• 2
  • 0
Joe Scalise's picture

First time astrophotography

Critiques welcome.

On recent vacation, I was able to try out some astro shots. I know my foreground subject isn't very interesting, but I think i did a good job capturing the stars/ milky way. Any thoughts are appreciated.

15.0 sec f/2.8 Iso 2000 16mm

Log in or register to post comments
11 Comments

The stars look great. Maybe the image is a little warm, I'd tone down the temperature. The foreground is definately interesting but your location looks cool. maybe if you got up closer to the rock and framed it differently you could get a better composition. Maybe go up to the rock with a flashlight and shine some light on it to get some detail.

I for one have never tried this and am inspired to give it a go so thank you for the share.

Thanks Jessadayut, I appreciate your comments.

Nice shot Joe. I agree about putting a light on the rock to bring out the foreground I don’t think your Milky Way is too warm, and you have done a great job of ridding yourself of those pesky green sky lines.

Thanks for the comments Kevin.

What do you mean "green sky lines" ? Is this something that happens when shooting the night sky?

Hi Joe, Yes. There is often a green glow in long exposures of the night sky. It can be tricky to remove, but I don't see any signs of it in your image so I figured you had removed it. Maybe you didn't have to deal with it at all, which sometimes happens. I think it is due to oxygen emission from Earth's atmosphere.

I'm hoping to have a chance to do some night sky photography this weekend up in the Sierra. I tried weekend before last, but clouds came in and shut me down.

ahh, OK, yeah I think I got lucky, I don't seem to have a green cast anywhere in my shots. Thanks for letting me know to keep an eye for out for that.

Your foreground is PERFECT. You probably wouldn't want to detract too much from the Milky Way. I tried my hand at this earlier this year and am going out again in a couple of weeks. The starry night sky is really something to behold and worth the trek.

Thank you. Yeah, I am liking the dark silhouette of the foreground with just a hint of the rock texture so, like you said, it doesn't detract from the sky or blend too much with it. Still a little work in progress on the rocks to decide where I can be happy with it.

Thanks for the input Robert.

Nice shot, I am pretty new to astrophotography as well. Its addicting

Thanks Dan.