Korhag

I took this tonight with my the Samyang 14mm f2.8 with 30 seconds of exposure at ISO 1600, gutted as the right 25% of the image had a horrid red lens glare which I cropped, but made some adjustments in Lightroom to draw out some detail.

7 hours ago, SStanford said:

Lovely images, especially impressive without tracking! 

This book goes into some detail about glare reduction in image processing. 

Out of curiosity, what is light pollution like in your area? Do you know what your Bortle rating is? 

S. 

Thanks for the recommendation, I will take a look at that book! 

According to https://www.lightpollutionmap.info/ I sit right between a Bortle Class 4 and 5 area. 

After a bit of a break, I am back with another shot. I have invested in a tracking mount which is on the way, and have a bit of a list of equipment to procure over the next month or two! 

I have modified the camera-setup and have moved on to a Nikon D750. This was at ISO 800 with a 50mm F1.8g lens for 15 seconds, about the maximum I could tolerate before trailing. Significant glare though!

Took the last few DSS stacked exposures with my Sony SLT-A58 before selling it on the bay for a Nikon D5300 (Looking to pick up a Samyang 14mm f2.8 lens for a bit more wide-angle versatility soon). Not had a chance to use the Nikon yet due to shift work sadly, but eager to get out and use it.

Thanks for the suggestions on the book. Will add that to the Christmas list. ?

The light pollution is not the 'worst' it could be (25 miles or so west of London). There are a few rural dark spots that are quite nice within 50 miles of where I live towards the south-west, so when the time comes I will venture out there!

Thank you, everybody, for all the welcome messages

Not my first post, but really happy I found SGL. This is the to start the astrophotography journey and get out under the stars. There have been few interests that have drawn my interests as much as this and there are so many parts which appeal to me. The wonders of the unknown, photography and technology to make it all happen. Learned quite a bit from reading member posts/guides. My ambition is to one day start targeting specific nebula/constellations and objects and factor in telescopes.

I suppose as a mark of the start of my journey here is my first ever starscape. Nothing special but I had taken the same shot with different settings the previous night, so it is interesting to see the difference.

ISO 3200, F1.7 50mm Minolta prime lens + Sony SLT-A58 - 6 x 8-second exposures stacked in DSS with moderate post-processing with PS. (a First foray into the art of stacking). So So many possibilities! ? Didn't do any dark/off-set frames but in due course....

One small step...