Skyline Drive, Milky Way, Jupiter, Moonlit Mountains

[photoflyer]

Headed up to the Skyline Drive and got this.

Canon R6, ISO 12800, F 9.0 @ 30 seconds. Canon EF 24-105 F 4 L Mark II @ 24mm miunted piggyback on a Celestron Altitude Azimuth tracking mount.

Jupiter is the "starburst" upper left and Saturn is above and left of of it.

The moon was rising to the left so the mountains are bathed in moonlight. The sun had set hours ealier.

I didn't have a lighthouse like @SquarePeg has in some of her superlative shots but the moonlit mountains were interesting to me. Also, I need a wider lens. SquarePeg, didn't you get a 12mm Rokinon recently?

Oh, and I found out about the weekly challenge this morning after coming of the drive. Numerous compression opportunities there.

 

[SquarePeg]

Hey! Glad you got out there! Yes I have the Samyang 12mm f/2 which is the same as the Rokinon 12mm.

You definitely captured the MW here and looks like a nice backdrop for it. You’ll need to edit to bring the MW out. To me it seems overexposed for a night sky shot.

Curious about your settings. Why f/9? Is that a typo? I’m assuming the longer shutter speed is due to the tracker but shouldn’t that make ISO lower. Was the moon out? I think there’s only about a 90 minute window this week when the MW core is above the horizon and there is no moon.

 

[photoflyer]

Hey! Glad you got out there! Yes I have the Samyang 12mm f/2 which is the same as the Rokinon 12mm.

You definitely captured the MW here and looks like a nice backdrop for it. You’ll need to edit to bring the MW out. To me it seems overexposed for a night sky shot.

Curious about your settings. Why f/9? Is that a typo? I’m assuming the longer shutter speed is due to the tracker but shouldn’t that make ISO lower. Was the moon out? I think there’s only about a 90 minute window this week when the MW core is above the horizon and there is no moon.

F 9 was not a typo. I wanted there to be deep depth of field as this was taken at a scenic overlook and I wanted that to be in focus in the foreground shadows. Also I'm experimenting with the R6 and very high ISO settings. As this was shot on a tracker, there was no problem shooting it for 30 seconds and 12800 on the R6 is no problem but for pure astrophotography I'll use a much lower ISO and aperture setting. Oh, and sometimes shooting at a high aperture setting is desirable, to me, to get a planet or even bright star to starburst.

I agree, with further edits I could bring out the Milky Way more and that would make it a better image. However, the moon had just risen when this was shot creating some natural light pollution. I had numerous other images through the telescope that I've been working on and decided not to spend any more time on this one. With simple edits if I brought out the Milky Way I lost the mountains and vice versa.

Here's one other that does highlight the Milky Way. It was shot two hours earlier before the moon had risen. I lit up the tree with a lumecube. I'm not satisfied with this one but it was an interesting experiment and learning experience. In fact I don't like the tree, but it showed me in the future what I might be able to do with the lumecube.

Unless you tell me I shouldn't I think I'll pursue that lens.

 

[SquarePeg]

Hey! Glad you got out there! Yes I have the Samyang 12mm f/2 which is the same as the Rokinon 12mm.

You definitely captured the MW here and looks like a nice backdrop for it. You’ll need to edit to bring the MW out. To me it seems overexposed for a night sky shot.

Curious about your settings. Why f/9? Is that a typo? I’m assuming the longer shutter speed is due to the tracker but shouldn’t that make ISO lower. Was the moon out? I think there’s only about a 90 minute window this week when the MW core is above the horizon and there is no moon.

F 9 was not a typo. I wanted there to be deep depth of field as this was taken at a scenic overlook and I wanted that to be in focus in the foreground shadows. Also I'm experimenting with the R6 and very high ISO settings. As this was shot on a tracker, there was no problem shooting it for 30 seconds and 12800 on the R6 is no problem but for pure astrophotography I'll use a much lower ISO and aperture setting. Oh, and sometimes shooting at a high aperture setting is desirable, to me, to get a planet or even bright star to starburst.

I agree, with further edits I could bring out the Milky Way more and that would make it a better image. However, the moon had just risen when this was shot creating some natural light pollution. I had numerous other images through the telescope that I've been working on and decided not to spend any more time on this one. With simple edits if I brought out the Milky Way I lost the mountains and vice versa.

Here's one other that does highlight the Milky Way. It was shot two hours earlier before the moon had risen. I lit up the tree with a lumecube. I'm not satisfied with this one but it was an interesting experiment and learning experience. In fact I don't like the tree, but it showed me in the future what I might be able to do with the lumecube.

Unless you tell me I shouldn't I think I'll pursue that lens.

View attachment 197009

I like the lens for astro. I don’t use it for anything else. I got it used in one of the Fuji specific Facebook buy/sell groups and it was about 1/2 price if I’m remembering right so not a big risk. I have read that they are good and bad copies of the lens. The person I bought it from had lots of photos in his Flickr gallery that I could look at to see that the lens was sharp.

 

[Jeff15]

I like the edit......

 

[K9Kirk]

Nice set.

 

[Pixeldawg1]

Very nice. Think you captured Mars there as well. I think I prefer the darker sky, seems to have more detail. Although I like them both. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Space Face]

I prefer the detail and exposure in the second.