Night shot including milky way. Any tricks?

[Saunders]

how do you mean?

Just a silly reply. I’m just right now in a middle of nowhere place, with barely anyone around, where the Milky Way is very visible if theres no cloud cover. And it’s pissing down. Sorry. Just a throwaway remark. I like this thread and I hope you get your photos.

 

[2hats]

You might want to have a look for Comet NEOWISE (C/2020 F3) right now.

 

[weltweit]

You might want to have a look for Comet NEOWISE (C/2020 F3) right now.

I have seen some photos of it online.
Don't know how I would go about getting some though.
Probably could find out online though.

 

[weltweit]

I am now on holiday until Monday 17th August and wondering if I can do some Milky Way photography one of these nights.

So I am going to look for moon condition and position, if I might get a night that is clear of clouds, and if I can find somewhere on the coast giving me something towards the south.

 

[weltweit]

Weather: partial moon and clear skies for me where I am on Saturday and Sunday. Rest of week not so good.

I will be away Sunday.

Rhossili (for example) Sat night good clear from cloud and Thursday night but partial moon.

Moon 11 August half moon. Next new moon on 19th August.

Moon position in sky - apparently the moon rises in the NE .. which should be ok as the MW is in the South. Can that be right? does it change over time? I suppose it must.

For the sake of looking, the tides for The Mumbles on Thursday - are High Tide at 1am, moon last quarter. I would prefer low tide as it gives me more space to get a position.

Thursday is looking interesting, I will have my son with me then. Saturday (tomorrow) isn't ideal.

 

[weltweit]

Great discussion on Welsh Covid-19 restrictions at the moment? about locations and restrictions in Wales.

But I think I will also wonder about Durdle Door in Dorset.
Google Maps says 2.5 hours drive from home. - I think that is a no for Durdle Door.

Oxwich Bay is just 1 hour 40 minutes away

 

[planetgeli]

Great discussion on Welsh Covid-19 restrictions at the moment? about locations and restrictions in Wales.

But I think I will also wonder about Durdle Door in Dorset.
Google Maps says 2.5 hours drive from home. - I think that is a no for Durdle Door.

Oxwich Bay is just 1 hour 40 minutes away

Be warned, that last half hour to Oxwich Bay is down a thousand narrow lanes. Doesn't make it impossible but it's slow driving. And Oxwich Bay gets busy, though not late in the evening.

Edit, actually they aren't that narrow. If you want narrow, drive from Oxwich across the Gower. That's a ridiculous drive,

 

[weltweit]

..
Edit, actually they aren't that narrow. If you want narrow, drive from Oxwich across the Gower. That's a ridiculous drive,

Yes I have been caught in the Gower a few times, and I am wary about parking there also.

 

[weltweit]

Need to get some batteries for my head torch.

Wish I had an idea where to get some red cellophane.

 

[weltweit]

Oxwich Bay is interesting, however 24 miles due south is Ilfracombe.
And it is due south that I will be photographing.
Will that cause light pollution for me?

 

[clicker]

You might catch the perseids too.

 

[weltweit]

You might catch the perseids too.

clicker I don't know anything about them, can you expand a bit please?

 

[weltweit]

Thinking about settings, I think I am going to boost my ISO way up this time, it seems the secret to gathering more detail in the Milky Way in a single shot. Hopefully if I am lucky I may have time to experiment.

My last settings, from July 2018 (was it really so long ago?) were ISO3200 f2.8 FL 20mm and 25s.

 

[clicker]

clicker I don't know anything about them, can you expand a bit please?

Perseid meteor shower to dazzle skywatchers as it climbs towards peak

The most famous meteor shower of the year will be visible this weekend

metro.co.uk

Meteor showers in August. I've always had success looking for them in a dark sky , am currently stuck in London so not much chance this year.

 

[weltweit]

clicker cool, thanks for the informative link.

 

[clicker]

clicker cool, thanks for the informative link.

You could see 100 meteors an hour zoom by next week: Here’s how to watch the Perseids - ProtoThema English

The best way to watch the Perseids is to head out to a place with little light pollution as late as possible

en.protothema.gr

No problem

 

[weltweit]

Well the first part of my predictions seems ok, tonight it is clear of clouds here although someone told me that I am wrong about the moon rising in the NE, apparently it doesn't move around rather rises in the same place all the time.

According to a website I was just on it rises in the East.

 

[RoyReed]

Photographer's ephemeris will show you where the moon rises for any location.

Photo Ephemeris

Photo Ephemeris helps you plan outdoor photography in natural light. See how the light will fall on the land, day or night, for any location on earth.

www.photoephemeris.com

 

[weltweit]

Photographer's ephemeris will show you where the moon rises for any location.
..

Right, I have downloaded it (Finally!)

 

[weltweit]

According to TPE moon will rise in the east. That will be fine.

 

[weltweit]

Oxwich Bay is interesting, however 24 miles due south is Ilfracombe.
And it is due south that I will be photographing.
Will that cause light pollution for me?

And further due south is Plymouth. Grr

 

[weltweit]

I have come to the conclusion that Rhossili is better than Oxwich bay because I have a nice sunset out to sea and if I'm near Llangennith I will have some ground interest in the worm's head to my south.

The only thing is the only night on which the sky is predicted to be clear is tonight and I am in Camberley so perhaps tonight isn't going to work. I just hope the weather forecast changes for coming days.

 

[weltweit]

Had to forget about sunset as we were too late but I did go to the Gower for a MW attempt. I aimed for Llangenith with a view towards getting on the beach, the first route lead us to a security gate for a large caravan park / campsite. The next road westwards towards Hillend also ended up at a campsite with official looking gates. I gave up on the idea of getting on the beach and headed for Rhossili.

My Met office weather forecast was spot on, clear skies from about 11pm through, and TPE's prediction about the location of the moon, off to the east was also right. Also as predicted it was high tide while I was there. And my compass allowed me to focus on the MW immediately. So all that preparation worked. Stupidly we didn't have any decent torches though which being as it was midnight was an oversight!

The trouble with ending up on Rhossili is that the photogenic bits were all north of me and we didn't fancy the path down to the beach with a phone light between us. So after all that driving I was reduced to walking around the almost empty car park looking for items that might give foreground interest.



FL20mm @f2.8 25s ISO6400

Next time I attempt the Gower for MW I am definitely going to try to get there before Sunset and get on that beach, bring a decent torch and fix my tripod which caused me some grief last night.

 

[weltweit]

 

[weltweit]

I found a better white balance, based on the UPVC windows in the house.

 

[RoyReed]

 

[weltweit]

Hi RoyReed, thanks for that, it is a gorgeous picture. I would love to know their settings for the MW as they have a lot more detail than I have managed so far. (they don't include EXIF).

 

[weltweit]

Actually if I get a bit more emphatic with the processing I can make more of my MW.



I think I need to work on my processing more. And find better ground interest.

 

[weltweit]

I have been pointed at a site for milky way photography and am doing lots of reading. It turns out there are much more suitable lenses and better ways to post process. It is a massive site.

Anyhow I am pleased to be pointed at better ways as my own experiments are not really taking me forwards at the moment.

 

[RoyReed]

I have been pointed at a site for milky way photography and am doing lots of reading. It turns out there are much more suitable lenses and better ways to post process. It is a massive site.

Anyhow I am pleased to be pointed at better ways as my own experiments are not really taking me forwards at the moment.

Link?