Astrophotography... Frustrated.

[astroNikon]

But back to the OPs observation. Pixel Peeping is going to get you upset. Nikon d600, 300/4 AF with Mup - remote release but I was standing right next to it.
These examples are (I just took them right after my Moon/Venus shot) :
15 sec f/8 ISO 800 (yeah I forgot to increase the aperture )
10 sec f/8 ISO 800
1.3 sec f/8 ISO 800
all cropped about 125%
You really have to experiment more with higher ISOs, and working the Blacks and Whites in LightRoom/PS an the above suggestions such as stacking. If you notice on the 2nd photo I creeped off the concrete pad I have my scope on most of the time. And you can see the reaction in the photo .. the jilted star trails. I normally shoot with a radio remote from about 10 feet away on each of my scope shots.
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[jsecordphoto]

For landscape astrophotography, you don't really need a tracking mount at all. They can help, but I've never needed one to get great images in dark skies, and I can only think of one or two photographers I know who use one. If you're trying to do deep space type photos, you will need a tracker.

It always baffles me how many people comment and give advice in astrophotography threads that have no idea what they are talking about. There are some VERY knowledgeable people in here that do have experience with astro work, and I respect their input, but there is more bad advice being tossed around here. Iso100 for landscape astrophotography? Best of luck with that!

Was my picture bad? Could it have been better shot at 1600 or 3200 ISO?

No it's not bad, especially if it's your first attempt. To really help you here we need to know what type of photos you are going for. Are you trying to get stars with a landscape foreground, or just a photo of stars and/or deep sky objects

 

[mattpayne11]

My favorite topic. Finally.

I use the Nikon D800 and the 14-24 also. I usually shoot at ISO 3200 or ISO 6400. I regularly shoot at 30 seconds, a small amount of star trails is not noticeable unless you are pixel peeping. Using a tracker is NOT necessary to produce great photos of the night sky, but you can get great results using one.

For focusing, set it at manual focus and then put the line right on the infinity, works like a charm on that lens. Don't worry about live view focusing on this lens.

For processing, this is when it gets fun!

Experiment with levels, curves, and white balance in PS. You'll begin to see some effects and remember them.

You can take a look at my gallery of night photos here, which is not even close to all of my shots, just the ones I've put on Flickr.

 

[Joves]

Sooner or later, if you wish to pursue astrophotography, a motor-driven mount will be needed. There are many available, usually as a part of a telescope.

Sooner or later, if you wish to pursue astrophotography, a motor-driven mount will be needed. There are many available, usually as a part of a telescope.

+1

+2
If it is skyscapes that you are wanting to focus on. Then you could also get into shooting individual objects in the sky as well. At that point it gets even more challenging.

 

[nerwin]

Astrophotography is not an easy thing, just takes a TON of trial and error. The best shots I've got was using the stacking method and upgrading to full frame, that made a HUGE difference. I don't try to raise my ISO too high because the less noise the better, but with stacking..you can eliminate some of that pesky noise and get far more detail in the milky way. Each shot is around 10-15 seconds. To focus, I simply focus to infinity and back off just a hair and then fire a test shot and zoom on the stars and keep doing it until they are focused as much as I can get. Like I said, its really trial and error. Wide angle fast lenses help a lot too.

This was the best shot I've ever taken so far. Will try again this summer..I don't want to stand out in the cold right now. All the milky way shots I have were taken in my backyard, I have a really amazing view of the sky.

 

[shefjr]

As was already stated to stop the trailes shorten your shutter speed. Or in your case with your original photo don't pixel peep. personally I think your original photo looks pretty good. I would suggest maybe doing some additional editing. I don't recall off hand who posted this video here on TPF but, it really does a good job demonstrating how much you can pull out of a photo.