Share your Astrophotography Photos

[lindam]

Are you a fan of astrophotography? Post your favorite photo you've taken and share the story behind it. Be sure to include the Canon gear you used.

[RobertTheFat]

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@Waddizzle wrote:

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@TheCanon wrote:

How long of an exposure would this type of shot be?  

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Others things to note are the angle of view and the angle to the apparent horizon of the center of axis of rotation, either the North Star or the South Star.  The angle of view isn't very wide, but it isn't very narrow either.  I'd venture to guess that a focal length between 50mm and 200mm was used. 

Furthermore, the polar stars are not as close to the horizon as the shot might seem to suggest.  I'd venture that it was taken at the bottom of a hill, looking up towards a ridgeline of trees at the top of the hill.  There are numerous free applications to help you find the North and South stars once you know your current GPS position, date, and time of day.

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The last I knew, there was no South Star. Has one been discovered while I wasn't paying attention?

[Waddizzle]

"The last I knew, there was no South Star. Has one been discovered while I wasn't paying attention?" 

They do use a reference star to align equitorial mounts in the southern hemisphere.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polar_alignment#Southern_Hemisphere

The star used in the southern hemisphere is not as close to the center of axis of rotation as polaris.  It is sometimes referred to as the Southern Polar Star in some circles, because of how it is used.

[Waddizzle]

"Interesting. I was thinking one long 30min exposure shot would suffice. So you suggest several 1-3 minute exposed shots? What interval between shots do you suggest?" 

The best interval would depend upon the focal lengtth and aperture of your lens.  I forgot to mention f/2.8 in my example with a 14mm lens.  Experiment with it.  That's the fun part of it.  Expect to have several false starts, too.  A lot of the exposure setting also depends upon how much light pollution is at your shooting location, too, both on the ground and in the atmosphere.  Use a lens hood, wihch goes without saying.

[EDIT] Check out this thread....

http://community.usa.canon.com/t5/Announcements/Astrophotography-Techniques/m-p/136350#U136350

It is a link to a great article!

[TheCanon]

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@Waddizzle wrote:

"Interesting. I was thinking one long 30min exposure shot would suffice. So you suggest several 1-3 minute exposed shots? What interval between shots do you suggest?" 

The best interval would depend upon the focal lengtth and aperture of your lens.  I forgot to mention f/2.8 in my example with a 14mm lens.  Experiment with it.  That's the fun part of it.  Expect to have several false starts, too.  A lot of the exposure setting also depends upon how much light pollution is at your shooting location, too, both on the ground and in the atmosphere.  Use a lens hood, wihch goes without saying.

[EDIT] Check out this thread....

http://community.usa.canon.com/t5/Announcements/Astrophotography-Techniques/m-p/136350#U136350

It is a link to a great article!

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Thanks! I have a f/1.8 50mm lens I was thinking about trying. What would be a good lens hood? Can I get one on Amazon?

EDIT: I just saw that each lens has their own hoods. I thought there would be a universal hood that would work on almost any lens. **bleep**.....I'm gaining more equipment by the day!!

[Waddizzle]

"Thanks! I have a f/1.8 50mm lens I was thinking about trying. What would be a good lens hood? Can I get one on Amazon?" 

The hood on the EF 50mm f/1.8 STM is small, that it is almost not worth buying.  It is about 1/4 inch tall, if that much.  I bought one, but I cannot remember where.  May have been from B&H.  I avoid the Amazons and Ebays for anything, except for books.

[ebiggs1]

"I just saw that each lens has their own hoods."

You really don't need a hood for the 50mil.  As a matter of fact, some telescopes don't even have tubes around them.  A word about the 50mill. it isn't all that great and it is pretty long for big or deep sky.  It probably will make 'star trails' all by itself in just one shot!

You really need to get in contact with Tim Campbell.  These guys and me can give you suggestions but he can tell you exactly how to do it.  Try sending him a PM if he doesn't respond or see this thread.

[Waddizzle]

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@ebiggs1 wrote:

"I just saw that each lens has their own hoods."

You really don't need a hood for the 50mil.

You really need to get in contact with Tim Campbell.  These guys and me can give you suggestions but he can tell you exactly how to do it.  Try sending him a PM if he doesn't respond or see this thread.

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No, you really don't need a lens hood for the "nifty fifty" 50 mm lens.  But, a lens hood might be useful for a wider angle lens, like something 20mm or less, with a wide aperture.

There is a pretty good description and explanation of the "Looney 11 Rule" at Wikipedia, too.  But, Tim Campbell has several posts, probably dozens, that explain it more succintly than Wikipedia, though.  His user name is "TCampbell".  Do a search for some of his posts and threads.

[TCampbell]

I'm sure I've posted this same image elsewhere on the forums, but I just noticed this thread so I thought I'd add it to the list.

I shot this image of the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) and companions  (M32 & M110) using a Canon EOS 60Da.

The image was shot through a TeleVue NP101is apochromatic refractor -- a 101mm refractor (that's the aperture size of the objective lens) with a 540mm focal length (f/5.4).   The telescope was mounted on a Losmandy G11 mount.  This shot is the resuult of collecting several 8 minute exposures which were then stacked and ultimately processed to bring out the color (the out of the camera shot nearly looks monochrome - color is very subtle).  This represents a few hours worth of data collection and many more hours of procesing.

A larger version is here:  https://flic.kr/p/AZ1K5j

You can see a sample of what a (mostly) straight out the camera frame looks like here:  https://flic.kr/p/B18eTQ

(I say "mostly" because I slightly adjusted contrast on that image.)

[ebiggs1]

[Waddizzle]

First, and foremost.  I really do not know anything about astrophotography, and still climbing the mountain when it comes to general photography.  Translation.  I have been saving every photo I have taken for years.

I have been backing up photo archives this weekend.  Of course, I ran across photos that I want to piddle and dabble with the settings again.  And, I ran across a few of my early attempts at astrophotography.  

I am 18 miles from Times Square, in NYC.  That means B&H delivers to my door in less than 24 hours.  But, it also means that I have to drive for HOURS, and hours, to find dark sky.  Knowing that, I took some shots in my backyard, anyway.  

i wanted to get a measure of how much light pollution I was facing from my backyard.  On your average summer night, you cannot see any stars in Times Square, due to light pollution.  At my location, we can see many stars, but on a humid night you can barely see any stars, because of light pollution.

The best time to shoot photos is on a clear fall or winter night.  I took some shots three years ago in late November.  My initial reaction had been that all of the talk about light pollution was correct.  But, I ran across this, my first shot, and decided to try to apply some noise reduction techniques that i have learned since I took the photo.

Canon 6D and Rokinon 14mm T3.1.  This was a 20 second exposure, at ISO 1600, with an aperture setting of T3.1, which is approximately f/2.8.  I tried to clean it up, but was somewhat disappointed.  Then, I viewed this shot on my PC without all of the room lights on, and my jaw dropped.