First Astro shots.

[DennyT]

Hi all...been too long since I last posted (been a busy guy), but I did some Astro photography the other night using my Nikon D3100 with Tamron 18 - 200mm, f3.5 ISO 1600 30". All comments/criticism/help greatly appreciated...the location is Grove Rake mine just to the West of Rookhope.

[Leveye]

Nice work! I think you could wait till it's a bit darker and possibly use a bit higher iso and a shorter exposure. Say under 30 seconds to capture more stars and get less trailing. Or you could go full ahead with the trailing and take some timed shots say 2 hours worth of 2-3 minute exposures and stack em for some nice star trails work. StarStax is great for that. Keep at it and Look up!

[DennyT]

Hi Leveye, unfortunately for most of the time we were on location the moon was behind us being a complete pain...! I can't really go any higher on the ISO without introducing a lot of noise, I'm only using an entry level DSLR and high ISO shots aren't it's strong point, but I will try to see what comes of it. Thank for the advice much appreciated

[VigdisVZ]

Liking what I see here. Reminds me of my first tries before getting a telescope. The color balance is nice. Framing is good by keeping the horizon for context. I would suggest shooting in raw (nef) if you're not already doing so and using a raw converter of your choice (Photoshop for me) You should be able to fine tune the balance between the darkness of the sky and light pollution that way.

I tend to keep my exposures under 20sec and bumping the iso somewhat.

Kudos for the ISS. I doesnt go very high here in the north.

[Astrosurf]

Lovely shots. I love the sky glow. Very enigmatic. Ditto keeping the exposure down to reduce trailing where you can. I hear you with the noise at a higher ISO though.

Alexxx

[DennyT]

Thanks all...I am shooting in raw and using Lightroom for conversion...fine tuning was difficult...the ISS has had a few long/high passes in the NE lately...

[bendiddley]

Hi. What mount did you use for this? I'm thinking of getting into AP with a camera and mount to start with like you.

[neonblade]

Hi all...been too long since I last posted (been a busy guy), but I did some Astro photography the other night using my Nikon D3100 with Tamron 18 - 200mm, f3.5 ISO 1600 30". All comments/criticism/help greatly appreciated...the location is Grove Rake mine just to the West of Rookhope.

Love the ISS pass shot! I wanna try that!

[DennyT]

Hi. What mount did you use for this? I'm thinking of getting into AP with a camera and mount to start with like you.

Just a normal tripod...

[DennyT]

Neonblade...all you need is a program to tell you when the ISS is due over...

[DennyT]

Just to update you Neonblade...I use Sat Track on Android and Gpredict on laptop...sat track is a freebie but has a buy option (no ads) and Gpredict is completely free.