# Milky Way depot



## SquarePeg (Jun 23, 2020)

We had quite an adventure Friday night chasing the Milky Way far up into the NH White Mountains.  After getting waylaid trying to capture a photo of a million fireflies at our 2nd spot, we finally made it to our last destination, the Crawford Notch train depot, only to find the MW was too high up for our planned shot where it aligned with the train tracks as a leading line.  Had to improvise this angle and get the train depot and MW without the tracks.  It’s not the shot I planned but I’m pretty happy with it.  It’s a single exposure since there wasn’t time to take multiples before the core was out of sight.  




depot to the stars by SharonCat..., on Flickr


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## K9Kirk (Jun 24, 2020)

Niiiice!


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## PJM (Jun 24, 2020)

That is very nice.  I like the train depot in the foreground.  Very well done for a single exposure.  What time of night did you take it?

PS: If that were mine, I'd be framing it.


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## terri (Jun 24, 2020)

Wow!   I'd be happy with this one, too.   Beautiful work!    I think I understand what you were looking for with the tracks as a leading line, but this depot is very charming all on its own.   Works just fine!


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## SquarePeg (Jun 24, 2020)

K9Kirk said:


> Niiiice!



Thank youuuuu!



PJM said:


> That is very nice.  I like the train depot in the foreground.  Very well done for a single exposure.  What time of night did you take it?
> 
> PS: If that were mine, I'd be framing it.



It was probably between 1:30-2 at that point.  I know we headed home at 2:20 because I set my gps to see what time I’d be home (4:40am!).  

I’ll need to see how bad the noise is before I consider printing.  Going to run it through Topaz Denoise first. I saved my old laptop with PSE11 and Topaz filters just for this reason so I wouldn’t lose access when I switched to a MacBook. 



terri said:


> Wow!   I'd be happy with this one, too.   Beautiful work!    I think I understand what you were looking for with the tracks as a leading line, but this depot is very charming all on its own.   Works just fine!



Yes thanks I did want the traditional shot from here but will take what I got and love it.  This year has been take what you can get with no access to facilities and no real ability to stay over night to be closer to dark skies.  Trekking in and out 2.5 hours each way, 325 miles round trip has been “fun”.


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## SquarePeg (Jun 24, 2020)

This is the best I could get of the planned shot.  The core and the dark horse are not visible as the mw was too high up.  It does line up with the dip in the mountains or right above the end of the tracks if you time it right - depending on time of year. 




_CAT4684 by SharonCat..., on Flickr


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## Mike Drone (Jun 24, 2020)

Nice pictures =]


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## terri (Jun 24, 2020)

SquarePeg said:


> This is the best I could get of the planned shot.  The core and the dark horse are not visible as the mw was too high up.  It does line up with the dip in the mountains or right above the end of the tracks if you time it right - depending on time of year.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Another beauty!   I love all the blue sheen on the tracks.   Beautiful image!    

And that is a LOT of driving for a photo shoot, but you know what's waiting for you, more or less.   That helps!   Payoff is worth it.


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## weepete (Jun 24, 2020)

Stellar!

Seriously, these are great shots. I've not done the milky way myself, something I'd like to do though. Ever since a certain post on here I've got facinated with deep sky photography


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## SquarePeg (Jun 24, 2020)

terri said:


> SquarePeg said:
> 
> 
> > This is the best I could get of the planned shot.  The core and the dark horse are not visible as the mw was too high up.  It does line up with the dip in the mountains or right above the end of the tracks if you time it right - depending on time of year.
> ...


That blue sheen is the light from the soda machine in the other depot building that was behind me.  Obviously Pepsi.  



weepete said:


> Stellar!
> 
> Seriously, these are great shots. I've not done the milky way myself, something I'd like to do though. Ever since a certain post on here I've got facinated with deep sky photography



Thanks I appreciate the encouragement.   Milky Way is not so hard if you live near dark skies and have the Photo Pills app.  Or are willing to drive 5 hours to get the shot!  Check out this sight for excellent info. https://www.lonelyspeck.com/how-to-make-an-amazing-photo-of-the-milky-way-galaxy/

Now deep sky is another thing altogether and requires special equipment!


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## SquarePeg (Jun 24, 2020)

Mike Drone said:


> Nice pictures =]



Thanks!


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## CherylL (Jun 24, 2020)

Great work!  Worth your all night adventure.


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## SquarePeg (Jun 24, 2020)

CherylL said:


> Great work!  Worth your all night adventure.



Thanks!  It’s like childbirth - once you see the baby you forget all about the morning sickness and labor pains lol.


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## Dean_Gretsch (Jun 25, 2020)

What a great looking place for photos and the MW only enhances it. Very nicely done and I am very appreciative of your efforts!


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## bulldurham (Jun 25, 2020)

It is a great shot and the possibilities for compositing the second shot to the first are there, but in either case, I was almost more drawn to the train station that the MW. In this edit, I toned down the foreground color and brightness to still show the charm of the building but to give more emphasis to the sky. As always, an edit is just another eye with the grace of hindsight.


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## SquarePeg (Jun 25, 2020)

Dean_Gretsch said:


> What a great looking place for photos and the MW only enhances it. Very nicely done and I am very appreciative of your efforts!



Thanks!



bulldurham said:


> It is a great shot and the possibilities for compositing the second shot to the first are there, but in either case, I was almost more drawn to the train station that the MW. In this edit, I toned down the foreground color and brightness to still show the charm of the building but to give more emphasis to the sky. As always, an edit is just another eye with the grace of hindsight.
> 
> View attachment 193459



Thanks.  I love to see other people’s takes on things like this.  I’m still a newb at LR and PS having just started using them in March.


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## bulldurham (Jun 25, 2020)

Might I suggest you make a very inexpensive purchase ($39) of Tony Kuyper's Photoshop Essentials video series. Step by step, panel by panel, trick by trick, the best basics program I've ever seen.

The video is where you can be, certainly not where you will start...Sean Bagshaw is Tony's front man.

Video Samples


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## SquarePeg (Jun 25, 2020)

bulldurham said:


> Might I suggest you make a very inexpensive purchase ($39) of Tony Kuyper's Photoshop Essentials video series. Step by step, panel by panel, trick by trick, the best basics program I've ever seen.
> 
> The video is where you can be, certainly not where you will start...Sean Bagshaw is Tony's front man.
> 
> Video Samples



Thanks for the tip.   I’ve really only used Lr so far.  I’ve ventured into PS only twice since I got it because the LR cloning and healing tool are so poor.


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## bulldurham (Jun 25, 2020)

" cloning and healing tool are so poor."   The best practical advice I can give you is to forget the trick tools until you know all the tools, panels and how to use layers and layer masks to their fullest measure...this is not a hard program to learn despite all the horror stories...they exist because they saw PS as a magic show, which it is not - though in the right hands, much magic can be accomplished.


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