Catherine Hill Bay Jetty and the Milky Way NIGHT Shoot

[piczzilla]

Now trying to work out how to afford the Tamron 15-30mm f2.8 lens. I could go for a cheaper DX wide angle but as the D810 is on top of my wishlist I've decided to go with the Tamron for future proofing.

Great image Kev. Love how that milky way rises up from that ship light. Speaking of which, have you heard of Laowa lenses before. The review is quite impressive, and they're releasing a 12mm f2.8, which some users swear by. Apparently for a wide angle lens, it's supposed to have very little to no distortion.

http://sgmacro.blogspot.com.au/2016/...s-preview.html

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My version of the jetty - Seems to be one of the luckier shots of the night (no plane trail). I'm not thrilled with that haze over the horizon though. I might do some more work on it, but I need to take a break from astro editing and revisit my frogs

[JDuding]

Wow. That lens has me drooling. No distortion and the focus ACTUALLY stops at infinity! Will be looking into that some more.

I really like what you've done with that jetty image. As I'm on my phone I should probably wait until I can see it on my big monitor, but here we go.

The jetty has come out quite clear and defined while there is darkness and contrast in the sat field. There is excellent colour in both the milky way and the water.
Perhaps you could use layers to either minimise the haze or do what I've been working on and use tone, contrast and saturation to bring it out to make it a feature of the image.

Like what you have there.
And I don't blame you for taking a break from the astro pp, mine has been getting to me as well.

[Cage]

Well done Erny. I like your lighter version much more than mine.

I just noticed in my shot a red glow in the bottom RH corner and it looks suspiciously like the same colour as my red torch.

That smoke haze on the horizon presents a big challenge in PP. Good luck with it. And when you have another look at the shot in PP, straighten your horizon a bit as it is dropping away to the right.

Overall, a very pleasing result.

PS: I noticed that you used your 24-70mm f2.8 for the shot. I had mine in my bag and wish I'd used it as I've lost confidence in the 14mm Samyang after it's fall.

[piczzilla]

Wow. That lens has me drooling. No distortion and the focus ACTUALLY stops at infinity! Will be looking into that some more.

I really like what you've done with that jetty image. As I'm on my phone I should probably wait until I can see it on my big monitor, but here we go.

The jetty has come out quite clear and defined while there is darkness and contrast in the sat field. There is excellent colour in both the milky way and the water.
Perhaps you could use layers to either minimise the haze or do what I've been working on and use tone, contrast and saturation to bring it out to make it a feature of the image.

Like what you have there.
And I don't blame you for taking a break from the astro pp, mine has been getting to me as well.

Well done Erny. I like your lighter version much more than mine.

I just noticed in my shot a red glow in the bottom RH corner and it looks suspiciously like the same colour as my red torch.

That smoke haze on the horizon presents a big challenge in PP. Good luck with it. And when you have another look at the shot in PP, straighten your horizon a bit as it is dropping away to the right.

Overall, a very pleasing result.

PS: I noticed that you used your 24-70mm f2.8 for the shot. I had mine in my bag and wish I'd used it as I've lost confidence in the 14mm Samyang after it's fall.

Thanks all.

Sorry to hear about your lens tragedy, Kev. I actually dropped my 24-70mm once (poor thing was in pieces). After I had it serviced, it seems to be OK though. The IQ and the focus are as sharp as pre-fall condition. Cost me $200 to get it fixed. Perhaps you can try doing some daylight tests to see if yours is still in good condition?

The Laowa 12mm f2.8 lens is yet to be released, but from testers' review, it seems to be highly promising, and some reported the image quality of the 2nd version is even better. Hopefully, the price isn't too shocking, but that's probably just wishful thinking considering the specs & IQ.

One last adjustment before I switch on to frogs - I think astro editing is quite possibly the most tedious in my experience (even portraits didn't leave me this exhausted lol) - Straightened the horizon, also stamped & stitched the haze.

The water actually gave me quite a lot of grief, as there were some patchy colours here & there from the noise (stamped those out in PS).

K, frogs are calling, I must abide

[Cage]

I think astro editing is quite possibly the most tedious in my experience (even portraits didn't leave me this exhausted lol) - Straightened the horizon, also stamped & stitched the haze.

The water actually gave me quite a lot of grief, as there were some patchy colours here & there from the noise (stamped those out in PS).

K, frogs are calling, I must abide

Well done Erny.

The rework has come up nicely. You should be pleased with that.

I'm leaning toward the Tamron 15-30mm f2.8 because according to the reviews it is not only sharp, with no more distortion than other UWA lens, but it also has OS (Optical Stabilisation), a big plus for me in my architectural shots as often the best shooting possie is in the middle of the road with about a 15 second gap between traffic.

PS: I'm going to have another go at it too, starting at square 1 with a different approach.

[JDuding]

...One last adjustment before I switch on to frogs - I think astro editing is quite possibly the most tedious in my experience (even portraits didn't leave me this exhausted lol) - Straightened the horizon, also stamped & stitched the haze.

The water actually gave me quite a lot of grief, as there were some patchy colours here & there from the noise (stamped those out in PS)...

Look at that.
picz, all that effort has paid off. Well done.
(Bugger, I've gotta go back and redo all mine now. (I didn't pay nearly enough attention to the water))