Album Night Shots and Star Trails

After several months of clouds, I had two back to back clear nights. I wanted to try and shoot some of the nice winter nebula before they're gone in a couple more weeks.

IC 443 aka "The Jellyfish Nebula"

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NGC 2174 aka "The Monkeyhead Nebula"

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Miss Buffalo said:
I was back to the lava last weekend on an extensive photo quest.
Finally got a shot of the Southern Cross and the lava flow.
Hawai'i is the only place in the Northern Hemisphere where you can see the cross between December and February low on the horizon about 2 hours before sunrise.

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WOW, the glowing lava and the stars are awesome together. Great photo.
Is that the the Magellanic Clouds in the middle?
 
Moonrise, when I saw it on the computer, it sort of reminded me of the Ansel Adams "Moonrise over Hernandez" photo. Completely different, not to mention Adam's photo is way better, but... my photo gave me a much better understanding of what conditions he was working with to get his photo. I think I learned something :)

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This is my first attempt at a night shot. coyote gulch-11.jpg coyote gulch-11.jpg

This is my second attempt, taken from the same location just turned 180 degrees. I wish my cropped sensor did better with high ISO but I try to manage the noise as best as I know how.

Any tips are welcome, I like to get better in whatever way I can.coyote gulch-16.jpg
 
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Nick said:
Thunder Bowl at sunset, photographed from my driveway the other night. I've been looking at this scene for the last 8 years but haven't been able to capture it properly. I finally picked up a nice, long lens so that is no longer a concern.

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Nick, couple of questions from a noob lurker...
What lens(es) do you use?
I am buying a Nikon D5500 which has an internal interval timer, do I still need an intervalometer???


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KINGLONESTAR said:
Nick, couple of questions from a noob lurker...
What lens(es) do you use?
I am buying a Nikon D5500 which has an internal interval timer, do I still need an intervalometer???


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I shoot Canon so I can't really offer much lens advice for Nikon. Wide and fast is a good way to go though. An intervalometer should do the job and then some.
 
Thx! I'm going to give it a try with the 18-55 kit lens and see what I can come up with.


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KINGLONESTAR said:
Nick, couple of questions from a noob lurker...
What lens(es) do you use?
I am buying a Nikon D5500 which has an internal interval timer, do I still need an intervalometer???
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I have a D5100. You might think about just buying the D5500 body and then getting a lens separate. I did that and went with a 18-105 that I have been happy with. It is the only lens I have but I really like the telephoto part. I can't imagine being limited to 55mm and I am glad I don't have to switch lens.

I did not like the internal intervalometer on the D5100. It works, but using it destroys your night vision. I ended up getting a cheap one on Amazon. It also works as a remote trigger, so I use it for waterfalls (longer than 1/10 second) and things like that as well. This is not the one I got, but it looks exactly the same (probably same factory in china) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00QTEI9HC/?tag=backcountrypo-20
 
wsp_scott said:
I have a D5100. You might think about just buying the D5500 body and then getting a lens separate. I did that and went with a 18-105 that I have been happy with. It is the only lens I have but I really like the telephoto part. I can't imagine being limited to 55mm and I am glad I don't have to switch lens.

I did not like the internal intervalometer on the D5100. It works, but using it destroys your night vision. I ended up getting a cheap one on Amazon. It also works as a remote trigger, so I use it for waterfalls (longer than 1/10 second) and things like that as well. This is not the one I got, but it looks exactly the same (probably same factory in china) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00QTEI9HC/?tag=backcountrypo-20
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That's some sound advice there. Whether it's Nikon or Canon, it's safe to say most of the ~18-55 kit lenses really suck. One of the biggest struggles you'll have doing night shots with them is that they usually lack an infinity focus mark on the lens so it's a little trickier to dial that in in the dark.
 
Nick said:
That's some sound advice there. Whether it's Nikon or Canon, it's safe to say most of the ~18-55 kit lenses really suck. One of the biggest struggles you'll have doing night shots with them is that they usually lack an infinity focus mark on the lens so it's a little trickier to dial that in in the dark.
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The 18-105 doesn't have any focus marks which has led to some disappointments :) I've become better at using live view to focus on stars
 
I have my eye on the 18-140mm from a guy in my neighborhood. Just got the kit with the 18-55 and 80-300 because it was cheapest route.


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Nick said:
That's some sound advice there. Whether it's Nikon or Canon, it's safe to say most of the ~18-55 kit lenses really suck. One of the biggest struggles you'll have doing night shots with them is that they usually lack an infinity focus mark on the lens so it's a little trickier to dial that in in the dark.
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Agree with @wsp_scott and @Nick.

I also own the D5100. I have the Tokina 11-16 f2.8 lens. It's a fantastic lens for night shots. Tokina recently released a 11-20 f2.8 lens that I would most likely buy over the 11-16 as I always wished the 11-16 had a little more zoom. But I haven't research the 11-20 f2.8 all that much as I'm not looking to buy a wide angle lens.
 
I'm not sure if I should count this as a night shot or a sunset. The view toward Antelope Island from my deck on Saturday evening. I haven't gotten out the big camera at the new house much, but when I saw that little sliver of a moon on the horizon, I grabbed it and took a couple handheld shots. I'm surprised it came out so clean without grabbing a tripod.

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Nick said:
I'm not sure if I should count this as a night shot or a sunset. The view toward Antelope Island from my deck on Saturday evening. I haven't gotten out the big camera at the new house much, but when I saw that little sliver of a moon on the horizon, I grabbed it and took a couple handheld shots. I'm surprised it came out so clean without grabbing a tripod.

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That's quite a view man!

Handheld, so jealous of that low noise ISO. LR pano makes it too easy right?
 
Went out to Dead Horse Point after a night sky program this Memorial Day. Historically I've not been up late in summer months (wilderness rangering with USFS, Alaska not having much night) so it was great to spend some time looking at The Milky Way and tracing out Scorpio. Hoping to start figuring out how to take these pictures a bit better soon.

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