# Milky Way



## idcanyon (Sep 21, 2015)

My middle boys have no had some photography classes and are into it right now. I'm enjoying that. We camped out to shoot some stars on Saturday night.

One of my favorites, but I'm biased.










30 sec @ f/2.8, 8mm, ISO 3200.

The other end of the Milky Way coming down over the city. Not really an interesting composition, but I like the juxtaposition of the stars over the city from which they mostly cannot be seen. This is Boise, Idaho.




30 sec @ f/2.8, 8mm, ISO 3200.





30 sec @ f/2.8, 28mm, ISO 3200. 30 seconds is getting a bit too long for 28mm. And the zoom lens lacks corner sharpness wide open. I want to go back and try this again with a different lens. I also brought my 3 year old. He woke up, got cold, was clingy, and didn't allow me to do much more.


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## JamesScott86 (Sep 21, 2015)

very interesting, great set


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## WesternGuy (Sep 21, 2015)

Very nice images, particularly the third one.

I think it is great that you are getting your boys into photography at an early age.  Hopefully, this is something they will "be into" for life.  I got my start very early one when someone bought me a small black box with a piece of glass in it for a birthday present - little did they know what they started!   Today, we can start them out with a camera that's has as much or more processing power in it as the first satellites we sent into space.

I am reminded of the quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson - “The mind, once stretched by a new idea, never returns to its original dimensions.”  Photography will do that for your boys and hopefully open a world of creative and artistic pursuit for life.

WesternGuy


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## Mark. (Sep 21, 2015)

Great photos!

Im really interested in astrophotography and ive tried a few times myself, i only have a compact digital camera at the moment and the best i can get is 15 sec @ f/3.2 and it seems to only let me shoot at ISO100 with that shutter speed.. 
Ive just started to take an interest in photography so theres still basics i need to learn, but most of my star shots need alot of work in GIMP to make it look good. I can photograph the moon easily with the huge zoom range but id like to be able to shoot star photos well in the future too.

Keep up the good work


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## idcanyon (Sep 21, 2015)

Mark. said:


> i only have a compact digital camera at the moment...


Compacts are really out of their league for Milky Way photography. APS-C sensors are mostly good enough--barely. If you have an interest in it you really should move up. If you have  tight budget, a few years old APS-C mirrorless camera plus a wide/fast Rokinon lens is pretty reasonable.


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## Parker219 (Sep 21, 2015)

That's pretty crazy that you can get that with just 30 seconds. Where I live, there would be too much light pollution to get a shot like that.

By the way, how do you know where the milky way will be and at what time?

What camera a lens were you using for these by the way?


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## idcanyon (Sep 21, 2015)

You have to do it in about 30 seconds, depending on focal length and intended display size. Otherwise the stars start to make trails. Trails can be nice too, but if you have them then they need to be long--there is no good in-between. So you also need a fast lens and high ISO. Someday I'm going to try piggybacking my camera on a tracking telescope mount. Then the foreground would be motion blurred, but maybe I could also take a steady exposure and combine.

You definitely need dark, but you can find dark places in Florida too! Map.
Stellarium (free planetarium software) or Google Earth can show you where to find the MW from wherever you will be. The moon has to be down. Near the new moon is therefore best. Especially leading up to it because it tends to be easier to stay up late than get up early (though I tend to do both). Late summer is when the MW season peaks, but it tends to be straight up (like here) and that can really limit your compositions. I got this one in at about 4 AM in April.

Camera/lens: Mostly Samsung NX500 with Rokinon 8mm f/2.8 fisheye. My boys do just fine with their cheap NX1100's and the same lens (we pass it around). The photo in the link from April (above) was on a $200 NX1100. The last one is on a Nikon D7000 w/ 28-75 f/2.8 Tamron (not ideal). In the APS-C sensor size, mirrorless is king in my book only because of the existence of some superb Rokinon glass. Anything else even close to as good is way out of my price range.


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## Mark. (Sep 21, 2015)

Yeah, i didnt expect mind blowing results with my camera, it does pick up stars in the photo but nowhere near as impressive as a proper DSLR. Its been a useful stepping stone into a proper DSLR though as it has has access to all the manual settings and its quite versatile for such a small camera

Il maybe post up my own thread with some star shots to get some feedback from you and others. I think il be getting an entry level package Nikon D3200 at the end of the year, its not a massive improvement but im hoping to get some better results with it


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## TreeofLifeStairs (Sep 21, 2015)

I love my Rokinon 12mm 2.0. Even wide open it's pretty sharp but I've had the most success around 2.5. I use it on my NEX-7. Like you said, the key is getting away from those city lights.


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## astroNikon (Sep 21, 2015)

use a dark sky map to find the best skies, such as
DarkSiteFinder.com - Light Pollution Map


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## jsecordphoto (Sep 21, 2015)

Those are great! I like the tent shot a lot, and I think it's great you're bringing your kids out for adventures like this.


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## Rick50 (Sep 21, 2015)

Love the tent shot as well!


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## Stormchase (Sep 30, 2015)

yup love the tent shot. I want to get one like this next camping trip. I hope they stick with the interest.


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## TCampbell (Oct 3, 2015)

Nice shots!  

The "astronomer" in me likes the shot of the tent just before dawn (#2 in the set) with the Andromeda galaxy just left of the Milky Way (near the top of the image).

I also like #3 -- shot in late evening -- where I see Aldebaran (the red "angry" eye of Taurus the Bull -- and the Taurus constellation (the "V" shape formation of stars in the extreme lower right corner of the frame just above the horizon), the Pleiades cluster, the Andromeda Galaxy, and the North American nebula.

You're right on #4... the lens is too long for a 30 second exposure.  The stars are elongated from movement.


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## TCampbell (Oct 3, 2015)

Parker219 said:


> By the way, how do you know where the milky way will be and at what time?



You do need to get away from urban light pollution (and even small town light pollution) -- and you'll want a moonless night sky.   And when you're at that dark/moonless sky location ... you'll have no trouble finding the Milky Way... just look "up" and you'll see it.

In heavily light polluted skies, you won't see the Milky Way at all.  In slightly darker skies you'll see a hazy band but without much structure.  If skies are a little darker you'll start to see some structure.  In skies that are darker still you'll see much more structure & dark dusty lanes.  In exceptionally excellent dark sky locations you feel like you can reach up and touch it.

Shoot in RAW and only in RAW ... in the image out of the camera the difference between background sky glow levels and the Milky Way may be subtle... but with some TLC in post processing you can "stretch" those difference and tease quite a bit of detail out of the sky (but you MUST shoot in RAW.)

April, May & June the Milky Way is laying almost on the horizon after sunset and you have to wait many hours for it to rise high enough to photograph depending on atmospheric quality.  

I use planetarium software to plan observing.  My favorite is Starry Night Pro Plus 7 on the computer or Sky Safari Pro on a tablet (iOS or Android) -- these are paid apps.  Stellarium is a planetarium program that runs on desktop computers and it is free (oddly, the version made for iOS and Android is not free... I think a third party did that port and they charge a fee for that version.)  You can use any of these to find the location of the Milky Way for any date, time, or viewing location.


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## idcanyon (Oct 3, 2015)

TCampbell said:


> I also like #3 -- shot in late evening -- where I see Aldebaran (the red "angry" eye of Taurus the Bull -- and the Taurus constellation (the "V" shape formation of stars in the extreme lower right corner of the frame just above the horizon), the Pleiades cluster, the Andromeda Galaxy, and the North American nebula.


You must have a lot of experience with this sort of stuff. I wish I could do more, enough to know the sky that well.



TCampbell said:


> April, May & June the Milky Way is laying almost on the horizon after sunset and you have to wait many hours for it to rise high enough to photograph depending on atmospheric quality.


Speaking of April, May, June...here is an April shot at 4 AM in a prime location. The nearest tiny town in this direction is about 45 miles and the nearest town big enough to have a traffic light is 120 miles. I shot this one with a lesser Samsung NX1100 and the same 8mm f2.8 Rokinon lens. August is supposed to be prime for the Milky Way but I've found that the more horizontal aspect in the spring can really help the compositions.


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## TCampbell (Oct 3, 2015)

Each day the Earth moves about 1º in it's orbit around the sun (360º in a circle ... 365 days in a year... so it's very close to 1º per day).  But that means the sky is also shifted by 1º per night (vs. that same time the previous night).  If you wait 6 hours (so the Earth has rotated 90º) you are actually seeing the sky with the stars we normally associated with the following season.  In other words... the sky you see at 4am TONIGHT is the same sky that you would see at 10pm 91 days (1 full season) from now.

As for learning the stars...  there are 88 official constellations and then a number of interesting shapes called "asterisms" which are not official constellations but often easier to spot.  The "Big Dipper" is actually an "asterism" and not a "constellation".

Some of these constellations are "circumpolar" which means they are close enough to the north pole that they do not dip below the horizon and that means they can be seen every night of the year.  

Those easy to learn circumpolar constellations and asterisms include:

1)  The Big Dipper (part of the larger constellation "Ursa Major" -- the "Big Bear")
2)  The Ursa Minor (aka the "Little Dipper" -- not an asterism because the stars for the Little Dipper and Ursa Minor are the same.  There are no extra stars to learn.)
3)  Cassiopeia (the queen from Greek mythology who boasts that her daughter, the princess Andromeda, is the most beautiful woman alive and even more beautiful than the Nereids -- goddesses associated with Neptune.  This insults the gods and brings their wrath.  If you've seen the movie "Clash of the Titans" then that's the same story (well... with some Hollywood artistic license.  It varies a bit from the greek mythology version of the story a few times.)

Ok -- that's just three things to learn in the Northern sky and you're good for the entire year.

As for the view to the East, South, or West... those constellations change throughout the season.  But really you just need to learn a "few" per season and you'll get pretty good at finding your way around the sky.

The current "fall" season constellations are all associated the story in mythology and they include:

1)  Pegasus -- the winged horse (the hero, Perseus, flies on Pegasus to rescue the princess)
2)  Andromeda -- the princess chained to the rock (she is being sacrificed to Cetus, the sea-monster/titan sent by Neptune to destroy the kingdom... unless they appease Neptune by sacrificing the princess. )
3)  Perseus -- the hero who rescues Andromeda.  He is pictured in the sky holding the head of the gorgon Medusa -- a creature so ugly with snakes for hair that anyone who gazes upon her will be turned into stone.  Perseus had recently slain her and took her head so that he could use it defeat Cetus the sea-monster by showing him the head of Medusa and thus turning the sea-monster to stone and saving the kingdom (spoiler alert:  Perseus wins!)

Also in the North (Circumpolar region) is Cepheus the King (husband of Cassiopeia) and but his stars are slightly dimmer and more difficult to spot from urban skies.  

In the south there is also (harder to spot in urban skies) Cetus... the sea-monster/titan.

But really... just learn those easiest 6 constellations to spot.

Astronomers use some "star hopping" tricks so that we use stars and constellations which are very easy to spot and then identify pointer stars or star-hopping patterns that make it easier to find the next constellation, and so on.

After a while you get pretty good at it... and then you start learning where some of the most beautiful deep-space objects (nebulae, star clusters, galaxies, etc.) are hiding.  After seeing these stars and constellations return for just a couple of years you tend to get pretty good at finding things.

You can get apps for smart-devices (phones & tablets) that make it really easy to find things in the sky.  Some are free and some of the "paid" apps are pretty inexpensive.  They use the GPS, compass, level, and gyros to figure out where you are pointing your device and show you that area of the sky to help identify objects.


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## snerd (Oct 4, 2015)

TCampbell said:


> .........   You can get apps for smart-devices (phones & tablets) that make it really easy to find things in the sky.  Some are free and some of the "paid" apps are pretty inexpensive.  They use the GPS, compass, level, and gyros to figure out where you are pointing your device and show you that area of the sky to help identify objects.


I use and recommend Sky Guide. Magnificent app!!










Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro


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## The_Pearl_Poet (Oct 10, 2015)

Very nice night images.


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