Raya 2010

[redzuan]

Balik kampung bawa kamera,
kamera dibawa tanpa tripod,
milky way diambil time raya,
tk layak masuk APOD.

Tapi saya nak kongsi juga la the simplest image yang ambil time raya aritu. Kamera D200 dgn kit lens 18-135mm sahaja. Untuk elak gegaran, guna timer dan condongkan atas sandal sbb takde tripod. (teruknya noise kamera lama2 ni... sure best kalo ada 550D...)

Milky Way - kelam pula bila tgk flickr ni



Ni pula gambar Bulan 3 hari dengan Venus berhampiran (D200 dgn kit lens, hand-held...)



Ni pula bulan yang sama, tapi menggunakan 85mm F/1.8 (super crisp sharp)

[shahgazer]

nice work bro..

siap nampak 'meteor kelip-kelip' lagi tu.. 

berapa second exposure ek? yg Milky Way tu... no visible trailing

[redzuan]

30s; ISO1600; 18mm

area: Rengit, Johor.

ada sket light pollution dari lampu jln kat simpang.

[mymoon]

yes, saudara redzuan's method is the correct and recommended method to kick off astrophotography. Cost to start up is nil. You need your kit lense (18mm -55mm) and your DSLR and a dark site and then follow these instructions:

click disini and click on the four pictures therein.

You will learn

Image acquistion

1. How to use your camera  and how to change its settings like ISO etc in the dark.
2. how to focus
3. how to frame and compose with no upside down(refractors) and laterally inverted images(newtonians) to confuse you.
4. Camera battery conservation
5. The importance of not losing your night vision.
6. How precious it is with no interference from green laser pointer(s).
7. when to use and not to use the inbuilt camera noise reduction

items you take for granted in the daytime photography.

Image processing

How to do basic digital image processing such as changing levels, brightness and contrast , colour balance etc.

Call it ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY 101 if you like.

In fact samir kharusi's  website touches/introduces the next part of ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY using tripod and stacking multiples images of the same object..


Then later buy the mounts and long focal length refractors and newtonians and SCTs and tie yourself in knots with polar(drift) alignment, balancing, aligning gotos, reading star charts, getting the guide scope  working and so on and spending 3 or more hours capturing lights, darks, bias, flats and wondering why the result it is not the same as those in the magazines.

Pursue further only if you like to berembun  and beware unlike observing Astophotography is anti social.

cheers

[mymoon]

saudara redzuan: your image massaged, I hope you don't mind



single shot image I presumed without incamera noise reduction.

it shows the street light on your left.

Could you used the tree/foilage as light shield or is there an obstruction.

I would have cropped just the milky way maybe by zooming to 50mm  or PS crop the street light and the klip-klip 'meteor'

cheers

[redzuan]

TQ Mr MyMoon for the enhanced treatment.

Image was in fact taken with in-camera noise reduction. But since it is an old D200, the noise level is actually quite frustrating as shown here, at high ISOs. (dont know if this is a "sign" to upgrade but really want a small lightweight tracking platform, more than upgrading the camera)

I couldn't lower the camera any further because of the neighbor's balcony lighting (the white glow under the tree). I did capture just the milky way with less earth-bound objects. But i like this one because gives me the sense that this was actually done simply on the driveway, behind my car.

The kelip2 was unintentionally 'captured' as most of my other images too.

We can always go in deeper, further away from this intersection and get quite a dark sky easily here. Or some kind of shielding mechanism to cover the street lighting (just 1) would help reduce the sky glow.

This was done to share with other members how easy it really is to start astrophotography. The fact that there was very little trailing also shows that this simple setup can also promise great results. Take it as an encouragement for other members here to try out night photography too!