Orion Nebula (need alot of practice)

[Graeme F]

Well not the finest image i've ever taken but i'm still new to this astro-malarky.

The moon was up and really bright so hard to focus. Thats my excuse anyway. Sadly Ireland is not short of clouds so have to grab chances for clearish nights even when moon is up. Light pollution also an issue.

Taken on a wonky star adventurer, Canon 70-200mm lens, really cropped in to see anything at all.

 

[Yervant]

Well done with what you have. Very good PP on this. If the image was a tad sharper and the highlights brought down a bit, it would be pretty much spot on. I've been in the same weather pattern as you this whole Winter. If its not cloudy, we have 20mph winds and big gusts like we have today. Tired of the weather here in the Northeast which is why it's out West I want to move to.

 

[Ben Egbert]

Surprising that you can get this with a 70-200.

 

[AlanLichty]

Are you using a tracker for shots like this or just shooting with a 70-200mm lens? In either case I am surprised you can see something like this at all at 200mm.

 

[chuckp]

I think you did a good job for being new to this, you didn't blow out the core.

 

[JimFox]

Hey Graeme, this is really good. Orion is an awesome starting point, it is pretty bright and easy to find. The difficulty with Orion is the core is so much brighter then the rest of it that it blows out so easily. While your core has lost some detail, it isn’t obvious. You did a really great job with the processing, really good!

Since you are using a 70-200mm, if you haven’t captured it already, maybe try for Andromeda Galaxy. It will come closer to filling the frame at 200mm, so you won’t have to crop too much. But Andromeda also has a really bright core, so you have to expose for the center and then protect that bright core from blowing out while stretching the rest of it.

 

[Graeme F]

Thanks all. Yep I have inherited a star adventurer that's seen better days. It has a nasty habit of gears slipping or something so the whole device judders which means shots have to be binned quite often

 

[Graeme F]

I am in the market for either a new star adventurer or similar. The longest reach I have is 200mm with the 70-200mm hence why this image was so severely cropped

 

[Jameel Hyder]

That is a very good image of the Orion, cropped and all. You are well on the way to better and beyond of astro photography. Watch you wallet.

 

[Graeme F]

haha thanks Jameel! I'm tempting by that Benro Polaris alright currently on kickstarter. idea of having a goto tripod mount sounds great!

 

[JimFox]

haha thanks Jameel! I'm tempting by that Benro Polaris alright currently on kickstarter. idea of having a goto tripod mount sounds great!

For the discount, I think we have until March 15th to buy it from Kick Starter with the Benro Polaris?

I am still considering it. I just want to see even just 1 Deep Space capture done with it first.... so hopefully in their demo they can post capturing Orion or the Rosette.

 

[Graeme F]

a big consideration for me in ireland is that its rare to get totally clear skies; theres always some clouds about and invariably some are either hiding polaris or the object like orion I want to capture. Having a goto mount that can polar align using gps, compass and internal star maps and controlled by an app that I can direct to the clear patch of sky and object sounds great.

 

[Mike Lewis]

Graeme,

Lots to like about this. I think your colors are very good - that is usually an area that trips up many starting out. You have also managed the very high dynamic range of this object in a natural looking way. The focusing can be tricky. My advice would be to find a Bahtinov insert that you can use on the 70-200 for focusing. That way, you can line up on a star and shoot a few test images and check on the back and get your focus dialed in very accurately. Something along the lines of this, sized for whatever filter size that 70-200 is:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod...Tt8O3j33aHQL11zXY4K7RxUvb3Q6AgdwaArt7EALw_wcB

You would be amazed at how accurately this allows you to focus. If you google Bahtinov mask, you will find lots of info about what they are and how to use them. If you still have questions or issues, drop me a PM and I'll try to get it sorted for you. Other than the focus this is a great start. I am sure you will be on your way once that is resolved.

ML

 

[Graeme F]

Thanks Mike for the encouragement I'll check that out.

 

[Alisa]

Very cool!