Tips and tricks for digital/astro photography?

[Touring Mars]

With my recent purchase of a telescope, I'm thinking about trying some astrophotography, but first I think I need a bit of basic tips on digital photography in general, photography in very low light conditions, and image processing techniques etc.

Here's something I've started off with - image averaging. The left shows a single shot of some street lights shot from my flat. The right is a composite of 12 individual shots...

What I am hoping to do is be able to take a whole load of crappy individual shots of planets/stars/nebulae etc. (like the shot on the left) and produce a clearer image like the one on the right by adding them together... however, I could use some tips on optimising conditions for the single shot, since that will make the biggest difference...

Anyway, any help would be appreciated

 

[boiltheocean]

The first shot is extremely noisy so I guess your on a very very high ISO setting. Turn the ISO down to about 200 and put your shutter speed down to about 10sec. Put your camera on a tripod so it doesn't shake while the shutter is open.

I'm afraid thats all I can think of from the top of my head but I'm sure more of the professionals around here will be able to suggest something better. Good Luck.

 

[FoolKiller]

I assume you mean to connect a camera to your telescope to take the pictures?

They make camera setups specifically designed for that. It also helps if your telescope has a way to follow objects in the sky.

Also, while looking for the above link I ran across this astrophotography tutorial that you may find helpful.

http://www.scopetronics.com/digicam.htm



Of course, if you mean you intend to just point a camera at the sky, then you are doing it the only way I know of that would prevent a blurring effect.

 

[Touring Mars]

Thanks guys I am planning to stick my camera onto my telescope, but I am intrigued by this idea of using a CCD/webcam instead of a camera...

 

[FoolKiller]

Thanks guys I am planning to stick my camera onto my telescope, but I am intrigued by this idea of using a CCD/webcam instead of a camera...

At one point I was looking at getting a telescope and one of the CCD camera setups. As I knew what I was wanting to do I was looking at computer-controlled motor mounted telescopes so that the image through the lens could remain the same long enough for the camera to absorb enough light to create a good color image. That would have also allowed me to just tell it what I wanted to look at and it would have found it for me.

Plus, using the camera attachment you can somewhat see through your telescope by just looking at your laptop monitor.


Alas, I never bought that setup. I have enjoyed my PS3 though. Why must budgets make me pick and choose?

Once you get it worked out though I expect a thread full of pics.

 

[Syntax error]

What camera are you using TM? There are a fair few telescope/camera mounts on the market. Once you know the mount you need, ebay usually comes through with obtaining it. I don't know too much about it myself to tell you the truth but this is the setup I have (not that I have had much of a chance to use it)... linky

 

[Touring Mars]

Nice set up 👍 I'm using a lowly Fuji Finepix S5600, and wasn't planning on buying much in the way of camera equipment, although I might invest in a webcam since it seems you can get nice pictures by attaching a webcam directly to the front of the telescope...

 

[semilife]

Hi

While I am no expert on this topic I do express an interest in this to an extent. Where exactly are you planning to do the bulk of your photography? The reason I ask is that I knew someone who used to do this quite seriously, and he told me that if say for instance you are shooting across a flat roof, then during the day this roof will heat and during the evening will be releasing heat causing the air above to ripple (sort of like the wavy effect you get looking into the distance on a very hot day). This may have a dramatic effect on how steady the air you are shooting through actually is, for very dim object this could have the adverse effect of producing blurry images.

Heres a website I found which might be of use top you with respect to utilising webcams

http://www.qcuiag.org.uk/

 

[Holdenhsvgtsr]

Nice set up 👍 I'm using a lowly Fuji Finepix S5600, and wasn't planning on buying much in the way of camera equipment, although I might invest in a webcam since it seems you can get nice pictures by attaching a webcam directly to the front of the telescope...

Can i maybe suggest saving a little for a DSLR you can get some 450d's for a fairly decent price now from between £350-400 or there is the 1000d aswell.

had a look at what pictures you can get from a 450d when you do the IR mod.
http://ghonis2.ho8.com/rebelmod450d12.html

making me wanting to run out and get a telescope to use with my 450d!

 

[homeforsummer]

Keeping my eye on this thread as I'm also looking into doing a bit of basic astrophotography at some point in the near future 👍

 

[homeforsummer]

So I thought I'd revive this thread, because I've been doing some astrophotography of my own. Specifically last night, but generally this year in one form or another.

I'm not a pro by any stretch of the imagination. More an enthusiastic amateur. I have two current favourite techniques.

Technique #1

The first, and one I've used most frequently, is part luck, part judgement and part cheapskate.

You will need: Telescope, phone camera, steady hand. You can shoot: The moon.

Moon by Vitesse Photography, on Flickr​

I like this method, because pretty much anyone can do it. Locate the moon (should be easy). Center it in your 'scope and focus on it. Turn on phone camera, hold camera to the eyepiece, and snap away until you get something clear. On my iPhone, I tend to tap on the screen directly where the moon is, as then it re-focuses and picks a different exposure suitable for such a bright object.

This actually works best when the moon is visible in daylight hours, as the phone struggles less with the huge contrast between light and dark. The shot above was subsequently subjected to PP and stuck on Instagram, hence the hipster border and altered colour. Yeah, I know, but I like being able to snap the moon with my phone and upload it there and then.

Technique #2

Tried for the first time last night. I noticed my telescope has a camera mount on top. Putting two and two together, I mounted my camera (Nikon D3100) with a wide-angle lens to the telescope, and started snapping away.

You will need: Camera, tripod, wide-angle lens.

Stargazing at Sutton Bank by Vitesse Photography, on Flickr


Jupiter, Orion, the Pleiades, Taurus, Gemini by Vitesse Photography, on Flickr​

I varied exposure between 15-25 seconds, and ISO was set at 6400. Creates a bit of noise (on my fairly low-end camera at least), but worth it to get the right sharpness without turning stars into little dashes. I did have noise reduction on, which seems to help, and on each of these I've darkened the lows a little more to reduce noise further while keeping the brighter stars.

It's a decent technique for wide-angle shots, not least because the telescope makes a pretty good tripod.

Any hints and tips from anyone else? Any tips for me on improving (save for buying a better camera!)?

 

[Mikeybc]

The D3100 is a great little camera and has better low light performance than a D300 at much less cost. Fast glass helps a lot too, pic below was a 20 second exposure at only iso 800 and f2.8. Had lens at 17mm, it captured the stars quite well, the Big Dipper can be seen through the power lines, I didn't see them until I looked afterward . The longer the focal length of the lens the less time you will have before "star trailing" begins.

A cityscape of Ft. Lauderdale Fl. 1/5 sec, f2.8 at iso 400. Camera on a windowsill.