Nightsky

[sukunda87]

Yesterday I tried to capture nightsky for the first time, and I didnt get results like I thought they will be. Pictures are not sharp as I wanted.

Gear: NIKON 5200 + 18-55mm DX VR GII + tripod.

Can You give me some suggestions how to get sharper images? I mean, tonight Im going to try 2-3 stops higher f number, but I will have to use higher ISO... Any suggestions guys?

Photo samples:
https://www.photobox.co.uk/my/photo?album_id=4294870510&photo_id=21253669205#21253669205

https://www.photobox.co.uk/my/photo?album_id=4294870510&photo_id=21253668380#21253668380

 

[tirediron]

"You cannot access this album"... you can host your images right here in your personal TPF gallery which means that everyone can see them.

As far as your question goes, without seeing some samples, it's hard to say, but things such as using a good solid and weighted tripod, mirror lock-up and a remote release all help. As well, atmospherics can seriously reduce the sharpness of images, even haze that's all but invisible to the naked eye can be a pain. Search the term "astrophotography".

 

[BananaRepublic]

for posting the link. There should be no issue getting good results with the gear you have .

 

[sukunda87]

Ok guys, I tried to create gallery, but It says: You dont have permission to create gallery. So I uploaded again, this time on zippy. It should work now.

Im using stable tripod, and 2 sec timer. I have focused to infinity during day and poiting camera to sky. I aloso tried to focus to infinity by pointing camera to a big lamp during night (lamp was 10 meters away).

7.JPG
18.JPG

Sorry for bad upload link in the first post. It should work now.

 

[otherprof]

Yesterday I tried to capture nightsky for the first time, and I didnt get results like I thought they will be. Pictures are not sharp as I wanted.

Gear: NIKON 5200 + 18-55mm DX VR GII + tripod.

Can You give me some suggestions how to get sharper images? I mean, tonight Im going to try 2-3 stops higher f number, but I will have to use higher ISO... Any suggestions guys?

Photo samples:
https://www.photobox.co.uk/my/photo?album_id=4294870510&photo_id=21253669205#21253669205

https://www.photobox.co.uk/my/photo?album_id=4294870510&photo_id=21253668380#21253668380

Have you turned off the VR? I'm told that should be done when using a tripod.

 

[tirediron]

Yesterday I tried to capture nightsky for the first time, and I didnt get results like I thought they will be. Pictures are not sharp as I wanted.

Gear: NIKON 5200 + 18-55mm DX VR GII + tripod.

Can You give me some suggestions how to get sharper images? I mean, tonight Im going to try 2-3 stops higher f number, but I will have to use higher ISO... Any suggestions guys?

Photo samples:
https://www.photobox.co.uk/my/photo?album_id=4294870510&photo_id=21253669205#21253669205

https://www.photobox.co.uk/my/photo?album_id=4294870510&photo_id=21253668380#21253668380

Have you turned off the VR? I'm told that should be done when using a tripod.

VR should definitely be off when using a tripod, as well, mirror lock-up should be used. TBH, those look fairly normal to me; you've got a slight trail due to the time lapse, but it looks reasonably sharp except in the corners which is normal at large apertures.

 

[sukunda87]

Yes, I have turned of VR. And no, I dint lock-up the mirror, but I will try that. Well, I guess that I expected maybe more details and sharper stars, but sure, it look well. It was my first time doing that, nightsky photography. I will try tonight with this settings: 18mm, f/5, ISO 3200-6400, and shutter speed 20 sec to try to avoid trails. I know that there is a chance to be a little dark, but I will give it a shot. Tnx guys, I will post pics here in this topic later.

 

[tirediron]

What sort of surface is your tripod sitting on? Are you walking around during the exposure? ANY vibration during a 20 second exposure will degrade the image; if you've got the tripod on your sundeck and you're walking around? That's a recipe for disaster, whereas placing the tripod on firm earth and being still (AND using mirror lock-up) will help greatly.

 

[sukunda87]

Tripod is on concrete surface. Well, Im trying to be at one place as much as I can

So, results from tonight:

18mm
f/3.5
Shutter speed 20 sec (tried not to get trails)
ISO 1600-3200
WB Daylight
Timer 5 sec (so I can move from camera without vibrations)

Pictures are little tweaked in PS. Vignete, contrast, etc...

1.JPG
2.JPG
3.JPG

Also, tried to catch some trees.

 

[BananaRepublic]

Tripod is on concrete surface. Well, Im trying to be at one place as much as I can

So, results from tonight:

18mm
f/3.5
Shutter speed 20 sec (tried not to get trails)
ISO 1600-3200
WB Daylight
Timer 5 sec (so I can move from camera without vibrations)

Pictures are little tweaked in PS. Vignete, contrast, etc...

1.JPG
2.JPG
3.JPG

Also, tried to catch some trees.

I think there good enough images out of the camera I think you might have a go at some post processing if you have the facility. There is not much going on in most apart from the stars, perhaps you wanted to get technique right first, but if you put them through a program like lightroom for example you could really bring out the milky way that was shown in the first image. combining that with the trees or other foreground stuff could open up a whole new interest to pursue.

Watch some youtube about creating night/astro images.

 

[sukunda87]

Well, I just watched some tutorials, and I tried to fix it a little bit. I'm afraid that I exaggerated in post process.

 

[BananaRepublic]

Well, I just watched some tutorials, and I tried to fix it a little bit. I'm afraid that I exaggerated in post process.

You will get people here who would give yes and no answers, myself I think you might have gone a little to strong but at least you have a better idea now to what can be achieved. There is another technique in lightroom, if that what you used, other programs this to, where you can highlight, as in select, specific areas to adjust without effecting the rest of the image. By using this you could make the milky way cloud stand out a fraction more than the rest of the sky.

Im guessing you lowered the temperature of the image thus making it more of a blue colour. I wonder if you attempted any noise reduction.

 

[sukunda87]

Yes, I lowered the temperature. I tried brush tool in PS to pull out the milky way, but I exposed it too much. I will try harder, because I like shooting nightsky, so I just have to learn to proper pull important things out of the image.

 

[dennybeall]

The light from the stars is coming through a lot of atmosphere after traveling a very long way - it can only be so sharp. All the lens and technique in the world can't make it sharp.
Too sharp would mean P H O T O S H O P !!