The Return of the Milky Way Core at Goshen Pass, Virginia
For this composite image I used a Sony A7III camera and a Sony 50mm f/1.2 lens. The camera I had astro-modified by removing a stock filter so it would be sensitive to red wavelengths present in the nebulae.
The image is a combination of four separate images: two exposures of the land one with the car passing and one with me on the bridge, plus two images of the sky: one full spectrum and one only capturing light in the wavelength of the hydrogen alpha. For the sky images, the camera and lens sat on a star tracker, a portable mount that counters the earth’s rotation allowing for long exposures without star trails.
I shot an hour worth of 45s exposures with this set-up. I then added a filter which only allowed light in from the very specific wavelength of light in nebulae and stars (H-alpha) and shot another hour of 60s exposures with this filter. This allowed me to bring out in great detail areas of emissions in the Milky Way that would have been much fainter without this filter. After collecting all these exposures, I used a free program called Starry Sky Stacker to “stack” the images — compiling the data in the exposures together to refine the target and reduce noise.
Once I had done that with both the H-alpha exposures and the full spectrum exposures, I was able to compile the final sky image. To do this I split the full spectrum image into its individual RGB components and replaced the Red channel with the H-alpha image. With that the sky image was near final, and I only needed to make some global adjustments in Adobe Lightroom to get it to the style I wanted.
After I shot the sky, I then shot the land using the same same camera but a different wider angle lens. I shot two 2 minute exposures. Once I had all these images, I used masks in photoshop to blend all the images together for the final composite.
For more astrophotography, check out my Instagram: @brennangilmorephoto
MrJackDog on November 25th, 2022 at 23:55 UTC »
The Return of the Milky Way Core at Goshen Pass, Virginia
For this composite image I used a Sony A7III camera and a Sony 50mm f/1.2 lens. The camera I had astro-modified by removing a stock filter so it would be sensitive to red wavelengths present in the nebulae.
The image is a combination of four separate images: two exposures of the land one with the car passing and one with me on the bridge, plus two images of the sky: one full spectrum and one only capturing light in the wavelength of the hydrogen alpha. For the sky images, the camera and lens sat on a star tracker, a portable mount that counters the earth’s rotation allowing for long exposures without star trails.
I shot an hour worth of 45s exposures with this set-up. I then added a filter which only allowed light in from the very specific wavelength of light in nebulae and stars (H-alpha) and shot another hour of 60s exposures with this filter. This allowed me to bring out in great detail areas of emissions in the Milky Way that would have been much fainter without this filter. After collecting all these exposures, I used a free program called Starry Sky Stacker to “stack” the images — compiling the data in the exposures together to refine the target and reduce noise.
Once I had done that with both the H-alpha exposures and the full spectrum exposures, I was able to compile the final sky image. To do this I split the full spectrum image into its individual RGB components and replaced the Red channel with the H-alpha image. With that the sky image was near final, and I only needed to make some global adjustments in Adobe Lightroom to get it to the style I wanted.
After I shot the sky, I then shot the land using the same same camera but a different wider angle lens. I shot two 2 minute exposures. Once I had all these images, I used masks in photoshop to blend all the images together for the final composite.
For more astrophotography, check out my Instagram: @brennangilmorephoto
Oldtimer_2 on November 26th, 2022 at 00:37 UTC »
I'm no expert photographer but I know what I like. And I really like this picture. Nicely done
Revolutionary_Sea106 on November 26th, 2022 at 01:36 UTC »
i cannot believe this was taken in VA. unbelievable