Hello,
"This was my first attempt of astrophotography."
PhotoGerry, not bad for a first timer, 
matter of fact it's really nice, Good job.
"Here are the settings for my photo. Manual mode, exposure 25 s, aperture F4.0, ISO Auto."
You did not mention what FL you used. If you were on the 24mm side your exposure is beginning to be in the too long area. If you were on the 105mm side your exposure was way too long. Ditch the auto ISO and set it at 1600 or 3200.
Set the lens to 24mm and infinity. Your settings should look like this, 24mm, f4, 20 sec., ISO 1600 or very similar. That will get you in the ball park.
Mirror lock up is not important with shots like this and a 15-20-25 second exposure. Slight vibrations although not desired won't likely show up either. However, you can't do anything that moves the aiming point of the camera or tripod.
Here is a shot with a 300mm lens. ESO 1DX, 300mm, f4, 8 sec., ISO 1600. As the FL increases and the time decreases any movement or vibration or wind can have an effect on the shot. You begin to see star trails in this shot.
Clouds and the Moon can make cool photos. This is a four shot pano of the comet and lake.
EOS 1DX, 24mm, f4, 15 sec., ISO 1600. Now you want to talk about camera movement, shooting a pano relies on camera movement and a lot of it.
Nice comet shot Mr. Biggs! I'm primarily a bird, insect, and flower photographer but I have tried a couple of times to get some sky shots. I used high ISO, faster shutter speeds, and the brightness and unsharp mask adjustments in DPP 4 on the RAW files.
I caught Jupiter at opposition last year and this past winter when the skies were clear here in north Florida, I tried to get the Orion Nebula. Considering my equipment, they turned out as expected, but not terrible.
These were taken with an EOS 5D mark IV and EF 100-400mm L II lens. I used the EF 1.4 II extender on the Jupiter shot.
1) Jupiter and its four largest moons: 560mm (100-400L II w/1.4 II extender), ISO 200, f/8, Tv mode - 1/3sec., on tripod and used 10 sec. timer. I was able to use a low ISO because Jupiter, IIRC, was -4ish luminosity. EDIT - Cropped 80%.
2) The Orion Nebula: 400mm, ISO3200, Tv mode - 0.8sec., f/5.6, on tripod and used 10 sec. timer. EDIT - Cropped 50%.
@PhotoGerry wrote:FloridaDrafter, have you tried Saturn and its rings with your set up. I have the same lens (EF100-400 LII) with the 1.4 extender and hope to give it a try if it ever clears up here at night.
FG
No, I haven't tried Saturn but might give it a try this month or August, provided I get decent conditions. Saturn reached opposition July 21st, 2020 at magnitude +.8 but will still be that bright in the first half of August. The cool thing about Saturn, at this time, is its rings will be at an angle that make them brighter (the Seeliger effect). Jupiter, in the same time frame (and not far from Saturn in the sky), will be at magnitude -2.7. If you don't understand "magnitude", the higher the number, the dimmer the object appears, i.e., +4 is dimmer than -4. I am an astronomy enthusiast but mostly study "deep sky" objects like nebula, galaxies, star clusters, etc. I researched astrophotography, but it's just too expensive for my budget. Where I live (northeast Florida), the best time to shoot both planets is between 1 and 3 a.m. because they are at their highest points in the night sky and there is less atmosphere to shoot through. That is the time that I edit photos, so I am up, but usually don't feel like dragging my equipment out in the yard, LOL. Part lazy and part knowing I won't get the results I want.
I hope you get a chance to shoot Saturn, and if you have success please update us here
FD
It is *much* easier to do these shots if you have a tracking head. I use a Losmandy StarLapse, but Losmandy doesn't make that head anymore (it's basically the right-ascension drive from their GM8 equatorial mount -- used for astronomy -- adapted to fit on a photo tripod and hold a camera instead of holding a telescope.
These days the popular models are either
- Sky Watcher "Star Adventurer" head
- iOptron "Sky Guider Pro" head
Both have good reputation. Both are rated to hold 11 lbs (5kg). Both companies *also* make a lightweight version that holds 5.5 lbs (2.5kg) but I don't recommend those ... they seem a bit weak to me and the cost savings isn't worth the frustration.
Expect to spend around $400 USD for one.
A nice sturdy tripod is also needed. If you're a passionate photographer, you probably already have one (or more) of those. I tell people "you want a tripod that is so heavy you'll need to see your chiropracter the next day". That's an exagerration of course... but the idea gets through. Cheap lightweight tripods are too wobbly for long exposure shots.
Just a couple of examples of long exposure images done on a tracking head:
The comet is a single 5-minute exposure using a Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM III at 200mm on a Canon 60Da.
This region in Orion is an HDR with some images as long as 2 minutes, others as short as 3 seconds. (This is because the Orion nebula has a very bright core but faint outer areas of nebulosity. An image that captures the faint nebulosity blows out the core.)
This was shot using a Canon 135mm f/2L USM on a Canon 60Da. The red sensitivity of a Canon 60Da is *much* stronger than a typical camera (it's the 'astrophotography' edition of the 60D). A typically camera has internal filters which partially block the light to create a camera where the sensor mimics the sensitivity of the human -- so your pictures resemble what you saw. An astrophotography camera tries to capture as many photons as possible... the internal filter is changed to a IV/IR block filter but it doesn't try to trim the reds down like a traditional digital camera. It is roughly 4-5 times more sensitive to those red wavelengths than a typical camera.
