My first serious first attempt at astrophotography.

[Grumpy John]

Not only learning about all the details of astrophotography, but coming to terms with Lightroom.



Model: Canon EOS R6
Exposure Time: 20 sec
F Number: f/4
ISO Speed Ratings: ISO 6400
Exposure Program: Manual
Metering Mode: Multi-segment
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: No flash
Focal Length: 24 mm
35mm Equivalent:
Lens Model: Sigma 24-105

[wigz]

Looks great to me John. Looks like some town lights at lower left but these work well to outline the foreground hill and light some clouds.

I’ve tried a couple of these with ok results, but can only try when away from the city.

How is Lightroom going? I’ve come to mostly like it after making some adjustments to how I work. There are a few things I find really annoying and still use photoshop fairly often.

[Ozzie_Traveller]

G'day GJ

A beaut result - both in camera and in pp
Whenever I try these, the small sensor shows its struggles .... ah well ya can't have everything !

Phil

[Grumpy John]

Thanks Phil, the full frame makes a lot of difference even over the APS-C sensor. Now all I have to do is save up for a fast wide angle lens for the R6. Canon have a 16mm f2.8 that I can pick up for ~$425, or I can sell the house and get the 15-35 f2.8 IS for ~$3900.

[Grumpy John]

Looks great to me Hans. Looks like some town lights at lower left but these work well to outline the foreground hill and light some clouds.

I’ve tried a couple of these with ok results, but can only try when away from the city.

How is Lightroom going? I’ve come to mostly like it after making some adjustments to how I work. There are a few things I find really annoying and still use photoshop fairly often.

Thanks for the nice feedback Alan, you did get my name wrong though . The bright light it the bottom left is a lighthouse, or channel marker as it was going on and off on a regular cycle.
I only used Lightroom because the guy who did the workshop wrote the tutorial I followed. I got a bit lost after Step 4 and didn't follow it after that.
I found a 2 hour+ tutorial for lightshop on YouTube that I will take the time to do over the next couple of days.

Milky way edit.

Lightroom tutorial.

[wigz]

Sorry John, I was on my phone and by the time I scroll down to reply I can no longer see who posted it.

[Isac]

Nice effort John. Looks like you've got the settings nailed. I'm sure that everything Lightroom can do, Photoshop can do and 10 times more. Once I came to grips with Photoshop, I couldn't see a use for Lightroom so I haven't bothered with it. Others swear by it so I must be missing something?

[wigz]

You are not missing anything Isac. The main feature it adds is digital asset management and the thumbnails show the raw files with Lightroom/ACR editing applied, so you don’t have to save tiff or jpeg versions, unless you need to edit in Photoshop.

Photoshop has much more powerful editing features of course, but Lightroom is good at the basic ACR level stuff.

[Isac]

My system of managing images is probably primitive, compared with the sophisticated way that most do it. I copy entire camera card images to a folder appropriately named for easy searching and then with Faststone I quickly view and cull. Then with what's left, I open in ACR for basic editing. Then it's into Photoshop if more edits are required. I don't require any DAM processes other than what's available in Windows File Explorer - it's simple, super fast and reliable. For me it's hard to see a minor edit by looking at a thumbnail, that's why I use Faststone. It loads my JPG, TIFF, PSD and RAW files super fast and I can arrow through or back and forth to compare on full screen. For me it's what works without extra software that I really don't need cluttering up my PC. For me all I need is to view the image, edit as requires and then save for web or any other medium I might require. If I need to print it, I do that directly from Photoshop. I guess over time, I've learned to keep it simple which in the end gives me the results I need.
I rename images keeping the original file number and then add the title to it for quick searching so that eliminates need for photo management software. Cheers, Greg

[HansE]

I do like looking at the stars that lot about 100 to 400 billion estimated in our home galaxy is only one of an estimated two trillion galaxies. If you can imagine that you are a better man than I am. Just to try and imagine what our intelligent creations will discover is enough to drive me to a glass of wine.

[HansE]

I was going to add You may find a more interting foreground to add or take it seperately as a lot of people do.

[Grumpy John]

I'm with you Hans, the universe is just too vast for me to comprehend.
The fancy foregrounds will come in time, I'm just concentrating on nailing the stuff in the sky atm.

[Isac]

After you get the technique mastered you could make some foreground changes which doesn't really take away from the overall brilliance of the what's in the sky.
PS for you image, I'd give a curves lift to really bring out the whole beautiful sky. I do like the lighthouse, it adds something extra.
I'm looking forward to your progress in your new found genre.

This would be my version using "Flood" and darkening the light contamination over the hill.

[HansE]

https://www.facebook.com/nikonaustra...9750198030767/ This would be my version (tongue firmly in cheeck)

[Isac]

Go for it!

[Isac]

That rather a special piece of editing Hans.