My first astro photo (and stacking effort)

Tom_88 (Thomas) · #1 23-04-2012, 06:38 PM

http://www.flickr.com/photos/twambo/...in/photostream

Feel free to comment

Sorry bout the link, will learn to post directly here. Its a bit grainy but at least its some form of picture, heh it was a pretty bad trip home after that night...

JB80 (Jarrod) · #2 23-04-2012, 06:55 PM

That's a stunning pic.

I'd be majorly impressed with that.
How many subs did you use?

Astroman (Andrew Wall) · #3 23-04-2012, 06:56 PM

well done Tom, looks good!

Tom_88 (Thomas) · #4 23-04-2012, 07:26 PM

Thanks guys! It was a stack of 7 20s exposures at ISO 3200 with 2 dark frames, no flats, no bias/offsets. Im still yet to figure out how to add those in

CapturingTheNight (Greg) · #5 23-04-2012, 07:56 PM

Looks great Tom

Tom_88 (Thomas) · #6 23-04-2012, 08:01 PM

Cheers Greg! They were RAW files too haha! Stacked them after I installed that new version DSS

bmitchell82 (Brendan) · #7 23-04-2012, 10:52 PM

What are you using to process the photos.?

Only reason why i ask is the stars have a very blue hue to them, suggesting that you need to line up the RGB channels.

Screwdriverone (Chris) · #8 23-04-2012, 11:43 PM

DAMN.

Nice first go Thomas, I would be doing cartwheels if that was my first.

Keep at it, that rocks as an inaugural astropic.

Well done.

Cheers

Chris

pixelsaurus (Mike) · #9 24-04-2012, 04:26 AM

Nicely done

Tom_88 (Thomas) · #10 24-04-2012, 08:44 AM

Thanks guys! It was a bit of an effort just to get the 7 lights! I stepped in dog doo, harrassed by mozzies (still hangin round here!), car headlights from the highway then the freight train, bats, even seen two huge pigs beside the road near where I was shooting. Night I won't forget.

I didn't post process it, yea that blue hue to the stars bugs me a bit. I aligned the RGB's in DSS after they were stacked, fiddled with the saturation, midtones etc in DSS but thats about it.

Is there post processing that can help with this? If so, what program would you recommend?

Gem (Grant) · #11 24-04-2012, 03:20 PM

Good effort - especially for a first time shot!

Might want to try more darks next time - I usually aim for 20+

Tom_88 (Thomas) · #12 24-04-2012, 06:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gem

Good effort - especially for a first time shot!

Might want to try more darks next time - I usually aim for 20+

Thanks Grant! Yep i'll try for more darks for sure! How many is too much?

Gem (Grant) · #13 24-04-2012, 08:48 PM

From what I am told: get minimum of 20. Some go for more, but I would suggest go for 20 for now. Any less and they are not very effective.

Tom_88 (Thomas) · #14 24-04-2012, 11:29 PM

No worries, i'll take 20 darks with my next shoot.

cjpops (Craig) · #15 25-04-2012, 10:30 PM

Hey great shot! I'd love to achieve similar results - are you achieving this on a motorized tripod to eliminate trails?

edit - Just found this link that answers my earlier question (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/63-211-0-0-1-0.html)

I'm playing around with star trails at the moment and wouldn't mind moving on to something like this..