FenlandPaul

Well, comedy of errors or otherwise, it’s a mighty fine image. 👏

Very obviously the space station - well done!  I would be thrilled if that was my first go!  

Great to have a nova in such a photogenic part of the sky!

This project was more of an experiment, but one that I think has shown some promise.  The idea was to capture a cityscape along with the Milky Way.

That meant that at just gone midnight last night, I crept out of bed and left my home under bortle 4 skies to drive into the centre of Cambridge.  On the drive it occurred to me that it was a rare clear new moon night and I was eschewing reasonably decent back garden skies for the ever-brightening, mucky skies of Cambridge - which I'd estimate is bortle 7.  I have to say I didn't feel like the smartest guy in the car at that point, and I was travelling alone....

But when I arrived at Castle Mound, an old motte just to the north of the city centre, I was pleasantly surprised that I could make out a decent number of stars.  Absolutely no sign of the milky way, but certainly not a starless soup like it can be from some cities.  

I set about taking a series of test exposures at differing ISO and F/ratio to push the histogram as far to the right as I could without blowing out the highlights (at least not by much).  I'd read a bit about some successes a guy had in Singapore using this ETTR ("expose to the right") method, so thought it was worth a try.  There was no sign of the milky way on the back of the camera, so this was very much a a faith exercise.  In the end, I stacked 41 frames of 25s each.  Processing in lightroom with my very basic skills was something of a challenge, but to be honest I'm just thrilled that I managed to pull a clear Milky Way from these sorts of skies.  

📷 Canon 6D mk1 with Samyang 14mm at f/2.8

🔧 41 x 25s exposures at ISO1600 (with 10x 25s dark frames)

🎞 Stacked in Sequator and edited in Lightroom

Anyway, I hope this serves to inspire anyone thinking about attempting nightscapes from heavily light polluted areas.  There's a lot to improve on here, particularly in the editing, but it'll keep me from fearing light pollution in all but the most densely populated areas in the future.  Hope you enjoy - please do let me have your hints, tips and comments.  😊

1 hour ago, Zummerzet_Leveller said:

Lovely images Paul.  Nice cloudy looking milky way, what was causing the light on the sails of the water pump in some of the images?

Thanks Jody.  On the first two, the light was from a setting gibbous moon.  On the star trail, it was some light painting for another (unsuccessful) image I was trying out - so not as even as the moonlit versions.

I've had a couple of outings over the last few weeks to the wonderful Wicken Fen in Cambridgeshire.  These won't win any prizes but have been fun to shoot and the sounds from the nature reserve at night are just sublime.  Enjoy, and as ever please let me have your hints, tips and comments etc!

First, a full Milky Way arch pano over the old wind pump.  This was shot on the night of the Lyrid maximum and there was a fair bit of moonlight interference from the setting gibbous moon.

Secondly, a close-up of the MW core and wind pump on the same night.

Cassiopeia behind the wind pump:

Star trails behind the wind pump:

And finally, a bit of a play with light painting and the Cygnus region of the Milky Way above "Mother", a wicker pavillion that's actually an art installation.  The fog started pouring in off the fen as I compiled this image, and by the time I'd finished I could barely see my hand in front of my face.  I'm looking forward to revisiting this when the core is in a better place to get behind the structure.

Fantastic! Great image, Paul, and very naturally processed.

Also, the original series was definitely the best!

That's a lovely image Jody.  Right up my street!!  The reflections are fantastic.

The levels definitely remind me of here in the Fens - would love to explore them one day.  I frequently drive past on the way to the far south west.

Glad it's not just me to struggles to know where to post nightscape images!  

22 minutes ago, Icesheet said:

I had a look through them, really fantastic stuff. I love the way you highlight your foreground subject. Are you doing all through some form of light painting? I wasn’t sure about light painting but if done right it can really make a photo. 

Thanks - very kind. Lots to learn and I seem to see the faults in them more than the good stuff - I’m sure we’re all like that.

Some of them are light painted and some are simply a result of light skies and editing! I’ve found light painting can create a great effect but it’s not easy to get right. I’ve got a light-painted composition planned soon that I hope will work nicely, but will be the most complex one I’ve done so far.  It’s fun to experiment , and if you don’t like it you can always exclude those frames.

A very good tutor on the subject is Richard Tatti from Australia and his YouTube channel Nightscape Images. 

11 hours ago, Icesheet said:

Thanks for the comments. You’re right they are addictive! I thought it would be a breeze doing this with some deep sky experience but there’s so much more to it than you think. 
 

I’ve lost the darkness now until September so plenty of time to plan. Be good to see some of yours too 👍🏻

Well at least you’ve got some guaranteed sleep for a while! I usually put mine in the “Photography” section of SGL (not sure why!) and they usually have the subject “AstroLandscapes #”.  There are a few recent ones I’ve not yet uploaded, which I may do soon.

Well I think that last edit it my favourite of the bunch - well done! The MW is nicely detailed for an untracked image and you’ve not gone nuts with over-brightening.  My own taste is to have it a little more saturated as I like how it makes horizon glow from lights look, but that’s just taste and yours is definitely a more natural feel.

I also am new to nightscapes but find them quite addictive!!

19 minutes ago, clarkpm4242 said:

Thanks Dave.

I've been 'focusing' on deep sky imaging!  May be out doing a starscape tonight though   cheers

 

Your IFN image is quite remarkable!! 👏 

That’s beautifully composed and executed Dave - really like it. ☺️

We managed a brief escape to West Cornwall this week, the first time I've been to a properly dark site since getting into taking pictures when NEOWISE was around.  Last night I managed to see the Zodiacal Light for the first time with the naked eye, from the old clifftop coastguard lookout at Mayon Cliff, between Sennen Cove and Land End.  Here's an image that also shows Orion, saying farewell for the Spring, Pleiades, Hyades, Mars, Perseus and even the Andromeda Galaxy sneaking in by the flagpole.

Amazing to be out under truly dark skies.  Comments, suggestions and tips welcome.  😊✨📷

For those interested, 14x 8s exposures at ISO 6400 with Canon 6D and Samyang 14mm f/2.8.  Stacked in Sequator and blended with some light-painted foreground shots at f/8 in PhotoShop.

I have both the 1000D (stock) and 450D (Astro-modded). Both great little performers but for my money the 450D has been the better one. Noise is well contained at ISO800, especially if you do darks.

Im fairly new to all of this so I’m sure the considerable experience on here will help you!

To be honest, I'm fairly nervous posting in this section because the quality of images is fantastic! I don't really have a proper deep sky rig, and my usual interest is in widefield and nightscapes.  But as I have a tracker and a small frac, last night I thought I'd have a go at M101.  I was fairly pleased with how the galaxy came out, and the fact that many of the surrounding galaxies are also visible.  But I'm not so keen on the bloated stars, which is something I've often struggled with.  Anyway, here are the details:

• 345x 30s subs (172.5 minutes total)
• 61x darks and 62x flats
• Astro-modded Canon 450D
• Altair Astro Starwave 70ED (420mm f/l)
• Skywatcher StarAdventurer
• Stacked in DSS and cropped and processed in Photoshop.

Would always welcome hints and tips on how I can get more out of a simple setup like this.  Thanks! 😊

3 hours ago, Toaster05 said:

That's the real challenge though isn't it? Anecdotal evidence by trusted sources is hard to come by now which is why I was hopeful someone on here could chime in. Trustpilot etc are way too easy to bulk up with fake positive reviews.

I'm leaning on the "if it's too good to be true" angle on this one. I'll just keep an eye out for a 2nd hand one I think as I don't exactly relish the prospect of taking a punt on £300. 

Thank for the replies.

I bought mine through TecoBuy last year. I’ll admit I was nervous, but ultimately I received a great lens after a few weeks, with reasonable tracking while it was en route, and with no hidden charges / customs etc. So I’ve had a great experience. I believe they’re shipped from Hong Kong.

Since Brexit, I’ve had two lenses delivered used from other countries, and been hit both times with taxes. 🤦‍♂️ 

Cracking image - love it.  You've brought out the depth of "muckiness" in that region really well (something I tried to do a few weeks ago with exactly the same kit), but haven't got close to your level of detail).  

Super image - looks like with skies like that and your latitude, as well as some great locations, you’ll have some fantastic images ahead of you!

Great lens for that sort of work - I enjoyed that, thank you!

Lovely - lots going on in that part of the sky!
 

Glad I’m not the only one whose dithering comprises simply dodgy tracking!

This little fella tumbled very slowly through 13 minutes' worth of my subs on the Hyades a few nights ago.  First time I've made an animation out of this sort of thing.  I was surprised at how slowly it was moving (and a little annoyed, if I'm honest 😂).

Great framing and a super image!

You can join the club on ruined subs due to houses / trees etc. I also recently took all my flats with the lens cap still on 🤦‍♂️

Great colours. 👍

Nice to get the Hyades in there as well! 👍