Post your best current shots

[NFLD Stephen]

Nice, Stephen! What equipment did you use? Do you mind sharing details such as number of exposures/exposure times?

Kind of annoying that you can get this kind of result when still "new to this astro photo stuff"

Markarian's Chain is one of my favorites for visual observation in the Spring, but I have never gotten a decent astrophoto of it.

Jon.

Thanks for the kind words Jon.

Here is the basic info:
Stack of 57 light frames 90s exposures at iso 1600 using an Unmodified Canon 5dmkIII. I also took dark, bias and flat calibration frames.

For equipment, I used a William Optics Zenithstar 81 telescope (with field flattener) and Skywatcher HEQ5Pro mount (no guiding). If I recall correctly, I used NINA software for image capture (or possibly just an intervalometer, I can't remember specifically) and PixInsight for stacking and most processing.

Sorry to be "kind of annoying" but I only bought my telescope and mount this past spring so I really am new at it. I've done photography for quite a bit longer and have done a LOT of reading and watching videos about astro over the last while so that helps speed along the progress. Also helps that I'm in a fairly dark area (around bortle 3 or 4 I believe). Unfortunately, being in a northern latitude, I haven't been able to get really dark skies for a while now, so astro stuff is on hold until the dark skies return, hopefully try a few later in the summer.

Let me know if there is anything else you want to know. I'm certainly willing to share the bit I've learned so far!

Stephen

[Busted Knuckles]

awesome stuff Brant

[Kayaker72]

awesome stuff Brant

Thanks Mike!

[Kayaker72]

Not sure why, but this is the first year we have rabbits in our yard. Big ones, baby ones...little ones....

537A9821 by kayaker72, on Flickr

537A9802 by kayaker72, on Flickr

537A9781 by kayaker72, on Flickr

Thanks for viewing...Brant

[Zach]

i had gotten this macro shot and thought i'd add a little Flair to make it more interesting!

Indiana Jones Waterfall by Deer Creek Photography, on Flickr

[cls]

When we decided to make a vacation trip to the Swedish west coast this summer I did some research on nice photo locations (you know it… "vacation trip" = "photographic excursion" ).


I found out that a famous scene of a famous (at least in Sweden) Ingemar Bergman film, The Seventh Seal, was shot at a pebble beach only a short drive from our hotel. The place, called "Hovs Hallar", is really nice and the film scene wasn’t the main reason we visited it, but since we were going there I decided to try to find the exact location where the scene was shot. The area is fairly large and there are LOTS of similar rocks, but after some hiking I suddenly recognized the rocks from the scene.

The first image is (as you may guess) a screenshot - I'm uncertain about the proper photo credits. The second one is my rip-off.

[Kayaker72]

That is really cool. You nailed the location.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Minerve101]

I finally worked through a large set of shots froma sunset cruise at the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, and a hike the next day along the top of the cliffs. It is an out-of-the-way spot, but if you have the chance, I would enthusiastically recommend it.




Rocky gateway by dfwatsoneuro, on Flickr



Pink Arch by dfwatsoneuro, on Flickr



Pictured Rocks cruise by dfwatsoneuro, on Flickr



Sundown at Pictured Rocks by dfwatsoneuro, on Flickr

[Kayaker72]

Nice set Danny.

So, I got to spend a week in early August back in Idaho. The most of the trip was dominated by smoke. I have seen some photographers do some great things with the smoky skies, but most of my pics just looked brown and drab. Right before the second weekend, some storms came through and the skies cleared just in time for a bike ride down the "Hiawatha Trail." This is a rail-trail that starts at lookout pass at the Montana border and descends into Idaho pass through several old train tunnels. Overall, a nice way to spend the day.

Smoky skies:
537A0543 by kayaker72, on Flickr

Skies Clearing on the Palouse just in time for a sunset:

537A0796 by kayaker72, on Flickr

Hiawatha Trail:

View from the top
537A0641 by kayaker72, on Flickr

Mule deer just off the trail
537A0681 by kayaker72, on Flickr

A valley moving away from the trail.
537A0708 by kayaker72, on Flickr

Thanks for viewing...Brant

[Kayaker72]

A few from Manito Park in Spokane Washington:

537A0890 by kayaker72, on Flickr

537A0883 by kayaker72, on Flickr

537A0859 by kayaker72, on Flickr

Thanks for viewing...Brant