Anyone tried 'Astro-Photography' ?

[jds9000]

Not sure if that's what it's called, but had a quick go last night and was surprised that it picked up anything. Blimey there's a lot of lights out there !!

Anyone else tried it ?

Jay

[Mowgli]

Re: Anyone tried 'Astro-Photography' ?

Where`s the picture?

[jds9000]

Re: Anyone tried 'Astro-Photography' ?

One here, didn't look like there was so many up there at the time !!

400D, ISO 1600 .... 30 seconds .... 70-400L ..... er .... fly swatter for the mosquitos

Jay

[coupekid]

Re: Anyone tried 'Astro-Photography' ?

Not sure if that's what it's called, but had a quick go last night and was surprised that it picked up anything. Blimey there's a lot of lights out there !!

Anyone else tried it ?

Jay

I have had a go Jay, but am plagued where I am from light polution, so its pretty difficult.

It is facinating though, and I am amazed at how fast a shutter speed you need 'freeze' the stars.

I didnt select such a high ISO though, as I found the noise (on the 300D, and 350D) impeded the picture quality too much, looks none too bad on the 400D though!

I also used the kit lense to get more stars in

[Mowgli]

Re: Anyone tried 'Astro-Photography' ?

Picture looks quite clear for the iso. which direction were you facing (trying to work out the constellations)


Mo

[jds9000]

Re: Anyone tried 'Astro-Photography' ?

Er .... North ..... 'ish .... over the trees at the back of the house. I was just inside the conservatory doors. !!

Jay

[devilgas]

Re: Anyone tried 'Astro-Photography' ?

Not sure if that's what it's called, but had a quick go last night and was surprised that it picked up anything. Blimey there's a lot of lights out there !!

Anyone else tried it ?

Jay

had a play a while ago but the results were very varied. you can use a layer fudge in photoshop to virtually eliminate light pollution but it does take away some of the fainter stars. usually to avoid star trails you need to use a wider lens (or shorter exposures) - not sure what zoom setting you used jay? - or use a motor driven mount and piggyback the camera.

i've tried afocal photog where the camera is mounted directly to the eyepiece tube on the scope but the results were disappointing - mainly because i didn't have a great deal of time to really have a good go at it.

long exposures can be pretty cool. here's one i did a while ago and left the light pollution in as i felt it complimented the photo. think it was a 45 min exposure, but measuring the arc angle on the brighter stars would give the exact figure.
oh yeah, we don't get many dark sites around my way. it's suprising just how far reaching the sodium glow penetrates.



through a scope is a bit easier as you can use (OIII iirc) filters to get rid of a lot of the light pollution.

[jds9000]

Re: Anyone tried 'Astro-Photography' ?

I don't have a scope, so .... from the top ....
Canon 400D
Canon 70-200L
ISO 1600
30 second exposure ....
remote release ...
Slightly wobbly tripod ...
... pure luck

.. can't remember the rest ..but I've only had the camera for 6 days ...

Nice pic btw ..
I like the star trails ... great effect

Jay

[devilgas]

Re: Anyone tried 'Astro-Photography' ?

another cool thing to capture are iridium flares....



you can get schedules of when they're visible from your location from www.heavens-above.com

[Ian]

Re: Anyone tried 'Astro-Photography' ?

Hi Jay - can we see what you came up with?

There was a photo in yesterday's papers showing the Space Shuttle and the international space station silhouetted by the sun - amazing shot!

Ian