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| Aurora PhotographyNorth West England, at the limits? | Rate Topic |
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| Posted by Robert: Wed Oct 14th, 2015 16:18 | 1st Post |
| While checking out the panorama website suggested by Eric in another thread, I spotted a link to Time Lapse and Aurora Photography. Then a friend of mine drew my attention to a local photographer who has taken quite a few photographs of the Aurora, nearby, last week. I have had the computer on Aurora Watch UK regularly since. The forecast is a possibility for about 20 past midnight tonight, I will be out there with the D200, straining my eyes. I am also planning to take some images with the D200 UV camera, which may produce some interesting images... May be nothing of course but it's worth a shot.
____________________ Robert. |
| Posted by jk: Thu Oct 15th, 2015 03:11 | 2nd Post |
| Good luck and be sure to share your results especially the UV stuff. Have you checked on Bjorn Rorslett's site as I am sure he will have done this.
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| Posted by Robert: Thu Oct 15th, 2015 06:08 | 3rd Post |
| Thanks JK, Came to naught last night. The activity subsided at about 9pm. I will take a look at Bj¸rns site with that in mind, I don't know how the Aurora season is progressing, whether it's subsiding or rising in activity, I need to do some research. The images I saw taken by the chap at Millom weren't technical, just snaps really, but they showed quite intense activity just last week, right here. https://www.facebook.com/search/str/millom%2baurora/keywords_top OK, I don't normally touch Facebook with a bargepole, I will disinfect the computer immediately!!!  These images were mainly taken in an Easterly direction, whereas the normal advice is to look Northwards? 
____________________ Robert. |
| Posted by Judith: Sun Nov 1st, 2015 11:46 | 4th Post |
| Hi Robert Just to make you mega jealous (or even green with envy - sorry!) - this is the view from the living room of my new house! We're doing a massive renovation so not had time to take or process many pics but here are a couple from August. Apparently, the next few nights around 2nd November are going to be good for a CME (coronal mass ejection) so keep your eyes peeled and camera ready. I´m pretty far north but quite often, down your way, if there is an alert on it's worth taking some photos anyway if the sky is clear as the camera can pick up the aurora when you can´t actually see it with your eyes. I´ve found the best settings for me on the d810 have been iso1250, f8, 1/15 to 1/25s depending on the light. However, I´ve only shot looking out of the window so far and there is light pollution from the harbour to factor in. I´ll probably have to readjust everything when I finally get a chance to venture out somewhere darker. There doesn´t seem to be a season as such. The sun spits out CMEs when it feels like it. I thought you could only really see aurora in the winter but when I moved to the new house, I was pleasantly surprised as it has been glowing throughout the summer as well. The advantage of aurora hunting in winter though is that it´s darker much earlier. The best pics I got in the summer were taken really late, some at 3am just before sunrise (I was keen and not knackered from renovating back then lol). Attachment: _JWP3879a.jpg (Downloaded 52 times)
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| Posted by Judith: Sun Nov 1st, 2015 11:51 | 5th Post |
| And another one... Attachment: _JWP3973web.jpg (Downloaded 52 times)
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| Posted by Robert: Sun Nov 1st, 2015 12:09 | 6th Post |
Hi Judith, nice pix, spectacular with the harbour in the foreground. I will check out my CME monitor over the next few days.  You renovating too? I set out to install an en-suit, then realised the chimney was falling over, having got rid of that I decided to remove the chimney breast from my bedroom, while carrying the rubble downstairs my son Michael went through the bottom three steps, so I had to replace them, while I was at it I moved the bottom doorway to the stairs, then I thought, there will be no better time to replace the kitchen ceiling and lights. I am currently re-working the sink unit and worktops, ready to relocate the wall cupboards. Oh, and btw, I replaced the drains and the old manhole... The en-suit still is only half complete and my bedroom needs plastering, oh, and the rest of the stairs are worm eaten and riddled with dry rot, so that's on the list too. Apart from that it's pretty quiet here.
____________________ Robert. |
| Posted by jk: Sun Nov 1st, 2015 12:16 | 7th Post |
| Nice pictures, Judith. The second is my favourite.
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| Posted by Judith: Sun Nov 1st, 2015 14:22 | 8th Post |
| Oops those exposure settings should be 15 to 25 secs not 1/15 to 1/25 lol. I am hopeless with numbers! There are a couple of good aurora watching groups on the dreaded facebook, Robert hehe. We didnt think we´d have so much work to do on our house but we discovered all the internal walls were made of old fibre board so every wall is having to be ripped out and replaced on top of all the other work that needed done. Nightmare. Have been at it 7 days a week since August and are now running out of steam rapidly. Fed up living in a building site!!! So, looking forward to getting it finished this month and having time to think about photography again, especially since I officially set up a business just before I moved and had to put it on ice. Will have a nice studio, hopefully by the end of the month, and a separate office (big property - yayy).
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| Posted by Judith: Mon Nov 2nd, 2015 12:19 | 9th Post |
Tonight's the night! Here is the Kepler forecast for the next few days. Between 6and 9 tonight is the strongest. I'm about to head off to the beach with my camera.  Attachment: image.jpg (Downloaded 43 times)
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| Posted by Eric: Mon Nov 2nd, 2015 17:29 | 10th Post |
| Like the view from you house...even without the aurora!
____________________ Eric |
| Posted by Judith: Mon Nov 2nd, 2015 20:06 | 11th Post |
| Hehe yes, the view is fab. The house was a total renovation job, unfortunately, and were only halfway through it. Well, despite the internet being ablaze with aurora predictions tonight, there is not even a vague glimmer of green in the sky. Maybe tomorrow...
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| Posted by Robert: Mon Nov 2nd, 2015 20:18 | 12th Post |
| My thoughts exactly Eric. Well I went out but not until about 10pm, I just got in a few minutes ago, haven't looked at the images but I did crank the ISO up to 1600 just for you Eric! It was a pretty cool evening so I didn't blow any fuses but I did get it back to ISO 400 as soon as I had taken half a dozen pix. I will try the median blend on them when I get time, the noise @ ISO 1600 is horrendous. This week is going to be even more hectic than usual, not just knocking my own home to bits, a friend has asked me to knock hers to bits too!!! The aurora didn't show, I was probably too late. I went out at about 6pm and the mist was thick and swirling. However at about 10pm the mist had cleared to a clear starlit sky, so I went to one of my elevated locations at about 250 Metres (820Ft) elevation, I did take quite a few pix of the moon, stars, and the estuary. Mostly multiple exposures of the same scene. I have been a bit more careful with my technique. Tripod clamped tight, delay shutter, infra red remote and no touchy camera. Still have images from the Ulswater trip to process, so when I have the energy I'm going to be busy. Must get to bed! Edit: I couldn't go to bed without loading the 70 odd images into Lightroom. In one sequence I think there is a trace of the aurora, there is some lightness moving around in one field, nothing distinct but moving quickly between frames there is something there. If it's fine and clear tomorrow I will go back up and do a time lapse for as long as I can.
____________________ Robert. |
| Posted by Eric: Tue Nov 3rd, 2015 13:41 | 13th Post |
Robert wrote:My thoughts exactly Eric. It was probably the D200 venting steam after having to do ISO1600. I looked out of my window just after reading Judith's prediction and there was a magnificent green light stretching right across the sky. The sport centre across the road had its floodlit soccer pitches in use.
____________________ Eric |
| Posted by Robert: Tue Nov 3rd, 2015 15:31 | 14th Post |
| Eric wrote: It was probably the D200 venting steam after having to do ISO1600. Not sure I will be repeating the ISO 1600 experiment. I am processing last nights images now, the ISO 1600 images are rubbish. I have done the median stack process in PS and using four images of ISO 400 and I get a quite acceptable result, using the ISO 1600 images it looks like a snowstorm! When I have finished I will also try your stacking method so we can compare. Will try to post some results this evening but my eyes are glazing over already!
____________________ Robert. |
| Posted by Judith: Tue Nov 3rd, 2015 16:49 | 15th Post |
| I was out in the garden earlier. Very bright glow In the sky and nothing to do with football lol.
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| Posted by Robert: Wed Nov 4th, 2015 03:08 | 16th Post |
| Will refrain from suggesting it might be caused by a tipple of Highland Malt, not wishing to provoke a severe handbagging!
____________________ Robert. |
| Posted by Robert: Wed Nov 4th, 2015 03:14 | 17th Post |
| My efforts to process my images yesterday were curtailed by the emergency generator apparently running out of fuel. We were plunged into darkness mid evening. The village had been on an emergency generator for two days since the local high voltage substation packed up. This may explain why my UPS kept cutting in for the last few months and the lights have been flickering a lot.
____________________ Robert. |
| Posted by Judith: Wed Nov 4th, 2015 04:38 | 18th Post |
| Excuses, excuses, Robert... Here is one of my highland malt infused images from last night. Attachment: image.jpg (Downloaded 33 times)
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| Posted by Robert: Wed Nov 4th, 2015 05:01 | 19th Post |
| Wonderful! Have you thought of doing a time lapse? Not that hard but you need to use smallish (low res) JPEG's else with the 810 you will have massive files to process then it will throw away 90% of the file size. This is one example, there are many more out there. http://digital-photography-school.com/capturing-the-northern-lights-in-timelapse-video/
____________________ Robert. |
| Posted by jk: Wed Nov 4th, 2015 06:10 | 20th Post |
| Very good Judith. You might have found yourself a niche market. Aurora lights and B&B. Is that a view from inside the house? Even better as then you can offer some nice malts to accompany the shooting! Even if it is outside they might need something to warm themselves. 10% agents fees apply
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| Posted by Eric: Wed Nov 4th, 2015 06:23 | 21st Post |
Judith wrote:Excuses, excuses, Robert... Are you ever going back to Spain,Judith? Just wondered if you need someone to house sit for a while? 
____________________ Eric |
| Posted by Judith: Sun Nov 8th, 2015 17:13 | 22nd Post |
| I´m desperate to get across for a holiday, Eric! This renovation lark is dragging on and on and on. It should have been a relatively short project but discovering that every wall has to be pulled off and plasterboarded has set us back a few months and 1000s of $$$ (my netbook hasn´t got pound signs lol)more than expected. Here´s a wee aurora pic from the 6th, just to tantalise Robert a bit more. Wasn´t very bright but took a few shots anyway. Attachment: _JWP4263web.jpg (Downloaded 49 times)
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| Posted by Robert: Sun Nov 8th, 2015 20:34 | 23rd Post |
| Aye, I'm tantalised, somewhat bleary eyed at this hour but tantalised non the less! Good stuff Judith. My memory isn't that bad then, I thought I remembered you having a good result from that exhibition.
____________________ Robert. |
| Posted by jk: Mon Nov 9th, 2015 14:38 | 24th Post |
Judith wrote: I´m desperate to get across for a holiday, Eric! This renovation lark is dragging on and on and on. It should have been a relatively short project but discovering that every wall has to be pulled off and plasterboarded has set us back a few months and 1000s of $$$ (my netbook hasn´t got pound signs lol)more than expected. Bet you it does. If you come across to Spain I will exchange (or show you how to do it) $ for £ or even € if you are good!
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| Posted by Eric: Wed Nov 11th, 2015 17:06 | 25th Post |
Judith wrote:I´m desperate to get across for a holiday, Eric! This renovation lark is dragging on and on and on. It should have been a relatively short project but discovering that every wall has to be pulled off and plasterboarded has set us back a few months and 1000s of $$$ (my netbook hasn´t got pound signs lol)more than expected. With a view like that, all the effort and expense will be worth it. :thumbsup:
____________________ Eric |
| Posted by richw: Wed Nov 11th, 2015 18:27 | 26th Post |
| Very nice photos Judith and lovely view. The second in the post is my favourite, very nice image.
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| Posted by Judith: Wed Nov 11th, 2015 20:22 | 27th Post |
| Oh, it will be worth it in the end, Eric, esp as I will have a studio and office to play in but I'm so not enjoying the suffering to get there! Thanks Rich!
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| Posted by Eric: Thu Nov 12th, 2015 10:34 | 28th Post |
Judith wrote:Oh, it will be worth it in the end, Eric, esp as I will have a studio and office to play in but I'm so not enjoying the suffering to get there! So Judith, if I am allowed to ask ..... What's the business plan for office and studio? Is it a photographic venture or are you bringing your body painting skills BACK ....to the Celts? :thumbsup:
____________________ Eric |
| Posted by Judith: Thu Nov 12th, 2015 17:09 | 29th Post |
| Business venture - photography. I officially started in business in April, did a few jobs, then the renovation took over my life. Boohoo....
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| Posted by Eric: Fri Dec 11th, 2015 12:35 | 30th Post |
| Have you seen Santa over your roof Judith ..doing some warm up runs with Rudolph and crew? You must be close to his domain? If you do see him ...will you tell him to collect the two *%+#}{=+#^ deer that have taken up residence in my garden and are eating all the bushes? Otherwise it will be venison not turkey on the 25th. 
____________________ Eric |
| Posted by Judith: Fri Dec 11th, 2015 14:24 | 31st Post |
No sign of Santa here, Eric. I think he took one look at the state of our house and took a sharp turn south to Yorkshire. I'm sure he'll collect the deer before xmas as he won't want them eaten. Just look on it as them stocking up their fuel reserves for xmas eve when they have to fly round the world delivering pressies!!  
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| Posted by jk: Fri Dec 11th, 2015 15:12 | 32nd Post |
| I think that Santa comes in January
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| Posted by Robert: Fri Dec 11th, 2015 15:36 | 33rd Post |
jk wrote:I think that Santa comes in January I think my boys will take issue with that... 
____________________ Robert. |
| Posted by Eric: Fri Dec 11th, 2015 15:48 | 34th Post |
Judith wrote:No sign of Santa here, Eric. I think he took one look at the state of our house and took a sharp turn south to Yorkshire. I'm sure he'll collect the deer before xmas as he won't want them eaten. Just look on it as them stocking up their fuel reserves for xmas eve when they have to fly round the world delivering pressies!! No point in Santa calling in Yorkshire....they average 0.7 presents / household. Hardly worth chimney scrambling. But just to show we are not all the same....I bought a present today. A whole one. :thumbsup:
____________________ Eric |
| Posted by Robert: Sun Dec 20th, 2015 17:09 | 35th Post |
| I had an alert on my 'phone this evening for high Aurora likelihood so as soon as we had dinner we wrapped up and bundled into the car hoping to see our first Aurora display. Off to our favourite viewing location we sped. We sat for an hour but the show didn't materialise. We trundled through the lans to another location with a good Northerly vista but still nothing.  Although there was good visibility the sky was obscured by low cloud and it felt quite damp so I guess it dampened the display. Did you get anything Judith?
____________________ Robert. |
| Posted by Judith: Sun Dec 20th, 2015 17:22 | 36th Post |
| Too much cloud. Also the moon is too bright just now so your chances of seeing much are zip. You need darkness and clear skies or it's not worth trekking out. It's also hit or miss whether you'll see any movement in the aurora. Most of the time it's just a glow in the sky. If you're lucky you'll catch it moving but I've only seen that once.
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| Posted by jk: Sun Dec 20th, 2015 18:08 | 37th Post |
| My friend in Norway is getting some very nice aurora images this evening.
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| Posted by Eric: Sun Dec 20th, 2015 18:11 | 38th Post |
jk wrote:My friend in Norway is getting some very nice aurora images this evening. He should be wrapping presents instead of staring out the window.
____________________ Eric |
| Posted by jk: Mon Dec 21st, 2015 04:04 | 39th Post |
Eric wrote: jk wrote: He so close to Santa that his presents are packed by Santa's helpers.
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| Posted by Robert: Mon Dec 21st, 2015 04:58 | 40th Post |
Judith wrote:Too much cloud. Also the moon is too bright just now so your chances of seeing much are zip. You need darkness and clear skies or it's not worth trekking out. Thank you Judith, you confirmed my suspicions. I took a look at your pix over the harbour and the Aurora seem to be behind the clouds, so I guess that explains it. The boys were quite disappointed. We are planning another little trip out this afternoon/evening, being the winter solstice today. At the moment it's forecast clear skies at sunset, so I want to try a time lapse of night falling over the hills. I am thinking of using the D300s, Nikkor 20mm @ f4, locked manual focus, Aperture priority, Auto ISO (limited to 1600), WB: sunshine and the intervalometer set to 1 exposure every 15 seconds (4 frames per minute). That should give me a fairly smooth speeded up video. Maybe point the D200 at the sunset... With the 18-105...
____________________ Robert. |
| Posted by Judith: Mon Dec 21st, 2015 05:43 | 41st Post |
| There's a Facebook page called AUK - Aurora UK which has lots of good photos on it. Quite a few people managed to get nice shots last night but it was cloudy and raining beside me and when it cleared a bit later on p, the moon was like a floodlight so no chance where I am.
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| Posted by jk: Mon Dec 21st, 2015 12:07 | 42nd Post |
| My friend Alan who is another Nikon user will hopefully drop by and post a few images from his aurora shots last night.
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| Posted by jk: Mon Dec 21st, 2015 14:14 | 43rd Post |
| Here is a link to his FB page. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=671183496351728&set=a.116833585120058.19379.100003802501867&type=3&theater
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| Posted by Robert: Thu Dec 31st, 2015 21:14 | 44th Post |
| Well, I gone and done it! I got an alert on my 'phone this evening from Lancaster University Aurora Alert system, I checked the weather and clear skies were forecast, so after our Haggis we loaded up the pony and set sail for our favourite viewing location at the top of Gawthwaite, near Kirkby Moor. Amid bonfires and fireworks, we enjoyed a wonderful hour long show of the Aroroa Borealis. Either our eyes became tired or the show faded but about a quarter past midnight we called it off and came back to process the images. I have enough images to make a short time lapse movie so I will knock that up tomorrow and post that as well. This is probably the best... 10 second exposures, at 20 second intervals. Nikon D300s, Nikkor 50mm f1.4 @ f4, ISO 1600, delayed shutter and 'normal' long exposure Noise Reduction. A bit of PP in Lightroom to lift the contrast and pull back the blown blacks. 
____________________ Robert. |
| Posted by Judith: Fri Jan 1st, 2016 11:07 | 45th Post |
| Well done Robert! Last night was the best display I've seen to date. I took in the bells glued to my camera hehe.
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| Posted by Judith: Fri Jan 1st, 2016 11:13 | 46th Post |
| This is my New Year photo taken at 2 seconds after midnight. Got loads more but not had time to have a look yet. Attachment: image.jpg (Downloaded 22 times)
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| Posted by Robert: Fri Jan 1st, 2016 11:42 | 47th Post |
Judith wrote:Well done Robert! Last night was the best display I've seen to date. I took in the bells glued to my camera hehe. Thanks Judith, the Aurora started very gently and grew, in both intensity and activity over the hour or so I was photographing it. I've been fitting kitchen cabinets all day and not got round to looking at the images properly. Looking at your pic I realise I need to adjust the WB, I had it on manual 'Sunny' but it needs adjusting to get the blue sky. 3am probably isn't the best time to make delicate adjustments to images.
____________________ Robert. |
| Posted by Judith: Fri Jan 1st, 2016 12:02 | 48th Post |
| It's really hard to get the brown/orange out of the sky. I just faffed about with levels and colour balance till it looked better. My skies are pretty orange from the streetlight pollution. Apparently, the night sky is actually brownish but our perception is that it's black.
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| Posted by jk: Fri Jan 1st, 2016 14:17 | 49th Post |
Judith wrote:It's really hard to get the brown/orange out of the sky. I just faffed about with levels and colour balance till it looked better. My skies are pretty orange from the streetlight pollution. Apparently, the night sky is actually brownish but our perception is that it's black. You need to try and set the WB before exposure even with RAW this helps get rid of the orange sodium lamp colour cast. I havent shot extensively under sodium lamps but I know that the yellow is very difficult to remove. What compass direction are you shooting towards? Is the light from Inverness, Elgin or Buckie. I cant work out which direction you are shooting. Take a look at your PMs, sent you one.
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| Posted by Robert: Fri Jan 1st, 2016 16:12 | 50th Post |
| Judith is looking North West I think, across the harbour and the estuary? Well here is my best effort, adjusted WB, it's a fine line, try whacking the saturation and luminance right up, adjust the WB then reset the saturation and luminance back to tasteful levels. It helps to find the critical point on the WB, or it seems to, for me anyway.  Edit to amend the Compass direction.
____________________ Robert. |
| Posted by Judith: Fri Jan 1st, 2016 16:44 | 51st Post |
| If you fiddle with it a bit more you can bring out a lot of the stars detail. This was just a quick edit in Snapseed... I find I have to put the darker bit of the sky into a separate layer to get any decent contrast. The orange is a pain. Don't know if it's my screen Robert - am on iPad - but the green looks super saturated. Attachment: image.jpg (Downloaded 18 times)
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| Posted by jk: Fri Jan 1st, 2016 17:06 | 52nd Post |
| Yes as I expected it is going NW which is towards land and lights. Ideally you want to go out to sea but obviously there may be other stuff in the way or closer lights. Might be best to go and do you lone watch on the harbour wall!! Teeheehee take a dram with you. Set the intervalometer to 15sec exposures every 1shot every minute for 2 hours and have camera on a tripod. One shutter button press then back to the warmth of the car so you can see the camera isnt stolen!.
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| Posted by Robert: Fri Jan 1st, 2016 17:09 | 53rd Post |
Judith wrote:If you fiddle with it a bit more you can bring out a lot of the stars detail. This was just a quick edit in Snapseed... I find I have to put the darker bit of the sky into a separate layer to get any decent contrast. The orange is a pain. Don't know if it's my screen Robert - am on iPad - but the green looks super saturated. I have fiddled with it till i'm getting tired, The green may be a bit over the top... but it will have to do for now, probably too much green saturation and luminance. I may have another go with a fresh set of files. I have fiddled with the original files too much now. I still have them on the CF card so I will put a fresh set on my HD later. There can be a lot of variation between screens, I haven't looked at it on the iPad, that should be accurate. Will take a peek... About to create a time-lapse video in Ps with 90 frames.
____________________ Robert. |
| Posted by jk: Fri Jan 1st, 2016 17:54 | 54th Post |
| I will have a look at your image tomorrow Robert. I have my main machine doing a full backup so best to leave it alone.
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| Posted by Robert: Fri Jan 1st, 2016 18:06 | 55th Post |
Shifting files about I lost the edits I had made in Lr, no great loss, saved me re-loading the files, I have re-done them all, I hope this looks better... I hate re-editing the same files time and again, better to start over with fresh edits IMO. I masked the top of the sky and the lower fell areas, gave them their own individual adjustments. Held back on the green saturation and luminosity. I find this difficult, it's a bit like IR images, you don't know what it *should* look like because you can't actually see it with the naked eye as the camera sees it with a ten second exposure. I think it's a personal interpretation thing and because I am so excited at having achieved one of my holy grail images, my judgment is somewhat biased because I am so over enthusiastic atm.
____________________ Robert. |
| Posted by jk: Sat Jan 2nd, 2016 08:17 | 56th Post |
| Robert, please can you share the original image NEF or JPG.
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| Posted by Robert: Sat Jan 2nd, 2016 10:16 | 57th Post |
jk wrote:Robert, please can you share the original image NEF or JPG. Posting from my iPhone so please excuse my tipos. Yes I will pop an NEF into Dropbox when I get home. I have made a very short video of the Aurora images but with only 90 frames I have cut the frame rate to 12.5 fps. Even then it's <6 seconds long. I plan to upload it to Vimeo when I get home.
____________________ Robert. |
| Posted by jk: Sat Jan 2nd, 2016 11:28 | 58th Post |
| Thanks then I can try to edit it properly.
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| Posted by Robert: Sat Jan 2nd, 2016 11:53 | 59th Post |
jk wrote:Thanks then I can try to edit it properly. Properly??? Are you trying to say I haven't edited it 'properly'??? You are welcome to have a go, there will be 89 more in the queue if you make a good job of the first one...
____________________ Robert. |
| Posted by jk: Sat Jan 2nd, 2016 12:06 | 60th Post |
Robert wrote:jk wrote: Would I dare? 
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| Posted by jk: Sun Jan 3rd, 2016 06:00 | 61st Post |
| OK my attempts which took just a few minutes to do. Attachment: DSC_9965.xmp.zip (Downloaded 0 times)
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| Posted by jk: Sun Jan 3rd, 2016 06:07 | 62nd Post |
| And the image. Attachment: DSC_9965b-small.jpg (Downloaded 38 times)
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| Posted by jk: Sun Jan 3rd, 2016 06:10 | 63rd Post |
| I seem to have more stars in my firmament!!
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| Posted by jk: Sun Jan 3rd, 2016 13:15 | 64th Post |
| If you want more detail in the hills. Attachment: DSC_9965aa-small.jpg (Downloaded 36 times)
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| Posted by Robert: Sun Jan 3rd, 2016 13:19 | 65th Post |
| Very good JK! In the meantime I have been playing... https://vimeo.com/150599230 I have had a right royal battle to create the video, iMovie was being particularly belligerent but I beat it into submission and I won! Hope it works for you.
____________________ Robert. |
| Posted by jk: Sun Jan 3rd, 2016 13:47 | 66th Post |
| Nice one Robert. All the effort was worthwhile. In the still it is not obvious that the dark grey section is cloud until you see the video.
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| Posted by Judith: Sun Jan 3rd, 2016 13:49 | 67th Post |
| I have 147 for you once you've done Roberts! Didn't realise you weren't seeing it with the naked eye Robert. I do actually see it up here but it is not bright green or anything like it. Most of the time it is a greyish streak in the sky. On Hogmanay it was the brightest I've seen it and actually looked green but it was only a pale minty green. People hike up the saturation on their pics to ridiculous levels and unsuspecting onlookers think the aurora actually looks like that. It may be much greener to the naked eye when an exceptionally strong burst hits the earth or maybe it's much the greener the closer to the pole you get but I have only ever seen a pale streak. The camera exaggerates the green quite significantly. I try to edit my pics so they are reasonably realistic but to bring out the detail in the sea etc in the pic above for example, made the aurora a lot greener than it actually was.
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| Posted by Judith: Sun Jan 3rd, 2016 13:57 | 68th Post |
| Nice video Robert! I was going to try and do the same with my pics but not sure if I've got the patience to do it lol. I like the detail in the hills JK. Now mix that with the dark starry firmament.
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| Posted by jk: Sun Jan 3rd, 2016 15:54 | 69th Post |
| How about this version. Problem is that variations are almost endless. Attachment: DSC_9965c-small.jpg (Downloaded 35 times)
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| Posted by jk: Sun Jan 3rd, 2016 16:38 | 70th Post |
| Actually I think I prefer this one. Attachment: DSC_9965d-small.jpg (Downloaded 33 times)
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| Posted by Judith: Sun Jan 3rd, 2016 17:07 | 71st Post |
| Yep, that ones better. :thumbsup:
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| Posted by Robert: Sun Jan 3rd, 2016 19:36 | 72nd Post |
Judith wrote:I have 147 for you once you've done Roberts! Thanks for the comments Judith, the only way we knew the Aurora was active was a pale green glow in the sky and very occasional faint flares into the sky. I wasn't even sure which way to point the camera, except in a general sense of course! The right hand edge of the frame is about due North. If I get another chance I will use the 20mm lens to gain better spread, I can of course crop as appropriate at home. I took several test exposures, established 10 seconds seemed OK and set it off recording time-lapse exposures at 20 second intervals to allow for processing and saving of image to the card. The D300s seemed to take about 7 seconds to process the image before saving it and having a couple of seconds before the next exposure. I don't know if it can make exposures while it is processing and saving images... I suppose it's easy enough to try at home... As with all these processes there is a trade off between speed and quality. I could have opened up the lens to f1.4and greatly reduced the exposure time at the expense of clarity. This time my emphasis was on good quality images and less on speed. A shorter exposure would have been good so I could reduce the interval between exposures. As it was I had 90 exposures but 400 over the same period would have been better. I created the moving part of the video at 25% of normal frame rate, so it's a bit rough, jumpy. Are the 147 made with the intervalometer? If so a movie is pretty easy to make. If you have Lightroom, export them as JPEG's into a new folder, named with sequential numbers. Then open Ps, select workspace 'Motion' and then 'File'>Open, select the first image of the sequence and open it, that will put all your images into the time-line. You can then export as an MPEG4 or QuickTime.
____________________ Robert. |
| Posted by jk: Mon Jan 4th, 2016 03:57 | 73rd Post |
Judith wrote: I have 147 for you once you've done Roberts! Very interesting. Since I have never seen the AB except in photos it is difficult to comment. My friend Alan Billyeald (another Nikon user) in Norway took this tremendous shot about two weeks ago. Attachment: 12402119_675591949244216_8824766801792703786_o.jpg (Downloaded 29 times)
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| Posted by Robert: Mon Jan 4th, 2016 06:34 | 74th Post |
| Spectacular image JK, do you know what the taking details were? Camera, lens, and settings... Would be interesting to know, it seems to be a pretty wide lens, I just feel it's a tad over exposed, esp. around the church. Was there a moon, the shadows of the tree trunks seem quite distinct? Remarkable that the flare is apparently emanating from the church! I eagerly await the next opportunity when the weather provides clear skies, the solar activity is high and the moon is minimal. We were very lucky on New Years Eve. Currently my first check each morning is the cloud cover expected that night.
____________________ Robert. |
| Posted by jk: Mon Jan 4th, 2016 06:56 | 75th Post |
| Yes it is a D3 that Alan uses. I dont know the taking details but I can ask him.
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| Posted by jk: Mon Jan 4th, 2016 10:02 | 76th Post |
| Information from Alan. ISO 1600, exposure between 4 to 8 seconds depending on strength of aurora. Manual white balance 3000-3500K, RAW.
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| Posted by Robert: Mon Jan 4th, 2016 14:50 | 77th Post |
| Thanks, D3... Perhaps that explains it, lovely BIG pixels to gather up the light.
____________________ Robert. |
| Posted by Robert: Thu Jan 7th, 2016 18:30 | 78th Post |
| This evening I went back up to my vantage point where I made the Aurora time lapse. I now have the landowners permission to get to a better but private location to make my stargazing pix better and save me walking so far carrying heavy tripod etc. After I abandoned my attempts to make a star trails photograph, I took my iPad to the owners to show them the time-lapse video I posted on Vimeo. They were pleased to see the Aurora, as taken from their place on New Years Eve, I just wish it were a bit longer than 90 frames.
____________________ Robert. |
| Posted by amazing50: Wed Jan 20th, 2016 22:42 | 79th Post |
| This is a photo taken recently by my cousin Jake Paleczny at a nature preserve in Yellowknife, which is considered in the far north by most Canadians. The moose is not photoshopped in. Jake works on the preserve and is very knowledgeable about the wilderness. Otherwise it would be foolhearty to get this close to the moose, which can be tempermental at times and weighs about a tonne. Attachment: moose JakePaleczny.jpg (Downloaded 13 times)
____________________ There is nothing worse than a sharp image of a fuzzy concept ;~) Mike Grace |
| Posted by Judith: Thu Jan 21st, 2016 04:23 | 80th Post |
Pfft!!! Now that's just showing off, Amazing50! How are Robert and I going to beat a moose wandering into the shot?!  There was an aurora here last night. Had quite heavy cloud cover and a full moon to contend with but still managed to see it a bit through a gap in the clouds. Shame it was so cloudy as what I could see was bright. Got some shots though so will post one later.
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| Posted by Robert: Thu Jan 21st, 2016 04:44 | 81st Post |
| Very good Mike, all about being in the right place at the right time. I had an adventurous time last evening... I have decided that star trails are boring. Yet, they hold a fascination. So I have decided to experiment with a combination of interesting subjects and incorporate star trail backgrounds. I haven't run the startrail software yet (StarStaX) but this is a taster, which will have startrails added later when I have finished the PP. I hadn't realised but I caught the aurora without realising it was there. When I moved to my second location I got a text alert of high solar energy but I wasn't going back! Nikon D300s, Nikkor 18-105 VR, @ 18mm, 30 Sec @ f4.5, ISO1600. A couple of stops over exposed, pulled some back in PP.  Coniston Water with the Old Man of Coniston in the background. My second location was Lowick Church, again still a bit over exposed @ f5.6, you can just see the effects of the aurora behind the church. Nikon D300s, Nikkor 18-105 VR, @ 18mm, 30 Sec @ f5.6, ISO1600.  Lowick Church at 7:15pm 20 Jan 2016
____________________ Robert. |
| Posted by Judith: Thu Jan 21st, 2016 06:23 | 82nd Post |
| Oh, like the snowy hills! No snow at all where I am. It doesn't really lie on the coast.
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| Posted by jk: Thu Jan 21st, 2016 09:44 | 83rd Post |
| Judith, Aurora over distillery works fine for me. Plenty of distilleries in your area!
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| Posted by amazing50: Thu Jan 21st, 2016 13:07 | 84th Post |
| With only about 5 hours of daylight at this time of year they have plenty of time and mainly clear skies to get these shots. Another one by Jake Paleczny, Wood Bison under the Aurora Borealis at the Yukon Wildlife Preserve. Attachment: Wood Bison under the Aurora Borealis at the Yukon Wildlife Preserve.jpg (Downloaded 44 times)
____________________ There is nothing worse than a sharp image of a fuzzy concept ;~) Mike Grace |
| Posted by jk: Thu Jan 21st, 2016 13:27 | 85th Post |
| Robert did you intentionally over-expose the top image? It was probably the extra exposure that allowed you to capture the aurora.
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| Posted by Robert: Thu Jan 21st, 2016 16:03 | 86th Post |
jk wrote:Robert did you intentionally over-expose the top image? Not really JK, it was pretty well dark when I took that but the effect of the 85% moon, reflections and the fact I was trying to bring the pier into prominence, having taken a few trial exposure was what I plumped for. Once chosen I had to stick with it. I was literally groping in the dark, at each venue I reduced the exposure. The great benefit of using NEF's is it gives me much more latitude while still retaining decent quality. The first exposure I made of the church it looked like bright sunlight! I'm not used to having usable ISO1600 at my fingertips! The image quality of the church isn't the best but I am quite relaxed about that, it helps to show it wasn't taken in daylight and gives it a rugged appearance, to me it adds character. The stars are sharp enough, If I really wanted I could reduce the number of church images stacked by masking the church from the sky, I am sure its due to very slight movement of the tripod or the camera during the 30 minutes I made the exposures for. Whoops! I hadn't added the star track image of the church! I need a responsible adult to keep an eye on me... Point of interest, you can see time on the sundial, in this case, moondial, it's about right. This image is layered with 48 images taken at 34 second intervals using the D300s and Nikkor 18-105 VR. 
____________________ Robert. |
| Posted by Robert: Thu Jan 21st, 2016 18:54 | 87th Post |
| OK I have done the second one, the Parkamoor Coniston Pier with the Old Man of Coniston in the background. The aurora is better than I thought, I wish I had known it was displaying, I would have stayed longer I only have about 70 frames which isn't really long enough for time-lapse with a frame rate of 24fps. 
____________________ Robert. |
| Posted by Judith: Thu Jan 21st, 2016 19:15 | 88th Post |
| I like both of them.
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| Posted by Robert: Fri Jan 22nd, 2016 05:20 | 89th Post |
| Thanks Judith, Just a bit torn as to how dark to make it, given how bright the original exposures are it's difficult to make it look like a dark night, yet still show the scene. Exposure adjustments need to be made before the images are stacked because StarStax only outputs in JPEG, which limits options and quality for final adjustments. After the stacking there is quite a bit of tidying up to do, for some reason the star trails appear to be in front of the tree branches so they need clone work and some of the star trails have gaps which need filling manually, there are also some artefact bright pixels which need cloning out. I may use Photoshop for my next attempt... Another clamber up Photoshops learning curve!
____________________ Robert. |
| Posted by jk: Fri Jan 22nd, 2016 06:44 | 90th Post |
| Perversely, I prefer the church with star trails but the fells and lake without trails.
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| Posted by jk: Fri Jan 22nd, 2016 06:45 | 91st Post |
amazing50 wrote: With only about 5 hours of daylight at this time of year they have plenty of time and mainly clear skies to get these shots. Like this one. Shame the bison have such poor sight that they cant enjoy the aurora!
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| Posted by Robert: Fri Jan 22nd, 2016 07:08 | 92nd Post |
jk wrote:Perversely, I prefer the church with star trails but the fells and lake without trails. Perhaps the Lake has sufficient interest without the trails, which become an distraction?
____________________ Robert. |
| Posted by Robert: Fri Jan 22nd, 2016 07:10 | 93rd Post |
jk wrote:amazing50 wrote:With only about 5 hours of daylight at this time of year they have plenty of time and mainly clear skies to get these shots. Maybe a good thing if the Bison have poor eyesight, from Jakes point of view...
____________________ Robert. |
| Posted by jk: Fri Jan 22nd, 2016 08:22 | 94th Post |
Robert wrote: jk wrote: Yes I think so. The picture of Coniston with the snowy fells as a backdrop and the aurora is spectacular you dont need star trail enhancements. Just my 2p.
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| Posted by Robert: Fri Jan 22nd, 2016 11:10 | 95th Post |
| There is no point in gilding a lily! I agree, however, when I left home with the express intent to make that photo, I didn't realise there was snow still on the fells and I didn't know I had an aurora until I processed the images back home. Perhaps I will revert to single image or very short trails. That way I might get a better aurora effect because with the stacked images they tend to swamp one another. Thanks for the feedback. I may revisit the location when the snow has gone and take some more startrail exposures, perhaps a slightly higher viewpoint if possible to make a better separation between the Western shore and the top of the pier, they are rather too close for my liking.
____________________ Robert. |
| Posted by jk: Fri Jan 22nd, 2016 13:59 | 96th Post |
| Or you could do a stack and mask the high level area where the star trails are. Have you tried the various layer blending options in Photoshop (Multiply/Difference/Lighten/Darken/Burn). These are really useful when doing these type of things.
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| Posted by Robert: Mon Mar 7th, 2016 16:11 | 97th Post |
| Having missed a good night last night, I popped out to have a look but although there is a glow in the sky, I don't feel like getting frozen for that, there is no moon so there won't be any chance of usable ambient light to illuminate a subject structure to make the aurora a nice background. To me although the aurora is nice, once you seen a few it's a bit lacking in interest in itself, a bit like star trails, what's needed is a nice subject with the aurora or star trails in the background. That calls for the moon and that's set at 8pm plus it's waning about 4% at the moment so it won't illuminate diddly! Maybe tomorrow...
____________________ Robert. |
| Posted by Judith: Thu Oct 13th, 2016 14:01 | 98th Post |
| Amber alert for tonight on the aurora front, Robert (and anyone else who's interested). Amber means they're expecting a big display. Unfortunately, it's pretty cloudy where I am so no chance unless the sky miraculously clears. Glendale Skye Auroras34 mins · AURORA TONIGHT A severe geomagnetic substorm is in progress following a CME impact last night. It is highly likely that aurora will be photographable over the whole UK as soon as it gets dark. There is potential for this to be one of the best shows of the year for those with clear sky. https://www.glendaleskye.com/aurora-alerts/
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