MW-Advice sought

JohnC6

JohnC6

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John
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I've had only two attempts at the MW ..ever...and I binned the first one which I took,tried to take, in New Mexico. It was a far more impressive MW than last weekend's. It was about the same time of year but no light pollution whatsoever. It looked ok in the LCD but back home on the computer I saw it wasn't focused properly.With no light source anywhere (like a farmstead) I had to use the Live view on the stars.

The next time was last weekend in France but it didn't appear anything like as stark but at least it's a better attempt than in NM. I'll add the settings and would appreciate any advice.. As you see there was a small town 2 miles away.Would it have looked better had that light pollution not been there ?..as good as New Mexico or was the location (NM) better ? It doesn't look much to me when compared to some on here.

I had to use my 1D1V as I didn't have my sensor cleaning gear for the 5D11 and I could see it had got dirty..with changing lenses.My first attempt was at 1 minute and that started to give trails so I reduced the exposure time. I forgot to go to the f2.8 that the fisheye lens is.

Sigma 15mm f2.8 Fisheye...36 secs. f4 19mm (includes 1.3X crop) ISO 1600.. btw..why is the meteor trail red ?
1iyeqs.jpg




36 secs. f4 22mm ((17-40mm lens) ISO 3200. I've cropped out the town light pollution.
23mtv86.jpg
 
JohnC6 said:
Snip
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Meteor is red because its a plane traveling from right to left. Thats his port side light.

Did you try at a higher ISO. 1600 is fairly low. Although I dont know what the ISO of your camera is like

EDIT: didn't see the 2nd shot.

Thats not a bad staring point. Don't forget the ones you see on Flickr etc that blow you away will be heavily processed to bring out the colour.

Try and watch as many tutorials on processing the MilkyWay

EDIT 2:
f4....why?? f2.8 is the way to go. You want as much light in as you can. Oops just spotted you've explained why.
 
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As Matt has said, you need to knock up the ISO to see more of the Milky Way - I would suggest ISO 3200 for 30 seconds would be a good place to start. If f/4.0 is as open as you can go, you might want to try upping the ISO still further - just don't increase the exposure time or you'll start to get blurred stars.

Btw - the two shots you've uploaded aren't a bad start, tbh. I would suggest that what would really improve these shots is more thought about composition and foreground interest - perhaps a tree silhouetted against the night sky?
 
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Matt..Many thanks. I wasn't aware that heavy processing goes on with MW shots. Martin's 'Kielder' MW (posted on here on this page) is very clear and it's that kind of shot I saw as a benchmark. Finding light pollution-free locations isn't easy here in the Uk,as you see both attempts were abroad... US and France.

The plane. Well, to be fair to myself I thought that's what it might be (well ,had to be ) but was dissuaded as it seemed to be travelling from left to right in which case I'd be looking at the green starboard light but as you point out,it's right to left.

Jason..Thanks too.The second photo is 3200 at 36 secs. Just written above the image. It did start looking better after my try at 1600.

Having seen images of the MW on here I saw that many included some foreground..especially coastal locations so I tried to get some of the tree in front of me to the right. . You can see it on the right side (photo 1) and bottom right corner in the other one. Unfortunately there was nothing else without dropping the lens lower and then the MW wasn't in frame. There was just our host's house driveway gates anyway and they were in bed and I couldn't ask them to drive me somewhere better or even take there car,it was France and I didn't know the area either so I had to make do with what was there but I certainly take on board your suggestion for next time. I should be able to get a whole tree in next time and maybe drive out into the countryside here Seems what Matt is saying about heavy editing plays a big part.
 
Youve got some really good colours in there. That need bringing out in PP. Don't ask me how. I'm still learning. I think this is my best shot with only contrast, sharpening and a little exp work. I'm currently without a PC so any adj were made in Lightroom on my laptop so nowhere near where i would want it to end up.
Ennerdale Water MW

And my first attempt last year with a day old D810

DSC_0348
 
Ok..Thanks. I have Lightroom4.I'll read up on what I can do, obviously quite a lot to get it like yours, especially the first one.
 
JohnC6 said:
Ok..Thanks. I have Lightroom4.I'll read up on what I can do, obviously quite a lot to get it like yours, especially the first one.
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The first one has had very little done to be honest compared to some that you see. Youtube has a number of "how to edit the milky way" type videos
 
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