Cornwall - The good and the bad

[Mike73]

A couple more images from this summer.....

 

This first one is from a night on Rough Tor which is on Bodmin Moor, I'm pretty sure its the second highest point in Cornwall although if you live in the Lakes or the Scottish Highlands you'd probably call it a speed bump. 😂

It does get dark though, I havent got my SQM meter any more but I used to observe about a mile away so a few years ago I was getting nearly 21.8 SQM.

I've seen air glow a lot of times in my images usually from either here or West Cornwall but this is by far the most intense. I havent boosted saturation or vibrance to get these colours in fact I've decreased saturation and just tweaked the curves for the sky.

Nikon Z6 - 20mm f/1.8S on a Move Shoot Move tracker.

Sky - 4x 2 min

Foreground 4x focused stacked

 

So this next image is just a couple miles from my home and is overlooking the River Tamar to Plymouth. Its around 20.2 SQM which is Bortle 4 at best but probably more like Bortle 5.

A pretty picture but c'mon Plymouth do you really need all those lights!! 😂

Nikon Z6 - 20mm f/1.8 S with Move Shoot Move tracker.

Single image for foreground and single 2 min tracked for sky.

[SteveNickolls]

Nice photo's. If I were the PM I'd be looking at taxing that access to dark skies. 😲

 

Cheers,
Steve

[AstroNebulee]

Stunning images Mike, your Roughtor image is incredible, such beautiful scenery all along that area, your right it being the second highest point, Brown Willy just along from it is the highest point. 

[FenlandPaul]

Awesome, Mike.  Those slabs atop Rough Tor make an excellent foreground and the air glow is just sublime (controversial, I know!).  Great MW detail as well.  I'm definitely envious of your MSM tracker - the Star Adventurer is a cumbersome beast for hiking around with, so the MSM has it trumped there.

I LOVE the surge in nightscapes we're getting on this forum and the creativity and talent people are showing.  It seems like such an accessible branch of astrophotography and the possibilities are enormous even with relatively modest equipment.  A very exciting time in my opinion.  😊

[Mike73]

10 minutes ago, FenlandPaul said:

Awesome, Mike.  Those slabs atop Rough Tor make an excellent foreground and the air glow is just sublime (controversial, I know!).  Great MW detail as well.  I'm definitely envious of your MSM tracker - the Star Adventurer is a cumbersome beast for hiking around with, so the MSM has it trumped there.

I LOVE the surge in nightscapes we're getting on this forum and the creativity and talent people are showing.  It seems like such an accessible branch of astrophotography and the possibilities are enormous even with relatively modest equipment.  A very exciting time in my opinion.  😊

Thanks Paul.

I do like how air glow looks its just that its an absolute nightmare to correct for colour balance when editing. Usually its just a case of boosting saturation to 100% and finding an even spread of yellow, magenta and blue across the sky but with strong air glow that doesn't work. Like you said in my other thread its a nice problem to have though.

 

[Mike73]

1 hour ago, AstroNebulee said:

Stunning images Mike, your Roughtor image is incredible, such beautiful scenery all along that area, your right it being the second highest point, Brown Willy just along from it is the highest point. 

Thanks for the nice comment and I'm VERY envious of where you live...Thats all I can say!

[davew]

Two lovely shots again ! 

The Tor reminds me of the grit area of the Pennines I like to shoot in and the rocks look quite familiar. You have the advantage of the skies though.

If you don't like the sky glow too much then you can visit here - http://www.deepskycolors.com/archive/2010/04/26/hasta-La-Vista-Green.html  and download the little app. There are three strengths of green removal and if they all turn out to be a bit strong then you can apply the app to a layer and then reduce the transparency to taste. At the same time you can alter the colour balance and then reintroduce the green layer, again to taste ... If you can understand what I mean ?

You've done a nice job of the image towards Plymouth and I particularly like the reflections of the lights in the water.

Keep 'em coming Mike,

Dave.

[Mr Spock]

Nice looking image. I kinda like the sky glow.

[AstroNebulee]

3 hours ago, Mike73 said:

Thanks for the nice comment and I'm VERY envious of where you live...Thats all I can say!

Your welcome any time Mike, it sure is beautiful night and day, I was around Roughtor last week during the day with my partner and dogs, stunning vistas and the Charlotte Dymond memorial is worth a visit. 

[Stu]

Lovely images @Mike73.

Great to see you back on the forum again, what you been up to? Have you got a scope at the moment?

[Mike73]

@davew thanks for the kind words Dave.

I may well give that app a try at some point just for the sake of experiment although the Rough tor image has been printed and its on the wall now. I'm also up to my eyeballs in Pixinsight tutorials right now and any more information and I'm pretty sure I'II blow! 🤣

@AstroNebulee Yes its a cracking walk on a nice day and your images show that. I'm struggling to find decent locations to image from which will offer some shelter from the wind, I'd appreciate and hints if you know of any? 👍

@Stu nice to hear from you Stu. Well I put astronomy on hold for a couple years, did some other things but all the time if I could have a penny for every time I looked up at a clear sky and said 'I wish I still had a telescope' I'd have a few quid by now. So I've come back to SGL but this time as an.......imager 😬. I'm really enjoying it though, so much to learn! When my wallet has recovered I may buy a little Tal just for planetary and open cluster views.

[AstroNebulee]

29 minutes ago, Mike73 said:

AstroNebulee Yes its a cracking walk on a nice day and your images show that. I'm struggling to find decent locations to image from which will offer some shelter from the wind, I'd appreciate and hints if you know of any? 👍

Hi Mike, if I find any sheltered spots I'll be sure to let you know 👍

[Stu]

1 hour ago, Mike73 said:

So I've come back to SGL but this time as an.......imager 😬

😱😱😱😱 oh no! One of the finest visual observers (and sketchers) lost to the dark side! We are all doomed! 🤣🤣

Seriously though, really good to see you back, and if you get as good at imaging as you were at sketching I’m looking forward to the results! 👍👍👍