stars at dawn

[doenoe]

Good day

i wanted some comments on this pic and maybe some hints and tips on how to improve this.
So this is the sky at dawn, its taken at 4:30 in the morning (who knows why i was still awake, i havent got a clue). Its taken with a shutterspeed of 30 secs, with an aperture of 3,5 on ISO 200
Im pretty happy with this pic, but im easily satisfied at this point. Oh, its my first star pic, so be gentle
So any comments?
Greetz Daan

 

[elsaspet]

Umm, I'm sorry, what is it? I see only black with some sort of waterdrop looking stuff. Could be my monitor I guess.

 

[Big Mike]

I can see the stars but they are a bit dim. Maybe tweak the contrast a bit to bring them out. I think shots like this are much stronger when they have a something else...like a landscape in the foreground. Stars, by themselves, just look like specs.

 

[doenoe]

kinda dark i guess eh...............well its the sky, the bottom is a bit lighter since dawn was breaking, also some clouds there. And i can see stars, but maybe thats just my monitor.

 

[PlasticSpanner]

Did you have the camera mounted on a motorised EQ mount? 30 secs is quite a long exposure for a tripod and I would have expected to see some trailing. What lens were you using and is this on digital or film? If you are using an EQ mount I would suggest a longer exposure or several similar exposures compiled together to get the true colour/temp and brightness of the stars.

What is the main subject in this shot? I can see the stars and a star cluster but without knowing where you're looking or which direction it's hard to tell.

 

[doenoe]

Thanks for the replies so far, really helps
The camera was mounted on a small tripod. I took it from my bedroom window (window opened) and there isnt a main object, just skies............will make sure something will be in the foreground next time, like mentioned
Im using the Canon eos 350D, so longer times then 30 seconds arent possible for me yet. I could use the bulb setting, but since i have to hold the shutter button then, there is a very big chance of camera blur.
PlasticSpanner: so you say that i can make several exposures and put them in one picture? do you use different settings then? And how do you put them in one picture?
sorry about all the questions.
Oh, here is a picture where i did something with the contrast and situration:

Think it somewhat improved it
Anyways, thanks again
Greetz Daan

*edit* its the kitlens that you get with the camera

 

[Chase]

Huge improvement! Bringing out the colors of the clouds and being able to see the transition from light to dark really added interest to this shot!

 

[PlasticSpanner]

Each photo you take contains small differences of information. When these are merged together (like layers) the non-duplicated information adds to each previous shot. Thats more an Astrophotography thing and useful to capture subtle changes in light and where the captured data is more important than how the image looks.


There are also other techniques for processing Astro pics by much cleverer people than me here http://thephotoforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=22818