Milky way!

Brian's right - it's lovely. Funnily enough, while photography is my favourite art form, my favourite painters are the Impressionists, especially Monet. This is a gorgeous photograph!!

Thank you very much both! I am glad you like it!
But can I ask which you prefer? Stacked or not Stacked? Cleaner sky in the Stacked, but fuzzy windmill. Sharp windmill and noisy sky in the not stacked... Tricky!

🙂

PS. I did execute the 4am plan, was clear about my house, went to the windmill to find clouds from it eastward, but clear everywhere else! If I'd stayed closer to home, I'd have caught the trio (Luna, Venus, Jupiter), and some more sleep :''''(

Sumitra I like the fuzzy windmill as it draws your eye into the picture then onto the milky way where as the other photo where the windmill is sharp, to my mind, makes it to much of a focal point detracting from the milky way.  They are both great photos but I prefer the stacked one. Just my personal opinion.

Thanks for the feedback Brian - I see your point. While I practice, I'll keep taking photos in both ways to see. I wonder what a stacked ETTR might look like!

Just to let you know that I've got more milky way shots coming! Whoohoo! Feedback will be most welcome!

I am looking forward to them, you do take such wonderful photos.   We all need to learn new techniques. I look forward to learning  from you.

Just to let you know that I’ve got more milky way shots coming! Whoohoo! Feedback will be most welcome!

Tej and Andy we need to learn from and enjoy these photos.

Aww thanks Brian! So kind! I'm just learning as I go, trying new things!
I am processing the photos now, I will put them on soon. Just trying new things to bring out the milky way.

I've some to stack and some that will not be stacked. I do need to buy a desktop for this kind of things as it takes a while!

I have tried new ways to frame yesterday night, I hope you will like!

I saw someone took a milky way photo from London - perhaps you are able to as well?

Okkkkkkk! So long weekend and all that, I've been doing some gardening, of the cosmic kind.

So here is my harvest. It took so long to process and so I haven't yet done the stacking (perhaps tomorrow but we'll see)...

The last photo doesn't seem to be one of my followers' cup of tea, but ah well.

IMG_7711.jpg by Sumitra_S, on Flickr

IMG_7717.jpg by Sumitra_S, on Flickr

IMG_7677.jpg by Sumitra_S, on Flickr

I love these photos. Especially the way the foreground leads your eye towards the milky way.   Sumitra you are an artist.  The foreground looks painted and the sky is great.

I love these photos. Especially the way the foreground leads your eye towards the milky way.   Sumitra you are an artist.  The foreground looks painted and the sky is great.

Very many thanks, Brian! *blush* I did want to try to do that with the plants and the windmill, a sort of sign posting 🙂 Glad you saw it like I wanted it to be seen!

I will try to stack the shots and post them later.

Just catching up with this thread after being away on holiday. Some stunning images here... well done Sumitra!

Just catching up with this thread after being away on holiday. Some stunning images here… well done Sumitra!

Very many thanks, Mike!
Glad you like them! Did you catch the Milky Way in the IoW?

I'm just catching up too, after being uh...working intensely, wish I had the same reason as Mike!

Interesting to compare the one long exposure method to the stacking method, Sumitra. I'm  liking the pin sharp night sky background more but its just a different visual experience to the the ones with the sharper windmill foreground which are equally good but offering a different experience in appreciation.  Can one strive to have both foreground and background in reasonably sharp focus?  If you could cut the exposure time to say 20-25secs, can you get enough of the milky way at high iso and achieve a sharp focus in both the milky way and windmill with perhaps just a tiny compromise on lesser stars?

I'll be going to Brecon Beacons next month so will attempt to try what you've done.  I'll also have a go at your high ISO ettr method of a london Miky Way when I get a chance to hijack my Dulwich Sports ground in the dark hours before it shuts before 10pm at the next clear sky opportunity 🙂

Hi Tej, Thanks for your comments

Can one strive to have both foreground and background in reasonably sharp focus?  If you could cut the exposure time to say 20-25secs, can you get enough of the milky way at high iso and achieve a sharp focus in both the milky way and windmill with perhaps just a tiny compromise on lesser stars?

Well the problem with cutting the exp time when you have such a high ISO is that you get too much noise compared to the signal. Therefore, I'd get a very noisy photo. Hence the point of the ETTR method is to achieve a higher signal to noise ratio (more signal than noise). So with that exp time, then you'd need a lower ISO (otherwise you'd have too much noise compared to signal), thus requiring stacking to get a nice Milky Way.

Could get a sharp everything with doing a composite photo, but some would say it's cheating. Then again, stacking is also a bit of cheating 🙂

I’ll be going to Brecon Beacons next month so will attempt to try what you’ve done.  I’ll also have a go at your high ISO ettr method of a london Miky Way when I get a chance to hijack my Dulwich Sports ground in the dark hours before it shuts before 10pm at the next clear sky opportunity

I look forward to seeing your attempt. I did see some London Milky Way.
If you want to try different exposure times, I'd say make the most of you time there and try several combination (not just the one).
For stacking I use 15 sec ISO 1600 (but that's very noisy, which goes away when stacking).
ETTR What's the highest ISO you have on your camera?
This article provides you with some guidance on the exposure time depending on your max ISO, and how fast your lens is etc. I need to invest in a much faster one so I can reduce the exposure time!!