FenlandPaul

Well, after a few months and several challenges, I’ve finally managed to get this (all but) completed. I decided the easiest way to explain the build was via a video. Hope this helps someone!!

That’s a terrific composition, Paul. I love the orientation of the MW at this time of year and the early starts for it are always bracing! As ever your light painting is 👍👍👍. As for it being the first, it certainly is on SGL! I saw a pic of the core from Cornwall by Aaron Jenkin on Twitter yesterday morning too, so I think it might be a joint first across the UK web! 🤣

Thank you once again for organising, Martin and co. These winning images are stunning!! Especially pleased for @Zummerzet_Leveller who has always encouraged my work!! 🏆🏆🏆

Oooh, that’s nice. 👍

I’ve also heard that about dslrs. All I know is that when I stretch a lot without them I have weird primary coloured streaks in my image, going across a few pixels each, that take quite a while to get rid of afterwards! No idea what it is, but dark frames seem mostly to get rid of them.

I know what you mean about stretching pulling out some horribleness!! Have you tried darks and flats? I know it sounds like a massive faff, but it does allow that little bit more to be pulled out of the data. The gradient plug-in tools in Photoshop really are quite special! I’ve tried Gradient Xterminator and AstroFlatPro - both just do things that can only be explained by black magic!! 🤣🤣

Great image, that. The 6D and 85mm Samyang fit Orion in really nicely. Out of interest, did you find you have much CA with the Samyang? Mine seemed to struggle a lot with fringing - can all be processed out but a little annoying! What challenges have you been having with the 6D? We have very similar setups so keen to hear. I’ve not taken mine to the limit on deep sky yet. As you know, I love it for Astro landscapes.

That’s fantastic! Super bit of artwork and well worth the effort put in!

Ha ha! Fantastic, Paul - I think it works really well. The natural starglow is superb - always the best way to get the effect, it’s just a shame it can’t be switched on and off! Incredibly envious of your locations. Might have to make a trip next time we’re up with my folks across the border in Co Durham.

Beautiful. What a lovely windmill!! Terrific shot. 🤩

Love it, Paul. That bridge does cry out for a selfie!!

Wow, what an opportunity! Thanks for sharing.

Tom that’s awesome. Completely agree with Olly about the sky / horizon transition. So atmospheric. 👌

Lovely images - another vote for the top one here!!

Congratulations, Martin! And great video - stunning location too. I’m off to Senja in Norway in the Autumn and hope to be able to capture a lot of aurora then - can’t wait!

Completely agree! Clouds can really add to a widefield image. These are beautiful. 👌

And an entry for category 2 (unusual for me not to include a foreground!!) 📷 Canon 6D (modified) with Samyang 85mm f/1.4 lens at f/2.8 on SKywatcher StarAdventurer tracker 🔧 120x 90s + 77x30s + 6x30s with Kase Starglow filter at ISO800 🎞 Each set stacked in DSS and edited in PS, LR and Starnet++

So many beautiful images here! An entry for Category 1. Orion and the Wicken Fen wind pump. 📷 Canon 6D (astro-modded) with Samyang 24mm f/1.4 lens at f/2 (sky) and f/4 (foreground) on a SKywatcher Star Adventurer tracker 🔧 Foreground 1x98s. Sky 14x60s (5 of which used a Kase Starglow filter). All at ISO800 🎞 Sky stacked in Sequator. Edited in LR and PS.

Just after new year, we had the first clear night in what seemed like an age. For a while I'd wanted to capture a tracked shot of Orion behind the beautiful wind pump at Wicken Fen nature reserve in Cambridgeshire. There's a degree of light pollution in the SSW from that location, so I knew Barnard's Loop would be a challenge, but I definitely wanted to capture some of the brighter nebulosity in and around Orion. I'm quite pleased with the result, but I'd like to put it on record that windmill sails are second only to tree branches in the list of attractive Fenland foregrounds that are a pig to edit! 😂 📷 Canon 6D (astro-modded) with Samyang 24mm f/1.4 lens at f/2 (sky) and f/4 (foreground) on a SKywatcher Star Adventurer tracker 🔧 Foreground 1x98s. Sky 14x60s (5 of which used a Kase Starglow filter). All at ISO800 🎞 Sky stacked in Sequator. Edited in LR and PS. Hope you like it. Comments, recommendations and observations welcome!

Gorgeous, Paul. The sky looks fantastic and your light painting is just out of this world. I do like these compressed shots. I’ve got one planned on my local windmill from 1km away with the Orion Nebula at 200mm, but I need to bag it in the next couple of weeks or it rises too early.

I love using the easternmost dish of the One Mile Telescope at the Mullard Radio Observatory near Cambridge as a foreground subject - I really like the silhouette it creates. In early December I captured Orion over it, between rain showers. It was my first time out for near a month, so it was incredibly cathartic! 📷 Canon EOS 6D (astro-modified) with Canon 50mm f/1.8 lens at f/2.8 🔧 12x 10s exposures at IS)3200 with Kase / Alyn Wallace Starglow filter for sky (1x30s without filter for foreground) 🎞 Stacked in Sequator; edited in Lightroom & Photoshop Hope you enjoy!

A couple of weeks before Christmas I met up with another nightscaper to show him one of my local spots here in the Fens. It was a lot of fun spending the night sharing stories and finding compositions. We spent quite a bit of time on this subject, a lovely gnarly tree that was lit initially by the setting moon (Orion pic) and then some light painting (Plough pic). It seems like it’s been cloudy ever since though!

You guys are getting a helluva show down there! Lovely images. 👍

Awesome, Paul. Look how wonderfully dark that sky is! 🤩

Beautiful Paul. Just a magical scene. I’ve been completely clouded out this whole week - a proper thick Fen fog has descended and there was no hope of catching the moon rise.