[Leica] Astronomical images from Australia

[Howard L Ritter Jr]

Thank you, Jay. You're so well traveled in India, you should think about trying the same next time you spend the night at a remote site in the Himalayas, where many excellent astroimages have been made. This is the intuitive workflow I developed with a little tinkering – primitive, but quick and easy, and results in an image that’s 90% of the way to the best that can be achieved with the most sophisticated techniques (an “Ansel Adams factor” of 0.9):

1. Use wide-angle lens wide open, ISO 3200, shutter 30 sec.
2. Put camera on tripod or firm surface.
3. Use magnified Live View and manual focus to get stars as pinpoints. If no LV, use infinity stop. If neither, start with estimate, then experiment.
4. Trip shutter gently.
5. Open image in Photoshop, apply appropriate lens correction, then in Image > Adjustments > Levels, move white-point slider to brighten stars and black-point slider to darken sky. Experiment.
6. Enjoy result!


—howard


> On May 11, 2017, at 5:59 AM, Jayanand Govindaraj <jayanand at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Just superb!
> Cheers
> Jayanand