Astrophotography
Photography has long been something I’m interested in, and several years ago, after seeing some really stunning images of the night sky, I decided to attempt some astrophotography myself. I thought it would be interesting to chronicle my progress over time, so enjoy.
I started out with a Nikon D3100 borrowed from a family member, and my initial results weren’t exactly stunning.
However, I then discovered a piece of software called Deep Sky Stacker. This software allows one to stack and combine hundreds of individual frames, achieving much lower noise, and essentially a much longer exposure time. It automatically compensates for the rotation of the earth, and slightly rotates all frames so that they align with each other. This was awesome, and using this software I was able to improve on my previous photos.
Sometime later, I got a new camera, and this boosted the quality of my photography immensely. This camera is a Sony a6400, and it’s the same camera I use to this day. It’s got an APS-C sensor, which is not quite as big as a full frame sensor, but until I can upgrade, it does the job. When combined with the aforementioned stacking software, I’ve finally managed to produce some results that I’m proud of.
I’ve also been experimenting with creating composite images in Photoshop. This photo is the same stars that I captured earlier, overlaid with a shot of Delicate Arch in Utah that I took at dusk.
I’m looking forward to taking some more cool images to practice compositing with.