My first attempt at night-sky images

Sventekoz

I made my first attempt at night-sky images last night. These were taken in Mundaring, near where I live - but I obviously need to go further out to where there is less light pollution. I'd really appreciate any comments and suggestions for improving. All images were taken using my Nikon D7000, with a Sigma 8-16mm at 8mm, f4.5. They are mostly at ISO1600, with a couple at ISO800 and ISO3200. I used DeepSkyStacker for the initial processing. Thanks for looking.

#1


#2


#3


#4


#5


#6

JC

Very nicely done. It would be nice to see consistent color across the series. I haven't been able to really work DSS's color settings. It's very non-intuitive how the sliders affect the color (at least for me).

In a couple of them you have some banding in the sky background color, maybe because of how much stretch you applied, or maybe just a limitation of the screen color resolution?

The foregrounds look a little accidental, I'd like to see some stronger composition between the trees and the stars. Also, if you are going to stack the star fields, I'd like to see a single foreground image (the anchor image in DSS) masking the stack with the foreground so that you don't see the foreground smeared out, even if it means a slight loss of contrast in the stars under the mask.

How many stacked images?

Sventekoz

Thanks kolibri - I'll use your advice as I refine things. Much appreciated. Most of these had 6 stacked images - a couple had 8, and one had 5 I think.

ian408

I think you did very well with these images. #3 and #6 are my favorites.

Sventekoz

Thanks Ian - much appreciated.

Newsy

Well done for a 1st attempt!

Sventekoz

Thanks, Newsy.

I've been refining my post-processing of these images. This is what I've managed to achieve so far. I'm quite happy to have achieved these with a Nikon D7000 and an 8-16mm zoom.

racefan

very nice pics, if you dont mind me asking how do you do this, what settings did you use. i also shoot with the D7000.

Yaflyyadie

I believe all of them are very good.
Consistent color would be a most, but probably the most difficult part of the job.
I really like them all, my preferred ones are 1 and 2.
Thanks,
Carlos

Sventekoz

Thanks racefan and Carlos. Yes, Carlos, consistent colour is a challenge - for me at least.

racefan, I used 30s exposures at f4.5 (widest aperture on that lens), and mostly ISO1600. I shot at 8mm (non fisheye) so that I could both capture as much of the sky as possible and minimise star trails.

racefan

how many shots did you take and what program did you use, i tried it the other night and it turned out like crap..

Sventekoz

These were mostly 6 shots, processed initially in DeepSkyStacker, and then Photoshop.

Juano

I need to give this a try, well done!