Jill Morgan Posted September 29, 2018 Share Posted September 29, 2018 Was just talking to my son and he told me he has bought me an attachment for my husband's telescope for my Canon camera. I know nothing about astrophotography but have always enjoyed looking through the telescope at the wonders of the sky. Figure first decent new moon night (hopefully no clouds) I'll test out the attachment. Have to look up what's out there at the time. What hints can anyone give me on taking good deep sky photographs. For once, living out in the country will serve me well for this type of photography as I will not have to deal with light pollution. Jill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rico Posted September 29, 2018 Share Posted September 29, 2018 I find that the Milky Way is the most interesting to shoot. But it's too late in the year for that now. Summer only the Northern Hemisphere. Here is a couple of links I use to assist me. https://www.cleardarksky.com/csk/index.html https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/aurora-30-minute-forecast Download the free Stellarium app at https://stellarium.org/en_CA/ And of course, YouTube is always a wonderful source for learning Rick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcolm Park Posted September 30, 2018 Share Posted September 30, 2018 Start simply with astrophotography. Fitting a camera to a telescope is not going to lead anywhere (apart from frustration) unless the telescope is mounted on a motor driven equatorial mount and accurately polar alligned. Deep sky exposures can take anywhere from 1 hr to 6hrs therefore compete accuracy of the mounting system is essential to keep stars pin sharp. Your benefit over my location is you are in a dark sky area, a huge bonus. Start simply with your dslr on a standard tripod and a shutter release (intervalometer), take wideangle shots of the milky way with camera set at between 800-1600iso and lens at 2.8, see what you get. I’ve done this high in the French alps and found the dark skies were, in fact, fairly light polluted! There are one or two good beginners books on the subject which I can list if interested. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gareth Posted September 30, 2018 Share Posted September 30, 2018 The Photographer's Ephemeris is a good site to help plan your astro shoots. It's a paid app for android and ios, but the desktop version is free. It's ideal for predicting the sunsets/moonsets etc. https://photoephemeris.com You could also have a look at photopills, another paid app which allows you to visualise your scenes on location, in real time with augmented reality. https://www.photopills.com I'm a novice astrophotogtapher myself, and have found that planning the shoots ahead of time is well worth it, though as Rico said we've missed the optimum time for the Milky Way this year in the northern hemisphere, but those clear, crisp autumn/winter nights are still worth photographing. Good luck. Gareth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jill Morgan Posted September 30, 2018 Author Share Posted September 30, 2018 Hubby's telescope is high end high tech, so no problem setting exact locations. All the bells and whistles. I'll check out the links you guys have provided. Don't know if hubby will let me leave his telescope out most of the night with cooler nights now. He's very protective of it. I'll have to schmooze him. Thanks for the tips and links. Jill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Woods Posted October 1, 2018 Share Posted October 1, 2018 Jill Definitely agree with Malcolm - start with your camera on a tripod and shoot the whole night sky. Below are a couple of examples of what you can do with a single straight exposure - in my case 20 seconds ISO3200 with Nikon D750 and Tamron 15-30mm f2.8. There are plenty of youtube lessons on how to post process this type of photo. This is a good time of year as the milky way is high in the sky earlier in the evenings, so you can get these shots at 8-10pm rather than in the small hours of the morning. The best views are toward the south. Its astounding that I can get these images with off-the-shelf equipment. Colin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jill Morgan Posted October 1, 2018 Author Share Posted October 1, 2018 1 hour ago, Colin Woods said: Jill Definitely agree with Malcolm - start with your camera on a tripod and shoot the whole night sky. Below are a couple of examples of what you can do with a single straight exposure - in my case 20 seconds ISO3200 with Nikon D750 and Tamron 15-30mm f2.8. There are plenty of youtube lessons on how to post process this type of photo. This is a good time of year as the milky way is high in the sky earlier in the evenings, so you can get these shots at 8-10pm rather than in the small hours of the morning. The best views are toward the south. Its astounding that I can get these images with off-the-shelf equipment. Colin Wonderful shots Colin. My son showed me how to use the attachment (hope I get it right). As well hubby bought himself a sunscope for looking at the sun. Looks like a small bazooka. Have to make use of that one too. Plan to do some heavy reading. Hubby belongs to astronomy club and every club meeting they get charts for the next month on whats up there to look at. I'll go over those. And feast on youtube. Boy, what would we do without youtube these days. It has taught me all kinds of things. Jill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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