My first Nightscape

[DarkKnight (Kev)]

My first attempt at a nightscape, shot at Paterson near the oval.

There was a lot of ambient light on the old shed and light cloud on the horizon picking up the lights of Maitland. As this is a brand new PP game for me with a lot of trial and error, I lost a lot of detail in the sky toning down the bright horizon. But hey, this astro stuff is like any other genre, you work with what you have in front of you.

Any CC or suggestions most appreciated.

Cheers


Kev

[Redshift13 (Rohan)]

Well done - certainly better than my first up efforts from some years ago (which I have forever consigned to the depths of a portable hard drive, marked never to be opened)!
In terms of improvements/suggestions, that will be easier for others to do if you can let us know what equipment you have (body/lens, etc.) and what settings were used for the shot.

[DarkKnight (Kev)]

Cheers Rohan.

Sorry about the lack of settings, I use Firefox with an EXIF add-on which shows your settings when you mouse over the image. Anyway, Nikon D800, Samyang 14mm f2.8 @ f4, 30sec @ ISO3200.

I rather like the composition and intend to have another crack when the sky is clearer, and there is no footy training on the oval across the road. I don't mind the light coming in from the left and would like to add some light to just the front of the structure, either with a torch or an off camera flash.

One things for sure, I've got the astrophotography bug, big time. So glad I found this site with lots of like minded people and great tools like the Moon Phases.

Cheers

Kev

[alocky (Andrew lockwood)]

Great start, and nice camera! At 14mm focal length you can increase exposure out to 30s before star trailing becomes an issue. I'd try going a lot deeper, then doing a bit of post-processing to get the tones and contrast right.
Cheers,
Andrew

[DarkKnight (Kev)]

Originally Posted by alocky

Great start, and nice camera! At 14mm focal length you can increase exposure out to 30s before star trailing becomes an issue. I'd try going a lot deeper, then doing a bit of post-processing to get the tones and contrast right.
Cheers,
Andrew

Cheers Andrew.

It was 30sec and not 1/30sec. I've edited my post.

[Redshift13 (Rohan)]

I'd advise to keep the aperture open as far as possible (f2.8) as this will ensure you capture maximum light.

Your camera and lens are certainly capable of capturing some decent scenes, and you're off to a great start.

[bobbyf (Bob)]

Nice start Kev
Composition is good.
Just wondering if your focussing is off though.
At 14mm on a D800, you should be sharper than that i would expect.
Infinity is sometimes way off the infinity marker on the lens.
On my Sigma lens, infinity is a mile away from the marker.
I use liveview at max ISO, zoomed in fully on a bright planet or star first to get the focus right, by making it as small a point of light on the screen as possible. Then adjust the ISO back down and leave the focus alone in manual mode.
Keep at it though

Cheers

Bob

[DarkKnight (Kev)]

Originally Posted by Redshift13

I'd advise to keep the aperture open as far as possible (f2.8) as this will ensure you capture maximum light.

Thanks. I closed the aperture for this shot to keep the shed as gloomy looking as possible and to try to tone down the light horizon.

It's definitely a reason to go back with a better sky.

[DarkKnight (Kev)]

Originally Posted by bobbyf

Nice start Kev
Composition is good.
Just wondering if your focussing is off though.
At 14mm on a D800, you should be sharper than that i would expect.
Infinity is sometimes way off the infinity marker on the lens.
On my Sigma lens, infinity is a mile away from the marker.
I use liveview at max ISO, zoomed in fully on a bright planet or star first to get the focus right, by making it as small a point of light on the screen as possible. Then adjust the ISO back down and leave the focus alone in manual mode.
Keep at it though

Cheers

Bob

Thanks Bob.

I agree the shot should be sharper and I'll try your focusing tip. I'd pre-focused the lens and may have nudged the focus ring. Infinity on my Samyang is no where near the infinity marker either.

Kev

[DIYman (Doug)]

Kev
How do you find the Samyang 14mm f2.8? I am thinking of getting one but would like to know what the stars on the edge are like for coma when used at f2.8. Do stars look like miniature seagulls when the image is moderately magnified? Cheers
Doug

[DarkKnight (Kev)]

Originally Posted by DIYman

Kev
How do you find the Samyang 14mm f2.8? I am thinking of getting one but would like to know what the stars on the edge are like for coma when used at f2.8. Do stars look like miniature seagulls when the image is moderately magnified? Cheers
Doug

Hi Doug,

They really don't look a lot different on the edges. The edge sharpness was one of my reasons for getting the Samyang.

If you are a Nikon user I'll send you a 20mb RAW file (or as big a file as Bigpong will let me send), or if not a high res JPEG image. Just PM me your email address.

Cheers

Kev

[DIYman (Doug)]

Thanks Kev
I found the following website yeserday. Have you seen this?

http://www.photozone.de/canon_eos_ff...8eosff?start=1

Cheers Doug

[DarkKnight (Kev)]

Originally Posted by DIYman

Thanks Kev
I found the following website yeserday. Have you seen this?

http://www.photozone.de/canon_eos_ff...8eosff?start=1

Cheers Doug

Email on the way with unedited pic.

And yep, ePhotozone is one of my main go to sites when I'm researching for a lens purchase.

For anyone else in the UWA market have a look at the new Tamron 15-30mm f2.8 VC. It looks the goods.
http://www.lenstip.com/432.1-Lens_re...Di_VC_USD.html

Kev