Searching for stars in light polluiton

After a few days of rain and emergence of sub zero temperatures, the sky showed itself again after the bulk of the moisture laden clouds moved south. Though not completely clear of clouds here and there the constellations were visible amidst copious amounts of light pollution from the city. It's hard to run away from these when you shoot from inside the dome of light pollution. You can clearly see it reflected off the clouds.

Parts of Gemini (Pollux and Castor) and Auriga (bright Cappella)

The city south of Hinna onwards towards Jatta and through Gausel, Forus and into Sandness.

The constellation Leo (bright Regulus)

It's hard to attenuate the efffects of light pollution, filters take you to some distance towards the solution but not fully. The gradient character  of these extraneous man made abomination obscures the true light from the stars and steal the true colors of the night.

Reworking the starry night sky with post-processing

Ideally in order to get proper astro shots of the night sky in it's proper accepted colors you'd have to modify the camera by getting rid of the infra red filters in the camera (within the filter layers of the "sensor" construct) according the resulting images more reds. Mode-ing the camera costs money and at the same will render the camera useless for shooting normal daylight pictures. It will affect autofocussing which means relying more live lcd focussing.

I have been meaning to modify my Canon 6D for a while now however kept balking due to in my mind unjustifiable cost it'll incur and consequential limited daytime use. So I tweaked the images in post processing instead trying out different post processing flow combinations.

These are the last few shots of the Milkyway made in Nov 2018 in Fidgeland. I retweaked these sample images from RAW files in CaptureOne:

WB 3250
Tint 1.4
Highlight 0%
Shadow 50-60%
Clarity 45
Structure 45
Luminosity 80
Detail 20
Color 80

these settings reveal slightly the remaining reds in these images. The images are then exported in JPG and tweaked again in Photoshop. Here I ADJUST COLOR and boost Saturation to +50.

It's obvious that the results do not  come close to images from a moded camera but it's close enough for me ... the red of Barnard's Loop is faintly visible in the last image near Orion's Nebula, I'm chuffed just for that. Looking forward to more night shots in the mountain when Milkyway season kicks up again.

Image from CaptureOne after Raw Coversion Saved as JPEG

Images from PS after Adjust Color, Adjust Saturation.

Notes:
Barnard's Loop (catalogue designation Sh 2-276) is an emission nebula in the constellation of Orion. It is part of the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex which also contains the dark Horsehead and bright Orion nebulae. The loop takes the form of a large arc centered approximately on the Orion Nebula. The stars within the Orion Nebula are believed to be responsible for ionizing the loop. APOD April 2005 below by WH Wang (U of Hawaii).

Clark Vision : Learn best practices, settings and processing tips for night photography here. The web is full of bad advice on night photography, but very simple methods for night photography and post processing can produce outstanding images.

Morning stars

Looking south ... Jupiter rising in the southeast.

Reminder of Early Milkyway in May, Sirdal

These images of the Spring MW were taken 07th May 2016 on a cabin trip to Solheim, taken around the Fidjeland area circa 0200hrs. Roads further north are typically open around the 3rd week May, even then the Suleskard and Lysebotn route may still have ample snow on the side of the roads upwards of early June. However considering the warm winter we've had this year it might be well worth while to start the Milkyway hunt earlier before the coming of Summer. Pray the clouds are as cooperative. Best unimpeded view East would be Maudal probably.

A romp at Rogaland Arboret, it's been a while

Imaging at Vaulen Beach

Vaulen Beach is located only a stone's throw away down the hill from the house. Popular with residents in the area during the warmer months, in winter only dogwalkers come aroudn to walk their charge during the day.

It has perfect view East and NorthEast however with the amount of light pollution from nearby houses and streetlights the location is not on the top spot of most nightstalkers. I have attempted shooting here a few times but always get frustrated with the excessive lights. Also being popular with dogs and their walkers during the day, walking around at night around here carry certain risks. I brought back dog poo into the garage on one occasion courtesy of the front tire of the car.

Looking Northeast.

Star Adventurer pointed East.

Radio tower across the fjord.

Orion in March

After almost a week of cloudy and/or foggy sky the stars revealed themselves when both elements took flight finally. Though they are not completely gone it was clear enough for some night time imaging.

The night sky full of stars 28th Feb/01st Mar 2019

Star Adventurer for trail-less longer exposures.

The constellation Auriga with it's brightest star Capella almost directly overhead 01st Mar 2019.

While some friends were chasing KP3-4 aurora in the moisture laden lower elevation sky, I decided to give the stars a shot or two. The temperatures wasn't extreme but the grip of winter has completely been let go so it was cold around midnight, colder still when wind blew.

I attempted another session at Vaulen with the intention of getting away from light pollution, however being located right smack in the city this proved rather futile. Light pollution is everywhere and it seems you can't escape it no matter where you are in the city.