Couple of widefield near Loch Doon

[mosster]

Afternoon all,

Here's my first post with any actual work on. A couple of images taken at Loch Doon, just next to the Castle taken back on 10th October 2013.

All images taken on standard 18-55mm lens, no filters, on a Canon 1100D and are single images, no stacking. Processed in Lightroom.

As these are my first real attempt at any widefield photography, all comments and feedback would be greatly appreciated. Images quality has been reduced a lot to be able to post, but you get the idea of what's on there.

18mm, ISO 6400, f3.5, 13 seconds

18mm, ISO 1600, f3.5, 30 seconds

18mm, ISO 1600, f3.5, 30 seconds

[Stefan Novak]

Those are some great images! I think the first one would be even better if you took a couple more photos and made a vertical panorama.

[mosster]

Thanks for you comment, you know that's something I've never thought about. Next clear night and free time I will give that a go. Cheers for the advice.

[kirkster501]

Great stuff.

+1 for the first one.

[sulaco]

A Happy place for me, spent a fair amount of time camping and fishing at this Loch and now the observatory is there i'm gonna head there soon.

[mikeyscope]

Great start on the widefields, I would say your settings were pretty much spot on, that is if you want to avoid too much star trailing. I tend to keep exposures between 10 - 13 secs at iso 6400 or 3200 with 12-24mm lens on fixed tripod ...higher iso just too noisy ...lower iso longer exposures risk too much trailing but much depends on the overall sky brightness as to what you  get away with.

Trial & error is part of the fun...  

Mike

[neil groves]

^{Top image very nice indeed, you have some nebulosity just trying to get through.}

^Neil.

[sologuitarist61]

Lovely images and the foreground gives everything a meaningful context, well done.

[mosster]

A Happy place for me, spent a fair amount of time camping and fishing at this Loch and now the observatory is there i'm gonna head there soon.

Didn't know there was one, will have to look out for it some time. It was a last minute trip there at midnight so couldn't see too much.

[mosster]

Great start on the widefields, I would say your settings were pretty much spot on, that is if you want to avoid too much star trailing. I tend to keep exposures between 10 - 13 secs at iso 6400 or 3200 with 12-24mm lens on fixed tripod ...higher iso just too noisy ...lower iso longer exposures risk too much trailing but much depends on the overall sky brightness as to what you  get away with.

Trial & error is part of the fun...  

Mike

Thanks for your personal tips, nice to know I'm not too far off the settings. As you say it is trial and error and it's rewarding when the cold nights pay off.

[mosster]

Lovely images and the foreground gives everything a meaningful context, well done.

Cheers, I do like a silhouetted foreground. Really appreciate your comments.