Astrophotography

[walterick]

I've had these sitting around since the summer and just now got them together and scanned to post. First was the Perseids meteor shower earlier in the summer:



Shot these with the Mamiya 645 on Kodak Portra VC400 and a 30mm fisheye (19mm equiv) In the one above, the film didn't actually record any meteors, though several flew through the frame. In the one below, you can actually see one meteor just above the arm of the cactus in the upper left Funny how those suckers just reciprocate themselves right out of existence.



And then, later on in the summer, a lunar eclipse. I shot it with 2 cameras, one recording the stages with multiple exposures, one shot taken every 5 minutes. Well, that was working great until I fell asleep. The other camera just ran with the lens down at 5.6 or so, for probably 45 minutes. This is also the Mamiya with a 55mm lens (35mm equiv) on Velvia 100.



Notice how the moon gets redder as it moves into eclipse. In this case, I misjudged the path of the moon and it ran behind my foreground element (up on Lake Powell, no cacti around!)

I've got some more on 35mm Velivia that I'll post when I get them scanned in. Hope you enjoy!

Rick

[mjs1973]

Nice shots Rick! I have a spot all picked out for doing some star trail shots, but I haven't made it happen yet. Hopefully this post will motivate me to get out there an play with the stars.

Do you use any filters to correct the color or do you do that in post? I have taken some longer night shots on slide film, and they tend to come out green.

[I_Fly]

I like that second shot Rick. The "well lit" cactus in the frame makes it work for me. I like the first one also, just not as much as the second.

[Old Timer]

Ah this is the Rick I first grew to love and respect as a photographer. Always a treat when you post your star trail shots. Beautiful work.

[OldSchool]

Oooooooooooooooo,

Clap, clap, clap.
Thanks,
Tim

[readingr]

Rick,

Nice shots - what is the yellow in the first pic? I really like the first with the pink hues and the cactus is excellent.

Roger

[Speed]

Car tail lights.

The white lines are from the headlights.

Apparently, Rick had a road within view of that fisheye lens.

[Speed]

Woohoo!

Great shots Rick!

I love them.

[Mule]

Great shots, love the second one. Light up that cactus!

[walterick]

Hey Mike,

No, I've never used a color filter with my night shots. I've used a star filter to make them look slightly larger with short exposures, but never a color one. Was the film you were using Velvia 50? I've gotten a lot of green results with that film. Everything else has worked out fine for me. If anything, I've only had to darken the shots sometimes in PS as I get a little overzealous sometimes and let the camera run too long burning out my foreground Looking forward to seeing what you get!

Thanks,
Rick

[walterick]

Thanks Troy! I toggle back and forth between the two myself. Thanks for your input!

Rick

[walterick]

Thanks Larry! I always appreciate your feedback on my night photography. It keeps me going

Rick

[walterick]

Haha thanks Tim

[walterick]

Thanks Roger. Yes, Speed has it right those are car lights from the I40. I didn't realize I had it in the bottom corner of my frame but once I did I left it there - I hoped it would lend an additional time effect to the shot which I think it did Thanks!

Rick

[walterick]

Thanks Speedo! That means a lot from a fellow Astrophotographer!

Rick

[walterick]

Thanks Mule! I appreciate the time to leave feedback!

Rick

[mjs1973]

Was the film you were using Velvia 50?

Yup, that's the one. I'm hoping to get out Saturday night for some star trails if the sky is clear. I better check my film stock to see what else I have besides the Velvia 50. I think I have so Kodak slide film, but I'm not sure what it's called. I have some Provia, and Sensia too, I think.

[walterick]

Provi and Sensi would probably work. I haven't had any "green" issues with anything but Velvia, so I hope they work for you.

My only advice about shooting this Saturday is that the almost-full moon will be up a couple hours after sunset, so you won't have dark skies for very long. The good news about that though is you can run your shutter under the full moon and expose your landscapes for moonlight I'm about to post some examples of that in this thread in a sec.

Rick

[Speed]

Yup, that's the one. I'm hoping to get out Saturday night for some star trails if the sky is clear. I better check my film stock to see what else I have besides the Velvia 50. I think I have so Kodak slide film, but I'm not sure what it's called. I have some Provia, and Sensia too, I think.

Provia is a long time standard astrophotography film. It doesn't do much in the way of color shifts, so astronomers really like it. Sensia is basically "consumer" grade Provia, and it has essentially the same properties as Provia. Either one will do great.

[walterick]

Well this batch of scans did not come out quite as well as the last one. But, you'll get the drift...

My capsite on the North Rim lit up by the full moon through the trees... my tent's in the bottom left with my lantern on inside to light it up.



Standard boring astrophotography shot Full moon lighting up the trees on the North Rim. I was just letting the camera do its things while I sat by the fire.



Lone Rock in the middle of Lake Powell. I like the softness of this one. Landscape lit by the full moon. I let it run a little long and it blew out (Mike lol) in fact this is the only one from that night that came out dark enough to even scan.



This is my first time trying something like this! I got in my own star trails pic lol. I had no idea how this would turn out. I set the shutter then went and laid down by the fire for 7 minutes I laid pretty still I think!



Thanks for looking again. That's all the astro pics for now.
Rick

[Speed]

Cool shots Rick! I like the North Circumpolar stars in the one shot, and having yourself in the last shot was great. You did lay pretty still buddy.