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Archive 2016 · Very Large Array (NM under the stars)

  
 
cputeq
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Very Large Array (NM under the stars)


I'm certainly not an astrophotographer by any stretch of the imagination, but I still wanted to attempt photographing the VLA under the stars.

It's about 2 hours (one way) from where I live, so I double-checked two weather forecasts and decided to risk it. Was disappointed the clouds were there initially, but I think they actually contributed to the photos greatly.

All of these are single images, processed (since I'm horrible at stacking and my 20s exposure was still too long, resulting in minor trails) -- (last one was a composite but I just changed it out for a single-shot that I actually like better)

Thanks for looking.





























Jul 10, 2016 at 10:02 AM
JimFox
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Very Large Array (NM under the stars)


I like #2 and 4 the best here. The issue with several of them is all the extra lights on the ground layer, the streaks especially. With a lot of human activity in an area like that, using some layer masks to paint out those lights or perhaps just cloning out those lights would really help the shots.

For instance in #5, I think the array is lit really well, but the large streak of light to the left and that smaller dotted light both distract. Considering how dark the ground layer is, it should be very easy to clone those out. Same with #3, you captured the Milky Way in it, but that wide swath of light cutting across the horizon distracts and really cuts the image into two.

That is an interesting area with lots of possibilities, but I can see where the human interaction there can really make for a deterrent also.

Jim



Jul 10, 2016 at 12:16 PM
cputeq
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Very Large Array (NM under the stars)


JimFox wrote:
I like #2 and 4 the best here. The issue with several of them is all the extra lights on the ground layer, the streaks especially. With a lot of human activity in an area like that, using some layer masks to paint out those lights or perhaps just cloning out those lights would really help the shots.

For instance in #5, I think the array is lit really well, but the large streak of light to the left and that smaller dotted light both distract. Considering how dark the ground layer is, it should be very easy to clone
...Show more

Thanks for the comments Jim. I had to decide whether I wanted to mask out the streaks or keep them and ultimately decided to keep them, but I certainly see where you're coming from :-)

I may re-attack them later to see if I like the darker foregrounds - I guess to me they were just features of the image, but I certainly also see them being potentially distracting.



Jul 10, 2016 at 07:01 PM





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