Canon EOS 7D mk ll
William Optics Megrez 88mm f5.6
Focal Length 498mm
Sum of 64 Images 105 sec each at ISO 1600
Stacked with Fitswork4

Tags:   M31 Andromeda Galaxy Andromeda Galaxy Astronomy Astrophotography Astro Deep Sky Canon EOS 7D mk ll Williams Optics Megrez Swiss@Night Fitswork Astrometrydotnet:id=nova1237281 Astrometrydotnet:status=solved

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This is another shot of my visit to Moulton Barn in the Grand Teton NP.

This image was taken with my Samyang 24mm f/1.4 lens and a astro modified Canon 6D.

I kind of like the narrower FOV and the straighter lines for the barn, compared to my previously posted image: flic.kr/p/KgxpAT

A bigger stretch of Milky Way would however have ben nice. I guess you cannot have both...

You might notice that this image has remarkably low noise for ISO 6400. That is because I stacked 4 images into one. This technique is extremely efficient in reducing thermal noise of high ISO images and is a standard technique for deep sky astro photographers.

When stacking nightscapes, you have to process the foreground and the sky separately.

For the foreground you just average the single exposures. This is very easy.

For the sky it is a bit more complicated: As the stars move, when shooting from a fixed tripod, you get star trails with the above technique. You therefore have to align the stars (called registering in astro photographer lingo). There are specialized programs that can handle this task. I personally use fitswork, which delivers excellent results and is completely free.

After the stacking, you have to merge the two images again into one. As the sky image has a blurred foreground and the foreground has a blurred sky, this merging needs careful masking, which is the toughest part of the whole process.

Many Canon photographers complain about the low dynamic range of Canon sensors. While this is certainly true for low ISO settings, when you try to recover deep shadows, the Canon sensors seem to be more or less on par with other brands at high ISO settings.

So there is no reason for night scape photographers to switch brands or upgrade to the newest, fanciest and most expensive camera models. If they are striving for really clan images, like no camera of any brand will ever be able to deliver with a single image, they have to learn the stacking technique. It involves a bit of work, but the reward is a very clean image and it is completely free...

BTW: I am an amateur photographer and (unfortunately) not sponsored by Canon ;-)

Thanks for your faves and comments.

Tags:   stacking Fitswork Moulton Barn Grand Teton National Park Nightscape Astrophotography Astronomy Astro Milchstrasse Canon Canon EOS 6D Astro-Modified Hutech Samyang SAMYANG 24mm f1.4 Long Exposure Landscape Sky Night Wyoming Skyglow ~The Magic of Colours~ VIII

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I captured this image of Mt. Rainier in 2018 during a glorious night with rather strong airglow. The reddish haze above the horizon on the left is smoke from wildfires in the south.

Somehow, I never posted this shot, but recently rediscovered it after a little mishap with my computer and decided it was still worth posting after all this time. I hope you agree.

EXIF
Canon EOS 6D, astro-modified
Samyang 24mm f/1.4 @ f/2
iOptron SkyTracker Pro
Sky:
Stack of 6 x 50s @ ISO1600
Foreground:
Stack of 6 x 50s @ ISO3200

Tags:   Washington Mt. Rainier Milky Way Milchstrasse Astronomy Astrophotography Astro Nightscape Starscape Long Exposure Narrobanding Landscape Stars Airglow Canon Canon EOS 6D Samyang SAMYANG 24mm f1.4 iOptron Skytracker Sky Night Nightsky Nightphotography

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"To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour." - William Blake

These stunning structures resemble the ruins of an ancient city, but the alien looking 'skyscrapers' are natural sand castles, rising 3-4 ft high.

Similar in appearance to the more famous calcium carbonate tufa towers along Mono Lake's shoreline, these sand tufas formed quite differently. Beneath the surface of the ancient lake, calcium-rich groundwater rose up through brine-saturated sand layers, forming cemented pillars of sand. Later, the lake waters receded, leaving this area high and dry some distance back from the water's edge. Then wind eroded away the sand layers, exposing fluted sand tufas. These delicate formations are being continually weathered completely away, and new ones are exposed.

The image shows the Milky Way arching over the Sand Tufas. Some dissipating clouds along the horizon are a reminiscence of less tranquil conditions with strong tunderstorms in the afternoon. Strong airglow is bathing the lower sky in green, yellow and some reds, which are seemingly echoed by the Hydrogen-alpha emission nebulae dotting the Milky Way band.

EXIF
Canon EOS R, astro-modified
Sigma 28mm f/1.4 @ f/2
IDAS NBZ filter
iOptron SkyTracker Pro
Sky:
8 panel panorama, each a stack of 6x 45s @ ISO1600, unfiltered & 3x 105s @ ISO6400, filtered
Foreground:
9 panel panorama, each a focus stack of 5x 1s @ ISO100 during blue hour

Tags:   Mono Lake Tufa California Milky Way Milchstrasse Astrophotography Astronomy Astro Nightscape Starscape Long Exposure Night Landscape Canon Canon EOS R Astro-Modified Sigma Sigma 28mm f/1.4 iOptron Skytracker tracking Stacking Panorama

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With a depth of 282 ft (86 m) below sea level, Badwater Basin is noted as the lowest point in North America. The site contains a small spring-fed pool of "bad water". The accumulated salts of the surrounding basin make it undrinkable, thus giving the Basin its name.

Adjacent to the pool, repeated freeze–thaw and evaporation cycles gradually push the thin salt crust into maze of honeycomb shapes.

The dark skies in Death Valley are awesome for astrophotography, but they also make capturing forwgrounds difficult. The salt polygons of Badwater Basin are no exception. I was therefore gald that I was able to use the light of the setting Moon to give the scene some structure.

EXIF
Canon EOS R, astro-modified by EOS 4Astro
Sigma 28mm f/1.4 ART
@astrohutech IDAS NBZ filter
iOptron SkyTracker Pro
Sky:
Panorama of 2 panels, each a stack of 6x 45s @ ISO1600 f/2, unfiltered & 5x 105s @ ISO6400 f/2, filtered
Foreground:
Focus stack of 4 x 60s @ ISO3200, f/2.8 during Moonset

Tags:   Death Valley Badwater California Milky Way Milchstrasse Astrophotography Astronomy Astro Nightscape Starscape Long Exposure Night Landscape Canon Canon EOS R Sigma Sigma 28mm f/1.4 iOptron Skytracker tracking Stacking Narrobanding Narrowband IDAS NBZ Colors Sky Space

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