Orion constellation

Indio

Indio
Something different but since this is kitchen sink.

Shot from my backyard. Hope you all like it.

g1yhGH9.jpg
 

Indio

Indio
That's pretty good. Looks like an expensive setup.

Actually it is not. It was taken using regular camera tripod, a standard DSLR + lens. Only thing that is different vs daytime terrestrial photography is addition of star tracker which allows for longer exposures and tracks the object in sky.


Version 2. I like this one better.

EE8FM0x.jpg
 

DucatiHoney

Administrator
Staff member
That's amazing! Where's your backyard? I would have thought light pollution would have been an issue. I'm a total novice about photography....
 

berth

Well-known member
What was your process? Single long exposure? stacking? that's some great color.
 

budman

General Menace
Staff member
Awesome...!

Like DH ... where in the East Bay can you see a sky like that?

Written from light washed Palo Alto. :laughing
 

Indio

Indio
That's amazing! Where's your backyard? I would have thought light pollution would have been an issue. I'm a total novice about photography....

In Pleasanton. There are two street lights plus few neighbor yard lights that bounce light into my backyard but still relatively dark.
 

kiwi_outdoors

Well-known member
the Pot

in New Zealand we call that part of Orion the "Pot" (like a saucepan)

the dagger is the handle
the belt is the base of the pot
 

Indio

Indio
What was your process? Single long exposure? stacking? that's some great color.

Yes stacking. That is must for all night sky photography without that can't get results.This is about 60 frames/images of the object (25 seconds at 1600 ISO, f/2.8) plus 30 each of dark,bias and flat frames.
 
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Indio

Indio
Awesome...!

Like DH ... where in the East Bay can you see a sky like that?

Written from light washed Palo Alto. :laughing

I think I am lucky my backyard is relatively dark not counting the landscaping lights, street lights and light from neighbors houses.
There is one guy from Cupertino on astronomy forums who does telescope imaging from his backyard and gets great results. He claims backyard is pretty light polluted.

Here is his one sample image https://www.astrobin.com/jcribo/ Man that color and detail. Result of 40 hours of imaging

It is possible to get good results even when there is light pollution just that one will have to take lot of frames of same object spread over multiple nights to get a decent signal to noise ratio.
 
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ctwo

Merely Rhetorical
Actually it is not. It was taken using regular camera tripod, a standard DSLR + lens. Only thing that is different vs daytime terrestrial photography is addition of star tracker which allows for longer exposures and tracks the object in sky.

That's crazy. What lens are you using? I'm going to have to try that.
 

FLH03RIDER

Recedite, plebes!
Indio - Very nice pic!

More questions: What tri-pod, ball mount, star tracker are you using?

For those that want to look at the night sky (or day time) and find where the planets, stars, constellations, satellites, etc., are get a phone app like "Sky Guide". For example, right now the Sun is in the southwest, to it's left is Mercury, with Jupiter, then Venus to the right, and they're all centered in front of the constellation Capricornus.
 
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matty

Well-known member
addition of star tracker which allows for longer exposures and tracks the object in sky.

When I was camping at the Grand Canyon, some other camper had all these telescopes set up and I think one must have had a star tracker, he would key in some stuff and the telescope would just move via a servo to whatever he wanted to see, it was super neat and I saw parts of the universe I'll never forget. Very cool shot by the way:thumbup
 

Indio

Indio
Tripods:

Buy a carbon fiber tripod. Lightweight , durable offer great load capacity.

I use this tripod https://www.feisol.net/tripods/travel-tripods/feisol-travel-tripod-ct-3441t-rapid.html Bought this 4 yers ago primarily for backpacking. It is light enough, folds down to compact size yet offers good weight capacity. Good idea to slash a tripod's rated weight capacity by 25-30% especially if shake/vibration free setup is critical.

Other similar brands are https://www.siruiusa.com/index/photographic/index.html?cid=1
https://benrousa.com/photo/tripods/

Gitzo tripods are very good but very pricey.

Tripod head:

I started out with a cheap Manfrotto ball which I sold very quickly.

Then settled on a Benro https://benrousa.com/benro-gd3wh-3-way-geared-head/
This one allows 3 axis movements & that capability is useful for making finer adjustments as one is trying to line up camera etc. Great tripod head for both day and night time use. However I personally couldn't get used to the shape and design of this. I was never able to pack it properly on my backpacking trips (which it isn't really made for) so I sold this one.

I use these two for night sky photography:
Excellent quality and design. Made in California. You can get them bit cheaper and no tax on Ebay.

https://www.acratech.net/acratech-panoramic-head-can-be-used-like-a-long-lens-head/
This one allows two axis movement. It goes on my tripod & sky tracker is mounted on this tripod head.

Camera is then mounted on sky tracker using this head. However any decent ball head will do.
https://www.acratech.net/gxp-ball-head/


I use Fornax Lightrack II as a sky tracker. This one doesn't have a in built chargeable battery but in the 'field' I run it using a standard cell phone/tablet rechargeable power bank using 5v to 12v step up cable center postivie pin.

Other options are SkyTracker (pro and basic) & Star Adventurer. These two run on chargeable battery. Can be mounted on photo tripods directly or using what is known as a wedge in astronomy world.

All trackers have pros and cons. I bought mine used for less than what it would cost new.

All my astronomy gear if not new is sourced from these two sites:
Classifieds on astromart.com. This one is $15 per year.
Classifieds on cloudynights.com. Free.

Canon 6d is a great camera for night sky photos because of its excellent signal to noise ratio. Used one can be had for $500-600.

Lens is Canon EF 200mm f/2.8 USM prime lens. They stopped making it but still some available here and there. This lens is an excellent lens for the price even if bought new but most folks overlook it in favor of 70-200mm zoom.

One thing to keep in mind you don't need an expensive lens and expensive camera for night photos. I started off with a cheap 35mm lens bought for $125 on CL.
 

Indio

Indio
That's crazy. What lens are you using? I'm going to have to try that.

Canon EF 200mm f/2.8 USM. This lens is an overlooked lens. It is light as compared to 70-200 zoom, easy to carry and the lens elements are of high quality.
 

Indio

Indio
Is there a "hey idiot" step by step guide on this?

I could type up a wall of text (which I already did in other reply :laughing) but as they picture/video is much better than words.

Here is an excellent video. Good balance of enough context about why and how.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXcRKoxTPVg

I know couple of my neighbors started taking night photos after I shared this video with them.



Here are some good channels that have content for newbies to intermediate level

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCO_gBdHekc74feh0bWqKJ1Q
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKxQ3Dx6K95hpLpdJjTRIlg
https://www.youtube.com/c/PeterZelinka/videos He pushes astro gear so watch out for that but still some good content
https://www.youtube.com/c/AstroForumSpace/videos Good for gear comparisons
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5okGNy061H18Qv4B8pKKhA
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3uy6NaWQi_Lh4YFqWLWLCA/videos Another great channel with godo content for beginners


Then there is cloudynights.com. Great community like BARF, very helpful. No question is a dumb question over there :)
 
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Indio

Indio
When I was camping at the Grand Canyon, some other camper had all these telescopes set up and I think one must have had a star tracker, he would key in some stuff and the telescope would just move via a servo to whatever he wanted to see, it was super neat and I saw parts of the universe I'll never forget. Very cool shot by the way:thumbup

Oh yeah scopes with GoTo mounts are cool. Press a button it takes you where you want it to go. I have one too. Pain to setup though.

There is a astronomy club (TriValleyStarGazers) here in Tri Valley which does open houses for public. Hope they start them soon. They have a dark site in Livermore on Tesla road where members & their well behaved guests :teeth can go & setup their scopes for imaging or viewing.
There is one in San Jose too. More members and bigger club than Tri Valley
 

ctwo

Merely Rhetorical
For PC, I like Stellarium (here I did a 360 panorama of my rooftops and treelines to use a ground background)

For Android, I like SkEye because you put the phone between your eye and the sky and see what you're looking at on the screen. Can be attached to your scope or camera to get it pointed right.
 

ctwo

Merely Rhetorical
Canon EF 200mm f/2.8 USM. This lens is an overlooked lens. It is light as compared to 70-200 zoom, easy to carry and the lens elements are of high quality.

Yeah, I was gonna guess it was a red ring. I'm in the EF-S class, but I'll give it a go anyway.
 
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