Anybody out there into astrophotography?

[StarMan Profile Private message]

Helps me do photography 24 hours a day!

Really, it's a very specialized form of photography...the digital revolution has just exploded astro-imaging. Y'all ought to look into it, especially if you're nature lovers of technical bent.

Richard

[gpsmikey Profile Private message]

I have my home page set to the "Astronomy Picture of the Day" ( http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ ) - does that count ??

mikey

[Ron Profile Private messageWebsite]

Hi Richard
Funny you should mention astrophotography. On a few good nites (No Moon), I've taken my camera outside, set it on a tripod, pointed it upwards in many different directions, and played with the aperture and more importantly shutter speed. I've used 1 sec. to 10min. My ISO is set to auto. My lenses are 35mm, 18-55mm & 55-200mm
My images, well are't good- yeah there are a few that are ok but the overall results aren't. Many seem to have a haze over them. They improve a bit with Photoshop but so does everything else! Are there any tips you can give me to improve my images other than spending more money on equipment.
In the pic below, there is a haze and its just is boring, but I do love seeing the red, blue, green colors. I've done a little research online but thought you might have some first hand experience.

If you zoom in too much then it looks, grainy, noisy!!!

[StarMan Profile Private message]

I have my home page set to the "Astronomy Picture of the Day" ( http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ ) - does that count ??

mikey

You bet! That was my favorite source for the slideshow I did for a local high school Astronomy class.

You might enjoy this one if you don't already have it:

http://cloudappreciationsociety.org/

My YouTube channel has a couple of shows of lunar/planetary pictures I've taken, but a lot of amateur astronomers are also into wildlife (digiscoping) and technical photography.

[StarMan Profile Private message]

Hi Richard
Funny you should mention astrophotography. On a few good nites (No Moon), I've taken my camera outside, set it on a tripod, pointed it upwards in many different directions, and played with the aperture and more importantly shutter speed. I've used 1 sec. to 10min. My ISO is set to auto. My lenses are 35mm, 18-55mm & 55-200mm
My images, well are't good- yeah there are a few that are ok but the overall results aren't. Many seem to have a haze over them. They improve a bit with Photoshop but so does everything else! Are there any tips you can give me to improve my images other than spending more money on equipment.
In the pic below, there is a haze and its just is boring, but I do love seeing the red, blue, green colors. I've done a little research online but thought you might have some first hand experience.

If you zoom in too much then it looks, grainy, noisy!!!

That's an interesting image. The streaks look like star trails from prolonged exposure, but I don't know what the red and green dots are. What happens when you blow them up? I'd like a closer look.

I've been doing all of my recent astrophotography without a motorized mount. I haven't been doing stars, nebulae, etc. because I live in such a light polluted area--I've confined myself to the moon and planets. My YouTube channel has some of my stuff.

I use a Canon EOS, a laptop, a small maksutov telescope and some software. The software is fantastic and free. Laptop is ancient. It all comes together.

[Ron Profile Private messageWebsite]

Hey Starman
The red green & blue are all stars, i'n told the color corresponds to their temperature.
http://images53.fotki.com/v52/fileMJAB/28202/4/1461814/8005008/814201010753AM.jpg
Here is the photo you can right click and save to your hard drive - then zoom in to the lower right quadrant to get a good view of green double star (revolve around each other)
Ron

[StarMan Profile Private message]

Hey Starman
The red green & blue are all stars, i'n told the color corresponds to their temperature.
http://images53.fotki.com/v52/fileMJAB/28202/4/1461814/8005008/814201010753AM.jpg
Here is the photo you can right click and save to your hard drive - then zoom in to the lower right quadrant to get a good view of green double star (revolve around each other)
Ron

Ron,

It looks like you're on your way into astrophotography! My home is so light polluted that I've only been capturing bright objects, i.e., lunar and planetary. I would love to capture star trails, meteors, etc. I *have* managed to capture the International Space Station from one overhead flight. Lots of fun.

Richard/Starman