Meteor Shower through the Milky Way Galaxy
Meteor-shooting star during a meteor shower caught streaking through the Milky Way Galaxy with a full moon photo that I took also added in the background, that,...
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Meteor-shooting star during a meteor shower caught streaking through the Milky Way Galaxy with a full moon photo that I took also added in the background, that, if you look closely at it, in the middle of the moon & to the right of the centre has something itself flying by it (Meteor, satellite, or something else unidentified).
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Dec, 2014Views
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robertneiszer
December 15, 2014
As the details say only the Canon sx50 was used, that was for the full moon, I may add, the astrophotography image was taken with the Sony a57 if you're wondering. :)
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SnowbunnyPhotography
September 04, 2015
Love, love, love the moon & stars in this shot. Awesome! :-)
robertneiszer
October 27, 2018
The reply button is hidden on this site, didn't know it was there, thanks Snowbunny for the comment, :) .
Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
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Behind The Lens
Location
I took these photos (the milky way & the moon) just outside at the front my house in the country. I live in the southwestern part of Ontario, 20/30 minutes outside of Simcoe, Ontario, Canada.Time
For the milky way shot I shot it at 2:17am in the morning on May 23, 2014 during the start of the Camelopardalids meteor shower (a cold night). It was advertised a lot that night on the TV news & I thought maybe I could catch something, & for once the weatherman was right & I did. Luckily the coyotes heard in the background during the night did not hunt me down while I did this :) (just a joke- I was protected by a good fence :) . ) . For the moon shot I shot it on September 17, 2013 at 8:33pm, it was cold & brisk & the moon was overhead of me at 12 o'clock high & extremely small, small enough to pinch it with your finger & thumb. I zoomed in on it with the capabilities of the super zoom & shot it. It wasn't until later when I loaded it up on the big screen that I noticed I also caught something flying by it, in orbit of the moon (look to the center of the moon & pan right to see it). Of note the next day NASA said a meteor was going to pass between the earth & the moon on the news, but this shot happened a day before that event, & a year later on the TV news, they showed someone that posted something on youtube striking the moon, which occurred apparently a day before this shot was taken, so something was happening up there, & now there's a timeline to that, go figure.Lighting
Nothing much except the stats of what I used for each of the cameras, for the moon shot using the canon sx50, the iso was at 125 at 215mm (but it also digitally zooms past that focal point that with the tech in it, it has the ability to see 8 miles out as to one review I read about the camera, & seeing the moon really good was one of it's advertised abilities in canon's web adverts), the f-stop was at 6.5 at 1/160 a second. I used the intensify program/app (for apple computers) to bring out more of the detail. For the milky way shot, I shot it at iso 3200, at 12mm, at f4.5, for a 30 second exposure in RAW, I then processed it in photoshop & then through intensify again to get the picture you see.Equipment
I used a sony alpha a57 with a super wide angle lens, shot at 12mm, attached to a tripod. For the moon shot I used a canon sx50 superzoom camera, handheld.Inspiration
What inspired me? For the milky way shot news of the meteor shower was what prompted me to go out to see what I could photograph, the milky way being there where it was, was by luck as I didn't know where & when the milky way was going to be exactly. For the moon shot, I just knew the moon was out that night, & I was curious to see what I could catch with the camera that night as you see more with it than a normal person would with the naked eye or binoculars when it comes to the moon. A lens that's on the sx50 for a dslr would cost in the thousands, so to be able to see & share what the moon looks like with this at more then half the cost of those other lenses that most people cannot afford to buy & use to see it, is really good.Editing
I used the intensify program/app (for apple computers) to bring out more of the detail of the moon. For the milky way shot, I shot it at iso 3200, at 12mm, at f4.5, for a 30 second exposure in RAW, I then processed it in photoshop to jpg & then through intensify again to get the picture you see. I then blended the two images together using photoshop as together they just work, you just don't see something like this in these two photos everyday.In my camera bag
It depends on the situation. Everything that I can carry I guess for the situation, I have a few different bags for each situation, so for traveling away a small napsack like bag, a single camera bag carry-on for extreme traveling, & a huge napsack type bag that has every type equipment I've bought up till now as I wanted to be prepared for anything from weddings to just a portrait shoot to nature type shooting. I still look at stuff, it's like when you're young & start collecting comic books, or whatever your hobby was back then, you never stop as it's interesting to you. Right now I have 3 prime lenses (35mm f1.8, 50mm f1.8, & a 85mm f2.8) for lowlight shooting, 2 a57's as you need a backup camera (comes in handy also when you don't want to change a lens or can't.) a 18mm-55mm kit lens, a 55-200mm telephoto lens & a 75-300mm telephoto lens, & a super wide angle lens 11mm-18mm . A canon sx50 super zoom, an external flash for the a57 & a video light, I also have a reflector, & don't forget the tripod & batteries. Accumulated over time though, like everyone else out there (unless I've won the lottery) I'm not rich.Feedback
Read reviews & see video reviews on you tube of all the types of cameras & brands out there & get a good camera to what you want to shoot, there are crop sized sensor ones & full frame type ones. The picture I have here I shot with a crop sensor with the sony a57 which is a good camera (although discontinued now you can probably find one on amazon or e-bay I guess), the canon I have I believe is one sensor size smaller than a crop sensor but it's the lens feature that shines with that camera to get that moon image, funny enough, it can shoot the moon like crazy, but it's not great at all for astrophotography, more of a daytime camera I think, but it does have HDR in it as well as RAW. I'm on a budget so I went with the a57, but if you can & have the moola for a full frame & the expensive lenses that go with full frame I'd look into that as you don't have to fight low light noise (if any) so much in post processing as you do with a crop sensor. The sony a77 mark 2 though for a crop sensor is supposed to be really good though from what I read & hear. Also the new fujifilm xt1, I'd look into researching that if you want to go for a crop sensor. Get a good photo processing program(s), I have the photoshop cs6, but these days now you need a yearly membership from adobe for it to work, when I bought mine, none were required so it works fine & I don't have to continually pay a yearly membership, it works, I own it, period. There are others out there for windows & macintosh, look through the internet or your local electronic/software store to find them, read the reviews if you can find them & buy one, learn how to use it & it'll work wonders for your images, if you have the time to do it that is. I have two programs that I usually use together, photoshop cs6 & intensify (which I used for the milky way shot) to get rid of noise & bring out the stars more. There's a new noise reducing program from the programers that brought intensify into the public realm, but I haven't used or tried it yet, but I hear it's also good, that's all from "macphun" software company (but it's exclusive for macs only last I heard). Late at night on a clear cold night away from the city/town lights is your best bet for astrophotography, with a tripod. For a crop sensor type camera, umm, every type of brand & camera is different, & with what type of lens you use & aperture opening that's allowed on your lens too; you have to experiment with the iso, speed & aperture, that's your working triangle, as one will always effect the other two. There are instructional videos on you tube for free to view, I'd go there to get pointers on that, but usually I think iso 1600-3200 at 20-30 seconds if you have a super wide angle lens at the minimum f4.5 will work I think, it did for me as you can see by my image (which is for sale at my website, www.robsphotosweddingsandslideshows.zenfolio.com) :). Shoot in RAW, you'll have more data to work with to get the image right in post processing. I had the camera on a tripod, as low as you can get it to capture more of the sky as you can, if you can get a camera with a movable LCD screen to adjust, the better because instead of bending down to view, you'll be laying on the ground instead & looking up (not good). Sony makes image stabilization within their camera bodies, not their lenses, I didn't have an automatic release, so I just lightly held the shutter button down manually myself & counted using a stop watch feature on my cell phone. You can use the automatic timer that's in the camera, but I find I have star trails come out instead of still shots of stars, movement from the timer or something causing that I think. Last I would say if you're trying to catch something like this is to pay attention to the news-tv, internet, etc. when meteor showers are going to appear as well as where/when the milky way is going to be . Also I'd use a wide or super wide angle lens or fisheye lens that will capture the whole sky & everything that's happening in it. Good luck :)
