I’d like to start out by stating that there is no way the human eye can see the night sky exactly like this. We as people persons cannot replicate the long exposure techniques used here. With that said, I figured I would take advantage of how cameras capture the night sky by implementing a common imaging technique known in the astrophotography world.
EDIT: If you like this shot, you might wanna check meowt on Instagram @danieljstein where I post more Milky Way's!
FINALLY! Some clear skies in upstate New York. These were long overdue. The weather reports were bouncing back and fourth this past Memorial Day weekend, and ultimately I decided to make the 9 hour round trip trek up to the ADK's to do some hiking. Given that many of the trails are still melting, I decided to keep it short, yet steep. I summited the trail around 22:00, and somehow I found myself shooting well into moonrise then into astronomical twilight. Time really flies when you are under such a starry landscape such as this. Should you choose to venture to the Adirondacks for any reason, please remember to be respectful of any rules, regulations, and leave no trace on site.
With that all said, go out to a dark sky near you in the summertime and experience the awe inspiring Milky Way for yourself!
I used a device called a star tracker here is to create a cleaner and more detailed shot of the Milky Way. A tracker is a unit which when aligned will follow the rotation of the Earth, thus allowing me to shoot longer exposures of the sky. The longer the shutter is open, the less ISO sensitivity is needed and as a result will output a cleaner image.
An issue with tracking is that it creates a blurry foreground, so another exposure is needed for the foreground, albeit with the tracker switched to the off position. This is exactly what I did. Without moving the camera, tripod, or tracker, I turned the tracker off and exposed for the foreground prior to initiating the tilting for shooting the pano. With incoming twilight the foreground exposures were a lot quicker to do than in the dead of night.
I used my H-Alpha modified Nikon Z6 and Sigma 50mm f/1.4 ART to take this shot. As mentioned before, I took one tracked shot for the stars and one for the foreground one right after the other (meaning no camera movement/relocation). The star shot was f/2.8, ISO 800, and 2 minutes. The foreground shot were at f/1.8, ISO 800, 4 minutes. I did initial adjustments in LR on each image, then sent the foreground into PS and the star shot into Pixinsight. From there, I performed adjustments to reduce the noise, some stars, as well as bring out more data in the Milky Way Core. After this, I brought the output file into Photoshop where I stitched it together with the foreground manually. I used masking to correct for a small discrepancy between the foreground layer and stars while performing additional adjustments to my liking to yield this final result.
If you have any questions about this shot, astrophotography, or astronomy in the Adirondacks in general, feel free to ask below!
Milky Way photos could possibly my favourite damn thing to just sit and look at, just letting your mind wander and take in everything that could be out there.
One day I'm going to take the time to go to a dark site so I can see it for myself, but for now, photos like this will do. Thanks for sharing man!
![image showing I finally had a clear, calm night to capture the Milky Way soaring over the Adirondacks this past weekend [OC][1360x2048]](31d04990-ad74-59ea-a1cc-ffae6a5bd65c.jpg)
DanielJStein on May 30th, 2019 at 10:53 UTC »
I’d like to start out by stating that there is no way the human eye can see the night sky exactly like this. We as people persons cannot replicate the long exposure techniques used here. With that said, I figured I would take advantage of how cameras capture the night sky by implementing a common imaging technique known in the astrophotography world.
EDIT: If you like this shot, you might wanna check meowt on Instagram @danieljstein where I post more Milky Way's!
FINALLY! Some clear skies in upstate New York. These were long overdue. The weather reports were bouncing back and fourth this past Memorial Day weekend, and ultimately I decided to make the 9 hour round trip trek up to the ADK's to do some hiking. Given that many of the trails are still melting, I decided to keep it short, yet steep. I summited the trail around 22:00, and somehow I found myself shooting well into moonrise then into astronomical twilight. Time really flies when you are under such a starry landscape such as this. Should you choose to venture to the Adirondacks for any reason, please remember to be respectful of any rules, regulations, and leave no trace on site.
With that all said, go out to a dark sky near you in the summertime and experience the awe inspiring Milky Way for yourself!
I used a device called a star tracker here is to create a cleaner and more detailed shot of the Milky Way. A tracker is a unit which when aligned will follow the rotation of the Earth, thus allowing me to shoot longer exposures of the sky. The longer the shutter is open, the less ISO sensitivity is needed and as a result will output a cleaner image.
An issue with tracking is that it creates a blurry foreground, so another exposure is needed for the foreground, albeit with the tracker switched to the off position. This is exactly what I did. Without moving the camera, tripod, or tracker, I turned the tracker off and exposed for the foreground prior to initiating the tilting for shooting the pano. With incoming twilight the foreground exposures were a lot quicker to do than in the dead of night.
I used my H-Alpha modified Nikon Z6 and Sigma 50mm f/1.4 ART to take this shot. As mentioned before, I took one tracked shot for the stars and one for the foreground one right after the other (meaning no camera movement/relocation). The star shot was f/2.8, ISO 800, and 2 minutes. The foreground shot were at f/1.8, ISO 800, 4 minutes. I did initial adjustments in LR on each image, then sent the foreground into PS and the star shot into Pixinsight. From there, I performed adjustments to reduce the noise, some stars, as well as bring out more data in the Milky Way Core. After this, I brought the output file into Photoshop where I stitched it together with the foreground manually. I used masking to correct for a small discrepancy between the foreground layer and stars while performing additional adjustments to my liking to yield this final result.
If you have any questions about this shot, astrophotography, or astronomy in the Adirondacks in general, feel free to ask below!
OSwankey on May 30th, 2019 at 12:10 UTC »
If you don’t mind me asking, where’d you stay? I’m going up camping there this weekend at the Loj!
KiR- on May 30th, 2019 at 12:23 UTC »
Milky Way photos could possibly my favourite damn thing to just sit and look at, just letting your mind wander and take in everything that could be out there.
One day I'm going to take the time to go to a dark site so I can see it for myself, but for now, photos like this will do. Thanks for sharing man!