Milkyway from Crete...

[JB80]

So I finally managed to get the Polarie out to some dark skies and also managed to capture my first Milkyway images and I'm happy with the preliminary results.

Any feedback and advice is welcome and asked for as this is the first time I have attempted to process this type of picture.

This was just a set of 10, 130 second exposures, f/3.5, ISO1600 and at 18mm.

It was cropped due to some obnoxious and uneccessary olive oil farm lighting that crept in to the bottom of the pic.

That you'll see in another pic I will post, it seriously ruined a potentially stunning photo.

No darks unfortunately, do you think I could get away with taking some darks now and stacking them in?

There is loads of red noise in the image I guess due to the high ISO and long exposure?

Maybe it's too orange? I dont know, I like the look of it but do people think the colours are alright?

I'd like to bring more colour and maybe give spikes to a couple of the brighter stars too as soon as I figure that bit out. Maybe I'll just get Noels Actions.

Jarrod.

[SamAndrew]

Looks excellent you could take darks now provided you take them at a similar temperature.

I just got back from Crete last night; The sky was very good, nice to be able to see the milky way for a change

I'll have to make a tracking mount for my camera for next time !

[JB80]

Thanks.

That's what I was thinking, if I could get near the same temerature it could be worth a go. Never know until I try any way and seeing the daytime temp is less than the night temp in Crete I might have to pop the heating on(who am I kidding, the heating hasn't been off yet:p).

We got back on Saturday morning, it's an amazing place. If we ever go back I'll be chasing darker skies still and less moon, the full moon was nice though.

[todd8137]

Very nice if you happy with the color so should evey one else,

Pat

[bm1980]

Very nice, i would love to see the image after adding a few darks to reduce the hot pixels

Regards

Ben

[JB80]

Very nice if you happy with the color so should evey one else,

Pat

That's true, having a look at other MW pics there seem to be lots of different variations, I don't think there is a set rule with it.

I know when I was processing it the copper colours seemed to show the clouds more so I went with that. I'll probably re-work it anyway just to see the difference.

Very nice, i would love to see the image after adding a few darks to reduce the hot pixels

Regards

Ben

I'll get around to that and post the results here when I do. I have no idea why I didn't take any at the time, I know better than that I just think I was over excited about being able to capture the milkyway.

[todd8137]

Just remove the orange color cast or had a few darks same speed iso ect

[JB80]

This one is not as extreme with the colour.

[squeaky]

magic!

I had a quick play with your original and got this...

[themos]

So, you didn't go up to the Nida Plateau, then? The local University have an observatory there http://skinakas.physics.uoc.gr/en/

[JB80]

I had a quick play with your original and got this...

That's a nice effect, I really need to find a spare couple of hours to try a few different things.

You really managed to bring out more detail.

So, you didn't go up to the Nida Plateau, then? The local University have an observatory there http://skinakas.physics.uoc.gr/en/

Unfortunately not.

I did want to go for a drive there, at the very least just to have a look as they didn't have any open days but we were kept fairly busy as it was.

[squeaky]

That's a nice effect, I really need to find a spare couple of hours to try a few different things.

You really managed to bring out more detail.

TBH I thought your second attempt was better.

Thing is - I "think" I did slightly better with the "nebulous" bits - but your second one has far better star resolutions in those areas. If we could get something half way between the two it should be pretty darn good!

[bm1980]

This one is not as extreme with the colour.

This is the best edit, top work

Regards

Ben

[Viv]

Jarrod - that is a brilliant image !

Really looking forward to more ..................

[Anweniel]

Lovely I bet our native galaxy looks splendid from the outside looking in as it looks sublime from the inside out! Shame the tragic LP here scuppers any real view of it. Thanks for sharing

[Cath]

Lovely images!

I so wish our skies were clear enough for that kind of image.

[laser_jock99]

Lovely images!

I so wish our skies were clear enough for that kind of image.

It's possible from a dark sky site- we just don't get the weather here!

[Andrewsean1985]

Gorgeous!

[JB80]

Thank you all for the nice comments.

I'm still yet to try a couple of things but will post anything interesting here.

Really looking forward to more ..................

I'm already thinking about a small weekend away somewhere closer to home, hopefully the weather will play ball.

[JB80]

OK, so I tried Baz's tutourial that he posted today on this stack and it had some slightly different setting as to how I had been using DSS so I gave it a go.

I think it has made a difference to the original stack somewhat. Possibly even slightly less noisy but not much.

Still I'm certain there is more to get out of processing these I just don't know how.

Anyway the first one is a stack of RAWS and then as his tut used jpegs I stack them as well and that is the second pic.

They both pop a bit more and I'm happier with the colour as I did very little in PS.

Also another question, are the mishaped stars to the right due to field rotation and whats the best way to fix this?

[JB80]

Here are a couple more from the same night but less exposures were used. It's essentially the same region but these ones have the benefit of not having the LP creep in like the last ones.

I don't know to be honest, my eyes hurt I've been looking at milky way pics too long today.

Anyway, the first one is 4 minutes 42 and second pic 8 min12.