Welcome to !astrophotography!
We are Lemmy's dedicated astrophotography community!
If you want to see or post pictures of space taken by amateurs using amateur level equipment, this is the place for you!
Please read the rules before you post! It is your responsibility to be aware of current rules. Failure to be aware of current rules may result in your post being removed without warning at moderator discretion.
Astrophotography refers to images of astronomical objects or phenomena exclusively.
~~Images that show objects or people below the Kármán Line (100km) will be removed.~~ We won't be enforcing this rule for now, but as the community grows eventually we will split and have a separate space for just landscape astro.
Images must be an accurate representation of a real astronomical object.
Image posts can only be images that you have captured and processed yourself, or discussion about capturing and/or processing your own images.
Images acquired from public sources, professional observatories, or other professional services are not allowed.
If you have done a drastic alteration or reprocessing of a prior submission, you may repost your edit - but only after a minimum of one week has passed.
Image posts are to link directly to the image, not to landing pages, personal galleries, blogs, or professional sites. Link to these in the comments. (AstroBin and Imgur, are allowed)
Questions are welcome here for the time being.
Links to blogs, articles or external websites should be interesting and promote discussion about amateur astrophotography.
If your post is removed, try reposting with a different title. Don't hesitate to message the mods if you still have questions!
All submitted images must include acquisition and processing details as a top-level comment. All posts without this information may be given a warning, and if not updated will be removed.
This includes the telescope, mount, camera, accessories, and any other pieces of equipment you used to capture the image.
You must also include processing details, i.e. the programs you used and a general rundown of the workflow/processes you used within those programs. “Processed in Photoshop” is not enough.
I took 230 11s ISO1600 f/1.8 esposures and one 2min ISO600 f/1.8 for the foreground.
Both with my Nikon Z5 and Nikkor Z 24mm f/1.8 S
For post processing I used sequator and affinity photo 2
I did not know that there was a German Stonehenge... beautiful photo
Me neither, saw that by coincidence and had to take some pictures there
Cool. Where is it?
I searched 'German Stonehenge' but could only find this, which doesn't look like the same place?
Cool! Looks like it is called Franken Stonehenge (in English) which is why I had trouble finding it. Thanks for the link.
Yea sorry I thought it would be easier to say German because not everyone knows where Franken is.
Should have put it in the description
Great foto!
Why did you go with ISO1600, instead of your native ISO (e.g. for my Sony A7CM2 it would be ISO100 oder ISO400)? Shouldn't there be less noise with lower ISO? I still try to understand the pros and cons of chosing the right ISO. It feels like it barely matters when shooting RAW.
It varies a LOT from camera to camera, but a lot of them have a sweet spot around 800-1600 for astro. For astro/low light photography, a higher ISO actually decreases the noise in the image, as the signal gets amplified before it's read. You can test it for yourself by taking several pics of something dark, and changing only the ISO between shots. Matching the brightness in post-processing helps show the noise in low ISO images.
Also IIRC a lot of Sony cameras are noise-invariant when changing ISO
On this page someone has mapped the dynamic range vs. ISO.
If I look at my camera, I see two spikes at 100 and 400, which I would interpret as 100 as my native ISO and 400 as an electric amplified second native ISO - but still not as good as ISO 100, regarding dynamic range.
And I looked up the camera of OP, the Nikon Z5:
I can't see a better dynamic range at 800/1600, you get the best dynamic range at ISO 100 and it goes down linear from there. There shouldn't be a benefit between choosing ISO1600 when taking the photo or brightening the RAW in post. Or am I missing something?
If you're only taking a single exposure then yes lower is better (when shooting a static scene from a tripod)
But I have taken multiple exposures and combined them in post so the noise averages out.
Also the stars move so there's only so much light I can capture and I would need to boost the exposure in post that would also then increase the noise.
As for the foreground, I was cold and didn't want to wait 8min extra so I used a bit more ISO.
The real world difference between low and higher ISO isn't as bad as it seems in the datasheet, especially when you throw postprocessing in the mix
I gave a bit longer answer here: https://lemmy.world/comment/17856195
But basically postprocessing and image staking allows you to use high iso with minimal quality loss
