Star Gazing
Nikon D70 @ 18mm, 496.7 sec, f/10, ISO 200
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Ended up having a half day at work today (woo), which gave me the perfect excuse to go for a wander with my camera. I ended up going straight to Carlton Hill to get a shot looking down Princes Street just as the sun was going down. Unfortunately the sunset was a bit of a non-event, so the shots weren't that great. I was actually taking those shots with my Fuji S7000 because my 18-70 lens is the longest I've got for my D70 at the moment (got my eye on the sigma 80-400 OS though - it will be mine!). I forgot how nice it is to use a camera with a live preview.
Anyway, the sky was clear over head, so I thought I might be able to get some star trails. I ended up waiting for about half an hour for the sun to go down fully, and for the sky to be dark enough. I used an 8 minute exposure for this one and am incredibly impressed with the lack of noise in the image - seriously, there is no more than there is for a typical day light shot. I'm always amazed at the detail that comes out in these shots, bearing in mind that it was completely dark.
Just about to head home for Christmas, so if I don't update before then... have a good one! :)
5 Comments:
Great job there John looks as if it was taken during the day it's that light . have a great christmas mate
Dougie
Wonderful shot John! I'm certainly into my astrophotography at the moment too, and i've seen many other photobloggers are the same. It must be the longer nights :)
I was going to ask how you got rid of your amp glow, but perhaps the effect isn't so pronounced on the Fuji. I have tried long exposures out in Fintry in the pitch black, where there are wonderful stars, but the amp glow is terrible on the D70.
Wow!
What a beautiful!
dgaf: Cheers! I've always found it difficult finding a night when the sky is clear - it's always seems to be cloudy here. Definitely worth a shot, can get some very interesting results.
dougie: Thanks a lot dougie... yeah, I love the way long exposures bring out colours that your eyes can't see.
Jem: Yeah, it's the longer nights - I'm never out of work early enough for it still to be light!
owen: It was shot with my D70. I did get a little amp glow, but surprisingly little considering the 8 minute shutter. This might sound silly, but it might have been because it was so bloody cold! I understand that amp glow is one of the components near the sensor heating up, so perhaps the sub zero temperatures slowed down the effect. Anyway, to get rid of it I essentially dropped a section of normal sky over the pink park, and set the blending mode to colour - easy as that! The noise reduction on the D70 gets rid of the amp glow perfectly, but it's annoying having to wait for it to do its dark frame subtraction.
tetsu: Thanks!
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