Processing Star Shots

Jobeleca

Tonight I will be trying to photograph the Milky Way. Do you have any advice on using Lightroom and Photoshop to process the photos once I get home?

Moose

Hey @Jobeleca - Sure thing! Start with Lightroom...

1. Using the graduated filter, drag it from the top of the image downward (stopping at the horizon).

2. With the graduated filter active, bump up the exposure, contrast, highlights, saturation and clarity. This should accentuate the stars.

3. Next, depending on your foreground, you may either want to darken it to put more of the focus on the sky (Milky Way) or brighten it if it adds to the overall image.

4. You can basically follow step two, but drag a new graduated filter from the bottom to the top of the image (stopping at the horizon).

5. Make some exposure adjustment (exposure, highlights and shadows) depending on if you want the foreground brighter or darker.

6. Next, you'll want to remove some of the noise so jump down to the 'Detail' tab and increase the luminance slider.

7. Finally, if there are any artifacts, dust spots or any distracting elements, you'll want to 'Edit In' Photoshop (right click the image and select edit in). Once in Photoshop, use the healing brush to get rid of those distracting elements.

8. Then save the image and close it inside Photoshop and the image will re-appear back in Lightroom.

That should get you started. Happy shooting!

- Moose

Jobeleca

Thank you, I hope it all turns out well.

Jobeleca

The photos are turning out great. One light dome in particular has been problematic and the graduated filter isn't doing a good job in reducing it, but otherwise I am pleased with the results.

Jobeleca

My favorite of the shoot (see here).

Moose

@Jobeleca - Great job! Especially for your first time out. Glad the settings helped you out. Happy shooting! :)

Jobeleca

Moose, I ran across a recommendation of doing these shots at ISO 3200 and using in camera exposure compensation of -2 to control noise. What are your thoughts on that?

abhi_t30

@jobeleca, wow! I saw that picture of yours and the first thing that came to mind was how did you do that? That's an amazing picture you clicked.

Jobeleca

@abhi_t30 - First and most important, I found a location with very dark skies. I used the 'Dark Sky Finder' to identify Pettigrew State Park in North Carolina as the nearest dark place to me, about a 3.5 hour drive.

I did another series of photos in my home town (Fayetteville NC), which is inside a red level light dome on the map, and I didn't get anything. There was 100% light pollution in the resulting photos.

In the dark sky finder, finding a place shaded blue or with no shading at all is very important. Also, because the Milky Way will be due south, make sure you don't have a large town in that direction otherwise light domes will wash out the horizon. I was seeing light domes from towns a hundred miles away when I was doing my photos.

You can see the other photos I took that night at in my Google photo albums.

The settings I used for this photo are as follows: ISO 800, 18mm, f/3.5, 20second (I chose 20 second to prevent star trails, though 30 seconds would have gathered more light).

I used the 18-55mm kit lens that comes with the Nikon D3200.

If you do the same, don't worry about the photo coming out black. The information is there.

In Adobe Lightoom 4 I performed the following adjustments to bring out the image I posted.

Lens Corrections: Enable Profile Corrections & Remove Chromatic Aberration

White Balance: Fluorescent

Exposure: 3.45
Contrast +50
Shadows +50
Whites +25
Blacks -20
Clarity +20
Saturation +5
Orange Saturation -40 (to control light dome)
Green Saturation -40 (to control airglow)

Sharpening
**Amount 100
**Radius 0.5
**Detail 30

Noise Reduction
**Luminance 50
**Detail 75
**Contrast 50
**Color 15
**Detail 50

abhi_t30

@jobeleca I have become a fan of yours. I am just speechless after seeing your pictures; those are masterpieces. Since I am just a beginner in the world of photography, it seems it.s not an easy job to become a pro as a hobbyist.

With the details you provided me, I am sure going to use that in the same manner but waiting for the right place and right time to have the perfect dark sky.

Apart from this, I always heard the kit lens is just ok and should be replaced by a better lens. I know there are many better lenses than this, but this 18-55mm can produce such beauty.

Thank you so much buddy for your detailed specifications. I have started liking this forum a lot. Damn good for a starter.

Jobeleca

@abhi_t30 - Here's a site (www.lonelyspeck.com) I ran across that is useful for astrophotography: .

Here is a site (www.davidkinghamphotography.com) that is useful for Lightroom processing with quick presets that you can use in a matter of seconds to get in the ballpark.

I prefer my own manual processing results, but I spent about an hour on each image. When I do this again I intend to use the presets first then tweak manually from there. Don't just blindly use all of the presets on each image, however, pay attention to the numbering and only use the presets that apply to the filming conditions and what you see on the photo itself.

I only have 2 lenses right now, both of which are considered kit (18-55mm and 55-200mm). I have been quite satisfied by what I can achieve with them. In Lightroom I always have to use "enable profile corrections" when there are straight lines in a photo, otherwise they appear slightly curved. This is a very easy and quick adjustment. I would really love to have a fast, super wide lens, but those suckers are expensive!

One additional tip, BUGSPRAY! DEET + plastic = finger etchings on camera body. A week after I did these night photos I looked at my camera again and found I had slightly dissolved the housing of my Nikon D3200 and when I researched this is a common problem when using DEET. The solution is to apply bugspray with a roll on stick so that the DEET never gets on your hands.

Moose

@Jobeleca - Thanks for sharing your process and insights. The beginners who visit this forum thank you! :)

Jobeleca

I've been trying to capture both the moon and the Milky Way in a single photo for a while now, and I finally succeeded (see the photo here).

I just had to wait for a quarter moon so that the moon didn't drown out everything else.

The settings I used for this are as follows: ISO 3200, 18mm, f/3.5, 30second (slight star trails).

Moose

@Jobeleca - Thanks for sharing! :)

Jobeleca

Just purchased a Tokina 11-16mm F2.8 lens and will be taking a 12 day tour through the American West, hopefully I'm not too tired to do night photography as light pollution in many of the places I'm going is nearly non-existent :)

San Francisco
Napa Valley
Redwood National Forest
Crater Lake
Klamath Falls
Mount Shasta
McArthur-Burney Falls
Grand Teton National Park
Yellowstone National Park
Bryce Canyon National Park
Zion National Park
Las Vegas
Grand Canyon - South Rim

Moose, do you have any astrophotography or landscape photography recommendations for this lens?

P.S. Have found your cheat sheet a wonderful tool over the past couple years!