The Milky Way with Pentax K-x Kit lens


Learnphotography

New Member
I had always wanted to do a milky way. I took this shot at P.Redang and was quite happy with the result. I thought that i wld only see a faint streak of stars. I am quite amazed that the kit lens can do this.

20shots and 10 dark frames of 15secs @1600 18mm f3.5

postje.jpg
 

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Wow, awesome! Just like a page from astronomy textbook!
 

Wow ! could you see the milky way when you were there or did it just "appear" in the photo ?

Great capture :thumbsup:
 

Wow ! could you see the milky way when you were there or did it just "appear" in the photo ?

Great capture :thumbsup:

hi, thanks for the kind comments from u all.

I could see the milky way with my naked eyes. It was VERY faint and looked like some thin layer of clouds in the night sky. The camera showed me so much more than meet e eye
 

hi, thanks for the kind comments from u all.

I could see the milky way with my naked eyes. It was VERY faint and looked like some thin layer of clouds in the night sky. The camera showed me so much more than meet e eye

Thats awsome !
Will try it soon !
 

You should organise an outing just for this....astro photography. something new to try.
 

Awesome! so u mean u take 20 shots and merge together?
 

:thumbsup::thumbsup:

i was oso at redang last wkend. didnt manage to see the milky way.
or mayb i didnt look hard enuff. LOl:sweat:
 

no offence bro but isn't this a tad overdone? not sure if you're trying to be true to what you actually saw that night. :)
 

Photos are like these are never meant to show what your eyes see, they are meant to capture what your eyes DON'T see. Unless of course you're telling me your eyes are sensitive enough to capture those details.
 

no offence bro but isn't this a tad overdone? not sure if you're trying to be true to what you actually saw that night. :)

You probably don't know that lots of NASA photos of star clusters and nebulas go through heavy processing and the colors simulated based on their understanding of the temperature of the stars and gases.
 

Photos are like these are never meant to show what your eyes see, they are meant to capture what your eyes DON'T see. Unless of course you're telling me your eyes are sensitive enough to capture those details.

You probably don't know that lots of NASA photos of star clusters and nebulas go through heavy processing and the colors simulated based on their understanding of the temperature of the stars and gases.

when i visited australia, the skies were super clear and what i saw was closer to this:

milkyway.jpg


the picture TS posted is entirely orange and red. so are you saying that all the visible (and non visible) stars are inherently red?

and let's not get ahead of ourselves by saying that the TS edited his pictures based on the exact colour temperature of each and every one of the stars. it is also an entirely different story comparing this with nebulas, as nebulas are all invisible to the naked eye (except for the orion nebula). it is thus necessary for astrophotographers to colour the photograph as they see fit based on their judgement and as you said, measurements and calculations of the temperature of the stars and gases.

however in this case, shouldn't we aim to colour this picture based on what we actually saw? especially since the milky way is visible to the naked eye. just for thought :)

keith
 

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however in this case, shouldn't we aim to colour this picture based on what we actually saw? especially since the milky way is visible to the naked eye. just for thought :)

keith

just as a thought,

no one will ever see this scene this way, unless they have a 486 computer processor as a brain, maybe.....

3648295603_0ff732f7f3.jpg


not to mention that this is a 10mm (before crop) perspective, how do you go through life with a 10mm perspective?

i think for night photography, ir photography, sunset photography, there is greater leeway for pushing colors, etc.

if the image is nice, i don't find myself too concerned with regards to reality. except in particular situations, such as photojournalism.

usually when post process is badly done, things like haloes, wild light, those are not tolerable to me. that said, everyone has their own tolerances.. right?

who sees life in bnw?

when you look at your girlfriend or wife, do you see her with 50mm f/1.4 bokeh? :bsmilie:

do you think dave hill's photos are what we see:
http://www.davehillphoto.com/gallery/page-1
 

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I had always wanted to do a milky way. I took this shot at P.Redang and was quite happy with the result. I thought that i wld only see a faint streak of stars. I am quite amazed that the kit lens can do this.

20shots and 10 dark frames of 15secs @1600 18mm f3.5

sorry, why do you have to do 20 shots + 10 dark frames? i have not really read up about astrophotography before. :)

to reduce the noise with black frame subtraction out of cam?

i thought the picture was well-taken, just that composition wise, i would prefer this to be less tight.
 

just as a thought,

no one will ever see this scene this way, unless they have a 486 computer processor as a brain, maybe.....

3648295603_0ff732f7f3.jpg


not to mention that this is a 10mm (before crop) perspective, how do you go through life with a 10mm perspective?

i think for night photography, ir photography, sunset photography, there is greater leeway for pushing colors, etc.

if the image is nice, i don't find myself too concerned with regards to reality. except in particular situations, such as photojournalism.

usually when post process is badly done, things like haloes, wild light, those are not tolerable to me. that said, everyone has their own tolerances.. right?

who sees life in bnw?

when you look at your girlfriend or wife, do you see her with 50mm f/1.4 bokeh? :bsmilie:

do you think dave hill's photos are what we see:
http://www.davehillphoto.com/gallery/page-1

haha true bro. anyway just to clarify, i was wondering why the TS decided to push all the colours to red/orange. just seems a little strange to me. ;p maybe TS can clarify? if it were for some purpose i think i'd happily accept. but if he just pushed the colours for the sake of it, i can't really agree with that. :) just for discussion sake guys.

keith
 

it really depends, either the TS intentionally boosted the colors or there was some celestial event going on which caused the colors

i am no astronomer but if i was to make a postcard, i would choose TS one..
 

Wow! Awesome shot! How did you take this? I have been dreaming of seeing Milky way like this. Very good!!!

Please share some more details...I quite don't understand the 20 shots + 10 dark frames... :(

Thanks!
 

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You probably don't know that lots of NASA photos of star clusters and nebulas go through heavy processing and the colors simulated based on their understanding of the temperature of the stars and gases.
You are absolutely right, I have created a new thread in Kopitiam with a link that documented the many processes involved so as not to go O.T in this thread. ;)
 

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