Milky Way Astro-seascapes & landscapes

[DaveC Oz]

Last weekend I travelled to a farmstay the other side of Bendigo to attend a workshop by Richard Tatti on night landscape photography. One of many shots during the weekend.

• Viltrox 16mm F1.8 FE
• 16.0 mm
• ƒ/2.7999999523163
• 15 sec
• ISO 2000

 

[Richard A]

Great pic. How did you find the workshop? Was Richard in good form? I see he has recently put up a video on YouTube about Astro time lapse. That’s what I’m really interested in.

 

[DaveC Oz]

The weekend was great, very intensive. Richard was great, getting us to really think about the settings etc. that we tend to use for our night photography. We largely stuck to using our cameras and tripods. Things like time lapse, star trackers, etc. got some brief coverage in the indoor sessions. Unfortunately, there was fairly heavy cloud cover for a lot of the weekend, but we all learned a lot. He keeps the groups to just five so that you don't get lost in the crowd. Although he does a lot of talking during the theory, and processing sessions, it is more conversational in nature rather than lectures. As with his videos, he encouraged us to look a bit deeper at the possibilities of seemingly mundane objects taking on a different nature when lit and photographed at night.

• Viltrox 16mm F1.8 FE
• 16.0 mm
• ƒ/2
• 10 sec
• ISO 2500

 

[DaveC Oz]

• Viltrox 16mm F1.8 FE
• 16.0 mm
• ƒ/2.7999999523163
• 15 sec
• ISO 2000

 

[DaveC Oz]

14 image composite from last weekend

• Viltrox 16mm F1.8 FE
• 16.0 mm
• ƒ/2.7999999523163
• 120 sec
• ISO 2000

 

[DaveC Oz]

• Viltrox 16mm F1.8 FE
• 16.0 mm
• ƒ/1.7999999523163
• 10 sec
• ISO 2500

• Viltrox 16mm F1.8 FE
• 16.0 mm
• ƒ/1.7999999523163
• 10 sec
• ISO 2500

 

[DaveC Oz]

Old, dead, Eucalypt on the property we used for our nightscape workshop with the Milky Way setting behind it. Composite of nearly 20 shots taken over approximately a half hour from a single camera position.

• Viltrox 16mm F1.8 FE
• 16.0 mm
• ƒ/2.5
• 110 sec
• ISO 2500

 

[FowlersFreeTime]

Old, dead, Eucalypt on the property we used for our nightscape workshop with the Milky Way setting behind it. Composite of nearly 20 shots taken over approximately a half hour from a single camera position.

View attachment 68150

Nice one Dave!

 

[Richard A]

That’s a good foreground for an Astro photo.

Did Richard cover any post processing in his workshop?

 

[DaveC Oz]

It was covered fairly well using Lightroom, and PS, as well as Sequator and its Apple equivalent. As an ON1 user there are a few differences in the way the software works. But it is close enough that I found that I could use the principals he showed us and apply them to my software and photos. It has been quite a lot to take in, but I am starting to get comfortable with the layering and masking workflow. I had some reservations going into the weekend as the weather forecast was horrible, however it didn't turn out too bad. Most of the weekend was very cloudy but we had enough stars around to put a lot of things into practice, and he was willing to work with us as late/early as we wanted. The above image was captured after 1 a.m. on the Saturday, first with 10 unlit photos at f2.8 for stacking the stars, then with multiple images at f5.6 with Richard light painting the old tree

 

[Richard A]

I’m thinking I might have to do one of his workshops…

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

Wonderful photos, Dave.

 

[DaveC Oz]

Like me this old hay shed has seen better days. Another image from my weekend at Rostrata Country House with the Nightscape Images workshop. The horizon is lit by light pollution from Bendigo.

• Viltrox 16mm F1.8 FE
• 16.0 mm
• ƒ/2.7999999523163
• 15 sec
• ISO 3200

 

[DaveC Oz]

Went out last night trying for a star trail shot. Unfortunately there were way too many people walking around with lights being shone all over the place. So I reset myself and tried for a starry Southern Cross landscape. The previous night I'd missed getting shots of a spectacular Aurora Australis show. I didn't expect any lightshow last night, but the camera picked up the barely visible to the eye faint glow on the horizon.
Cape Schanck at midnight

• Viltrox 16mm F1.8 FE
• 16.0 mm
• ƒ/2.2000000476837
• 200 sec
• ISO 5000

 

[Richard A]

Hey Dave, can you give us some info on how you took this & the processing afterwords? Thanks…

 

[DaveC Oz]

Hey Dave, can you give us some info on how you took this & the processing afterwords? Thanks…

Fairly simple process once you get used to it. 20X10sec exposures, f2.8, iso4000 W/B 5500k. Once in the computer I convert to tiff then star align stack the shots in sequator. This gives me a single tiff file which I then process by opening it as a layer, which I then duplicate before editing each layer separately for ground and sky then blending them for the final image

 

[Loke]

Beautiful shot!

Also, 2025 will propably be the best aurora year in 20 years, so keep looking for it, and set on your notifications

 

[Richard A]

Fairly simple process once you get used to it. 20X10sec exposures, f2.8, iso4000 W/B 5500k. Once in the computer I convert to tiff then star align stack the shots in sequator. This gives me a single tiff file which I then process by opening it as a layer, which I then duplicate before editing each layer separately for ground and sky then blending them for the final image

So pretty standard stuff then. Have you tried that plugin that Richard Tatti recommended called StarXTerminator? There is also a free one called Starnet++ but it works on the Command Line so not as convenient.

 

[DaveC Oz]

Haven't tried StarXTerminator yet. I am starting to learn Affinity photo which is compatible, but On1 isn't. Once I get used to Affinity then I most likely will try it

 

[DaveC Oz]

Went out again last night. Two images from Bourne Creek Trestle bridge last night. A 20 X 8 sec stacked exposure, and a 200 X 30 sec sequenced exposure for the star trail shot. Unfortunately eve after midnight there were still quite a number of people walking through the area with various lights.

• Viltrox 16mm F1.8 FE
• 16.0 mm
• ƒ/2.7999999523163
• 160 sec
• ISO 4000