First attempt at DSS

[Abernus]

Here is my first atempt at Deep Sky Stacking (This is just a test so was not aiming for anything). I took 15 images with the following settings:

Shutter Speed: 2sec.

Lens Aperture: F/3.5

Focal Length: 24mm

ISO: 1600

The problem I have is where I live I have a street light on the left side of my backyard, and to the right about 3 meters away is another (love that orange sky at night)

Anyway I manage to find a darkish spot in my yard and after DSS and a littel photoshop this is my result:

I know it's not the best condition but please give any comments and advise if I can improve this.

Thanks

[jgs001]

You don't mention what camera you were using... At 24mm though you ought to be able to shoot for 15 to 20 seconds without trailing, although that might cause you orange light problems. It's a good start, and there's hints of more stars buried in there. I'd suggest trying longer exposures and stacking them. If you can shoot raw do so, don't use jpg.

[Abernus]

I am using a Canon EOS 10D. Would I benefit from taking the say 15 exposures at 20 seconds, then dropping the aperture to get some darker images, then increasing it to get some lighter images. Then stack all these?

I am still new to this so info is very welcome. Also I am gooing to the North Pennines this weekend so I will at last have some very dark skies. If you can advise what settings to use on my camera for places like this it would be great. I don't want to get out there and miss a great opportunity.

Thanks and can't wait for the weekend.

[jgs001]

Take a sequence of light frames, you'll need to experiment a little to get the best compromise between exposure time and trailing, probably around 20 seconds at 24mm I'd think would be ok. 15 frames sounds like a good number. Then put the lens cap on, and take another sequence of say 5 frames (darks) of exactly the same length.

Have a look at http://stargazerslounge.com/imaging-tips-tricks-techniques/73737-basic-widefield-camera-tripod.html for some more information

[Abernus]

Thanks for the info jgs001. I have come out to my folks caravan for darkr skies to try again. Please take a look at this try.

Again I used Canon EOS 10D with teh following:

Shutter Speed: 20sec.

Lens Aperture: F/3.5

Focal Length: 24mm

ISO: 800

18 light frames and 6 dark frames

I was trying to capture what I think was the Milky way and I think I managed to capture it. Anyway please let me know what you think.

[jgs001]

That's certainly worked a lot better and you've got a great number of stars... Sure looks like the milky way to me.. Not sure where exactly but I'd guess around about Cygnus. Well done.