The Sky Tonight

[princer7]

Ventured out the Pedernales Falls State Park tonight in hopes to get the telescope aligned for some astrophotography. Finally got the last piece to make it all happen -an LVI autoguider. Unfortunately there was some significant sky glow even with no moon. So a good time to still play with the camera...

This is really my 2nd attempt so some brutal honesty is welcome

10mm 30" f/4.5 ISO 2000


10mm 30" f/3.5 ISO 1600


10mm 20" f/3.5 ISO 1600

[Stargazer77517]

Captured quite a few stars.
The first has potental, just too bright on the tree and forground, distracts from to over all shot.

the second and third really has no subject/composition. Needs something to focus on. The clouds look nice but to me just isnt enough. As a comparison, look at TJAverys work in a thread a bit farther down. he uses the Milky Way, a ranch sign, or as in the first, a tree to give forground intrest.

The good is the focus and exposure. You did well with this..

These are just my thoughts and what I would be trying to acomplish. I am in no way an expert.

[princer7]

Thank you, Fred. It was definitely a learning experience out there. Should have arrived before dark and brought my headlamp light to aid in finding good composition. Fumbling around in complete darkness and getting blinded by the little LED flashlight was not pleasant. Live View did not work well for this and viewing throught the eyepiece was difficult.

I am headed out towards Sonora today in hopes of getting better dark skies. Really would like to get the MilkyWay - there was too much glow last night.

[Stargazer77517]

Yep I know of what you speak. We were in Junction last weekend, I went to the State park ( after dark like you) there in hopes of some star shooting, clear skys, perfect conditions and I failed....... badly, LOL Forgot and left the camera in spot metering from earlier in the day...Nothing but black
Good luck and Id be interested in seeing what you come up with.

[Todd Lambert]

I like em, especially the first. Although I agree the tree is probably a touch too hot.

When exposing for foreground elements, it's amazing how very little light it takes.

As for dark viewfinders, man... I can totally relate! It's VERY tough to get composition right when you can't see a damn thing!

[princer7]

Went to Sonora over the weekend. Too much wind on Saturday night for using the telescope most of the night. There were a few astronomy folks out there so no light painting, just sillouettes. This is the next attempt from the camera...

Canon 7D and 10-22mm at 10mm, f/3.5, ISO 2000, and 25 seconds

[Stargazer77517]

Originally Posted by princer7

Went to Sonora over the weekend. Too much wind on Saturday night for using the telescope most of the night. There were a few astronomy folks out there so no light painting, just sillouettes. This is the next attempt from the camera...

Canon 7D and 10-22mm at 10mm, f/3.5, ISO 2000, and 25 seconds

Spot on focus. Nice and sharp points of lights.

[Todd Lambert]

Looks great!

[gracie.pinay]

Beautiful!

[princer7]

Thank you Fred, Todd, and Gracie

Going to be heading to Big Bend next week. Really hoping to get more practice there.

[jeffkohn]

The first shot I think the light-painting on the tree is pretty cool, but I could do without so much light on the foreground grass. I think it would be pretty cool if the tree almost had a glow to it, being brighter than the grass around it. Might be difficult to achieve depending on the type of lighting you were using though.

2nd & 3rd shots you captured a nice sky, I like the wispy clouds moving through the starry sky. I think you've got too much solid black foreground though, just a little sliver to anchor the bottom without weighing down the image too much would be ideal. Also for this kind of shot the stronger any silhouette shapes on the horizon, the better.