My first pic........

[sross58 (Sam)]

Hi,

Thought i would post my first ever Astrophotography pic.........

Skywatcher 8" SCT
Canon 60D
31 Frames
30 Sec exposures
ISO 800
Stacked in DSS
Post processing in photoshop cc
Mt Waverley, Melbourne

Pretty pumped, hoping to get some longer exposures tonight, try and get some more details.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks for looking

[Eggmoon (Geoff)]

Nice start... welcome to the very frustrating world of astrophotography.

Don't think you will be getting any more images tonight though... forecast for Melbourne isn't good for the next few days...

[sross58 (Sam)]

Thanks Eggmoon

According SkippySky its looking like it may clear around 8pm tonight, i may be reading it wrong though....

http://www.skippysky.com.au/Australia/index.html

[Eggmoon (Geoff)]

Yeah... Skippy does show that... completely at odds with the BOM... hope skippy will be right...

[pw (Peter)]

Nice colours in your picture, great start.

[sross58 (Sam)]

Thanks pw

Here is a good link for a closer look at cloud cover.....

http://www.weatherzone.com.au/satellite/vic

http://www.weatherzone.com.au/satellite/vic/visible

[nebulosity. (Jo)]

Great first pic Sam

The noise doesn't look like a problem so I would suggest trying ISO1600, and see if you can take some flat frames (just some shots of the blank sky around twilight) to help correct the vignetting.

Good colours etc, well done.

Cheers
Jo

[sross58 (Sam)]

Cheers Nebulosity,

i took 30 flat frames on twilight, just with a 50mm lens on my 60D of different parts of the sky varying form light to dark, not sure what i was supposed to have the ISO set on, so i just put the 60D on Auto and took them..........

[nebulosity. (Jo)]

Originally Posted by sross58

Cheers Nebulosity,

i took 30 flat frames on twilight, just with a 50mm lens on my 60D of different parts of the sky varying form light to dark, not sure what i was supposed to have the ISO set on, so i just put the 60D on Auto and took them..........

Flats have to be taken in exactly the same configuration as your actual images of the DSO, so in your case, with the camera on the scope, preferably with the camera in the same orientation and near focus.

As for camera settings, auto should be ok, I generally like to have the histogram around ⅓ to ½ on the scale.

Twenty flat frames should be plenty, it's best to take then with the scope pointing at the region of sky opposite the sun.

Cheers
Jo

[sross58 (Sam)]

Originally Posted by nebulosity.

Flats have to be taken in exactly the same configuration as your actual images of the DSO, so in your case, with the camera on the scope, preferably with the camera in the same orientation and near focus.

As for camera settings, auto should be ok, I generally like to have the histogram around ⅓ to ½ on the scale.

Twenty flat frames should be plenty, it's best to take then with the scope pointing at the region of sky opposite the sun.

Cheers
Jo

Legend, going to start them in about 20 mins..........

Thanks