Practising imaging/processing

[11mahW]

Hi all, fairly new to the astronomy/astrophotography game, i am still waiting patiently on my first telescope to be delivered. According to clearoutside.com i am going to have a few nights of hopefully clear skies, i thought i could use this to practise getting started with some wide field imaging and practise processing any images i capture. 

Can anyone recommend any constellations or area of the sky that i will be able to image tonight in bortle 7/8 skies?(UK)  I know the moon will also be out and extremely bright which i know isn't ideal but i am more interested in practising getting the focus on the stars right and generally getting to know my camera settings more to help with future astrophotography. I would also like to practise stacking and editing images, i own a macbook and as far as i am aware cannot access DSS although i could always borrow my dads window laptop to stack any images. Unless there are any alternatives to DSS for Mac? 

Equipment;

-Canon EOS 450d 

-18-55mm f3.5 wide lens

-100-300mm  f4.5 telephoto lens

-Sturdy Tripod

I know this is limited equipment for AP but i am more interested in getting to know my camera for AP and just practising in general, along with practising stacking and post processing, appreciate any advice or pointers anyone can provide. 

Thanks!

[PeterCPC]

I would wait for the Moon to go away. The sky will be washed out.
Peter

[wimvb]

Invest in the book "Making every photon count" by Steve Richards. It's available from FLO. 

[CloudMagnet]

There still is no harm in going out just for practice. Best to learn how to set everything up correctly (in the dark) and ironing out any issues at this point rather than wasting good nights later in the year.

Aim somewhere in the opposite side of the sky to where the moon is for the least impact. It will do for getting focus right and you might even get a pleasent suprise when you stack an image and find a DSO you didn't even know was there.

[Wyvernp]

If you want to practice processing one of our kind forum users has shared some of his data on this thread 

 

[happy-kat]

On a MAC you could use SIRIL(ic) for stacking.

GIMP is an option for processing, does much of Photoshop.

[MarkAR]

There's also ASTAP (Free) for stacking on Mac and Starry Sky Stacker (£24 and uses tiff files).