New here!

[kkara4]

Hello all, i've been into astrophotgraphy for the last two years now, and really started getting into it when Comet ISON and R1 lovejoy made their appearances at brighter than magnitude 5 or so in Brisbane skies. Thought id join this forum after reading some of the great stuff posted here and some of the great images!

In terms of equipment I have a Canon 5D MKIII, Sigma 120-300mm lens with 2x TC, Wimberley Head II, Gitzo GT5541LS tripod, Canon 16-35mm L II and a Celestron solar filter which just happens to fit nice and tight in the sigma lens hood. Nice and rock solid, no tracking or anything like that. Prior to September 2013, I had a 5D MK I, and the 5D MKIII is truly an awesome camera in comparison!

Anyway here are some of the pics that im happiest with that ive taken with this setup, all in Brisbane from home or at a friend's place about 1km away which has a great view to the west:

Saturn Occultation 14/5/14
http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/z377/kkara4/Space/_D5A9935_zps52381882.jpg
http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/z377/kkara4/Space/_D5A9939_zpsfdaa0cc8.jpg

15/4/14 Lunar Eclipse (Mars top left in second pic)
http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/z377/kkara4/Space/_D5A9802_zps2ac180bd.jpg
http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/z377/kkara4/Space/_D5A9803_zpsf33842c1.jpg

Comet ISON and Comet R1 Lovejoy on 19/11/13 and 16/11/13 respectively. These were my first proper results using stacking, 8 frames each of light, dark and bias, PS to make a master flat to subtract light pollution, then a whole heap of playing with curves:
http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/z377/kkara4/Space/ISON_19Nov13_step4_zps8960d2c3.jpg
http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/z377/kkara4/Space/Lovejoy16Nov2013_1_zpsfd6f6a3b.jpg

29/4/14 Sunset Eclipse:
http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/z377/kkara4/Space/_D5A9919_zps44140601.jpg
http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/z377/kkara4/Space/_D5A9923_zps3104bfa4.jpg

and finally the Jupiter/Moon conjunction of 11/2/14:
http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/z377/kkara4/Space/_D5A9749_zpsbbe180fa.jpg

I am seriously considering buying a Celestron Edge HD 925 now, step things up a level, but still researching what the best equipment to buy would be...anyway will certainly be hitting up the more knowledgeable folks on this forum!

Also is this the best way to link images?

[cometcatcher]

Some nice shots there. Welcome to the forum.

You can either link them like that or upload them directly, but they have to be less than 200kb.

[kkara4]

Thanks! I may just link as they are then, unless I figure out a way to compress them

[mithrandir]

I haven't looked for a method with Photoshop but there is a program (and plugin for GIMP) called RIOT (http://luci.criosweb.ro/riot/) that lets you reduce the size and quality to get to the 200KB limit.

[pluto]

Photoshop has it's "Save for web" dialog where you can adjust the dimensions and quality and it'll tell you how big the jpg file will be. Using this it's very easy to get an image under 200kb and not have it looking terrible :)

[kkara4]

Thanks for all the replies guys, I forgot about the save for web feature in PS, that should work nicely!