Comets 101, Lessons Learned

[PJM]

After seeing the amazing shots @crimbfighter and @SquarePeg posted I wasn't going to show mine, but here goes. As opposed to the wide angle shots they wisely chose I went for the close-up.

These were shot with my D5600 with 200-500mm f/5.6 at 500mm.

#1 10 sec, f/5.6, ISO 6400
I didn't account for the stronger effect of earth rotation using a long lens. Shutter speeds that worked nicely for Milky Way shots using a wide angle showed good sized start tracks here.
Comet Neowise-1 by Peter Martin, on Flickr

#2 0.5 sec, f/5.6, ISO12800
No star tracks, but very noisy. I set noise reduction in LrC to 50 for this image.
Comet Neowise-2 by Peter Martin, on Flickr

It was a gorgeous night out there for sure. And I had fun taking the pictures.
The next time Neowise comes around I'll be there! And I'll do better!

 

[Soocom1]

to me, they are both passable.

 

[AlanKlein]

Very nice. I like the second one better. The first gets me a little dizzy.

 

[Space Face]

to me, they are both passable.

This.

 

[zulu42]

Use the 500 rule to stop the star trails

Why You Should Still Use the 500 Rule for Astrophotography

 

[Mike Drone]

I have more shots of the comet but due to the time of exposure the picture came out brighter and the comet came out blurry due to earth rotation. I used a kit lens 18-55mm ISO400 F4 #3. I had a longer lens but I was being lazy. It is interesting to see the comet from different points of earth. Nice image set. =]

*Edit I need to check something because with #3 I should have star trailing. I will check the RAW data...(this is another image)

*edit I apologize the raw file says ISO400 55mm f5.6 10 secs for the my image

 

[SquarePeg]

I like that first one despite the star trails. You can just barely make out where the tail starts to split.

I tried a few with my longest lens (50-230) but at 230mm I’m at f6.7 so they weren’t usable. The ones I shot with the 16-80 f/4 at 80mm were a bit better but not close enough to show any detail.

 

[K9Kirk]

Nice shootin'!

 

[PJM]

to me, they are both passable.

Thank you.

Very nice. I like the second one better. The first gets me a little dizzy.

Me too. Standing on a breakwater in the dark I was hoping I didn't become one of those news items... "Photographer falls to ...."

to me, they are both passable.

This.

Thank you.

Use the 500 rule to stop the star trails

Why You Should Still Use the 500 Rule for Astrophotography

Thanks for the tip. I will check that out.

Nice shootin'!

Thank you.

 

[PJM]

I have more shots of the comet but due to the time of exposure the picture came out brighter and the comet came out blurry due to earth rotation. I used a kit lens 18-55mm ISO400 F4 #3. I had a longer lens but I was being lazy. It is interesting to see the comet from different points of earth. Nice image set. =]

*Edit I need to check something because with #3 I should have star trailing. I will check the RAW data...(this is another image)

*edit I apologize the raw file says ISO400 55mm f5.6 10 secs for the my image

Thanks. I hope to try again using what I learned from this experience.

 

[PJM]

I like that first one despite the star trails. You can just barely make out where the tail starts to split.

I tried a few with my longest lens (50-230) but at 230mm I’m at f6.7 so they weren’t usable. The ones I shot with the 16-80 f/4 at 80mm were a bit better but not close enough to show any detail.

Thank you.
If I get to go out again I'm going to try shutter speeds between the 10 and 0.5 seconds here. I think they were both too extreme on each end. I couldn't see enough detail on the camera display at the time to realize what was happening.

 

[SquarePeg]

Me too. Standing on a breakwater in the dark I was hoping I didn't become one of those news items... "Photographer falls to ...."

You are far braver than I! That wall is high and not really flat on top in some areas. We were there just before sunset and I was very uncomfortable up there. One of the reasons we moved locations to Anisquam was because I didn’t want to have to be up on the wall in the dark. I’m way too clumsy for that!

 

[crimbfighter]

Both great shots! You captured the nucleus and the tail nicely!

 

[PJM]

Both great shots! You captured the nucleus and the tail nicely!

Thank you.