ISS & the Milky way

[Ay Ay Ron]

Last night I took a drive with my mate to try to capture the ISS and the Milky way.

There were a few passes last night but only managed to get the one, mainly due to lack of planning on my part. Took a drive up the the Alwen reservoir for some dark skies and to hopefully get the reflection of the ISS on the water. Seemed to work too but only got short exposures. Need to prepare better next time. Also want to get some star trails over there but it means a mile trek through the woods to the south side of the lake so I can get Polaris in shot. Maybe on a crisp winters night and not at 1.30 am!

After the ISS, we went for a drive over the moors in search of the Milky way. Amazing sight when you are out in the pitch black. Some light pollution crept in, its amazing what the camera picks up that the naked eye can't see!

After a while here we went in search of a lone tree for a decent foreground. Didn't find one and got lost. No signal, no phone data and no maps! Drove for a while and found somewhere I recognized then headed home. Pretty tired right now!

Comments, C&C, editing suggestions all welcomed.

​Cheers for looking.

 

[Habitual]

I think those are awesome dude! Your photography just gets better and better!

I love 1 & 2.

What settings did you use, please?

 

[Reev]

The first shot is awesome.

 

[Ay Ay Ron]

Cheers guys.
I forgot to put details up with them. Very tired today!

All shots were shot at 10mm at 30 seconds apart from number 2, that was 48 seconds and not long enough. I was scrambling on rocks to try to get the pass right through the shot.
All shot at F4 and ISO 3200 apart from number 6 which was 1600.

Took this one too which captured a comet passing through.
Again, ISO 3200, F4, 30 seconds.

Comet & Milky way by A_Cro, on Flickr

 

[TheEvilGiraffe]

Ooooft.

Very 'AndWhyNot' !!

Good work.

 

[Xanda73]

Excellent work. What camera is this?

 

[Ay Ay Ron]

Cheers.

Canon 550d with Sigma 10-20 4-5.6 lens.

Want to upgrade this year to a better sensor but funds are a bit tight. Maybe next year.

TEG- Yeah "AndWhyNot" has some bloody good pictures out there. No where near his level yet!
Kris Williams is another good astro photographer, fairly local to me too. Attended one of his seminars last week, was very interesting.

 

[timuss]

Oh wow they are beautiful i have to give this a try sometime.

 

[Matt_90]

Love the top one mate, awesome work!

 

[Habitual]

Cheers for the settings Aaron. I always forget you use a 550D, then remember and then think, DAMN this guy's good.

That set is inspiring. It's just finding a location as where I live, places like that aren't close!

 

[Ay Ay Ron]

Cheers Tom.

Quick before & after comparison of one of the shots. All editing done in Lightroom 4.

 

[sn00p]

Great photos

​You only have to look through a telescope to see how many stars suddenly appear from nowhere.

Hope that wasn't a comet either

 

[Ph1 Tom]

Fair play! We've got a D90 and a few lenses but don't know anywhere near enough about how to use it or edit photos

 

[Cookson]

Lovely pics. I am just waiting for the station to come over now

 

[Brazo]

Nice capture of the stars, I prefer the first shot, with scouting out some more interesting foreground for your next attempt but do it in daylight!!

 

[Eddie.]

Amazing.

Quick, and very stupid question, what do you focus the camera on when shooting stars?!

I mean, how do you stop it being out of focus.

Yes, I'm a 10/10 noob

 

[Ay Ay Ron]

Cheers Brazo . I will be scouting out some new places, this was a sort of last minute trip and the only place I could think of that was in a pretty dark sky area. We did look for something for the foreground before the later iss pass but couldn't see anything. I will be taking a drive out soon though to get some spots.


Eddie - My lens has an infinity focus mark. Not always to be trusted though so I checked in live view while zoomed in (zoom on the screen, not the lens) and tweaked it there. I only had to focus on something a few meters away anyway sue to the short focus area on the 10-20.

Cookson - did you manage to get the iss? Post something up if you did.

 

[Nickson]

Awesome photography!

Ridiculous how many more stars you can see when you venture out to a dark spot.

 

[Hixle]

Awesome!! Like, seriously good shots there mate!