I've spent the night out trying for another shot of the Milky Way then trying to process it and have it look half decent. Now it's time for bed so I will have to catch up with you all tomorrow. Thanks so much for stopping by :)
Amazing photo of a stunning sky! I have to say that I'm a bit jealous. Where I live in south London UK we can see very few stars! So thank you so much for sharing with us : )
Great shot Sheralee. It must be a Milky Wayathon at the moment. One day when I am away from the city lights, I'll have a go. In the meantime, I'm collecting all the Exif info from everyone.
@lilminimonka@dcaffeinatorbp@trevjk3@terryliv I agree we are lucky to be able to see the stars as well as we do. I've always taken it for granted, this is just around the corner from my house. The lights of the town were too bright but this was in the opposite direction of the town.
@terryliv@gigiflower I think there's often a trend as people are inspired by others to give something a try... I look forward to seeing you both have a go :)
@adambralston I've had another go Adam, I think my focus is better in this one and possibly my processing too... still not as good as lots I've seen on here. I made the bottom dark because the noise was quite bad even though I used some noise reduction. Critique welcome :)
Color processing is good. I like the composition. I think that the star focus is better too. Might be some slight star trails forming on the left? But, that might be curvature of the lens. AND, it could be noise around the stars.
Hey, do you have lightroom 5? There is a section under sharepning and noise reduction called color.... try playing with that slider. I did, and it eliminated a lot of that excess color noise.
I did shoot one with the camera noise reduction on, but it takes a very long time to save it to the card when you shoot like that. AND, it burned the battery even faster.
BUT, I really do like this. Cool composition, and I like how much of the milky way you can see. You should be very proud of this. From my readings and research your technique is exactly where you wanted it. Maybe one second more would give a little bit more exposure in the stars.
You know, I've seen the knock out beautiful shots. But they are almost always with very wide lenses, with ISO around 3000-4000 and VERY Fast lenses like f/2.8 or faster wide angle lenses. I tried a few with my 50mm to get it to f/1.8 but then the timing gets all messed up, and the focus is very narrow so hard to get context into the shot.
Technically, very challenging therefore for those of us that don't have all the toys. I think it makes it even better that way! And, just watch out when we get our hands on the good stuff!
@adambralston Very kind of you to critique Adam, thank you! I do have LR5 so I will give that slider a go. The noise is a real pain. I have resisted using the noise reduction because it takes so long with each shot, I guess I should try just to see the difference.
This lens is f/2.8 and my first tries were at that and I sometimes think the lens is a bit soft wide open so that's the reason I went for f/4. ISO 1600 is about the limit that I dare push my camera to... maybe the new Sony will be better with noise but I won't be getting one of those just yet ;-)
@bella_ss I did think it made a difference on my camera - noise reduction that is. Hmm, not sure I posted one of those or not... I do think it made a difference. BUT honestly, that color slider made a BIG difference. Go til it looks good, then back it off a bit so it doesn't become too SMOOTH. Sometimes a little color noise seems to add some texture and depth to the stars for some reason. Not sure.
Honestly, I think I have had better luck with the f/4 aperture, and I have seen many other VERY good shots at that Av as well. The stair trails stuff usually says, as wide open, wide angle, as you can go before increasing the ISO. Then ISO last to get the scene. 1600 is the HIGHEST my camera will go .. soo... :) I do the best I can with what I have.
@adambralston Thanks again Adam, I appreciate you sharing what you know. I hadn't tried the colour slider before only the luminance and the colour slider really does make a difference. Big thanks!!
Hey, do you have lightroom 5? There is a section under sharepning and noise reduction called color.... try playing with that slider. I did, and it eliminated a lot of that excess color noise.
I did shoot one with the camera noise reduction on, but it takes a very long time to save it to the card when you shoot like that. AND, it burned the battery even faster.
BUT, I really do like this. Cool composition, and I like how much of the milky way you can see. You should be very proud of this. From my readings and research your technique is exactly where you wanted it. Maybe one second more would give a little bit more exposure in the stars.
You know, I've seen the knock out beautiful shots. But they are almost always with very wide lenses, with ISO around 3000-4000 and VERY Fast lenses like f/2.8 or faster wide angle lenses. I tried a few with my 50mm to get it to f/1.8 but then the timing gets all messed up, and the focus is very narrow so hard to get context into the shot.
Technically, very challenging therefore for those of us that don't have all the toys. I think it makes it even better that way! And, just watch out when we get our hands on the good stuff!
This lens is f/2.8 and my first tries were at that and I sometimes think the lens is a bit soft wide open so that's the reason I went for f/4. ISO 1600 is about the limit that I dare push my camera to... maybe the new Sony will be better with noise but I won't be getting one of those just yet ;-)
Honestly, I think I have had better luck with the f/4 aperture, and I have seen many other VERY good shots at that Av as well. The stair trails stuff usually says, as wide open, wide angle, as you can go before increasing the ISO. Then ISO last to get the scene. 1600 is the HIGHEST my camera will go .. soo... :) I do the best I can with what I have.
SEeriously, nice try though.