Getting the milk in the milky way.

[Runesky]

Greetings all,

I am trying to do some "astro" landscaping and am running a bit into an issue is that i don't seem to be able to get the milky way to have that smooth milky appearance.







This is my current most detailed shot for now, still very harsh looking. Also am getting some blue "circles" around some of the starts at the edge of the frame.
Any suggestion on techniques to use to make things better. The photos is a panorama of multiple stacked exposures (3 per tile).

 

[Mark_A]

Greetings all,

I am trying to do some "astro" landscaping and am running a bit into an issue is that i don't seem to be able to get the milky way to have that smooth milky appearance.



This is my current most detailed shot for now, still very harsh looking. Also am getting some blue "circles" around some of the starts at the edge of the frame.
Any suggestion on techniques to use to make things better. The photos is a panorama of multiple stacked exposures (3 per tile).

Hi Runesky,

Nice shot.

When you say stacked exposures what do you mean? because you take one shot 25s and then the MW has moved …. you take another it is in a different place in the sky?

Mark_A

 

[Runesky]

Ye i take 3-4 shots at a spot then move a another one take 3-4 shots...

After i align in photoshop and stack the 3-4 exposures then combine the stacks into a panorama.

 

[Astrophotographer 10]

Greetings all,

I am trying to do some "astro" landscaping and am running a bit into an issue is that i don't seem to be able to get the milky way to have that smooth milky appearance.



This is my current most detailed shot for now, still very harsh looking. Also am getting some blue "circles" around some of the starts at the edge of the frame.
Any suggestion on techniques to use to make things better. The photos is a panorama of multiple stacked exposures (3 per tile).

Overall a very nice image. 3 x 10 seconds is very short exposure. Try 6-12 shots per tile.

The more the merrier. I would not worry too much about the movement of the sky.

At F1.8 the 55 1.8 does show a bit of chromatic aberration around the bright stars. Just use the defringing tool in Lightroom or Photoshop to correct it.

On colour your image seems just a tad too much magenta. Perhaps that is the chromatic aberration showing a bit but perhaps just the processing.

I would not use any sharpening on nightscape shots it just harshes up the stars.

Greg.

 

[Runesky]

Marking previous post as answer for now ill field test it.

In summary :

- Expose more (move to 6-10 per tile)

- No sharpening

- Defringe in LR or PS.

Added question : Is there a rule of thumbs on how long to expose per tile in order to be able to stitch easily ?

 

[Astrophotographer 10]

Marking previous post as answer for now ill field test it.

In summary :

- Expose more (move to 6-10 per tile)

- No sharpening

- Defringe in LR or PS.

Added question : Is there a rule of thumbs on how long to expose per tile in order to be able to stitch easily ?

Not that I know of no.

I do find stitching software like PTGui does not like sky shots only with stars in them.

UWA lenses distort so one set taken10-15 minutes after an earlier set are at a different angle and the stars can be quite distorted and far apart when stitching. I often have to manually select stitching points in PT Gui, almost everytime.

It works more easily when there is some landscape in the bottom of the image. It works those better.

Greg.

 

[1llusive]

Nice shot, in my opinion.

Your comment is curious, though. As the Milky Way Galaxy is a somewhat chaotic swirl of gas and dust, the better pictures we can take of it, the more of its detail we will reveal. If you want it to look smoother, maybe try a soft focus filter.