p.1 #1 · Milky Way over Courthouse Butte - Sedona, AZ
I usually use my Nikon 20mm f/1.8G for astrophotography but I decided to give a try with something else.
I used a lens generally used for portrait photography, a Nikon 58mm f/1.4G, and stitched together 53 images, though there was a lot of overlap in the photographs so it came out to 76 megapixels total.
Each exposure was shot at f/1.4, 6 seconds, and ISO 3200.
p.1 #3 · Milky Way over Courthouse Butte - Sedona, AZ
Awesome. It seems like you gain a lot of clarity when stack. Did you have to do less noise reduction? I have only done single shot MW so far and I am definitely going to try multiple exposures next time. Thanks for sharing.
p.1 #5 · Milky Way over Courthouse Butte - Sedona, AZ
Well done with the lens 58mm/f1.4.
I am also trying to see how it is with Samyang 24mm/f1.4 and compare that with Nikon 14-24mm/f2.8.
Good color rendition.
Kee
p.1 #8 · Milky Way over Courthouse Butte - Sedona, AZ
Thanks for the comments everyone! Appreciate it.
Prashant Verma wrote:
Awesome. It seems like you gain a lot of clarity when stack. Did you have to do less noise reduction? I have only done single shot MW so far and I am definitely going to try multiple exposures next time. Thanks for sharing.
Stacking does reduce a lot of noise and definitely doesn't hurt, but in my opinion the clarity from the Milky Way comes from the use of the longer lens and doing a panorama. I haven't been able to replicate this detail with less noise with an ultra wide lens.
p.1 #10 · Milky Way over Courthouse Butte - Sedona, AZ
I've been meaning to try more pano astro work and this has really shown why! That extra perspective compression vs a wide angle really adds to the image and makes the Milky Way seem more prominent. Awesome shot.
p.1 #11 · Milky Way over Courthouse Butte - Sedona, AZ
Langran wrote:
I've been meaning to try more pano astro work and this has really shown why! That extra perspective compression vs a wide angle really adds to the image and makes the Milky Way seem more prominent. Awesome shot.
Yeah you should give it a try! Honestly I'm not sure if I can go back, there is less distortion, more faint stars captured, etc. And besides you can always bring your wide angle lens anyway and get some normal shots; that's what I did anyway, but I like this version a lot more than the regular one taken at 20mm.
p.1 #15 · Milky Way over Courthouse Butte - Sedona, AZ
thorhammer wrote:
Very very cool, have you tried the same shot but at say F8? I wonder if the aperture blades would "Starify" the lights and ruin the look or not ?
I have not, I like to shoot wide open to try to collect as much light as possible. That would be interesting though, but you'd need to use a tracker if you're shooting at f/8 since you'd introduce star trailing by stopping down that far.
p.1 #16 · Milky Way over Courthouse Butte - Sedona, AZ
That is a wonderful image. Great execution and post. Exceptional. Just the right amount of light on the left side of the butte. How did you make it all work?
p.1 #17 · Milky Way over Courthouse Butte - Sedona, AZ
jabong wrote:
I have not, I like to shoot wide open to try to collect as much light as possible. That would be interesting though, but you'd need to use a tracker if you're shooting at f/8 since you'd introduce star trailing by stopping down that far.
I'm glad I asked, cause I learned something ! I didn't even factor in the movement! I guess you'd have to bump the ISO, probably not a great tradeoff, it looks great the way you shot it.
p.1 #18 · Milky Way over Courthouse Butte - Sedona, AZ
Chuck Eklund wrote:
That is a wonderful image. Great execution and post. Exceptional. Just the right amount of light on the left side of the butte. How did you make it all work?
Thank you. I got extremely lucky that it all worked out and stitched together properly. I brought my usual 20mm f/1.8G and actually shot more exposures with that lens and was expecting to process those ones rather than this one. This panorama was actually more experimental than anything else; I didn't expect it to turn out so well.
p.1 #20 · Milky Way over Courthouse Butte - Sedona, AZ
adittam wrote:
I keep coming back to this thread to have another look at this gorgeous photo. I absolutely love it. Incredible job here! Congratulations!
Matt
