Moon/General Night Thread

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SultanOfSwing

SultanOfSwing

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Did a search, nothing came up that was specifically related to the night sky.

I figured with tonight's blood moon/eclipse, I would start this thread off with the best picture I took of it.
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Post your pictures of the night sky here!
 
Somewhere in between Doog's pictures, this happened
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Possibly the only good picture I got of the transition from full moon to eclipse, to blood moon.
 
Are you guys using your phones for astronomy shots? Seriously? 1600 pixels of black, with a reddish thing way down in the center?

I'm sorry if that's harsh, but if you want to take pictures of the sky and actually start a thread about it, then you should actually be able to.... you know, take pictures of the sky.

Here's The moon with Jupiter on January 14 this year. Jupiter is the star just to the left and above the moon. Orion is clear visible to the right.
11965083813_d3847edfe2_b.jpg


Closer of just the moon and Jupiter, exposed so Jupiter shows, then the moon darkened to not be overpowering.
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Just that night's moon....
11965082183_1f383861fd_b.jpg


And Orion:
11964786065_fe014808dc_b.jpg


This one is from the same RAW file as Orion above, but with the exposure boosted.
11965082393_a16df31231_b.jpg


Here's a GIF that flashes between those two....
DSC_2652.gif


Camera: Nikon D7000 with Nikkor 70-300 ED VR or Nikkor 18-55.

I didn't get last night's blood moon because we were having a thunderstorm. :grumpy:
 
Uh, ok then. I did the best I could with the equipment I had. My 55m doesn't exactly zoom in on the moon like you want. I went through a good 200 or so pictures before getting that one.

I'll admit my picture isn't the best in the world, but for my first attempt at a moon shot on less than average moon equipment, I thought it was worthy of starting a thread with.

edit: my camera is an out-of-the-box Rebel SL1
 
I tried to take some last night with my point and shoot. At full max digital zoom I can get some fairly good photos, although a tad fuzzy. With the blood moon going on last night the camera just didn't want to focus with less light. :(

I need a real camera.
 
wfooshee
Are you guys using your phones for astronomy shots? Seriously? 1600 pixels of black, with a reddish thing way down in the center?

I'm sorry if that's harsh, but if you want to take pictures of the sky and actually start a thread about it, then you should actually be able to.... you know, take pictures of the sky.

Here's The moon with Jupiter on January 14 this year. Jupiter is the star just to the left and above the moon. Orion is clear visible to the right.
Click to expand...

And this isn't 1600 pixels of black?

11964786065_fe014808dc_b.jpg
 
You guys are funny. :) I wish there was a sarcasm font. I know this wasn't cell phones, K?

I'm interested to see what develops here, though. Get some folks doing star trails, Milky Way shots, stuff like that would be cool.
 
I took this moon shot a couple years ago or so, using the same Nikon 70-300 ED VR, it's a 100% crop. Think I was a little too aggressive on the sharpening in photoshop though, note the white edge around the edge of the moon



My first attempt at the Milky Way, was still a Little close to town. It's barely visible.

 
theradicalness
Those streaks are star trails. I was an idiot and didn't let the camera do noise reduction. The shutter was open for about 24 minutes.
Click to expand...

I noticed in your exif data that you used an aperture of f/22, therefore not much light was let into the sensor, not sure what camera/lens (D3100 ?)you were using but if you're able try using the lowest number aperture value your lens will allow, this will let more light reach the sensor and expose more and brighter stars in your image.

Also you used ISO of 200, increasing the ISO increases the cameras sensitivity to light but at the expense of noise, some cameras don't like to be taken over 800 and others can be taken to 12800 with acceptable results.

If if I'm wrong about your settings then forgive me, im only using a free EXIF viewer app on my phone :). Hope this helps.
 
Last edited:
Mikeybc
I noticed in your exif data that you used an aperture of f/22, therefore not much light was let into the sensor, not sure what camera/lens (D3100 ?)you were using but if you're able try using the lowest number aperture value your lens will allow, this will let more light reach the sensor and expose more and brighter stars in your image.

Also you used ISO of 200, increasing the ISO increases the cameras sensitivity to light but at the expense of noise, some cameras don't like to be taken over 800 and others can be taken to 12800 with acceptable results.

If if I'm wrong about your settings then forgive me, im only using a free EXIF viewer app on my phone :). Hope this helps.
Click to expand...

Yeah it was a mistake to use f22. It was a d3100. Also I had the 18-55 lens at 55mm and usually 18mm is better because you can use a larger aperture and more stars will fit into the frame.
 
Some really cool shots in here. Wish the sky was a bit clearer here, I'm having a lot of trouble to get a nice photo of the stars here.. Maybe when I'm in Spain in a few weeks I can try do get some photos done.
 
Mmmmm. Fisheye at night........ I have one of those.......... And it gets dark here sometimes. Form what I understand. I'm usually asleep then.
 
Quick question.....

I'm thinking of getting a Nikon D3200 and the 55-200 mm lens kit that is an option... If I'm shooting raw and use the AF-l tool (or whatever the HDR substitution for it is...) do you think I'll be able to get HDR shots like this during time-lapses?

Here is where I think I might buy from..
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1027229-REG/nikon_13313_d3200_dslr_camera_with.html

Edit: has anyone bought from B&H and anything good? The deal ends soon and I wanna get it before it's gone.
 
Swagger897
Quick question.....

I'm thinking of getting a Nikon D3200 and the 55-200 mm lens kit that is an option... If I'm shooting raw and use the AF-l tool (or whatever the HDR substitution for it is...) do you think I'll be able to get HDR shots like this during time-lapses?

Here is where I think I might buy from..
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1027229-REG/nikon_13313_d3200_dslr_camera_with.html

Edit: has anyone bought from B&H and anything good? The deal ends soon and I wanna get it before it's gone.
Click to expand...
Both Nikon and Amazon offer the same bundle at that price, I'm looking to buy it too. Unfortunately being a high school student with no job it looks like it will end up being a Christmas thing.
 
GTTurtle
Both Nikon and Amazon offer the same bundle at that price, I'm looking to buy it too. Unfortunately being a high school student with no job it looks like it will end up being a Christmas thing.
Click to expand...
I just bought it (as it was my 18th bday) and I have some good hopes for it... There are many things I know it can't do, but it still can do some complex things with some nice glass... I've been watching a dump load of youtube vids as this will be my first DSLR. One is the guy from froknowsphotos.com and some Chinese guys/gal from Digital Rev TV and some of their stuff is absolutely hilarious...
 

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