# Astrophography



## Smoothfonzo (May 17, 2007)

*Astrophography (large images)*

Does anyone here dabble in it? After Christmas, my Dad and I bought a Canon 7D. We wanted something flexible for regular shooting and night time shooting. Beautiful camera that comes with a beautiful lense. I love the camera 


It wasn't long before we went out to shoot. We live in an area that benefits from not too much light, so we don't have to drive very far to get some good views.

Here's a set from our first night out, taken in February. All pictures are shot with an EF-S 15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM lense with 10 second exposures, at 3200 ISO unless otherwise specified.:




























In this next shot, you'll notice the Pleides.










Now, these next photos were taken with a $6000 85mm lense graciously lent to us by a friend who was out shooting with us that night. Both 20 second exposures. Behold the detail!










And this is the shot that I was most proud of that night:











Next is with our second session.


----------



## Smoothfonzo (May 17, 2007)

These next ones were taken in March. What you see on the right is not actually light pollution, as there's no discernible city in that direction. It's actually what's termed as Zodiacal Light.



Wikipedia said:


> Zodiacal light is a faint, roughly triangular, whitish glow seen in the night sky which appears to extend up from the vicinity of the sun along the ecliptic or zodiac. Caused by sunlight scattered by space dust in the zodiacal cloud, it is so faint that either moonlight or light pollution renders it invisible. The zodiacal light decreases in intensity with distance from the Sun, but on very dark nights it has been observed in a band completely around the ecliptic.


Zodiacal light - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia





















A fun thing to do when you're out doing astrophotography during winter is to paint the picture with red light, something that's not easily doable during the summer since you don't have snow reflecting the glow of the red light.










If anyone's interesting in seeing more, I'll be putting up more as I take more here: Flickr: AstroDodsons' Photostream


----------



## Guest (Apr 26, 2010)

Astrophotography is fun for sure ... I have way too much light pollution in my area though for my liking.


----------



## SoyMac (Apr 16, 2005)

Impressive, Smoothfonzo!


----------



## keebler27 (Jan 5, 2007)

I'm from the Soo Smoothfonzo and your first pic reminds me SO much of N. Ontario!

awesome!


----------



## Smoothfonzo (May 17, 2007)

Hey thanks  

Keebler, yeah, we're lucky to not have as many lights as down south. The further north you go, or even Manitoulin Island with their Dark Sky Preserve, you get darker skies.


----------



## EricStenberg (Jul 26, 2008)

Those look bloody good for 3200 on an APS-C sensor! I've heard really good things about high ISO on the 7Ds though...
I'm really digging the close up of Orion! Now I need to get out there and so some astrophotos with my 5DmkII.


----------



## Smoothfonzo (May 17, 2007)

It's not too difficult. All you really need is a good tripod, and either an infrared remote or shutter release, and about 10-30 seconds. It's a lot easier than it used to be with film cameras. In fact, a friend of ours who used to spend hours at night doing astrophotography with a film camera explained that he felt there was no romance in using a dSLR to do astrophotography because it's too easy for him. He liked the happenstance of it all.

I should note that the one of Orion was actually a 20 second exposure. I forgot to mention that in the original post.

Here's another I took recently, in August when some of the planets were in alignment. This was actually done on a spur of the moment. We didn't have our good tripod with us, but rather a flimsy tripod not made to support the extra weight of a dSLR. Taken at the marina in Gatineau (Aylmer), Quebec.


----------



## Smoothfonzo (May 17, 2007)

So, I went out to do comet hunting last night. There's a comet called Hartley showing itself, but it's rather faint by our account as it hardly shows in any of the pictures we took. During one of our attempts, two speeding vehicles interrupted our 30 second exposure with their lights. Astrophotography and vehicles don't mix! Oh no! Picture ruined, I thought. Actually, it turned out to be the best shot of the night. Here's the result. You can even see the Andromeda Galaxy in the upper right.










Flickr: AstroDodsons' Photostream


----------



## SoyMac (Apr 16, 2005)

*Lunar Eclipse Tonight!*

Hey, Photo Fiends! There's a radical Lunar eclipse happening tonight!

Tripods UP!

Total Full Moon eclipse (AND Winter Solstice) 12:35 - 3:15am!!!!

Please post your Moony photos on here tomorrow, or I'll use more exclamation marks!


----------



## Max (Sep 26, 2002)

Really nice thread - astounding captures. I miss that about the north, and the country, period - the purity, clarity and sheer abundance of the information suspended above our heads. Looking into the past, enchanted by the extent of it, humbled by the relative size of our own position within such immensity.

Those are fantastic, thanks!


----------

