The Milky Way and the sunrise
Jul 30, 2021 21:27:26 #
Jul 31, 2021 01:27:35 #
There certainly is a significant difference between what you see in the small image versus the download. In the small image, the fence looked like a series of dashed lines. In the download, I was blown away by the quality of the fence and field in the image, how nicely you captured the light from the MW providing reflecting off the fence rails and I also loved the angularity of the composition. Super great job. The MW on the other hand appears too muted in the small image but in the download it dominates the image. As an astroimager myself, I'd like to offer a few suggestions for the next time you have a great opportunity to put these subjects together in an image that appears to have been taken under some very dark skies. I envy your access to dark skies!
1. Your stars are egg-shaped. Shorten your exposure times and boost ISO a bit. Use the 500 rule to estimate the shutter speed to use. The 500 rule provides a very quick and dirty estimation of the shutter speed that should be used to ensure sharp stars. Working above the calculated shutter speed will cause egg-shaped or tailing stars. Working at or below it should give you pinpoint stars.
For full-frame cameras you simply divide 500 by the focal length of the lens. For example if you use a 24 mm lens: 500/24 = 20.8 s so round down to a 20 s exposure. If there isn't a 20 s setting, round down to the next lowest shutter speed. For a crop sensor divide 500 by the focal length of the lens multiplied by the crop sensor value. For a Cannon 7DMII and a 24 mm lens the calculation is 500/(24 x 1.6) = 13 s exposure. Again round down to the next available shutter speed if needed.
Something I find helpful is to base your exposure time on one of 3 rules: the 600, 500 and 400 rules. The 600 rule is useful when imaging objects high in the sky that are almost directly overhead (roughly at 70º - 90º) The 500 rule works best for objects from 30º - 70º. The 400 rule is useful for objects from the horizon to about 30º.
A more accurate calculation of the shutter speed that should be used to ensure nice round stars is the following:
(35 x Apeture / 30 x pixel pitch) / focal length = shutter speed in seconds. Where pixel pitch in µm = (physical width of camera sensor in mm x 1000) / #pixels in width of the sensor.
2. Photograph the foreground at an exposure that is pleasing to you. Do the same for the MW and combine the images in Photoshop. Even better is to take a number of images of the MW (10 - 50) and stack them and combine them into a single image to increase the signal-to-noise ratio of the MW as compared to the background. That will also provide more detail to the MW in the combined image. Stacking can be done in Photoshop. There is also a free program used by astroimagers called Deep Sky Stacker that works very well.
3. With the exception of comets, auroras and light domes off in the distance, the color green basically doesn't exist in the dark skies above. Your MW has an abundance of green. Processing the green out would make the MW much more realistic and pleasing. You might try adjusting the temperature and tone to achieve a better color balance to accomplish that. Additionally, you might consider balancing the brightness of the MW in relation to the landscape because the MW overpowers some really nice work on the foreground, at least in my option. You can try tweaking the exposure, contrast, shadows and highlights to accomplish this.
Thank you for posting the download as it's in a different world compared to the small image. These are simply my opions about things you might want to consider. I hope something I wrote is useful to you or someone else who reads this.
Best wishes,
Jay
1. Your stars are egg-shaped. Shorten your exposure times and boost ISO a bit. Use the 500 rule to estimate the shutter speed to use. The 500 rule provides a very quick and dirty estimation of the shutter speed that should be used to ensure sharp stars. Working above the calculated shutter speed will cause egg-shaped or tailing stars. Working at or below it should give you pinpoint stars.
For full-frame cameras you simply divide 500 by the focal length of the lens. For example if you use a 24 mm lens: 500/24 = 20.8 s so round down to a 20 s exposure. If there isn't a 20 s setting, round down to the next lowest shutter speed. For a crop sensor divide 500 by the focal length of the lens multiplied by the crop sensor value. For a Cannon 7DMII and a 24 mm lens the calculation is 500/(24 x 1.6) = 13 s exposure. Again round down to the next available shutter speed if needed.
Something I find helpful is to base your exposure time on one of 3 rules: the 600, 500 and 400 rules. The 600 rule is useful when imaging objects high in the sky that are almost directly overhead (roughly at 70º - 90º) The 500 rule works best for objects from 30º - 70º. The 400 rule is useful for objects from the horizon to about 30º.
A more accurate calculation of the shutter speed that should be used to ensure nice round stars is the following:
(35 x Apeture / 30 x pixel pitch) / focal length = shutter speed in seconds. Where pixel pitch in µm = (physical width of camera sensor in mm x 1000) / #pixels in width of the sensor.
2. Photograph the foreground at an exposure that is pleasing to you. Do the same for the MW and combine the images in Photoshop. Even better is to take a number of images of the MW (10 - 50) and stack them and combine them into a single image to increase the signal-to-noise ratio of the MW as compared to the background. That will also provide more detail to the MW in the combined image. Stacking can be done in Photoshop. There is also a free program used by astroimagers called Deep Sky Stacker that works very well.
3. With the exception of comets, auroras and light domes off in the distance, the color green basically doesn't exist in the dark skies above. Your MW has an abundance of green. Processing the green out would make the MW much more realistic and pleasing. You might try adjusting the temperature and tone to achieve a better color balance to accomplish that. Additionally, you might consider balancing the brightness of the MW in relation to the landscape because the MW overpowers some really nice work on the foreground, at least in my option. You can try tweaking the exposure, contrast, shadows and highlights to accomplish this.
Thank you for posting the download as it's in a different world compared to the small image. These are simply my opions about things you might want to consider. I hope something I wrote is useful to you or someone else who reads this.
Best wishes,
Jay
Jul 31, 2021 12:27:10 #
Gallimaufry
Loc: Denver, CO
Since my fence and milky way image appears so much better in download format, I am reattaching my barn and milky way photo with download enabled so you can see how it is really supposed to look also. Meant to do this to begin with, but forgot to check the box.
Jul 31, 2021 12:29:01 #
Gallimaufry wrote:
Have to split these up, or I'll exceed max post size. Can't post sunrise--it looks awful in preview. And hopefully, this fence and the milky way will look better in the download.
Stunningly beautiful in download!! Well done!
Rob
Aug 1, 2021 07:41:24 #
Aug 1, 2021 11:36:47 #
Aug 2, 2021 15:12:53 #
Aug 2, 2021 18:50:14 #
If you want to reply, then register here. Registration is free and your account is created instantly, so you can post right away.