[interested_observer]

Last year, I had acquired a GPS unit and started using it. I started a thread here, somewhat as a notebook to myself as to what I was doing, what was working, what wasn't, along with how I was doing it.

• https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/38-photographic-technique/263550-astrotra...out-field.html

This is a continuation of the log for this year.

I had gone out a couple of times, earlier this year, but the Milky Way was rising later in the evening - well really the morning (1-5am), so this time of the year its now in the 8pm to 11pm during the evening. Actually, here in July, its twilight past 8pm, so its somewhat of a race for the sun set and get dark enough, and for the Milky Way to get in a reasonable position in the sky. I went back to my old haunting grounds - the Superstition Mountain out at the Lost Dutchman State Park. It really has the best view available. The tools -

• Stellarium - to see the actual times that the Milky Way rises based on local times and location (lat and long).
• TPE - Well TPE has changed into a web app, with the old version no longer working. It provides sun/moon rise/set times and directions, geo-located to a specific graphical position on google maps.
• Weather.com - I have added this, so that I can have an idea as to the weather patterns, cloud cover, direction of movement, etc. Essentially, is it worthwhile on taking a drive to any location, and what specific area might have some clear skies? Weather.com has a map tab down at the bottom, where you can take a look at where the clouds and weather is. Also, it has a future loop, predicting the tracks for the next few hours. I have found that this works really quite well. They also have a cloud cover map, that is also very useful.
• Webcams - There are lots of webcams available - everywhere (just google the location/city/area you are interested in with "webcam" appended). I found a set that covers a number of locations that I am interested in. This way, I can take a real time look at the area to check on the weather, cloud cover, etc., before driving out.
• Google Maps - This is useful for scouting new locations, and finding roads or access to the area. Also, using their measurement (ruler) tool, you can get range and bearing from/to any location. Getting a understanding of the angle of view (what lens to use/might or might not work, etc.). Also, the images embedded for the area, provides a good idea of what it might look like. You can also plop down the "little man", and get a ground eye view (from the road) of what the access actually looks like, before actually driving there.

I took out two cameras - my K5 and K5IIs, two tripods and a host of lenses. The main lenses that I used are a:

• Sigma 18-35/f1.8 - I wanted a faster/wider lens based on using my 31LTD last year. The f4 lenses were ok, but slow. I did have a couple of f2.8 lenses - a 25mm and a 28mm, but these were not wide enough. I was thinking of some of the 14/f2.8 lenses, but in the end just oped for the f1.8. The 18mm is wide enough and folks have indicated that its a great lens for astro, if you can actually get it focused.
• SMC A 50/f1.7 - This is my $12 lens that I picked up years ago, when they were cheap. It's fast and easy to use. So, while the wide lens is doing astro landscapes, I mount this, aim it (focusing is easy, just set it on infinity), put the camera in burst mode and let it just sit there taking images for stacking.

Went out and setup both systems (tripods, heads and wired shutter releases)...

• K5IIs - Set this up using the Sigma 18-35, with the GPS unit. It calibrated right away (although I had test calibrated it back at the house prior to leaving). I shot at ISO 1600, at 15 seconds. I had found that 20 seconds had the stars trailing before, so I cut the time down. I also, took some just general landscape images of the mountain to use for layering. I focused on the top of the mountain, where it meets the sky for the greatest contrast, and the lens focused just fine. Then put both the lens and the camera into manual focusing and did not touch it for the rest of the night.
• K5 - Set this up using the A 50/f1.7. Put the body in burst mode, focused the lens by turning it to infinity. I used a number of ISO values 6400 to 8000 for 15 seconds each at f1.7. I see that at 15 seconds, the stars are beginning to trail. I guess I should have use 10 seconds.

What were the results. Well they were really pretty good in my estimation. I was sort of expecting a bit better however.

• GPS based images - I am really pleased with the capture here - with the exception of the star trailing at the edges. [image 1] I was shooting at 4 minutes and 3 minutes. I changed to 3 minutes, thinking that I saw some trailing. But, when I got home - I still had trailing on the 3 minute shots. The center of the images were pinpoints. So, I am thinking that 2 minutes should be good, and boost the ISO to 3200.
• Landscape base - I shot this early on, at 70 seconds, ISO 400 at f1.8. [image 2]
• Stacked Star-field - This is from the 50/1.7. I took a couple of series. One set at ISO 1600 and another at ISO 8000. I then use DeepSky Stacker (free download) to stack 50 images (TIFF input, and it took about 10 minutes) to come up with this result. [image 3]

The goal is to layer [Image 1] and [Image 2] together. I played around with Topaz (demo download) a lot late last year, in terms of their remask utility. I found that I could sort of put everything together, however the Topaz utility that they supply did not allow you to slide or reposition one image over the other image. Topaz suggested using Adobe Elements. I have since found that Elements only uses 8 bit results to layer - for better quality you need to use Photoshop. So, now I am thinking about using GIMP or I see that LightRoom uses some stacks (but I am guessing that it will not do what I want).

On the starfield, I am just learning. [image 3] There are probably at least a few mistakes. I did not take any dark images nor did I flatten anything. I just converted to TIFF and sucked the images in and let it go to town, so as to see just what the output may be.

On post processing, I am just using lightroom - the basic controls along with the curves.

I am finding that I really need to go farther out - to minimize the light dome from Phoenix. Also, with the Milky Way pivoting away from my current location (going vertical a bit farther south, I need to go to another vista elsewhere, where a southern shot is available and let the MW stand on top - in a much darker environment.

Attached Images

     

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Last edited by interested_observer; 07-12-2015 at 11:28 AM.

[Aaron28]

cool! love reading your adventures and learning experiences as they are quite helpful....I wanted to go out last night to find some new 'dark sky' with clear skies but my son is not interested in the least.....but my last venture for the milky was nice.....ran 14/.8 on my K-r and did some shots on my K-50 with o-gps with a few different lenses (28/2.8 & 135/2.8) with decent success.....although I wish I had better editing skills to merge a blurred foreground with a static foreground
https://www.flickr.com/photos/123743029@N04/shares/1Svd63
https://www.flickr.com/photos/123743029@N04/shares/0W4Cet

[sholtzma]

Much obliged for your ongoing, detailed, and helpful account. I am only just getting into astrophotography with just a camera. Tried to capture the galaxy the other month at the beach with some success, but I made my share of mistakes. Now have the O-GPS1 and will try it soon. Also learning about stacking....

[interested_observer]

Using GIMP, I glued the first two images together..... The base (mountain image) was taken at 8.43, while the sky was taken at 9.01 last night. Looking at the result masked together, the landscape is a bit too lit up. Oh well, I am learning the various aspects of post processing as I go.

What I wanted to do, but forgot - was to take a single image, without the GPS for essentially the same shot, but with out masking the landscape and sky together. Next time.

Attached Images

 

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Last edited by interested_observer; 07-12-2015 at 09:06 PM.

[Aaron28]

nice....wish I could that.....reckon it will come at some point!

[csa]

That last image is amazing! Absolutely beautiful, would make a great framed image!

Thanks for posting your information on taking this photo!

[interested_observer]

After thinking and looking at the image, I think I am going to send it over to Costco for a large poster size print (20"x30"), for a couple of reasons.

• I used GIMP to mask and layer the images together. It turns out that GIMP can only do 8 bit TIFF images. I have been very careful to keep everything at 16 bit with a much information as possible (RAW and TIFF). I want to see how it looks printed large.
• I also want to see how noticeable the star streaking on the edges are.
• The color to me on the monitor seems a tad off (between the sky and the mountain), but that was after being very careful to do as little as possible.
• For $10, its worth the exercise, since I have printed very few so far (3) - and I want to check out how the Sigma 18-35 images actually print.

________________

Now for the rest of the story...

I had decided to try GIMP to layer the images together - thinking that GIMP would process 16 bit TIFF files (it doesn't - found out the hard way). I had tried it years ago and did not really like it. So, I went out and downloaded it - really with my mind thinking about how to do it and while watching a YouTube video on layering in GIMP. I am usually very careful where I download items. This time, apparently not so much - since immediately after the install, the system went bananas.

I do Information Assurance/Security system architecture/design for a living (real time embedded to enterprise raised floor) and have a couple of IA/security certificates to boot - that shows I am suppose to be able to at least read. This &^%$*@ just infuriates me to no end. Right now, I don't remember exactly where I downloaded it from (I could check my logs, but it really does not matter), but the download sites have multiple download buttons just for the sake of confusion. PS SorceForge is no longer a safe place to download from - since they insert malware. I intended to download it directly from the GIMP home site. Apparently, I missed it and clicked on the wrong one.

So, installed several verified clean malware cleaners, and started the process (and I had a clean machine prior to this boondoggle). This was a new machine that I just built at the first of the year - relatively fast and with a lot of memory and storage. Well after everything ran, I extracted/eradicated 48 PoS, which took 17 hours of scanning across 700K files. Then I rebooted on to a safe CD and ran a check for rootkits - none found (that was the only thing that went right in this whole fiasco).

I only have myself to blame. But just a word to everyone - be careful in what you do, and from where you download items.

Just a side note here. Arizona has a CyberWarfare Range that is open to anyone who wishes to just log in. I am thinking about loading this download GIMP version there and letting it go, just to see what it actually does (the range is built just for this type of software sandbox testing).

[interested_observer]

I went out a month ago, in June. I wound up going to a couple of locations in and around Lost Dutchman State Park. The last one was a bit further away from the mountain, with a different perspective, at 10.30 pm. So here is a panorama, again using the Sigma 18-35 at f1.8 at 20 seconds with an ISO of 4000. It's 11 frames, stitched together with Microsoft ICE. No GPS was used.

With so many individual frames stitched together, and with stars beginning to trail at 15 to 20 seconds, the stitching actually masks the trailing on one frame with the center part of another frame where it is just a pin point.

Why I did not try this again on this last Saturday evening (within the park with the better view and perspective) - I just don't know - essentially forgot.

[panoguy]

You're definitely onto something here, i_o. Great stuff, and thanks for sharing your techniques!

[interested_observer]

Well a week ago today, I went out to try to shoot thinking that the clouds were not as bad as what they appeared. I wanted to fix the problems (a bit of star trailing with the GPS) with the shot that I had. It was a bust, with the clouds. But, since I was in the area, I tried another completely all together different location about 20 miles away. It was a bust too. So, there was some lightening around, so I drove out a bit farther where there was a better vantage point. It was ok, but nothing special. Since I was there, I decided to take some shots. I wound up standing on an ant mound (fire ants) and got about 40 bites on the back of both legs. So, that was the weekend. The swelling was down by Sunday. The trials and tribulations of landscape shooting at night - watch where you are stepping.

I went out again on Tuesday, good clear skies, with a bit of a moon (about 15%), but by 9pm (reasonably dark) the Milky Way was really higher 9 (and rising in elevation) than anticipated, while moving south in to the light pollution. I tired to grab some images, and actually out in the field it went really well (found some better vantage points), but fell apart when I loaded everything for processing. I do need to say that having a bit of moon light on the landscape, really blends out the blue and purple cast from having no moon. The Sigma 18-35 did not focus well (that's a known issue, that I should have remembered) - but that was my fault for using the viewfinder (CDAF) and not live view (PDAF). I was too slow in taking the shots, and the Milky Way was moving away from the landscape too quickly. I shot at 15 seconds and not 10 (that too I had figured out before - but didn't remember), so I was pulling slight star trails. The whole episode was a bust, mainly due to the idiot behind the camera. I did find some better locations for next year. I really think that the MW is too high and too far south for the Superstition Mountain location, now and for the rest of the year.

I have a number of other locations (with completely different landscape, that I have been researching) that appear to take advantage of a higher MW that is farther south, that are possibly even darker - but the drive is much longer. So, now waiting for a good moon and clearer skies.

So, the moral of the story from this last couple of outings is to write things down, make a list, and check it twice. Also, I think I was trying to do way too much. I read a post from MikeSF who wrote, that he only takes a single image an evening.

[jbinpg]

For the record, the latest GIMP beta does up to 32-bit depth images.

[interested_observer]

For the record, the latest GIMP beta does up to 32-bit depth images.

I was doing some reading last weekend and saw that v9.x did offer 32 bits, which is great (but it's been something like 3 years in the making). I'll give it try (downloading it from hopefully the correct site this time), probably this weekend. Thanks for the verification!! - Oh Yes, do you know if they have masking and layering working in the beta? That is what I was trying to figure out with my reading....

[jbinpg]

The objective toward GIMP v2.10 is to port as many functions as possible to GEGL, the newer underlying graphics engine. This is why it is taking so long to get v2.10 out the door since it is neither easy nor fast to do the porting. A table of progress to date is here:

Hacking:Porting filters to GEGL - GIMP Developer Wiki

Note the parallel effort to port the more compute-intensive functions to OpenCL which downloads the grunt work to the GPU. But as far as I can tell, the masking and layering functions work as always in the current v2.9 beta.

Jack

[interested_observer]

I had intended to reprocess the Superstition Mountain shot, but I have not gotten around to it yet. Also, want to download a updated version of GIMP. Our youngest son has been a chef at two 5 star resorts (same hotel chain) for 7 years now. He has just taken a position up in the Sedona area at another luxury resort & spa, so I have been helping him move. He likes the area - especially since he got his BS degree up in Flagstaff at NAU.

He has a house out in the boondocks - as in really really dark skies. Actually, he just called. He was sitting on the side of the road looking up at the Milky Way (he can't believe how dark it is up there), telling me to think about coming up and go MW shooting - perhaps this weekend. He will be working - but I can use his house as a base of operations and go shooting wherever. I need to check the moon phase and rise/set times. The Milky Way season is almost over - pretty much ends in September/October.

Over the last several weeks I have been compiling shooting locations up there with good south and southwest landscape views and open skies for the Milky Way. I would like to go up and just shoot, shoot and shoot, then have a backlog of images to process over the winter.

It's almost 11pm and just broke 100 - cooling down to 98 degrees. It's just too darn hot....

[gifthorse]

Great info! It is quite helpful and very much appreciated. A tip on Stellarium that might help some. (This is for the PC version. I don't have Stellarium on the cell yet but it shouldn't be hard to figure how to do the changes on a cell phone.) When you open the program, you can press the "M"button and a number and some script will appear on the lower left corner of the screen. (A number 1-8 and "Location", "Effects', "Color", etc. Arrow up to number 6 "Effects". Hit the right arrow and the script will change to "Milky Way intensity" followed by a number like >0<. Use the up or down arrows to change how bright the Milky Way is on the screen. You can then see when/where/direction the galactic center will rise/set and what planets, constellations, Moon, etc will be in the area of the galactic center. Again, thanks for posting this. I hope I can get out this weekend.