Archive 2022 · Galaxy at Joshua Tree

anes
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Galaxy at Joshua Tree

Trying to learn shooting galaxy and doing photoshop

I struggled a lot on how to edit the color of the galaxy. Please lmk if there is anything I could improve

D750 with 28-300mm F5.6 @28mm

https://shane-photograhy.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/fred-miranda-posts/Joshua%20Tree%20Galaxy_Small.png

Oct 31, 2022 at 01:53 AM

Jim Dockery
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Galaxy at Joshua Tree

Very nice moonlit ground layer, I would darken the sky.

The big problem here (that I still struggle with on my Sony A7rII with Zeiss 18mm) is focus (or camera movement if it was windy?). This one is so soft (at least this presentation of it) that I wouldn't waste any more time processing. It is very difficult to get perfect sharp focus on stars with focus by wire. I always shoot some tests then zoom into a preview to see if I nailed it, adjust as needed, reshoot, look again, then carefully leave the lens alone for the rest of the shoot once its sharp. With a shot like this you might want to do that separately for the stars and foreground, then blend in post, otherwise the closest grass will be soft if the stars are sharp.

Oct 31, 2022 at 11:37 AM

anes
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Galaxy at Joshua Tree

Thanks for the comment. The photo was indeed soft. I tried to sharpen it but didn't work out as expected. Not too sure if that was caused by focus or the wind. It's kinda frustrating. I will definitely try your tips in my next shoots!

Oct 31, 2022 at 04:11 PM

AZHeaven
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Galaxy at Joshua Tree

anes wrote:
Thanks for the comment. The photo was indeed soft. I tried to sharpen it but didn't work out as expected. Not too sure if that was caused by focus or the wind. It's kinda frustrating. I will definitely try your tips in my next shoots!

Heading to Joshua soon. Will try my hand at astro there. When I did a camping trip with my son in law to the North Rim (Point Sublime) and southern UT we shot astro. Kodachrome Basin State Park was the darkest I've ever seen. And I went to the Winter Star Party in the Keys in 1996!

I watched all kinds of videos on Youtube to try to help. I did ok. Set my timer on my Sony A7III to 5 seconds and just stood back. Was using a Sigma 14-24 f2.8.

Oct 31, 2022 at 05:57 PM

anes
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Galaxy at Joshua Tree

That's amazing how you planned before shooting. Hope you could have a good shoot at Joshua!

Nov 04, 2022 at 12:13 AM

Hathaway
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Galaxy at Joshua Tree

As mentioned before for this shot in particular it looks like you missed focus or there was too much wind. My takeaways from MW shooting include:

1. Get as fast a lens as you can afford. There are a bunch of very good and very affordable options (think a few hundred dollars and many available used). Especially for your camera. F2.8 is the slowest lens I will use and that is on my 16-35 mm lens. I have shot a Canon 11-24 f4 at f4 and 11mm and it was okay. The reason for this is you are fighting to get as much light in the shot as you can. You want the widest aperture possible so you can limit your ISO (noise) and shot duration (star movement). There are good websites that focus on Astro lenses and shooting settings to help. Generally at 28mm you wouldn’t want to shoot for more than about 15-20 seconds or you will get star movement. At 15-20 seconds you would likely want to be at f2.8 and 3200 ISO (or more likely 6400 ISO).

2. Check your focus and histogram in the field. Zoom into your sky after you shoot to see if the stars are in focus and if there is too much movement. If so, adjust accordingly. I check my histogram to make sure at least 2 if not 3 of the fifths of sections have data in them (there are typically five total). The reason for this is that your shot will look decent on the back of you camera in the field (because it is so dark outside) but it can be very dark once your try to process. The reason you want as much light/information as possible in the shot is that the worst thing you can do for a MW shot is lift the exposure. At 3200 or 6400 ISO you will introduce a ton of noise if you lift the exposure and it is extremely difficult to deal with even with many of the great denoise post-processing software available today.

3. Consider blending two shots for one like you are going for. One for the foreground and one for the sky. This way you can get better focus in both elements. In my mind the most important element to be in focus is the foreground with a shot like you have. If the sky is slightly out of focus it won’t make as much difference to my eye. If I am going for 1 shot I will work to make sure my foreground is in focus and up my aperture to f3 or f3.2.

4. Once you get the shot you like there are lots of ways to post-process. Some people like a warmer MW core, others prefer a cooler rendition. You will want to lift highlights and contrast to bring out details in the Galactic core and surrounding areas. Adding a bit of saturation will enhance the color details in the MW as well. As you will see, there are all sorts of interpretations from others.

It is an addictive style and once you get hooked you will find yourself losing a lot of sleep out at night shooting the stars!

Enjoy and keep shooting. Bob

Nov 04, 2022 at 11:09 AM

Hathaway
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Galaxy at Joshua Tree

One other comment. It appears you were shooting with the moon up/setting. Unless it is a day or two before or after the new moon you will want to shoot before it has risen or after it has set. Reason for this is moonlight will wash out your MW detail quite a bit. I can see a lot of shadows in your foreground so it appears to be a pretty bright moon.

Nov 04, 2022 at 11:11 AM

anes
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Galaxy at Joshua Tree

You got it haha. It was like 1hr before moonset. I was there was some other friends that I wish I could wait longer but couldn't.

Nov 04, 2022 at 12:05 PM

anes
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Galaxy at Joshua Tree

Yeah. I realized the problem and got a Sigma 20mm F1.4. Hopefully I could get something sharp enough next time. Thanks for all of these solid suggestions and I will note them down for my future shoots!

Also, is there any tips for focusing of the foreground at night? I tried once and it's very difficult as I would have to use manual focus to find the exact spot.

Nov 04, 2022 at 12:39 PM

Hathaway
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Galaxy at Joshua Tree

anes wrote:
Yeah. I realized the problem and got a Sigma 20mm F1.4. Hopefully I could get something sharp enough next time. Thanks for all of these solid suggestions and I will note them down for my future shoots!

Also, is there any tips for focusing of the foreground at night? I tried once and it's very difficult as I would have to use manual focus to find the exact spot.

The easiest way is to bring a flashlight or use your phone to illuminate the foreground and focus using that light. Then shoot the foreground.

Nov 05, 2022 at 11:16 AM

bmike-vt
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Galaxy at Joshua Tree

Shoot the foreground during blue hour or moon set (if there is a small moon present). Then shoot several (dozens, 100?) shots of the sky - use software like Starry Landscape Stacker (mac) or others to stack and align the images to reduce noise and bring out detail. Use daylight white balance for all of yo ur shooting. You can then blend your blue hour or moonlit landscape images with the sky. IIRC Starry Landscape Stacker automates some of this.

With the Sigma 20mm 1.4 you will probably want to shoot at f/2 (from memory) to get nice stars into the corners.

For ISO search for your camera and figure out which ISO is optimal for low light. Some cameras show the same or less noise when boosting a 400 ISO image to match a 1600 ISO image. Allyn Wallace has a great video on this.

The night sky isn’t blue, unless the moon is up, just set, or is about to rise.

Also consider your composition. Having an interesting foreground element is great - but think about that when you are setting up the shot as to where the MW will be in relation to trees, buildings, etc. There are apps that will overlay the MW over a live view from your camera - you can pick the time and data and based on your GPS location it will show the sky - so you can get a sense of how your foreground will work.

Also don’t go stand out there with a flashlight pointed at the sky. And don’t ‘light paint’ the landscape. It blows my mind that people will travel to dark sites and then light the place up (ruining it for others you may not know are out there).

Nov 05, 2022 at 12:39 PM


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