it is not a dream, we able to shoot the Milky way at not really too dark area … it was my dream to chase it 2010 but some how I failed to make it … but 2011 me and my few close friends (shunfa, Lio, Jason … SP …. Mingkai) have start our crazy chasing project where we travel ~400km (return) 3 times in a week …. even we try to make it coming weekend but due to the some security issue at the location so we decided to cancel our trip there ….
one of the failure Milky chase
My friend – Shunfa was so happy while he 1st got it with him 30mm F1.4 … and too bad what I have much obvious compare to what he has, not matter what setting I use (high ISO, long exposure, ISO NR, LE NR … ) but my F2.8 lenses still cannot get any clearer Milky as compare that 30mm F1.4 got … hmmmm so the conclusion is under not so dark place. it is always good to use bigger aperture lenses to have more stars, brighter stars (so thicker star trail) and more objects (Milky way) …
the Milky way
let’s me share my setting and some PP done on this
Canon 5dm2 + Canon 15mm F2.8 + tripod for sure
# Exposure Time (1 / Shutter Speed) = 43/1 second ===> 43 second
# Lens F-Number / F-Stop = 28/10 ===> ƒ/2.8
# ISO Speed Ratings = 500
– no Manipulation done ..
– crop both site to make square look (no crop on top and bottom)
– some dodge and burn on the sky
a surprise found while my last year trip to Terenggnu for Monsoon season shooting (a beautiful place for landscape)
Terengganu series
In the hotel room, we found some interesting Mayflies (very tiny ~2-4mm), beetle and soldierflies …but I was too tired to capture all but can’t stop to try my best to capture these Mayflies ….
and found nearby another good looking type … and not sure are both related
and also found the very interesting view in the Mayfly stomach ..
it is not easy to make this without the right tool but I think with handhold + some basic tripod we still able to shoot this … I am using Panaroma head , previously I was using Manfrotto 303SPH but very soon I make decision to change to Nodal Ninja due to the flexibility(dissemble to smaller part) & the weight (it is ~4 times lighter)
Compare the competition and avoid falling into the red.
Below are some full spherical panoramic tripod heads that achieve very similar functions. (below prices may not reflect current pricing)
Model
Approx.
Weight
Approx.
Size Closed
Approx.
Retail Price
Nodal Ninja 3 MKII
1lb 1oz.
7″x2″x2″
$209.95
Nodal Ninja 5Lx
1lb 14oz.
8″x3″x2″
$294.95
Manfrotto 303SPH
4lbs 4oz
11x7x6
$517.95
MK Panohead-II
2lbs 4oz
10″x4″
$780.00
Really Right Stuff (no click stops)
2lbs 9oz
12″x6″x4″
$800.00
Kaidan QuickPan Pro
(OUT OF BUSINESS)
4lbs 12oz
12″x5.5″x3″
$849.95
360Precision Adjuste
2lbs 4oz
8.2″x4″x2.2″
$1,175.00
source from http://www.nodalninja.com/
My original plan for this head is to shoot Panorama shot using UWA wide so I can get higher resolution and wider view of my Landscape shots e.g.
1. we need the tool , and for me Nodal Ninja, DSLR and lenses
2. then the only difficult part is to find the entrance pupil/nodal point, a point where it should maintain the center no matter how we rotate our camera
2iv. no matter how we rotate, the 2 stick should maintain at same position
at center
left from center
left from center
right from center
right from center
try to adjust as much as possible to get better result so we can can accurate entrance pupil so all the frame of the picture can stack without any distortion
3. with the correct reading and shoot the series (make sure every pictures have overlap area)
3i. with the software Photoshop or PTGui (pano software) all pictures can be stack together as below
with the reading above then we have the specify len Entrance Pupil which can use to create panorama or 360×180 pano with the setting just shoot with both A & B reading set on the pano head ….
I will keep this update, which mean I will do more pano using this head in near further .. so stay tune ………
and if you use Canon 5dm2
i. SIGMA24mmF1.8
ii. Canon 24105F4L
iii. Canon 1635L m2
iv. Canon 15mm F2.8
and need the entrance pupils … then drop me a message so I can share my reading to you
Me and my gang have a short discussion last week whether should we use the camera Long exposures noise reduction (NR) or not … as it normally produce hot pixel (red dots) after the long exposures shot especially involve a lot of dark area (black, dark grey ….). e.g. show below
Red dots appear … without the Long Exposure (LE) NR turn on camera body
But from my experience the noises and even the red dot can be reduce manually in Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) noise reduction function …
here are few pictures capture
1. with LE NR turn on
2. no LE NR turn and no PP
2. no LE NR turn and with ACR NR
simple ACR Noise Reduction
a 100% crop of 3 pictures above
*** all the setting are the same and it look slight different due to the sky turning dark …
Canon 5dm2 + Canon 1635L
# Exposure Time (1 / Shutter Speed) = 79/1 second ===> 79 second
# Lens F-Number / F-Stop = 11/1 ===> ƒ/11
# ISO Speed Ratings = 200
based on the 3 pictures compare
– picture with LE NR turn on body require double exposure time
– less noise especially the “red dot”/hot pixel
– the one without any NR with more details
– simple NR on non LE NR picture can reduce more noise and all red-dot (hot pixel) disappear. Even less details compare to the LE NR turn on picture. But this sure can be fine tune by some masking the foreground or main object
So if you ask me, is it worth to spend double the time while shooting ? my answer is no while I can reduce the noise in PP … so I will safe more time to shoot and remove the noise later …..
for the pass 2-3 months we had real bad weather where most of the time sky were full of cloud … and we had stop almost all sunrise & sunset activities except going for some long exposures and luck trying …
Last week, we went to an old spot – Pantai Pasir Panjang – Port Dickson which discuss previously… with not high hope but the light simple amazing with beautiful magic moment … (and why I say maagic moment as it just happen for 2-4 minutes)
Dec visit where we had no choice to make long exposure shot instead
and for last week …
and hope the light will be continue and I will be back in action !!!!
Not really a rare one but this was my 2nd time see it in my country …. and should consider a rare insect for myself ….
and this was under same order with my belove lacewing (Order Neuroptera) that’s why I saw some lacewing eggs around the area … but it belong to owl-fly instead …
this is a bug rest a lot .. but not easy to look for it as it can quietly fly near by you but as long as you found it , it allow you get close to it … even at night torch light can direct to it for minutes it will still stay still … a beautiful and good macro model
it is not difficult to shoot stars as long as we have the luck and right setting, and let me share some of my experience… but it is fun and tiring for sure ……
as Earth is rotating itself, so all the stars are moving (except for the Poles star, North star, or call Polaris)… so while we shoot the sky for more than certain time the stars will become either lines or circle (depend which direction, how long you shoot usually >30s small line will be appear). to avoid this, extra telescope equipment (e.g.Losmandy G11 with Celestron C8), we can either shoot a star trail or max ~30-50s else the star will be look like a small lines instead of blinking stars….
e.g. of 727s single exposure
and sample of 30s
– I do not own one those equipment so I do not know in depth .. but basic is those equipment will auto trace the stars so we can have longer exposure (which really need it while in real dark environment and do not want to shoot super high ISO
so … I shoot as below
1. star trail
a. in real dark environment, make a rough estimation of exposure with setting below
i. biggest aperture as possible
ii. infinity focus
iii. manual focus
iv. mirror lock up
v. high ISO normally I use ~400-1600 depend the environment
vi. for the exposure depend on the light pollution … may need few try to get right exposure
vii. shoot 2 picture .. the sky one could be very long and make the foreground over expose. so shoot another exposure for foreground
– refer picture above expose 700s in single shutter
b. not so dark environment
i. biggest aperture as possible
ii. infinity focus
iii. manual focus
iv. mirror lock up
v. high ISO normally I use ~400-1600 depend the environment
vi. shoot 10-30s depend how bad is the light pollution
vii. set shooting mode to continuous shooting, and use remote to continue shooting for >20mintues (you should see some line or curve depend which direction you face)
viii. shoot 2 picture .. the sky one could be very long and make the foreground over expose. so shoot another exposure for foreground
viiii. use a software call startrail.exe (google it) or StarStax (MAC) and it can auto stack the all shots into single frame which combine the star as line/curve
or check out here
x. shoot north and south 😀 , if possible… if you prefer circle/curve compare to lines
xi. I use a software load into my android call skymap .. real coold application, you should have it , if you love night photography
so here is few sample for option b
~40minutes exposure
exposure of ~30minutes of F2.8 @ISO800
to capture Milky Way, it is almost same like a star but it is more sensitive to light pollution and rotation.. (mean star trail , and we try to avoid that for Milky way as it crease blur cloud object instead the beautiful milky way)
we may need to take note of rule 600 where
600 rule simply basic rule to avoid “star trail” effect while we have too long exposure on our effective focal length.. e.g.
16mm on FULL frame, we should have max exposure of 600/16=37.5s
16mm on canon APS-c , we should have max exposure of 600/16*1.6=23.4
so if we have anything more than the exposure time the the rotation of earth will create “star trail” effect create blur effect on to our frame.
with minimum light pollution .. the color of the milky will look so beautiful
.. Milky from Bake’lalan …
from Bali …
… Milky way from Bali …
e.g. of light pollution
… city light pollution …
and Milky way near city (Kuala Lumpur) .. not viewable by nake eye .. but make use of big aperture len .. it can be capture
I found this place ~2 years ago while I look for macro spots but accidentally found this is a nice place for birding (birds seem not too worry/shy to human) ….
While I revisit this place last few weeks ago, found this is a good spot for nightscape, sunrise, and sunset too …. so decide to travel ~160km from KL toward north … while we reach we are shock with the stars and the stars reflection on the lakes ….
within 48 hours I make 2nd visit and continue to shoot the star trail .. which I stop sharing months back due to the bad schedule and weather ……….
45 pictures stack
each 40s , ISO800, F2.8 (Fisheye)
5dm2
I am sure this place going to be another famous spots for night scape, sunrise and sunset soon … but before I share out the location let’s me check is this private area or public 😀
