Orion by Moonlight

Conn Buckley · Post by **Conn Buckley** » Sun Jan 13, 2008 10:10 pm

A 30" shot of Orion nicely positioned between the gable end of the house and the garage on 13th January 2008 at 20:30.
Cloud was rolling in (again

) form the West and appears in the shot, but the crescent Moon through the thin cloud gave a soft light and projected the shadows of the trees on to walls of the buildings.

John O'Mahony · Post by **John O'Mahony** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 8:34 am

Nice shot Conn.
You must have pretty dark skies around there.

Frank Ryan · Post by **Frank Ryan** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 11:25 am

Agreed!
Conn, did you do any post prossing of the shot in photoshop to
remove light pollution or is that the natural state of your skies?

Dave Lillis · Post by **Dave Lillis** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 5:06 pm

Conn,
A great shot, pity about the cloud, I wish I had your skies here..

Conn Buckley · Post by **Conn Buckley** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 7:47 pm

Thanks to all for the nice comments.
John, yes I have a fairly good South facing aspect but, when the driving range in Limerick County Golf Club (in Ballneety) is in operation there is a distinct sky glow on the eastern horizon -- exaggerated if there is any moisture in the atmosphere. The front of the house is facing North which is of course looking back over Limerick City with very bad sky glow (I am 6 miles South of the City).

Frank, this is an image as i got it from The Canon 400d just sitting on a tripod. I do not have photoshop (nor the knowledge to use it). Office Picture Manager is all I have in my armoury and all that has is brighten/contrast/crop functions.

Frank Ryan · Post by **Frank Ryan** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 7:54 pm

Whoa.
If thats an unedited shot then by golly you have some
good Southern skies there Conn!

It's quite a small shot,
Have you a larger version anywhere?

Conn Buckley · Post by **Conn Buckley** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 9:10 pm

Frank, Is this what you mean/

Frank Ryan · Post by **Frank Ryan** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 10:35 pm

Yup.
Nice one.
How long an exposure was that, what ISO did you use and what was the
F stop setting... The details mean a lot....to me anyway,,,,,

Conn Buckley · Post by **Conn Buckley** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 1:54 pm

Frank, Unprocessed,30", ISO1600, F5.6 and beginner's luck

Dave Lillis · Post by **Dave Lillis** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 6:07 pm

Looks like the image is slightly out of focus, seems like the camera is focused on the side of the house and not an infinity.

Frank Ryan · Post by **Frank Ryan** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 6:40 pm

I'd have to agree there.
I sometimes find it hard to get 'infinity' right also!
I seem to always have to focus on the brightest stellar object at
the time then zoom in on the camera to see is it ok...
then tweak as needed...a time consuming but necessary task.

Also Conn, at 30 sec I alway seem to pick up trailing...
It's probably not that noticeable in your shot because
there is some bloating of the stars due to the focus bieng
ever so slightly off.

Still,
All minor niggles...
One thing I'll suggest if I may...

For me the foreground is almost if not as important as the subject you
are shooting.
It can make or break a shot.

I wonder how the shot might have turned out if you went to the end of the garden (if you have the space)
and framed your house in the lower right and Orion rising in the
middle to upper left?
Rising over it if you will...
It would certainly show the scale for what it is and
the fact that your home is in the shot would make the image all
the more personal.

Just a thought.

Conn Buckley · Post by **Conn Buckley** » Fri Jan 18, 2008 7:17 pm

Frank. Thanks for the most helpful hints and