to more.

[gregbradley]

Thanks Mike. The main issue I have with Polarie now is how to mount the camera so I can swing it to the right angles to do a mosaic.

I ordered an L bracket for my D800E to see if that gives me more angle freedom.

Greg.

[astronobob]

Its a wonder these nightscapes arent going Viral, Dang I luv that Blue Greg, , , !

[gregbradley]

Thanks Bob. I wasn't sure if I made the image too cool in colour. You can't get that colour with a shorter exposure but with longer ones the signal is larger and it takes more processing.

Greg.

[ourkind]

Beautiful work Greg I like your take on the colours :thumbsup:

[gregbradley]

Thanks Carlos.

I am now wondering if its too blue. I may do a repro. A bit of blue would be nice but not too much.

Greg.

[iceman]

Greg the blue isn't too bad, but probably a bit too much cyan around the edges of the bulge of the MW.

Some people have more blue in the overall sky, but in yours it seems a little too focused around the bulge of the MW.

[gregbradley]

Yes I think so too. I did post a repro of this so not sure if you are looking at the most recent. Same link.

It may need to be redone from RAW as the blue really comes from the white balance chosen.

Greg.

[Octane]

The blue still seems way, way too abrupt. I'm not entirely sure what's going on there. :(

Maybe it just seems a little incongruous as the bottom half of the image doesn't have the same blue or cyan tones?

H

[Ross G]

Nice photo Greg.

I like the composition with the trees at the bottom edge.


Ross.

[gregbradley]

Thanks H. Yes it probably is a bit too blue. That's the white balance choice - a bit too cool. I'll do a repro on this one and warm it up a bit.
Down low it would've been more blue but a lot of bushfire smoke in the lower part of the sky made it quite brown.



Cheers Ross. Its all good fun. I had 3 cameras going that night.

Greg.