Nature Photography

[BigBlueHen53]

Nice! I love the Orion nebula!

 

[Devyn Nagy]

Thanks a lot, I appreciate it. Nice images. The 2017 eclipse was the first one I tried to photograph. It's what got me interested in eclipses and solar imaging.

What I like about astrophotography is, there's always room for improvement. I can shoot the same object year after year and continually improve it by learning new techniques and/or upgrading/refining the equipment and processes I use.

Take this progression of the Orion nebula for example. I have been shooting it on and off for about 10 years, but I only recently started getting higher quality images. While there has been a lot of improvement, I am still not satisfied with the final result and will definitely be shooting it some more in the future while learning how to get better at editing.


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That's awesome! What do you use to achieve those photos?

 

[mdees88]

That's awesome! What do you use to achieve those photos?

Currently I use a mirrorless camera, lenses between 100-700mm (depending on what im targeting), and a star tracker.

I started off with a basic dslr and a 55-250mm kit lens. You can actually achieve decent results with this gear. Now I never did because back then, I was taking single images and trying to edit them into something great. What you have to do is take hundreds of images and run them through a stacking software (deepskystacker). This has been one of the biggest improvements for me.

For instance, this is a single 2 second image of andromeda galaxy shot with a 100mm lens on a tripod. Not much to look at.

This is a stack of 15, 2 second images. A little better, but not great.

This is a stack of 240, 2 second images. Much improved.

Using a star tracker is the next step for improving image quality. A star tracker let's you take long exposures. Instead of a 2 second long exposure, you can take one 30 seconds (or longer). This means you can gather a lot more light with much less noise. You still take dozens or hundreds of photos and run them through the stacking software. This is a stack of 48, 25 second long images....

The setup on the right is what I use for pretty much all my astro shots now. That's the star tracker. I used it during the eclipse to track the sun so I didn't have to constaly adjust the camera to keep the sun in frame. The left camera is on a gimbal so I had to adjust it every couple minutes to keep the sun centered up....

 

[Devyn Nagy]

Currently I use a mirrorless camera, lenses between 100-700mm (depending on what im targeting), and a star tracker.

I started off with a basic dslr and a 55-250mm kit lens. You can actually achieve decent results with this gear. Now I never did because back then, I was taking single images and trying to edit them into something great. What you have to do is take hundreds of images and run them through a stacking software (deepskystacker). This has been one of the biggest improvements for me.

For instance, this is a single 2 second image of andromeda galaxy shot with a 100mm lens on a tripod. Not much to look at.

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This is a stack of 15, 2 second images. A little better, but not great.


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This is a stack of 240, 2 second images. Much improved.


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Using a star tracker is the next step for improving image quality. A star tracker let's you take long exposures. Instead of a 2 second long exposure, you can take one 30 seconds (or longer). This means you can gather a lot more light with much less noise. You still take dozens or hundreds of photos and run them through the stacking software. This is a stack of 48, 25 second long images....


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The setup on the right is what I use for pretty much all my astro shots now. That's the star tracker. I used it during the eclipse to track the sun so I didn't have to constaly adjust the camera to keep the sun in frame. The left camera is on a gimbal so I had to adjust it every couple minutes to keep the sun centered up....


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Nice! Thanks for sharing.

 

[mdees88]

I finished editing a couple more images today.


I was able to capture the diamond ring.....

I made my first attempt at an HDR image....


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I made another composite comparing the 2023 annular eclipse to the 2024 total eclipse...

And I think this one is neat. I added the earth (sized to scale) next to the large prominence during the eclipse. It easily fits inside the void in the prominence. In case you didn't know... the sun is BIG!!!

 

[jnicholes]

Fair warning, this is a big batch of nature photos.

 

[jnicholes]

Looking at my most recent post, I realized I made a small mistake.

Somehow, a comic panel of The Far Side snuck into the batch. I guess I mis-clicked and added it.

Oh well, it’s a funny panel.

Anyway, let me explain two of my photos.

Yeah, that’s how slow Neptune moves in the sky.

 

[fuzzi]

Looking at my most recent post, I realized I made a small mistake.

Somehow, a comic panel of The Far Side snuck into the batch. I guess I mis-clicked and added it.

Oh well, it’s a funny panel.

Anyway, let me explain two of my photos.

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Yeah, that’s how slow Neptune moves in the sky.

I like that cartoon.

 

[HorseGirlAbby]

Apple blossoms at sunset.

 

[Yard Farmer]

I snagged a quick photo of the neighbors dog at sunset.