davew

Thanks Alan. I used to think those big Fujis were really posh I used a Bronica 645 in portrait mode and placed the photos next to each other ! Not the same thing Dave.

Hi, Sorry I've been so long but I went out this afternoon Here now. To answer your question, you are more correct in that the trailing is much reduced. Tooth_dr has done a good job of explaining in the earlier post. To show you the difference at 30 seconds with a 14mm lens I've done two tight and equal crops on the mosaic subs. One looking North and the other South. Note the North stars aren't trailed but the South ones are. Both subs were taken with the same exposure time. This doesn't have a big effect on my laptop screen with a 14mm lens but it will with a longer lens. Not a lot of people believe this ! 😎 Good job I had them close to focus ! Dave.

Hi all, I went out on Saturday night as a last minute idea based on the weather forecast. Unfortunately the moon wanted to play too and was at 50% but hey ho. I notice Daniel-K on another thread say the same thing I was thinking that this is possibly it for the summer, moon or not. The shadows were quite noticeable on the ground and the contrast in the sky very low. I popped up to Glenridding, Ullswater, and found a nice spot. The experiment, from the title, was to make a mosaic from single 30 second exposures ( I can't think why I chose that time ! ) as when pointing North there would be no trailing but to the South there would. I think it worked out ok considering. Once again I've been prevented from getting the Pipe Nebula as it's in the glow of Kendal this time ! Well, I think it's Kendal because it's the only big light source in that direction ! Here we go - Nikon D750, Sigma 14mm lens @ f2.8, ISO 800, 7 x 30 seconds. Processed and assembled in Lightroom. It looks like the dawn is coming up 🤨

I knew that tree would come in handy ! Nice find and shot, Dave

Two bright planets, the Milky Way, Pipe Nebula and a view to die for. You've done it again, Dave.

That's a cut above Danny. Well done mate. That tree might come in useful one day Dave.

Oh thanks Pete. Well worth the effort of getting away from the city. I have a friend who has a theory of why there seems to be more light around and not less as you'd expect. As LED lights are so cheap to install and run, why would people only have one light when they can have two or three for less money ? I see his point I just had a look at Bedfordshire on Google maps and you are well and truly surrounded aren't you ! ? Dave.

No Problem Ciaran. I normally tried to run the actions twice on a copy layer. Then I could fine tune the result by stating with a layer opacity of 50% and then increase or decrease to taste. There seem to be as many ways of doing things as there are people doing them Dave.

That sounds like a plan ! What I'll do is send you a PM later on. Dave

Alan - Image No. 1 for me. If I wanted a star eater I'd buy a camera with it built in ? I think your image is just the job as you originally did it but it's all personal taste of course. There are a few actions you can purchase at a reasonable price - Noel Carboni and Annie's actions. I have used Carboni's actions as I don't have PI and found them excellent, especially Local Contrast Enhance, Space Noise Reduction and of course, Make Stars Smaller. Dave.

Hmmm ... This isn't as easy as it first appears ! A real carrot dangler me thinks It's certainly got me scratching my poor head. Nice challenge, Dave.

Wow. The effort that's gone into that ! That Milky Way looks really good. I also like the way you've got the foreground, mid ground and background all playing a part in the shot. Nice to see you out there, Dave.

Thanks Danny. They look better on this page than they did on the screen All we have to do now is hope for another clear night before summer. Dave.

Once again I need it pointing out to me that light pollution isn't all bad ! You are both right of course and I really ought to chill more After all, one of my images was all light pollution not so long ago. I may have a look at an Optolong clip in filter for more heavily polluted sites but I dither more than a EQ6 on steroids, Dave.

Light pollution can be pretty, that's for sure. It looks ok on the Lake shot and I could have toned it down a bit but if you've got it then flaunt it ! The Lake shot was by far the easiest as I was able to sit on a big rock while the camera did its thing, Dave.

Ok then, you've twisted my arm ? I should do both I suppose and then I'd have the chance to choose. On balance I think you are right. My mate and I were discussing our next venture out together and we are leaning towards Keld on a long range trip or the " Usual " Ribblehead on a shorter trip. Keld is dark Dave.

Oh yes, good of you to mention it. I did try light pollution filters some time ago ( about 10 years ago ! ) and like the effect on long lenses but not over keen on the very wide stuff. I'd have to use a clip in filter because both my lenses don't take screw filters so a try at the more expensive IDAS might help. The sky was VERY bright from Hallin Fell. Nice idea, cheers, Dave.

On Monday night this week A friend and I set off for Hallin Fell in the lake District, just above Ullswater. My only slight concern was the light pollution from Penrith and some of the Hotels on the water's edge as the fashion these days seems to be to set up anti-aircraft lights in the grounds ! Penrith was worse than I thought ? Here's the result from 9x 20 seconds, Nikon Camera, Tamron 15-30 lens @ 19mm and f2.8, ISO 1600. Stacked as usual in Sequator. These were the last few frames from a timelapse I was shooting. There was some mist around. A little disheartened we set off down to St. Peter's church in Martindale which was much darker. The sky still suffered from Penrith but it wasn't too bad. I know I should have tried a bit of light painting but I'm not good enough at it ! Here's two frames processed together. Both Nikon D750 and Sigma 14mm lens. The sky was 25 seconds, ISO 3200 @ f2.5 ( It was supposed to be f2.8 ! ) and the foreground was 2 minutes. As it was a bit windy the trees turned into a nightmare to blend ? Finally off to Glencoyne bridge for the wide open lake view. A bit of light from the hotels at the other end but manageable. Nikon D750, 5 x 25 seconds on the Sigma 14mm @ f1.8, stacked in Sequator ISO 3200. Al in all a very nice night. Hard work me carrying two cameras and two tripods up Hallin Fell but we lived to tell the tale, Dave

I know the gear from Dewcontrol is good quality and his dual controller is only £ 49.00. I don't own one, so can't speak from personal use, but I know a few people who do. The controllers employ the press button method of control rather than the rotating knobs and both channels are independent. Designed and built in the UK if that makes any difference to you. I do know from personal experience that he stands by his products ! Dave.

An excellent post full of really good information and assessment. Thank you. Dave.

I tend to agree that there's no problem repeating things every now and again. Suggestions include mosaics, star trails, Ha, planetary nebula, point and shoot cameras, cameras older than 10 years and keeping in Helen's good books, the sun Dave.

Just an idea Gina but a few mentions from history could go down well. Here's a short list of a few " Names " that might interest you. Once you have those names you can look round for their images. http://www.catchersofthelight.com/catchers/archive#cat-History-of-Astrophotography It's interesting to know how far we've come and that over a hundred years ago they had roughly the same problems we do with this photography lark ! Dave.

Does Annie's put the stars it removes into the memory or just delete them ? You may be able to use the Paste command, if you use Photoshop or similar, to put them back. If it doesn't then you could try layering the starless and processed image over the original image and change the blend to lighten. That should enable the stars to shine through again. Just play around. I bought Straton because it does what I wanted it to do very well and it will also make a separate star layer if you want it to. ( I haven't used it for a while so don't ask me anything technical ) Dave.

At least you now know the site is working so yes, it may be at your end. As to why you're having trouble, I don't know. Sorry, Dave. I've just clicked on the saved app and it loads up ( I already have Straton so I didn't finish the setup )

I've just been on the site and it works fine. I downloaded the app and all seems well. Do you realise that the app just downloads when you press on the download link ? It doesn't redirect to another page. Dave