Student of NP101

[Rod771 (Rod)]

Took the kids up to Gunnedah NSW to visit their grandparents and to go to the Ag-Quip field days last week. The boys had fun climbing on all the tractors and bulldozers etc.

Whilst there I "borrowed" dads Canon 6D and paired it with my Samyang 14mm lens which I conveniently purchased before heading up.

It wasn't the best week for nightscapes with the full moon lurking but I had a small window on Friday night before the moon rose at 8:01pm

The car shot was taken between Gunnedah and Boggabri under lovely dark skies and was inspired by Mike Salway's "Refecting" photo taken at IISAC2013. My photo is not the best shot in terms of the star reflections (I have another reflecting the Milkyway better) but I chose this image because of the lucky meteor in the top left corner.

The second image was taken closer to Gunnedah. I was driving along and noticed an old tank stand next to some trees.

Canon 6D, Samyang 14mm, F2.8 , ISO 6400 , 25 sec, Camera man freaked out by cow

"Car meteor" processed in Lightroom 5 and "Mine behind the trees" processed in Lightroom 5 and PS CS4. Im still learning how to use PS, it has been a huge learning curve this year using Lightroom, Photoshop, Pixinsight etc. Lots to work on but I'll push on

Car meteor larger

Mine behind the trees larger

Comments and tips absolutely appreciated

Cheers

Rod

[Larryp (Laurie)]

Nice shots, Rod

[ourkind (Carlos)]

Hey Rod both shots look great well done!!

Colourwise I'd probably cool the sky i.e. from red to blue in the car photo but that's my personal preference, there's no set rule on sky colours, we all have artistic license to do as we please and whatever suits out taste.

The second shot is very good too, the Milky Way looks great! love the yellow town glow behind the trees. Are you using a Samyang 14mm Lens Profile in Lightroom or Photoshop to remove the warping on the sides? it wasn't as obvious in the car photo but it is in this one.

I downloaded and installed a Adobe Lens Profile program which lets you search/select and installs the appropiate lens profile (in this case Samyang 14mm on a Canon Full Frame) and then you can select it when editing your photo in PS and possibly LR.

[Rod771 (Rod)]

Originally Posted by Larryp

Nice shots, Rod

Cheers Laurie

Originally Posted by ourkind

Hey Rod both shots look great well done!!

Colourwise I'd probably cool the sky i.e. from red to blue in the car photo but that's my personal preference, there's no set rule on sky colours, we all have artistic license to do as we please and whatever suits out taste.

The second shot is very good too, the Milky Way looks great! love the yellow town glow behind the trees. Are you using a Samyang 14mm Lens Profile in Lightroom or Photoshop to remove the warping on the sides? it wasn't as obvious in the car photo but it is in this one.

I downloaded and installed a Adobe Lens Profile program which lets you search/select and installs the appropiate lens profile (in this case Samyang 14mm on a Canon Full Frame) and then you can select it when editing your photo in PS and possibly LR.

Thanks for the feedback Carlos

Yeah I did a google search for the lens profile, I found the one that had to be manually installed first and wasted 2 hours there . Then I found the Adobe lens profile installer and ran that. I deleted the manually installed one and let the Adobe program do its thing, It installed two profiles into Lightroom: Samyang 14mm and Samyang 14mm F2.8 ED AS IF UMC etc??? (im at work now and writing from memory) . The second profile corrects the distortion but turns the corners of the image almost pink? The first profile corrects distortion but has minimal effect on the vignetting. I used the first one but im still not 100% sure if its the right one?

I spent a bit more time on the "trees" shot in PS (only used lightroom for the car shot) I applied different layers and masks for the foreground, sky and Milkyway, so I was able to darken the sky and give the Milkyway a bit more contrast.

I appreciate your help

[iceman (Mike)]

Very nicely done, they're both great! Well done!

[Rod771 (Rod)]

Originally Posted by iceman

Very nicely done, they're both great! Well done!

Thanks Mike

I hope to post some more from the same trip soon

[andyc (Andy)]

As a novice landscape astrophotographer, all I can say is: lovely shots! Especially the second one, I prefer the colour balance of it, and a pretty composition too.

[Rod771 (Rod)]

Thanks Andy