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Milky Way Photography

Anonymous Thu 01 Aug 2019 21:41:04 No.3514990 View View Reply Original Report

Quoted By: >>3514991 >>3515011 >>3515036 >>3515281 >>3518150

I'm going to the desert today to see the milky way. Figured I'd try to get a photo of it, too. My gear is shit, though. I have a Canon T5i, 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Lens, and an Amazon Basics tripod.

I think I'm going to start with:
>18mm
>f/3.5
>1/30 shutter
>ISO as low as possible
>manual focus, RAW, self timer, mirror lockup enabled

I mean, is this gonna be any better than my Pixel 2 smartphone? Also, how do photographers get people in the photo? I'm going with a few friends, I figured we could take a cool group photo. I assume that's just two photos stitched together with Photoshop, right?

Also, how important is it that I weight down my tripod? I can get a grocery bag and fill it with rocks or some shit.

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 01 Aug 2019 21:41:55 No.3514991 Report

Quoted By:

>>3514990
>1/30 shutter
Correction: I mean 30s shutter.

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 01 Aug 2019 22:14:12 No.3515006 Report

Quoted By: >>3515013 >>3515029 >>3515071

Shoot wide open, stay below 30s to avoid trails, use flash to illuminate subject and foreground.

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 01 Aug 2019 22:40:41 No.3515011 Report

Quoted By: >>3515029

>>3514990
OP you lucky dude I always wanted to do that. Are you gonna be bumping the thread live?
>better than pixel 2
No idea about technical stuff, but should be. Don't you have both of them? Never had time to compare?
>s30
Might've cause just a bit of trail. Forgot the values
>Low as possible
Maybe yes, maybe no.
>Tripod
Is it stable enough? Then no. Is it shaking? Then yes.

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 01 Aug 2019 22:44:04 No.3515013 Report

Quoted By: >>3515029

>>3515006
This. Also: try ISOs 800, 1600, and 3200. Yeah there will be some noise but use some NR in post.

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 01 Aug 2019 23:29:33 No.3515029 Report

Quoted By: >>3515167 >>3515173

>>3515006
>>3515013
Thanks! Will do! I only have in-body flash but hopefully that's sufficient.

>>3515011
I'm driving 2.5 hours to get to a dark spot and it'll be 100 degree weather even at night, but it'll be worth it just to see it with my own eyes. I'll try to bump this thread! I can't actually post any camera pics until the next morning.

I've got a plastic bag that I can fill with some rocks that I'm sure will be around.

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 01 Aug 2019 23:44:52 No.3515036 Report

Quoted By:

>>3514990
Be aware that although a desert has very dark skies, the atmosphere can change a lot. Dust, moisture and heat can reduce "seeing". I hope you get lucky. A slight change in the weather can make a big difference.

Be prepared to do a lot of editing in post, take multiple shots and stack them to reduce noise. Your kt is good enough but expect corner sharpness to be a bit shit, once resized to intsta it should look fine.

Good ;luck and post results.

Anonymous

Anonymous Fri 02 Aug 2019 01:06:37 No.3515071 Report

Quoted By:

>>3515006
From what I can read he is shooting 18mm on a crop sensor, he should stay below 20 secs to avoid drawn out stars.

Anonymous

Anonymous Fri 02 Aug 2019 05:57:07 No.3515167 Report

Quoted By: >>3515173 >>3517738

>>3515029
on camera flash will give your foreground subject a weird look. you can get a cheap-ass speedlight from amazon for like $30 USD (just search Neewer speedlight). Then set your on-camera flash to the lowest power possible (something like 1/128) and set the speedlight to slave mode so that the on-camera flash makes the speedlight pop.

Anonymous

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO how_the_best_lighting_modifiers_ (...).jpg, 146KiB, 1402x844

Anonymous Fri 02 Aug 2019 06:00:47 No.3515173 Report

Quoted By:

>>3515029
>>3515167
on-camera vs off-camera

Anonymous

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO IMG_0082_edit.jpg, 5MiB, 5184x3456

Anonymous Fri 02 Aug 2019 09:04:51 No.3515210 Report

Quoted By: >>3515263 >>3515269 >>3515385 >>3517659

OP here. Welp. I fucked up. I had trouble focusing because the live view just didn't show me any stars to focus with. I got what I thought was one good shot, but I looked at it on my computer just now and it looks like absolute shit. It looked really good on my camera's view finder, I thought I nailed it. It looks a bit better with noise reduction and slight contrast adjustment. I think the ISO was too high at 6400, I didn't know how to do the thing where you take multiple photos and stitch them together to get rid of noise, I'm sure I wasn't 100% in focus...I just was unprepared and it was harder than I thought to get things ready in pitch black darkness.

Also I really just wanted to enjoy the moment under the stars, looking at the milky way with my own eyes, a very rare opportunity I've never had before. I had a lot of fun with my friends and didn't wanna spend the majority of the time staring down at my camera. It's 2am here and I'm ready to crash though. Thanks for the advice, everyone. I'll get 'em next time (hopefully with a prime lens that can shoot f/1.8 and with more preparation).

Anonymous

Anonymous Fri 02 Aug 2019 11:56:21 No.3515263 Report

Quoted By: >>3515265 >>3515417

>>3515210

It's not too bad, but ISO 6400 obviously is not the way to go. Focusing can be a bitch, I use manual focus in live view, but ideally you would want to check the focus on a laptop after a few test shots.

The trick is post processing, the milky way will hardly be visible on the out of camera JPG's. Try to use ISO 1600 as a maximum for this camera. A f/1.8 lens would be nice, but you also want a wide angle, so a cheap 35mm probably isn't an option.

If you are going to stitch images, the workflow is very important. A lot of information can be lost if it takes several steps to complete the final image.

Also, try to think about the composition. The horizon is crooked and the car in the front would be very distraction if the picture has turned out right.

Anonymous

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO DSC_4427.jpg, 1MiB, 2000x1333

Anonymous Fri 02 Aug 2019 11:58:46 No.3515265 Report

Quoted By: >>3515417

>>3515263

Here's an example of an out of camera JPG and an (over)processed RAW file, there's a lot of information there that won't be visible at first.

35mm f/1.8 15s ISO1600

Anonymous

Anonymous Fri 02 Aug 2019 12:02:33 No.3515269 Report

Quoted By: >>3515417

>>3515210

It is a cool shot in your development as a photographer. I think you have the right attitude towards it. Keep enjoying and learning.

Anonymous

Anonymous Fri 02 Aug 2019 13:00:52 No.3515281 Report

Quoted By:

>>3514990
https://youtu.be/MS3E7o_RQaI

Anonymous

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO eh.jpg, 1MiB, 5184x3456

Anonymous Fri 02 Aug 2019 17:07:44 No.3515385 Report

Quoted By: >>3515417

>>3515210
I think you did a good job if this was your first time

Anonymous

Anonymous Fri 02 Aug 2019 17:58:19 No.3515417 Report

Quoted By: >>3515429 >>3515522 >>3517674

>>3515263
Yeah I could have sworn I was at 3200. I just took one look at the viewfinder and thought "nailed it! lets pack up and enjoy time with friends". Now I know better lol. I put my camera in live view but I couldn't see shit. I think I could barely make out Jupiter in the viewfinder (the brightest star in the picture) on the viewfinder but that's it. I should have brought a laptop for sure.

Is the Rokinon FE14M-C 14mm F2.8 Ultra Wide Lens the best entry-level wide angle lens? I can't find anything else that:
>is f/2.8 or less
>is 16mm or less
>less than $300

I didn't even realize the horizon is crooked. Yeah I should have gone elsewhere for the shot than the parking lot.

>>3515265
Damn, yeah I took a RAW of the photo I posted, but I don't know what I could have done with that. The noise is just too much. Are you saying I should have taken like ISO 1600 and even if the photo came out super dark, know that once processed I could bring out the information?

>>3515269
>>3515385
Thank you!! Yeah first time ever doing astrophotography.

Anonymous

Anonymous Fri 02 Aug 2019 18:14:19 No.3515429 Report

Quoted By:

>>3515417
Look for a used Tokina 11-16mm 2.8 on Ebay.

Anonymous

Anonymous Fri 02 Aug 2019 22:05:22 No.3515522 Report

Quoted By:

>>3515417

The Rokinon would be a good choice. I just bought a second hand Tokina 11-16 for this purpose, but I haven't used it yet.

And yes, the JPG can be pretty dark. It's better to keep the ISO low so more details are preserved, the exposure can be corrected with post processing in Lightroom or a similar program.

You are lucky that a dark place like this is within range, with a better lens and more attention to detail you could take some great pictures.

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 07 Aug 2019 14:32:09 No.3517659 Report

Quoted By:

>>3515210
Still a really cool shot though. My first time all I got was pollution with a slight hint that there might or might not be a streak in the sky that could possibly maybe be construed to be the milky way.

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 07 Aug 2019 15:02:03 No.3517674 Report

Quoted By:

>>3515417
>under 300 dollars
>mfw that rokinon lens costs me 450 yuropdollars here.

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 07 Aug 2019 17:40:00 No.3517738 Report

Quoted By:

>>3515167
I do this also but tape a piece of cardboard or something to the on camera flash at an angle to trigger the other flash so it doesn't contaminate the image

Will try with a diffuser for the on camera instead since some of my shots done this way look like they could use some fill.
My camera doesn't have a hot shoe so I can't even upgrade to a proper wireless trigger, I can't "catch" the slave flash any faster than 1/80, any tips? I'm using "trailing curtain sync" mode on the on camera and it seems to "catch" the slave the most often.

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 07 Aug 2019 21:56:59 No.3517857 Report

Quoted By: >>3518118

As someone new to this and wanting to moderate my expectations, how much of a result can I expect with sony a6000 combined with a samyang 12mm?

Anonymous

Anonymous Thu 08 Aug 2019 12:05:38 No.3518118 Report

Quoted By:

>>3517857

Any modern camera with an APSC or full frame sensor will do fine and the SamYang has a good focal length and maximum aperture.

Anonymous

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO women photog.png, 159KiB, 700x498

Anonymous Thu 08 Aug 2019 13:05:27 No.3518150 Report

Quoted By:

>>3514990

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