Preparing for MilkyWay season

ronlane · Mar 19, 2021

It's about time for milkyway season so I am preparing now. I have been upgrading gear throughout the last few months and learning how to stack astro images to help with noise reduction and processing.

I finally got a clear night last night so I ran outside of town and took a series of images to practice with everything. I went too early as it was still blue hour, but I may go out later tonight if it stays clear.

New gear: CF Tripod with a long lens pano head and leveling base, pano slider rail, Rokinon 14mm f/2.8. Used my 1Dx camera body and post processed with LR, PS and StarryLandscapeStacker to process them. 20 regular frames at f/2.8, 15 seconds at ISO 3200 and the 10 dark frames of the same (just with lens cover on it)

SquarePeg · Mar 20, 2021

Are you using Photo Pills app to plan? If not that is the go to for me. Last night was a perfect night for astro here. 0 clouds. MW core visibility from 2:37-5:10am with moon set at 1am.

A method I use is to take a few shots at ISO 10,000 10 seconds just to confirm my focus and composition. Sometimes I end up using that one with some noise reduction as a single shot and it comes out better than the stack!

ronlane · Mar 20, 2021

SquarePeg said:
Are you using Photo Pills app to plan? If not that is the go to for me. Last night was a perfect night for astro here. 0 clouds. MW core visibility from 2:37-5:10am with moon set at 1am.

A method I use is to take a few shots at ISO 10,000 10 seconds just to confirm my focus and composition. Sometimes I end up using that one with some noise reduction as a single shot and it comes out better than the stack!

Sharon, yes, I have photo pills and use it for my planning. Last night, well this morning, would have been good here but I wasn't able to get out of town to a location. I am looking at possibly going over night tonight and seeing if I can get it. The issue that I have at this moment is I am not sure if the core will be high enough in the sky to clear the horizon and foreground that I am wanting to shoot it with.

smoke665 · Mar 20, 2021

@ronlane A good friend of mine and fellow photography buff got interested in the heavens. Be careful, you don't know the meaning of G.A.S. until you start shooting the stars. From his FB post, his rig - Log In or Sign Up to View and an example- Judy Allen one more - Judy Allen

paigew · Mar 20, 2021

So clear!!! How does stacking help with the noise??

ronlane · Mar 20, 2021

paigew said:
So clear!!! How does stacking help with the noise??

Thanks Paige. From all the research and video's that I have watched it helps a lot with noise for MW shots. I am just learning how to do it and working with it. I am planning to reduce the shutter speed to 10 seconds to help. We shall see.

SquarePeg · Mar 20, 2021

There are so many contradictions out there on how to get the best results. Seems everyone has a different shooting and processing theory. Try a few different methods until you find what works for you. Looking forward to seeing your results.

SquarePeg · Mar 21, 2021

Just had to say got some killer MW shots this morning! We had clear skies and perfect conditions even though it was freezing out. Took a disco nap from 9-11pm. Met up with my MW squad at midnight. Drove 2 hours to the Cape arriving at 2am. Had 3 hours of shooting from 3 locations in the salt marsh and drove back home. Got 5 hours sleep and am ready to go out again tonight if skies are clear! the combination of MW window, clear skies and no moon doesn’t come along very often so don’t pass it up.