On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
My apologies to Jim Appleton for the delayed text formatting cleanup on his On the Road post on Tuesday morning. I fixed it mid-morning, so if you were interested but weren’t able to take the time to read everything in the early morning yesterday, I hope you will go back and read what he wrote, now that the formatting is more welcoming!
Bill’s photos this week are kind of spooky, but in the good way! Evocative is the best word I can come up with. ~WaterGirl
?BillinGlendaleCA
The past month has not been good for shooting the last of the Milky Way season here in California since the skies have be shrouded in smoke. I’d posted my photo of the galactic core over the Amboy Crater on the local photography group’s Facebook page and one of the commenters asked if I’d tried using “star minimization”. “Star minimization” removes the stars(and noise) from the photo and allows you to process the nebulosity separate from the stars. I’ve used it for deep space objects and it really does highlight the dimmer parts of the image without blowing out the stars and any noise in the image. I’d never tried this approach to landscape astrophotography and after I used it on the Amboy Crater image, I wondered why I’d not done it before.
The first shot in this series involved another technique that I’ve used to photograph deep space objects used brought to Milky Way photography. I took a series of 30 second exposures using my star tracker(I was using it for photos of NEOWISE earlier in the evening). One of the reasons I’ve not used the tracker more for landscape astrophotography is that a long tracked photo blurs the foreground since the tracker is following the movement of the stars. This can make it difficult to blend the foreground in with the sky. I was normally shooting 5-10 minute exposures when I used the star tracker, so I thought I’d try shooting multiple exposures with the tracker and then stacking. I light painted the foreground and blended them.
The Milky Way shines over a grove of pine trees in the southern Lockwood Valley. This was taken using a star tracker for 20 30 second exposures and then stacked. I’m really happy with the color in the nebula.
This shot was taken last year at Joshua Tree near Barker Dam; 40 8 second exposures and then stacked. I’ve separated the resultant image into a star/starless set to reduce the stars and noise and increase the brilliance of the galactic center.
Milky shot at Zzyzx; 40 8 second images stack and then separated into star/starless pairs for separate processing. The foreground was 20 images stacked with noise reduction applied.
A Joshua Tree along the Ryan Mountain Trail with the Milky Way in the background.
Milky Way along the Ryan Mountain Trail in Joshua Tree with star minimization.
The Milky Way with a pine tree along the Ryan Mountain trail in Joshua Tree, with star minimization. The light at the horizon is from Palm Springs.
The galactic core rises over Amboy Crater. Star minimization was used on this shot.
Baud
It’s like the Milky Way is everywhere.
I’ll never get tired of space photos.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud:
You’re soaking in it.
?BillinGlendaleCA
As I do each month, here’s a sample of what my patrons saw this past month.
If you enjoy my photos, become a patron so that I can keep shooting.
JPL
Bill, they photos are really beautiful. Share some the morning after Biden crushes trump.
waynel140
Heavenly fireworks!
Laura Too
Beautiful, thanks!
HinTN
You should be!
The Milky Way is a most excellent subject and you’ve done it proud
ETA: I have to admit that the teenage boy brain in this geezer body saw that shot from the Ryan Mountain Trail in Joshua Tree and thought, “What a fabulous fart.”
There go two miscreants
TIL that there is a place in California named Zzyzx!
Also, very nice pictures!
SkyBluePink
While all of the photos are awe inspiring, the first one really reaches out to me.
Thanks for sharing your talent.
BigJimSlade
@Baud: Funny thing though, if you go to Joshua Tree on Black Friday and try to take pictures of the Milky Way, you’ll learn that it’s really only visible in Summer and you’ll have frozen your ass off for nothing.
Well, not for nothing, it was still a nice little overnight trip. But it wasn’t a novel idea. Half of southern California had the same idea and you couldn’t find parking at the major sights.
BigJimSlade
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Great shots (I know I’ve said before that I, personally, don’t have the patience for all that stacking stuff)! And thanks for the faves on flickr! I’ve only got like a dozen of those, so each one is a ‘woo-hoo!’ lol.
J R in WV
Great work in the digital darkroom!! Nice pics to start with, also, too! Love this set.
Wag
Fantastic. As always.
have you ever given any thought to putting together an online course in Astro photography? I would sign up in a heartbeat.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@JPL: Thanks, we’ll see what happens.
@waynel140: I’ve moved from the high saturation to low and somewhat back again with star minimization. I like the way these turned out.
@Laura Too: Thanks.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@HinTN: I watch what other photographers do on YouTube(the ones that actually sell their stuff) and I’m sometimes surprised to see that some of the nebula are just white. I guess photographing nebula as well as this kind of landscape astrophotography makes me notice it more.
@There go two miscreants: Not only is there a place in CA named Zzyzx, there’s also a Balloon Juice commenter. I’ve seen the exit sign for years on the 15 heading to Vegas and thought it’d bee a good location for a shoot.
@SkyBluePink: I was really happy with the first one as well, it’s the only time I’ve used that technique, I’ll do it again next year if I’m still in the game.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@BigJimSlade: My first trip to shoot the Milky Way was in mid-September to Leo Carrilo. Now that’s a OK spot, especially for late season Milky Way shots, but for one problem. The moon was out and right next to the galactic core, yeah that didn’t work well.
@BigJimSlade: Stacking is really easy, especially compared to tracking. Just shoot 20-40 shots and the software(Sequator on Windoze, Starey Landscape Stacker on MacOS) takes care of the rest.
@J R in WV: Thanks, I was really pleased with the results, it really allows for darkening the areas where the noise stars to show up.
@Wag: I’ve thought about it, but I’ve not put one together. I’m not all that proficient with video and I’d want to do a good job at it.