The Milky Way

Gallery: LandscapePosted August 29, 20141,709 views9 comments

Just got back a couple of nights ago from five days high in the Snowy's of Wyoming to stargaze during the new moon. Had a lot of rain and snow but managed to squeeze some clear periods and learned a lot about astronomy from my son and daughter in law (both physicist's). Our elevation was around 10,200 ft approximately two miles due west of the summit of Medicine Bow peak. Early evening 9pm or so. This looking toward the southern sky. Thanks for looking.

D300s
Rokinon 24mm
ISO 3200
13sec @ f/1.4
Tripod
No crop
Slight adjustments, LR5.5, NIK suite

Comments appreciated.

Comments

9 comments

Comment posted by Ray Whitt on August 29, 2014 at 9:05 PM

Very nice!

Ray

Registered on May 27, 2011, 92 Posts, 2619 Comments

Comment posted by Tony Kuyper on August 30, 2014 at 12:37 AM

I like the warm-colored sky. It makes for a different take Milky Way genre.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 364 Posts, 22328 Comments

Comment posted by Roger Clark on August 30, 2014 at 9:27 AM

Hello John,
This is a nice natural color balance, and the haze really brings out the colors of the stars. The bright orange star to the lower right of center is Antares, and there is also dust around the star; that is why it looks fuzzier than the other bright stars. On a very clear night most people can see the dust around an orange Antares.

A couple of things. You have light fall off toward the corners. That can be corrected in the raw converter. The contrast in the sky is a little low, and after the light fall-off is corrected, then the contrast can be improved. My only nit on composition is cutting off the trees at the bottom. Do you have a second frame that is lower down where you could mosaic the two together?

For more information on how to process night sky images, see my tutorial:
http://www.clarkvision.com/articles/night.photography.image.processing/

Roger

Registered on May 8, 2014, 2 Posts, 23 Comments

Comment posted by Pat Sampson on August 30, 2014 at 11:59 AM

Nice scene John. I like the mood of it and it makes me want to be there to experience it. No suggestions on my part.

pat

Registered on May 19, 2007, 953 Posts, 15989 Comments

Comment posted by Preston Birdwell on August 30, 2014 at 7:46 PM

Nicely done, John. Scorpio and the red giant star Antares really stand out. I'd like to see more of the trees, but that's minor. You captured a lot of nice detail.

--P

Registered on November 1, 2003, 471 Posts, 5188 Comments

Comment posted by John Neukirch on August 31, 2014 at 2:48 PM

Roger, thank you for your recommendations. I really appreciate it. I reworked it again with attention to the light fall off in the corners, couldn't find a lens profile for the Rokinon on the D300s(APS-C). The one I found was for the Rokinon 24mm on a D800 and my LR5.6/Camera Raw 8.6 won't reconize it. I choose to use the Nikon 24mm 1.4 instead. I brought up the contrast along with decreasing the temp some. Unfortunately I don't have any shots in this group that either shows more FG or something suitable for stitching together. A lesson for next time. I like the reworked image much better. Again thank you for lending your expertise.

Registered on July 9, 2012, 207 Posts, 1476 Comments

Comment posted by Roger Clark on August 31, 2014 at 4:16 PM

Hi John,
In your repost, you did get the light fall off compensated nicely. But the richness of the browns in the Milky Way are gone, and those were really sweet in your original.

Roger

Registered on May 8, 2014, 2 Posts, 23 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Teller on August 31, 2014 at 8:06 PM

Great shot John. I like the big sky feel of this. I like the first image posted best.

Registered on August 23, 2010, 1162 Posts, 6692 Comments

Comment posted by Bill Reid on September 1, 2014 at 9:47 AM

Very nice image John and I prefer the original with it's warmer colors better. Great job on this.

Registered on January 27, 2013, 65 Posts, 2460 Comments