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First Milky Way Attempt
Apr 13, 2021 18:57:50   #
ImageCreator Loc: Northern California
 
Got up at 3 am this morning to try and capture the milky way over our local mountains. Weather forecast was for a new moon and clear skies.
Camera used is a Canon 5D3 and an L lens 16-35.
Exposure is manual at 25 seconds, f/4 and ISO 6400 with custom WB of 3800.
Editing was first in Adobe ACR, then Luminar 4 followed with NIK.
It looks like I could lower the exposure to between 15-20 seconds and work on perfecting noise elimination.

Any thoughts from this forum?


(Download)


(Download)

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Apr 13, 2021 19:39:26   #
PixelStan77 Loc: Vermont/Chicago
 
ImageCreator wrote:
Got up at 3 am this morning to try and capture the milky way over our local mountains. Weather forecast was for a new moon and clear skies.
Camera used is a Canon 5D3 and an L lens 16-35.
Exposure is manual at 25 seconds, f/4 and ISO 6400 with custom WB of 3800.
Editing was first in Adobe ACR, then Luminar 4 followed with NIK.
It looks like I could lower the exposure to between 15-20 seconds and work on perfecting noise elimination.

Any thoughts from this forum?


Two Outstanding MilkyWay images for your first attempt.

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Apr 13, 2021 19:54:08   #
Craigdca Loc: California
 
Yes, great photos

I liked Algol’s TUTORIAL: Make better astro photos in Light polluted skies at the beginning of this section which worked for stars in my area, but I haven’t tried it on the Milky Way. It takes about 15 minutes the first time and I liked the results. I haven’t worked out masking foreground tree branches though.

https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-80992-1.html

Where he listed
Next go to PANEL BIN and under Layers, select Difference.
I used the layer blend mode in CS3.

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Apr 13, 2021 20:07:07   #
gsmith051 Loc: Fairfield Glade, TN
 
Nicely done. The downloads really show up the Milky Way and helps a lot.

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Apr 13, 2021 20:32:32   #
PoppieJ Loc: North Georgia
 
Nice composition, well done for a first attempt. That's the good news. You have star trails, so lower your time to maybe 15 seconds. That is going to create more noise in your picture, so try shooting multiple copies and then blend them to help get rid of the noise. What you may want to think about is to shoot the landscape separate at a lower iso and long shutter speed maybe 800 and 3 to 5 minutes then treat the stars in a stack and then combine the stars with the landscape. Remember when you are shooting at night that you have to try different things to overcome the limitations of your equipment. Low light nighttime shooting really makes for challenging shooting. Good luck and keep at it. It is worth the effort.

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Apr 13, 2021 21:06:33   #
ImageCreator Loc: Northern California
 
PoppieJ wrote:
Nice composition, well done for a first attempt. That's the good news. You have star trails, so lower your time to maybe 15 seconds. That is going to create more noise in your picture, so try shooting multiple copies and then blend them to help get rid of the noise. What you may want to think about is to shoot the landscape separate at a lower iso and long shutter speed maybe 800 and 3 to 5 minutes then treat the stars in a stack and then combine the stars with the landscape. Remember when you are shooting at night that you have to try different things to overcome the limitations of your equipment. Low light nighttime shooting really makes for challenging shooting. Good luck and keep at it. It is worth the effort.
Nice composition, well done for a first attempt. ... (show quote)


I was thinking of using the brush tool in ACR to lighten up the foreground. Wouldn't that work, too?

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Apr 13, 2021 21:27:44   #
PoppieJ Loc: North Georgia
 
ImageCreator wrote:
I was thinking of using the brush tool in ACR to lighten up the foreground. Wouldn't that work, too?


it would but it would enhance the noise. The best way to minimize the noise is with a longer shutter, try it sometime just to see what I mean

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Apr 13, 2021 21:55:47   #
CindyHouk Loc: Nw MT
 
Great shots! I have wanted to try this but just can't seem to get my butt out of bed at that time of the morning!!

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Apr 14, 2021 06:24:23   #
Orphoto Loc: Oregon
 
Looks to me like you did not quite nail the focus. Keep in manual mode and in live view adjust for smallest possible sized dots in the stars. Especially with wide lenses this proves challenging even at high magnification.

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Apr 14, 2021 06:54:28   #
J-SPEIGHT Loc: Akron, Ohio
 
ImageCreator wrote:
Got up at 3 am this morning to try and capture the milky way over our local mountains. Weather forecast was for a new moon and clear skies.
Camera used is a Canon 5D3 and an L lens 16-35.
Exposure is manual at 25 seconds, f/4 and ISO 6400 with custom WB of 3800.
Editing was first in Adobe ACR, then Luminar 4 followed with NIK.
It looks like I could lower the exposure to between 15-20 seconds and work on perfecting noise elimination.

Any thoughts from this forum?

Nice ones

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Apr 14, 2021 07:42:13   #
Baysitter11 Loc: Cincinnati
 
I think you did a wonderful job. These are great images.

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Apr 14, 2021 09:18:56   #
Wilderness Images Loc: Apache Junction, AZ.
 
ImageCreator wrote:
Got up at 3 am this morning to try and capture the milky way over our local mountains. Weather forecast was for a new moon and clear skies.
Camera used is a Canon 5D3 and an L lens 16-35.
Exposure is manual at 25 seconds, f/4 and ISO 6400 with custom WB of 3800.
Editing was first in Adobe ACR, then Luminar 4 followed with NIK.
It looks like I could lower the exposure to between 15-20 seconds and work on perfecting noise elimination.

Any thoughts from this forum?


That's a couple of nice Milky Way photos you got there. I was out at about the same time here in Apache Junction, Arizona taking shots of the Milky Way above Superstition Mountain. My camera setup was about the same as yours but I'm using the Canon M6 Mark ll with an 18-55 kit lens. This was my first serious outing as I've had numerous failed attempts while shooting with far to much local lights. Good luck on future outings....

Jack Olson

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Apr 14, 2021 11:10:02   #
bwana Loc: Bergen, Alberta, Canada
 
ImageCreator wrote:
Got up at 3 am this morning to try and capture the milky way over our local mountains. Weather forecast was for a new moon and clear skies.
Camera used is a Canon 5D3 and an L lens 16-35.
Exposure is manual at 25 seconds, f/4 and ISO 6400 with custom WB of 3800.
Editing was first in Adobe ACR, then Luminar 4 followed with NIK.
It looks like I could lower the exposure to between 15-20 seconds and work on perfecting noise elimination.

Any thoughts from this forum?

Both great captures for a 1st try!

I prefer the 2nd image simply because of the better stars (color and brightness).

My only suggest would be to maybe apply a bit of Lightroom Clarity slider to 'pop' the main body of the Milky Way.

bwa

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