Astrophotography

[kimberly]

Just wanted to let everyone know that Steve has rescheduled the outing for next Saturday, March 21st. It is at Huntington Beach State Park. They close at 8pm now since the time change so just make sure you get in before the gate is locked. The time of the shoot will be determined this week and I will update this thread. I would assume it would be sometime around 8 pm since the sunset is around 7:30. Also, you will want to check this thread on the day of the outing to see if we have had to cancel again due to weather.

I have misplaced the list from last month so you need to sign up here! We still have a limit of 20 people so it will be for the first 20 that sign up in this thread. I started this outing last month, I will complete it but someone will need to step up and keep the ball rolling with informing the region about events that are coming up. Thanks again for all your support! Kim

PLEASE DO NOT REPLY IF YOU ARE NOT ATTENDING! THANKS!

[kimberly]

I will be attending.

[lgrbich]

Victor and I would like to attend

Lori and Victor

[jbraxmeier]

I plan to attend

[cameranut64]

I plan to attend

Terry

[doubleravven]

Is this an anual or semi-anual outing for your region? If so, when do you plan to do the next one? Can't make this one, but would like to plan ahead if possible.

[jebbaird2]

I plan to attend- Evert Baird

[fstop]

I am still planning on attending.

[dianacochranjohn]

Yes, please put me on the list. Diana J

[Steve_e]

I too would like to attend. :D

Just a reminder to those coming Saturday to bring along the following items if you have them:

• Tripod
• Shutter release cable (can use camera delay timer if you don't have one)
• Widefield lens, i.e. 18-85mm range, fisheye would be fun too.
• Compact Flash Card for inserting into my Canon 20D/Telescope

The shorter focal length lenses will allow the most extended possible exposure from a tripod. The Earth's rotation will become evident sooner, the longer the focal length becomes.

It's hard to say if dew will be an issue that evening but I will have a hair drier and power supply available should a lens become fogged. It's not a perfect fix but it'll buy time if needed. I will have dew control on my telescope that you can see for reference in case anyone would like to look into a system for themselves.

If you arrive at the park after dark please approach the set up area with headlights OFF, parking lights are ok. This will help those already on location preserve their night vision. It will also be helpful for me with my telescope/mount alignment process.

At this point the temperatures are forecasted to be cool that evening so bring plenty of warm clothing and maybe a hot beverage(thermos) as well. The cool weather is a good thing for shooting digital and it should mean transparent skies.

And as Kim mentioned, check this thread around mid day Saturday for confirmation of the outing. Let's keep our fingers crossed for clear skies.

Steve

[kimberly]

So far we have 11 people signed up for this outing.

They are: Kim J, Lori G, Victor G, Jim B, Terry S, Evert B, Sean T, Diana J, Jim E, Bonnie and Ron E

If you plan to attend you need to reply TO THIS THREAD. If you name is not above, you ARE NOT on the list.

I have sent Steve a message to confirm where in Huntington we will be shooting. We will have that information for you in this thread also.

Thanks! Kim

[jbellis]

Kim. I'm out of town until Saturday evening. I believe I will be back in time so please save a spot for me.
Thanks

[kimberly]

Just a reminder that the park closes at 8pm. If you are attending the outing tomorrow at Huntington, please make sure you are in by 8. We will be shooting from the main walkway to the beach between the castle and the restrooms. PLEASE when you pull into the parking area, turn you lights off. If it is dark you can leave on your parking lights. Steve will be getting set up for us and the car lights may interfere with his process. Remember to bring an extra card to put into Steve's camera so you can have images to take home from his scope.

This is limited to 20 participants and we have 9 so far. Also remember to check this thread tomorrow just incase of clouds and we have to cancel.

[kimberly]

Just got a call from Steve and we are all set for this evening. Steve said you may want to start coming around 7:30 to get set up.

[kimberly]

WOW- what a great evening. The clouds rolled in and then rolled right back out. I had a wonderful time! Can't wait to post some of my images.

THANKS STEVE!!

[mrsisu]

would love to hear how this shoot went and would love to attend the next one. Hope too to see some images posted. Sounds soooo interesting.

[Steve_e]

You're most welcome Kim. It was fun and it's nice to see the clouds part for a change. Looking forward to seeing your images.

Steve

[Steve_e]

would love to hear how this shoot went and would love to attend the next one. Hope too to see some images posted. Sounds soooo interesting.

It would be great to have you join us.

Steve

[fstop]

17mm, F2.8, 85 seconds, ISO 1000. The 85 seconds allowed for slight streaking of the stars.

Brrrrrrr it was cold. I had to try at least a couple. I wimped out because I was tired and cold so I didn't stay long enough to do any deep sky shots. A regret! Just below center frame and just over the left tree you can see the Constellation of Orion. The 3 horizontal stars make up the belt and the four visible angled stars coming down from the belt make up the sword.

Steve thanks a bunch and I most definately would like to do this again when I am more rested and prepared!

[Steve_e]

Very nice shot Sean, like your composition a lot. See that smudge in the upper left? I believe that's The Rosette Nebula starting to show but I'll check my chart to be sure.

Next time we'll get you those telescope shots. I was probably feeling a lot like you on Sunday after being up all night. In this hobby it's either cold or the bugs are a pain. Bug spray takes care of the pests but the cold takes some planning. A small propane heater is nice to have, pretty cheap too.

Steve

[fstop]

17mm, F2.8, 1 minute 50 seconds, ISO 1000.

This is the landscape version of the same sky.

Thanks Steve, the composition was just a shot in the dark ;)

[Steve_e]

I'm curious to see other images taken during our night at Huntington. Anyone have something to share?

Steve

[kimberly]

Well this is nothing like the work you do but you asked for it!! hehe I want to try to get the circular pattern of stars. I don't remember which star I need to shoot to get that result. I do remember it was in the northern part of the sky that night. Maybe you can give me some tips on how to find it so I can try it sometime. Here is my image. Patience is something I lack and you need that to do this type of photography! I did have fun! Thanks alot Steve!

[fstop]

You were on your way. I can see the circular rotation in the photograph. That's a great start Kim. I would like to do this again as well.

[Steve_e]

That's a great start Kim. You have Polaris centered in the frame. It's the brightest star straight up from the two 2nd floor windows at the left. Unfortunately the northern skies there are too light polluted to shoot the long exposures required to get nice "spin".

There is an alternative to help with light pollution. It involves using 15-30 second exposures and stacking them to get the same spin effect as a very long single exposure. The added advantage of no noise issues (and no need for in-camera noise reduction) is nice. Check out this tutorial, it's very good and shows you where you can download the programs needed. I included a link below the tutorial of a program for Windows, not sure if you're Mac based but the tutorial lists a Mac version. I have not tried this but I know of many people on line that have and had great results. I wouldn't mind trying it sometime. The key to a great composition of course is location. A great foreground really makes these type of shots dramatic. Windmills, Lighthouses, mountains/valleys are just a few examples.

http://www.pxlshots.com/tutorials/video/1784/Stacking-Technique-For-Star-Trails.html

http://www.startrails.de/html/software.html

I hope to see some of the nebula images taken by everyone through the telescope, come on now don't be shy, they looked pretty nice on the LCD.

Here's a shot I took in the early morning hours while everyone was sound asleep. I used the 100-400L/20D mounted on top of my telescope to get a wider field shot(200mm) than my scope would provide. This is a total of 40 minutes (5, 8-min exp.) of exposure time. To do justice to this area I would like to get about 3-4 hours total. The night I shot this was still a bit early in the season to get enough dark time for that much exposure. I'm hoping next weekend to get back out and get at least 1-2 hours, should be a marked improvement. The bright yellow star at the right is Antares, the dark dust leading out of the blue glow is an object called Rho Ophiuchi.

Steve

[cshumpert]

I LOVE the way this looks! I live in the Midlands, but vacation every September in Garden City with my family so maybe you guys will have something going on when I am there. Of course I know the Midlands Chapter has the moon, stars and sky here too and we just might do our own all nighter (or at least late nighter) and see what happens! I look forward to learning more about the techniques involved in capturing this sort of shot.

[Steve_e]

Thanks Cindy. Touch base a couple weeks before you travel to Garden City. For dark skies we need to coordinate our outings with the new Moon or close to it, which is two weekends a month.

Here's a very cool product called the Astrotrac. Very portable and is a nice alternative to a German equatorial mount for tracking capability. Decent equatorial mounts run at around $600 and go up into the 10s of thousands of dollars. They are also fairly heavy, especially the units that support a lot of weight. There are also counterweights, a large and fairly heavy tripod to tote around.

The Astrotrac is mounted to a sturdy photography head and tripod and doesn't require counterweights. I wouldn't mind one of these for a nice travel set up. When you add in the polar alignment scope it'll run around $850. That's not chump change but as a comparison, my mount goes for around 4 times that and is no where near as compact or portable. With a set up like this you can extend exposure and not have to be limited by the Earth's rotation. Tracking capability is a must to get exposures long enough to capture in focus the faint and beautiful objects that I like to shoot. Deep sky imaging requires patience and determination but when it all comes together there is nothing like it. You can google Astrotrac and find more image examples taken with this product.

http://www.optcorp.com/Manufacturer.aspx?mid=245

Good luck and thanks for dropping in.

Steve