A few recent landscape astrophotos

[jsecordphoto]

Sandwich, New Hampshire

Squam Lake Sandwich, NH

Just a fun one I took of some of the other guys I went out shooting with in Rye, NH last weekend.

I've been learning a lot, and hanging out with some guys who are insanely talented night photographers, but I still have a lot of work to do. These were taken with my new Rokinon 14mm 2.8 which has been great for shooting at night, but I'm still being disappointed by my 60D. Working alongside these guys who use a 5dmkIII, 6D, and a D800 I just see how much better dynamic range they get while using the same settings. It's really fun though! Thanks for looking

 

[NedM]

What's your camera settings?

 

[mkbstr]

Really nice! Thumbs up. I've been wanting to get into this stuff myself. Great job!

 

[jsecordphoto]

I do test shots at 30 seconds @f2.8 ISO 3200 and adjust from there

 

[weepete]

Nice! I really like the 2nd photo

 

[cmhbob]

I do test shots at 30 seconds @f2.8 ISO 3200 and adjust from there

My lens (Tamron 18-270 3.5-6.3) is only a f/3.5. I'd have to bump ISO even higher to match your test exposure, right?

 

[astroNikon]

Love the photos, great job. :thumbup:

on another note, on the first picture, on top of the first fence post, that looks like the top of an ice cream cone sitting there LOL

Is there a reason why the other photogs have their tripods leaning forward ?
Looks like they have the camera weight shifted forward on 2 legs.

I love astro photos but I hate going out when it's cold LOL

 

[striving4mediocrity]

cmhbob, Your lens is probably sharper when it isn't wide open. If you're going to do a long exposure just make it a little bit longer. I haven't done a lot of long exposures but when I do I try to keep my iso as low as possible (in case I ever want to blow it up.)

Here's one I did recently.

 

[jsecordphoto]

I do test shots at 30 seconds @f2.8 ISO 3200 and adjust from there

My lens (Tamron 18-270 3.5-6.3) is only a f/3.5. I'd have to bump ISO even higher to match your test exposure, right?

I was shooting with my tokina 12-24 F4 before getting the rokinon. It's definitely possible to get some at f3.5, the problem I had was getting a decent foreground exposure. It's obviously better at 2.8 but even at F4 I had some decent stuff. The rokinon is pretty sharp even wide open so that helps too. Also the advice about just doing a longer exposure and using a low iso- That won't work for astrophotos. Good luck letting enough light in for the foreground and then you'll have a lot of trailing in your stars. It can look cool but anything over 25-30 seconds with a UWA lens and you're going to get trailing.

 

[18.percent.gary]

I really like #3, the "behind the scenes" theme is fun.

Where in Rye was that... Jenness Beach? I'm 5 minutes down the coast in Hampton.

 

[KmH]

Having a lens wide open at f/3.5 is not the same as having a faster lens wide open at a larger lens aperture like f/1.4, f/1.8, f/2, or f/2.8.

Wide open at f/3.5 uses mostly the center of the lens that is being used. The wider lens apertures are using more of the outer and thinner part of the lens.
If a lens has a 50 mm focal length, at f/3.5 the lens aperture is centered on a 14.3 mm wide lens opening (50 mm / 3.5 = 14.28 mm).The edges of the f/3.5 lens opening are 17.86 mm away from the edges of the 50 mm lens elements.

A 50 mm lens set to f/2 has a lens aperture that is 25 mm wide, leaving the lens opening edges only 12.5 mm from the edges of the 50 mm lens elements.

The main problems with the Tamron 18-270 mm is the geometric distortion across most of the zoom range and the significant CA (chromatic aberration) at both the wide angle and telephoto ends of the lens' zoom range.
Except the distortion, image quality is OK in the normal to short telephoto focal length range, say 40 mm to 80 mm

 

[jsecordphoto]

I really like #3, the "behind the scenes" theme is fun.

Where in Rye was that... Jenness Beach? I'm 5 minutes down the coast in Hampton.

Wallis Sands. How are things near you right now? I heard rt 1a is in rough shape after the storm. I think I'm heading down to the seacoast area tmrw for sunset (I'm from the lakes region area)

 

[18.percent.gary]

I really like #3, the "behind the scenes" theme is fun.

Where in Rye was that... Jenness Beach? I'm 5 minutes down the coast in Hampton.

Wallis Sands. How are things near you right now? I heard rt 1a is in rough shape after the storm. I think I'm heading down to the seacoast area tmrw for sunset (I'm from the lakes region area)

1A is still closed in North Hampton and they're cleaning up the rocks and debris right now. Based on past storms it will all be cleaned up by tomorrow afternoon. The rest of 1A is fine everywhere else. There was a lot of spill-over from the surf up and down the whole coast but no major flooding.

Just be aware that there's practically nowhere to park along 1A due to all the snow banks, so you'll probably need to plan on heading to one of the state parks... their lots should be plowed by tomorrow PM.