Fire in the sky! First time posting in this section and did so at the encouragement of another hogger on my first Milky Way post. I went out the next night to get another shot of the...

mrova Loc: Chesterfield, VA

First time posting in this section and did so at the encouragement of another hogger on my first Milky Way post.
I went out the next night to get another shot of the Milky Way but it was so stormy...severe storms west and north of my location, and at my location, 20/25 steady winds. Being in the wide open spaces of the Outer Banks of NC, it makes for a heck of a lightshow. I was really worried that the brilliant lightshow was messing with the overall exposure and it probably did.
Enjoy, still learning, and ya'll are the best teachers whether I listen or not! :mrgreen:
These were shot with my Canon 7d Mark II and Tokina 2.8 at 11mm with various long exposures.

Hatteras Lighthouse with the MW to the left...lousy shot, but a learning experience.

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MW shot looking back south toward Buxton, NC.

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Another MW shot with the lightening to the right.

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Fire in the sky to the north and west, not to be confused with the wildfires out west.

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Another shot of fire in the sky!

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SonnyE Loc: Communist California, USA

Beautiful!
And Welcome to the Astrophotography corner.
Caution: Pursuit of the stars can lead to financial hemorrhaging.

Nikonian72 Loc: Chico CA

:thumbup:

mrova Loc: Chesterfield, VA

Thank you both for the welcome and your comments!

Desert Gecko Loc: desert southwest, USA

I like them! You did much better than I did starting out!
Which lens is that? I'm very curious because I also have a Tokina 11mm f/2.8, the Tokina ATX-Pro 11-16mm f/2.8 original, not the II (the original seems to be more highly regarded.) It appears yours has some of the same shortcomings mine has (minor fringing, which is not a big deal, and coma on the edges & especially the corners, which is a bigger deal.) Just the other day I ordered a Samyang 24mm f/1.4 to play with to try to mitigate those issues, and I can't wait to get out in a couple days to try it out (I'll post a comparison of the two lenses here.)
Keep shooting that MW!

mrova Loc: Chesterfield, VA

Desert Gecko wrote:

Which lens is that?

Thanks for looking! I'll have to go see. I've got that Tokina f/2.8 11-16zoom, but I didn't know there were a couple of different versions. Would love to see the comparisons with the Samyang. feel free to drop a photo in this thread if you'd like.

Bloke Loc: Waynesboro, Pennsylvania

Neat! I like the lighthouse one, a real landmark to 'tie' the photo to. I remember getting burnt to a crisp there 20-some years ago. It was a nice cloudy day, and I spent it reading a book on a quiet beach. Where I come from (North of England), you do *not* get sunburn through the ever-present clouds. Who knew?

CraigFair Loc: Santa Maria, CA.

Nice work Mrova and welcome to the APF.
You have come a long ways just in the week you've been shooting the Milky Way.
I hope you don't mind I tweaked one of the JPEG's you posted.
The composition is downright good. I just tried to bring out more stars and the fire in Lightroom.
I personally shoot at f/2.8 or f/3.2 and an ISO of 800 or less. I find it helps reduce the noise some what.
Don't worry if your RAW files come out a little darker. There is still plenty to work with.

Mrova's Shot Retouched

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hettmoe Loc: Rural ND

mrova, Those are real nice😀

Albuqshutterbug Loc: Albuquerque NM

Welcome to the group.
Very nice work.
:thumbup: :thumbup:

mrova Loc: Chesterfield, VA

CraigFair wrote:

I hope you don't mind I tweaked one of the JPEG's you posted. The composition is downright good. I just tried to bring out more stars and the fire in Lightroom.

Thanks Craig! Looks great. What did you do this touch-up in? I use LR4 and still have lots to learn...and I'm trying to learn that new Affinity Photo software. Thanks again!

mrova Loc: Chesterfield, VA

hettmoe wrote:

mrova, Those are real nice😀

Thank you!

mrova Loc: Chesterfield, VA

Albuqshutterbug wrote:

Welcome to the group. Very nice work.
:thumbup: :thumbup:

Thanks for the welcome shutterbug!

Desert Gecko Loc: desert southwest, USA

mrova wrote:

Thanks Craig! Looks great. What did you do this touch-up in? I use LR4 and still have lots to learn...and I'm trying to learn that new Affinity Photo software. Thanks again!

I realize your question was not directed at me, but if I may, I learned a lot from a YouTube tutorial by Serge Ramelli. He shows how to stitch together multiple images in Photoshop also, but you can just skip that part to see how he really brings out the MW in Lightroom:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DKyaoVIA8Oo

And here's another I just stumbled upon that I haven't yet watched. I'll probably give it a try and follow it next time I go out.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ffvS-g2cajM

mrova Loc: Chesterfield, VA

Desert Gecko wrote:

I realize your question was not directed at me, but if I may, I learned a lot from a YouTube tutorial by Serge Ramelli. He shows how to stitch together multiple images in Photoshop also, but you can just skip that part to see how he really brings out the MW in Lightroom:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DKyaoVIA8Oo

And here's another I just stumbled upon that I haven't yet watched. I'll probably give it a try and follow it next time I go out.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ffvS-g2cajM

Thank you Gecko! I'll check that out!