Milky Way over the beach

[jakerich154]

Hey guys,

On Saturday morning (3am) I drove down to Flinders, Vic to photograph the Milky Way using my telescope for tracking! I was super impressed with the results I achieved :) The Milky Way photo comprises of 6 images of 80 seconds each at ISO5000 and f2.8, I used my Nikon D610 which seems to handle noise extremely well. I stacked the images in DSS using Darks and Bias frames, no flats but I corrected the vignetting in the images before stacking (or at least attempted to) and processed the result in Photoshop CS6. The foreground photo was taken later in the morning at Point Leo and I blended the images together in Photoshop.

I hope you like the result, I sure do! If you have any suggestions or critiques I'd love to hear them!

[spiezzy]

no criticism here Jake absolutely stunning image well worth the drive and getting up at that time of the morning .:eyepop::thumbsup:
cheers Pete

[Atmos]

Wonderful shot Jake! You found yourself a great position there :)

[75BC]

I don't normally comment on photography as it's not my thing but I have to make one suggestion.

Take more like that.

Stunning photo Jake.:thumbsup:

[Camelopardalis]

Nice one Jake :thumbsup: that's a cracker!

[alan meehan]

Wonderfull shot jake well done
AL

[JA]

Sweet Shot :thumbsup:

Best
JA

[gregbradley]

Great photo. The stacking approach I think is probably the best way to do these types of images.

Greg.

[OzEclipse]

:thumbsup:Great shot. I'm guessing its a boat ramp but it looks like a jetty that has subsided into the ocean. Great effect.

Joe

[Retrograde]

That's beautifully done.

[DarkKnight]

Nicely done Jake, particularly the blending. :thumbsup:

I tried a similar exercise with the Catherine Hill Bay jetty south of Newcastle and quickly learnt not to use two different lens. :eyepop:

I've found a couple of useful tools in CS6 that can make a dramatic difference to your PP, the Gamma slider under Image>Adjustments>Exposure and the Dehaze slider in Camera Raw fx (Effects).

PP is very subjective and unless someone is paying you for the shot the only person that you have satisfy with the final result is yourself.

Keep up the good work.

PS: The D600/D610 is thought to be one of the best cameras for this type of photography. I'm on the lookout for one to have modded with an H-Alpha filter

[PeterM]

Ok you win! Stunning on the best forum on this site!

[anyone]

wow, very nice !

[Wavytone]

Photogenic, yes.

But... i have an uncomfortable feeling most of your "stars" are noise as a result of ISO5000.

[gregbradley]

No No definitely not. I use ISO 3200 ISO6400 all the time and that's what you get. Noise on a DSLR is more colour spots rather than white spots. Or black grainy/wormy. Astro CCDs yes its white spots but not DSLRs.

Also a Nikon D610 would be pretty low noise (I used to have a D800e). The D610 is a Sony 24mp full frame Exmor sensor and they are known for their low noise and low shadow noise. Stacking would reduce that considerably again, hence his stars are so vivid.

Greg.