My Astrophotography

[PhotoShootGC]

Hello!

I am new to this page and would like to greet you with couple of my photos!
I am a begineer to astrophotography so would be amazing if you give me some CC, tell me what I did wrong etc. I really have a lot of area for an imporvement, just need some guidance

I went to the mountains couple days ago, although little did I know there was a Beaver Moon at night hence it was very very light, and couldnt get much out from the stars!

But here some pictures for you.

1.

 

[PhotoShootGC]

2. Part of the milky way. (cant see too much of it as it was just too light and I didnt know how to cope with it )

 

[AlanLichty]

I like the scene - was this taken with the moon out to get the illumination on the rock formations? It's not easy to get Milky Way shots when the moonlight overwhelms the distant stars.

 

[Ben Egbert]

Welcome to the forum and a good way to introduce yourself. We have some very knowledgeable night photo folks here that can provide some great advice.

 

[Kyle Jones]

Not much you can do about an almost full moon when you want to shoot the Milky Way. My desire to capture good star photos has turned me into somewhat of an amateur astronomer. I'll keep track of the Moon phase, location and rise/set times. I'll also keep an eye on the location of the Milky Way core. Photo Pills and Stellarium are my go-to apps. Starting out I'd aim for dark skies (no moon). Once comfortable, you can work in some light from a crescent Moon for the landscape.

 

[JimFox]

As a heads up, the Astro Forum is only for night shots that do not include any ground in the image. The rule of thumb we have come up with is if there is Land in the image, it belongs in the Landscape forum.

Shooting the night sky has a very steep learning curve. You made a good start by getting out and shooting at night, because much of it is all about personal trial and error to improve.

Kyle made some really great comments.

Most often you will learn that the moon is your enemy for shooting the stars or Milky Way if it is larger then 1/4 full. It will wash out the stars and the Milky Way.

So then as Kyle mentioned, it's all about timing. You will want to be watching a moon phase calendar and watching the weather for clear skies to coincide.

I personally like a crescent moon for shooting the Milky Way, as it's just bright enough to light up the ground but not so bright that it washes out all of stars. Timing your shoot though so the moon is low in the sky, either within the first hour of it rising or setting.

The other thing you will find is a lot of light fall off at night. The night sky can feel heavily vignetted with the center much brighter then the edges. You can use the Vignette tool in ACR when converting to help smooth out the sky some. It will brighten the edges of the sky compared to the center. That will help. But sometimes I will use 2 or 3 layer masks on the sky itself that are very feathered to even out the bright/dark of the night sky itself while leaving the stars alone.

So back to your photos. Of your photos here, my favorite is #1. I do think the Blues could be brightened just a bit to even out the sky, but I think the exposure is much more even in it then compared to #2 where the center the sky and ground is too bright.

 

[Mike Lewis]

Welcome to Focal World, and the Astro Photography forum. As Jim mentioned above, these are best posted over in the Landscape forum, which also includes nightscape images like these. But no worries on the initial mis-posting, it is not a big issue in any case.

These are nice shots, with the moonlight that is washing out your sky contrast paying you back a little by giving you so much nice foreground light to work with. I like the first one with the man made lighting contrasting the sky.

Kyle, who is a very accomplished nightscape shooter, has given you a number of excellent tips on things that can take these kind of shots to the next level. Once you have figured out the right time of the lunar cycle and time of night to shoot, finding a composition that is going to work well is the biggest thing. And those apps he mentioned are a great way to figure out where interesting sky features (Milky Way, planets, constellations) can be expected to line up in your shot once you are at your pre-arranged location at your pre-planned time.

Looking forward to both more nightscapes for the Landscape forum as well as some postings appropriate for the Astro forum coming from you in the future!

ML