1st Attempt At Milky Way Photography

[agrumpybirdphotographer]

A while back I asked for some advice on lens recommendations for some Milky Way photography. Based on the very helpful advice from the good people on here I decided to pick up a used 20mm f1.8 F lens and give it a go on a recent break. This is my first attempt, the skies weren’t perfectly clear or dark but its gave me food for though for trying again in future.

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[GregT943]

Nice first attempt. Are you stacking or is this a single image?

 

[agrumpybirdphotographer]

Nice first attempt. Are you stacking or is this a single image?

Its a stack of 5 images at 10s exposure using Starry Landscape Stacker for Mac.

 

[agrumpybirdphotographer]

Nice first attempt. Are you stacking or is this a single image?

Thank you..

 

[PhilG]

A while back I asked for some advice on lens recommendations for some Milky Way photography. Based on the very helpful advice from the good people on here I decided to pick up a used 20mm f1.8 F lens and give it a go on a recent break. This is my first attempt, the skies weren’t perfectly clear or dark but its gave me food for though for trying again in future.

View attachment 97334

Nice start and good luck going forward. I dabbled in astrophotography and really enjoyed it, but when I lived in Illinois it would have required me to drive hours to get to someplace dark. The darkness will greatly impact your results. I am including one photo from a sky not dark enough and one from Arches (a designated dark sky park), and you can really see the difference.

I intend to eventually purchase the lens you are using for astrophotography, it's a great choice. I am no expert, but when researching I saw that you should be able to shoot that lens for 25 seconds at 1.8 without any appreciable smearing of the stars. I wonder what that would look like. I don't know how dark it is there, so I don't know what ISO to suggest, probably something between 3200 and 6400. I know how you process the image can greatly impact things as well, I did some research to figure that out and again am no expert.

Nikon D850, Sigma 14mm, f2/2, 25 secs, ISO 1600 25 minutes from home at that time, farm country, barn, fireflies and corn

Nikon D850, Sigma 14mm, f2, 25 secs, ISO 2000 Arches National Park, painted the structures with a flashlight, which is now prohibited there

 

[agrumpybirdphotographer]

Nice start and good luck going forward. I dabbled in astrophotography and really enjoyed it, but when I lived in Illinois it would have required me to drive hours to get to someplace dark. The darkness will greatly impact your results. I am including one photo from a sky not dark enough and one from Arches (a designated dark sky park), and you can really see the difference.

I intend to eventually purchase the lens you are using for astrophotography, it's a great choice. I am no expert, but when researching I saw that you should be able to shoot that lens for 25 seconds at 1.8 without any appreciable smearing of the stars. I wonder what that would look like. I don't know how dark it is there, so I don't know what ISO to suggest, probably something between 3200 and 6400. I know how you process the image can greatly impact things as well, I did some research to figure that out and again am no expert.

Nikon D850, Sigma 14mm, f2/2, 25 secs, ISO 1600 25 minutes from home at that time, farm country, barn, fireflies and corn

Nikon D850, Sigma 14mm, f2, 25 secs, ISO 2000 Arches National Park, painted the structures with a flashlight, which is now prohibited there

Fantastic pair of images, really like them both .

Unfortunately living in the UK where I do dark skies aren’t local and so travel is essential. Its finding locations and dark enough skies that is going to be my problem. I’m also looking to get some practice in so that when on holiday at more suitable locations I can give it a shot. I just feel it will make a nice change for me from birds and are quite keen to give it a go.

Hopefully get some dark(ish) skies over the winter months and get some practice in for when the Miky Way season starts next Spring

Thanks for looking and replying.

 

[PhilG]

Fantastic pair of images, really like them both .

Unfortunately living in the UK where I do dark skies aren’t local and so travel is essential. Its finding locations and dark enough skies that is going to be my problem. I’m also looking to get some practice in so that when on holiday at more suitable locations I can give it ago. I just feel it will make a nice change for me from birds and are quite keen to give it a go.

Hopefully get some dark(ish) skies over the winter months and get some practice in for when the Miky Way season next Spring

Thanks for looking and replying.

I appreciate your comment on the images. I think you will really enjoy it when you find dark skies. I want to get back to some places like that and I'm only a few hours away from some good locations but haven't made it to them yet.

Since I have a Nikon D850 and Z8, I'm going to opt for the Nikon 20mm Z version. I can't tell if that is what you got or the F version.