silentandy Posted January 8, 2012 Report Share Posted January 8, 2012 Nice! I just added you as a contact on flickr, anyone else on there? My 60d decided to die today, I'm like an owner that's lost his dog Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisan Posted January 9, 2012 Report Share Posted January 9, 2012 Nice! I just added you as a contact on flickr, anyone else on there? My 60d decided to die today, I'm like an owner that's lost his dog Thanks - I just reciprocated My 400d has served me well the last 2-3 years, but I'm having a hard time resisting jessops 0% at the moment - very much fancy a 7d. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eldavo69 Posted January 9, 2012 Report Share Posted January 9, 2012 I'm on Flickr as Eldavo69 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silentandy Posted January 10, 2012 Report Share Posted January 10, 2012 Is your stream public because I can't find you? Mine is Flickr: silentandy's Photostream Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sponge Posted January 14, 2012 Report Share Posted January 14, 2012 (edited) I've just renewed my flickr account for 2 years. Although there's not much on there at the moment. I'm finding it hard to find the time. See my signature. Edited January 14, 2012 by Sponge Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riz Posted January 14, 2012 Report Share Posted January 14, 2012 I've not taken any snaps for ages, will need to put more effort in this year. I sold my Nikon D40 hear last year to buy something small and compact with great image quality Riz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eldavo69 Posted January 14, 2012 Report Share Posted January 14, 2012 Is your stream public because I can't find you? Mine is Flickr: silentandy's Photostream Good question, will have a look later Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisan Posted January 14, 2012 Report Share Posted January 14, 2012 I'm hooked on this HDR stuff. Here's one from Friday. Low sun, clear sky, very wide range of tones - but the HDR picks up everything! Three exposures, -2, 0, +2, f/6.3, ISO 200. There's a couple more on flickr from the same place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bison1379134007 Posted January 19, 2012 Report Share Posted January 19, 2012 Nice, what HDR software you using? I had a go with photoshop CS5 built in thingyamajig and it came out ok... doesn't seem as good as yours mind, as there's a fair bit of ghosting around the rocks on the left https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=315279821831231&set=a.315210475171499.102339.294981940527686&type=1&ref=nf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisan Posted January 19, 2012 Report Share Posted January 19, 2012 Nice composition and sunset - which shows the beauty of HDR - you would never have seen the tones on the foreground rocks with a single exposure I use either the built-in HDR in Photoshop or Photomatix - I prefer the latter. It's hard not to over-do the HDR - the downside is the ghosting. There are two ways to eliminate this - either adjust strength and smoothness (they might be called something else in Photoshop HDR), or, in Photoshop overlay one of your exposures and mask out the ghosting - I've done exactly that in this image: . This image had a ghost around the left side tree - but by overlaying one of the darker exposures as a layer, in Photoshop, and blending in the sky - removed the ghost. There's a few tutorials kicking about on youtube and such like. Another alternative is to create a tone-mapped image like you've done. Then create a separate fusion mapped image (Photomatix) - and merge these together in Photoshop. There are a few ways to achieve the same end result. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewNiceMrMe Posted February 29, 2012 Report Share Posted February 29, 2012 A photograph of something big. Taken at 6.00pm tonight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theduisbergkid Posted February 29, 2012 Report Share Posted February 29, 2012 Fantastic ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewNiceMrMe Posted February 29, 2012 Report Share Posted February 29, 2012 (edited) Here's another. It's just about as clear as you can get in the Northern Hemisphere right now. I should add this isn't strictly speaking "a" photograph. It is 67 photographs 'stacked' for definition. You basically have to take shots tracking Mars (GPS, automatically) because of the speed it orbits the Sun and the speed the Earth moves too, and obviously because it's still a long way away, despite the magnification, the exposure time is around 1/15th of second, which even with tracking means an element of movement. So you then take the best of 160+ images, which in this case was the 67, and stack on top of each other to build the final image. Oh and it's approximately 141 million miles away from us. It's much much clearer when not using the camera because you get the benefit of the optics of an eyepiece and using anything between a 7mm and a 17mm means you can observe surface features very well indeed. When I get 3-4 hours one night my next attempt is a galaxy cluster. There's no problem observing them without the camera, but photographing them is an entirely different proposition and I'm probably going to have to take between 160-300 images to get and end result worth looking at. Mars, 5 days ago: Edited February 29, 2012 by MrMe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisan Posted February 29, 2012 Report Share Posted February 29, 2012 A photograph of something big. Taken at 6.00pm tonight.[ATTACH=CONFIG]45725[/ATTACH] Nice pics - what are you using to capture these? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewNiceMrMe Posted February 29, 2012 Report Share Posted February 29, 2012 Nikon D40X is the camera. But it's hooked up to a Celestron NexStar 8 SE Schmidt Cassegrain telescope on a computerised Alt-azimuth mount with GPS. The camera is then attached via a Star Diagonal adaptor with a T-adaptor plugged into that specifically for a Nikon camera. It sounds more complicated than it is, it just needs patience, trial and error. I have a bespoke NexImage camera for the scope too but that shoots at 640x480 and is really more intended for deep space imaging. The Nikon is better for closer objects because of the better image quality whereas the NexImage camera has better metering set up for more distant objects (and it also comes with special software that does clever things with long words and stuff - which I'll happily admit I only understand half of). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisan Posted February 29, 2012 Report Share Posted February 29, 2012 Sounds like a great setup. Best I've done so far with my Canon 75-300 is this. There's some nice crater detail on yours, in comparison. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tipex Posted February 29, 2012 Report Share Posted February 29, 2012 Nice pic, something I wouldn't mind getting into myself one day. One of my mates text me last night saying there should be something to look at in the sky, planets in alignment or something? alas it was too cloudy to see anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewNiceMrMe Posted February 29, 2012 Report Share Posted February 29, 2012 That's a lovely shot. The scope is x380 magnification without an eyepiece (with one it's obviously much greater depending on the focal length) so there's an obvious and unfair advantage there in the photograph. Looking at the Moon without the camera, and say a 20-32mm eyepiece, the detail is much, much, much greater. Very close views on even the smallest of craters (depending on light pollution, temperature haze etc on the night). It'll give pristine views of Jupiter and its moons no problem at all on the right night, and Saturn too (which is a quite staggering sight and easily the most impressive in our solar system). I've had motor problems with the mount recently so I'm sending that away for replacement (fortunately they'll replace FOC under warranty). You can go really silly on them and mine is a reasonably mid-range set up by comparison to many that are much more seriously into astronomy. There is a new Celestron model out with what they call Edge HD optics and with an 11" diameter lens and the views from that are simply incredible. So is that image of yours taken with the lens at 300mm and no scope? What length of exposure did you have to use on that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewNiceMrMe Posted February 29, 2012 Report Share Posted February 29, 2012 Nice pic, something I wouldn't mind getting into myself one day.One of my mates text me last night saying there should be something to look at in the sky, planets in alignment or something? alas it was too cloudy to see anything. Venus and Jupiter in alignment (the serious folks call it 'conjunction') with the crescent moon a few days ago. A very nice sight indeed. In mid-march Venus and Jupiter will be only 3 degrees apart and there'll be thousands of amateur astronomers trying to get them both in shot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisan Posted February 29, 2012 Report Share Posted February 29, 2012 Thanks - I can just see the bank balance diminishing if I carry on reading. Here's some info copied from the flickr description: RAW mode Full Manual Manual Focus 300mm ISO 100 f/16 1/30 Mirror lock-up enabled Adobe Camera RAW to bring out surface details - some settings: Fill Light 0 Blacks 50 # this adds nice contrast Brightness +50 Contrast +50 Clarity +100 # pulls out surface details Vibrance & Saturation 0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewNiceMrMe Posted February 29, 2012 Report Share Posted February 29, 2012 Thought it must have been at 300mm. I think you've done very well to get it on a 300mm lens with 1/30th exposure. I know the MLU will have helped stability but thats still a hell of a lot of potential shake that you've avoided. Really nice that. Mine are both RAW images. The aperture of the scope is f/8. You have to use the scope to focus and you can't see the image on the camera display - only through the eyepiece of the camera, so it takes a bit of time and trial and error to get a reasonably good focus. I know it doesn't look it but that Mars shot is technically far superior to the Moon because of the distance/size. Mars is an awkward little bugger of a planet to watch, never mind photograph. I've been trying to get something like that shot for about 3 months now. It's actually much easier to observe Jupiter because it's so damned bright. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewNiceMrMe Posted February 29, 2012 Report Share Posted February 29, 2012 Another couple from the same 6pm series of shots: You can see the difference in focus from the top of the Moon compared to the lower section - mainly due to sodding light pollution tonight (that's my excuse anyway). Next one.. Last one... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eldavo69 Posted February 29, 2012 Report Share Posted February 29, 2012 Decided to have a go at my own moon shot, half a bottle of vodka later it was surprisingly easy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisan Posted February 29, 2012 Report Share Posted February 29, 2012 Yep - nice shape to that exposure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisan Posted February 29, 2012 Report Share Posted February 29, 2012 Thought it must have been at 300mm. I think you've done very well to get it on a 300mm lens with 1/30th exposure. I know the MLU will have helped stability but thats still a hell of a lot of potential shake that you've avoided. Yes - the mlu is definitely helpful - I've also got an infrared shutter release - so nothing is touching the camera. Speaking of celestial bodies - here's an HDR I've just uploaded - recently taken at Center Parcs (Notts) looking over the main lake: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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