TheSkySearchers-Welcome!

Howdy!

This is my very first deep sky image, and naturally Orion was calling my name. It's not my first astrophotography image (I have photographed the moon, Jupiter, and some landscapes with stars before), but nothing like this. I bought my first tracking mount and telescope back in early February, but we have had nonstop cloud cover for weeks. Been quite frustrating really. However, we had a perfectly clear night on the 16th, so I made use of it. This is in a Bortle class 4 area, but I was shooting back over a city a mile or so away with a population of about 50,000. Not a perfect spot, but I knew of a great place to setup where I would not be bothered so for my first trip it seemed like a good location. My elevation was close to 5000 feet (~1500 m) ASL.

I have a Sky Watcher EQM-35i, a William Optics Zenithstar 73 III APO, and a Sony a7IV Mirrorless camera. I went with a non-astro camera because I also dabble in other types of photography.

95 light frames with 30 second exposures at 400 ISO, 40 darks, 60 bias, and 60 flats. I used Deep Sky Stacker, StarNet++, and Photoshop for the processing.

It was bitterly cold, I almost lost my mind trying to find Polaris for the first time through the alignment scope, and I lost a perfectly good pocket knife in the snow. However, when I saw the results, it made my day!

Even still, I see lots and lots of room for improvement. Very interested to hear any critiques you all might have. Cheers!

Super . took me years to be able to process like that , love it.
Thanks for posting.
Rog.

ApophisAstros wrote: ↑Sun Mar 19, 2023 9:01 am Super . took me years to be able to process like that , love it.
Thanks for posting.
Rog.

Thank you!

My background in "traditional" photography certainly came in handy once I was in Photoshop. Stretching, levels adjustment, color balance, etc. all came quite naturally.

That’s a beautiful image JSB!

Excellent coloration!

That's your very first deep sky image? Wow! Well done!

That's a great capture. Leaps and bounds beyond mine.

Welcome to the forum.

Great start, JSB! It looks like you have prepared very well.

Bob

wow a first ? magnificent image , thx .

Great capture JSB!

Awesome! Great job!

Looks super nice....my first efforts at planetary and lunar work have not turned out well. But you hit a home run right of the bat.

Thank you for the kind words everyone! It is much appreciated. I was no less surprised than many of you at how much detail I was able to capture.

bobharmony wrote: ↑Sun Mar 19, 2023 1:12 pm Great start, JSB! It looks like you have prepared very well.

Bob

You bet, Bob. I have been watching "how-to" style videos for a long time now, years even. One content creator on YouTube, with the name "Nebula Photos," was my main resource for what types of images to capture, how to capture them, and how to stack everything.

Cheers!

Thats really good and not even considering its your 1st

What a great first shot! You are well on your way down the rabbit hole.

Hi Lyle. Wow, this is a beautiful M42 (Orion Nebula) image. Beautiful nebulosity colors and details in your capture. I have never advanced beyond lunar/planetary imaging so I am always amazed at the wonderful DSO captures that I see here on TSS. Thanks for sharing this view with us Lyle and you are really off to a great start.

Nice image Lyle, the wide field is great.

Thats a fantastic first image. Well done. I certainly remember that "wow" when I saw my first astro image and it was not even close to as good as this!

Congrats on your first deep sky image! Its a wonderful first!