Random PICTURE of the day thread *KEEP IT WORK SAFE*

[Big Dad]

Pfffft ..

I see that shit every night in the winter here, fuck cold

[Mike K]

Thanks for the comments everyone! To be honest the auroras I have seen down here have been pretty underwhelming. Usually they are just a wisp of faint light in the sky, but last night they were unusually bright and the green color could easily be seen with the naked eye.

Existential moment:
I could not be where you are without losing literal hours just staring at the sky. I mean I'd be a fucking worthless employee down there in the winter LOL.

How long was the exposure to catch the Milky Way central band like that?

It was a 30 second exposure at F4.0 (or 4.5) with ISO about 5000. Camera is a Canon 7D (not full frame) with the 10-22 lens at 10mm. You can see there is a ton of grain in the pictures. If I try to knock down the grain in Adobe Lightroom it takes away the Milky Way. Here are a couple more pictures from last night. Click the picture for a larger picture and you can really see the grain.

[CJ]

Have you tried just increasing the shutter time and cutting down the ISO to remove the noise? Or shoot it with lower f/stop lens like a 50mm prime?

[Mike K]

Have you tried just increasing the shutter time and cutting down the ISO to remove the noise? Or shoot it with lower f/stop lens like a 50mm prime?

This was actually my first time trying to get the Milky Way and yes, I assume that I can drop the ISO as I increase the length of time the shutter is open to get the same results with less grain. However, if the shutter is open too long the stars will streak as the earth rotates. I don't know how long my shutter can be open before this becomes a problem. And the second problem, it's cold outside. Depending on temperature, we have about an hour to take pictures and the cameras freeze. Either the batteries get cold enough that they cannot power the camera or the LCD screens freeze and you can't see your settings to change them. I do, however, have a cable release and would like to play with a shutter longer than 30 seconds.

I'll look into that 50 prime.

[CJ]

This was actually my first time trying to get the Milky Way and yes, I assume that I can drop the ISO as I increase the length of time the shutter is open to get the same results with less grain. However, if the shutter is open too long the stars will streak as the earth rotates. I don't know how long my shutter can be open before this becomes a problem. And the second problem, it's cold outside. Depending on temperature, we have about an hour to take pictures and the cameras freeze. Either the batteries get cold enough that they cannot power the camera or the LCD screens freeze and you can't see your settings to change them. I do, however, have a cable release and would like to play with a shutter longer than 30 seconds.

I'll look into that 50 prime.

About 3 minutes with low noise is as long of a shutter as you want in my experience. The lower the noise you have the more noticeable it will be. My suggestion would be to run it at ISO 100, 50mm prime f/1.8 (REMOVE ANY FILTER), set the camera to bulb, and use a wireless remote. Another issue you might run into is the snow, it bleeds a lot of light into the camera, play with how much landscape is in your shots, you might see some noticeable improvements by limiting it.

[Big Dad]

My friend got a new puppy

[Strychnine]

Just FYI

It’s called the rule of 600, which is astrophotography’s equivalent to the 1/focal length of shooting hand held. Basically the rule says that you cannot shoot with a shutter speed of over 600/<focal length> in seconds. So when using a 600mm lens for example, you can only keep the shutter for 1 second before star trails start showing up. (300mm lens can do 2 seconds, 10mm lens can do 60 seconds and so on).

[HarrisonTX]

My friend got a new puppy

Wheres tits man? what the fuck.
she single?

[Big Dad]

Not any more

[LaserSVT]

What puppy?

[71chevellejohn]

I'd like to see her puppies

[Danny46]

Just FYI

Pretty sure that is for telephoto/telescopoic photography. As far as I know pretty much any lens under 200mm will start tracking stars at 30 seconds especially wide angle. If thats what you want then cool, but for milky way shots, generally no bueno.

@Mike have you tried also removing the color noise not just the grain noise? a 50mm 1.4 would be perfect, but you would hve a much narrower POV than using the 10-22. One thing you could do is use the rubber eye piece cover that should have come with your camera and is probaby hanging out on your strap, and cover the eye piece. On long exposures the eye piece lets in light adding grain and light to your photo. Could help if you h avent dont it already. Killer shot anyway man! The lights are high on my photo bucket list

[Mike K]

Pretty sure that is for telephoto/telescopoic photography. As far as I know pretty much any lens under 200mm will start tracking stars at 30 seconds especially wide angle. If thats what you want then cool, but for milky way shots, generally no bueno.

@Mike have you tried also removing the color noise not just the grain noise? a 50mm 1.4 would be perfect, but you would hve a much narrower POV than using the 10-22. One thing you could do is use the rubber eye piece cover that should have come with your camera and is probaby hanging out on your strap, and cover the eye piece. On long exposures the eye piece lets in light adding grain and light to your photo. Could help if you h avent dont it already. Killer shot anyway man! The lights are high on my photo bucket list

I have not tried removing just the color noise, I will have to look up how to do that in Lightroom. I have a 24-70 F2.8 L that I will use next time. I just wanted the wider view with the 10mm, even though my pictures would be better quality with the L. You know, I have been completely forgetting about the eye piece cover, I will start using that to see if it doesn't improve the noise.

We have another stargazing trip scheduled for next Tuesday, so I will see what I can do. Next week is our winter solstice (on the 21st) with a low moon, so light pollution is at an absolute low right now.

[Rick Modena]

Damn Mike, those are some bad ass pictures!

[Gasser64]

Vampire teeth. Would not dew.