[Pez]

Hawaiian night
iso 200, 1.8F 30' exposure 35mm lense


taken at 1 am the night prior to the harvest moon.



Keck Observatory at sun down. The dot of light you see is Venus.



taken on top of Mount Mauna Kea the night of the full moon, so unfortunately a little noise, but I like it just the same.

[Pez]

Oh and I didn't do any sort of photoshop or even color correction etc. What you see is what you get.

[JohnR]

hey, is that a meteor?

You could actually drop the exposure in the last one - ?

[Pez]

It's a satelite. The exposure adjusted looks like this:

[JohnR]

Hm. Don't get me wrong - those are great shots. But since you mentioned issues with the last one I thought you might want to try some post-processing to bring out what you wanted to show in it. So maybe more than just exposure. For example - and I'm not saying you would want it like this - here's a quick adjustment in Picasa to highlight the structure of the star clouds a bit more (reduced in size so as to hopefully not offend) -



Just an idea - something to perhaps try, that's all

[low.pfile]

....But since you mentioned issues with the last one I thought you might want to try some post-processing to bring out what you wanted to show in it....

Or find the hidden alien face in the clouds! (in JohnR's edit)

cool shots Pez.

[Phil A]

Very cool shots!!

[Pez]

Hm. Don't get me wrong - those are great shots. But since you mentioned issues with the last one I thought you might want to try some post-processing to bring out what you wanted to show in it. So maybe more than just exposure. For example - and I'm not saying you would want it like this - here's a quick adjustment in Picasa to highlight the structure of the star clouds a bit more (reduced in size so as to hopefully not offend) -

[img]

Just an idea - something to perhaps try, that's all

Interesting results. I've got to get better at post processing. Thanks John!

[nathanm]

How long was the exposure?  I'm not sure if the softness comes from the motion of the earth or camera movement, or maybe even focus?

[Pez]

Yes there is motion blur. Very very slow motion blur from the earths rotation, or if you're a flat earther, the stars rotation around the earth.

The exposure was 30 seconds.

[*Scotty*]

There is a cure for that.
Link added  http://www.amazon.com/Orion-Min-EQ-Tabletop-Equatorial-Telescope/dp/B0000XMX8O

Or you can use software to stack multiple short duration exposures adding up the photons to achieve the result of a single very long exposure.
Scotty

[Pez]

 

More info please!

[low.pfile]

scotty. what is that thingamajig called.


SIDE NOTE. Persieds are later this week. I may go look, but I dont have the tripod to shoot properly.

[audioengr]

I guess I'm really spoiled here in central Oregon mountains.  I can see satellites and the space station with the naked eye.  The milky way is really obvious too.  The resort where I live has regulations against any upward facing lights.

The problem is when you go to someones party and then leave at night.  You end-up tripping or running into trees to find your car...

Steve N.

[Wind Chaser]

I too am very fortunate to live just minutes away from the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory, a world class facility for science and technology research related to radio astronomy, which is part of the National Research Council Canada.  Even with the naked eye, on a moonless clear night the view is spectacular right from the side of the road. 

[*Scotty*]

An Equatorial Telescope mount.
Here are some links to sites selling astronomy goodies.

http://www.telescope.com/control/main/

Anacortes Telescope & Wild Bird
ASTRONOMICS.COM

Scotty
 

[nathanm]

I did this one with multiple, in-camera exposures but I am not sure why I didn't get star trails.  My camera won't do over 4 second exposures in one go, but you can do multiple exposures.  I think this was 30 seconds in total.  I suspect a similar result could be gained by stacking the base exposure in Photoshop in Screen mode, but perhaps the sensor does a better job.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nathanmarciniak/1630418056/in/set-72157600278467030/

But if you want clean, pretty looking stars just cheat!  You can use this here brush I created.  Scale it down to like 10 px for starters, spray in a layer, then increase the diameter and lay in a few bigger ones.  In no time flat you'll have yourself a space miracle.

http://nathanmarciniak.com/Star_Brush.zip

[thunderbrick]

Tonight is the peak of the Leonid meteor shower. 

"The moon is always the enemy of meteor showers. The moon will set about 2:40 AM tomorrow morning and twilight will begin around 6. So the best time observe is between 2:40 AM and when the sun starts coming up at 6:00 AM,"

The meteors will come from the southeast.