I remember stumbling on your 500px page just a week ago, my jaw was on the floor man, and now by pure chance i stumble on your youtube channel and get to see some of the art behind those shots, man you are good, cheers
Excellent tutorial. When I use PT GUI, it actually puts the Milky Way always straight/horizontal, so I end up with a very bend horizon and straight Milky Way...Any quick fix for this, since it requires a lot of work in PS to correct, even with the wideangel filter... ? Thanks for the advice
+Ix Tussy hi - can you give me some more details such as rows, frames etc. For example with a 2 row, I'd either/or change the panorama type and pick up the middle and push it upwards to straighten the horizon.
Very nice final image! I've seen other shots taken in that area and I'm always impressed because of the complete lack of light pollution at the site. Consider yourselves lucky "down under" in western Australia.
+Lorenzo Damiani hi - I'm just using a ball head with bracket. astrophotobear.com/panorama-nodal-point-on-a-budget/ I've more recently changed to an L bracket for my camera and using a rail - but it's basically the same thing
Hi Michael. I am really inspired by your astrophotos! If I can find the right location (and Italy doesn't offer many great dark spots though...) I will certainly try to achieve similar results because your shoots are truly beautiful. I have a question that immediately popped in my mind when I first saw you astro-panos. Does the Earth rotation bothers you for a 20-ish pictures pano? I mean, from start to finish I think that the stars would have moved quite a bit. How is this affecting the pano and how do you counteract this issue (if it is an issue)? Thanks!
I have a problem when i take self portrait panorama, when i stitch the photos there’s no me inside the picture. Can you help fixing that? Any technique?
what software are you using? panorama software may just blend the image in a way that it thinks is the right way to do it. I use PTGui Pro that has a masking feature in it that ensures that the selection I mask is included. I know that hugin (free) has masking as well.
+Chris Moy thanks muchly - I'm using a ball head with an arca swiss plate and a levelling head. I use a nodal rail and an L plate. I'm more concerned with the horizontal parallax than with the vertical - and even then, it's only if the foreground is really close.
Thank you for the reply! It sounds like we have similar pano gear. I need to give my pano head a try with the milky way. Looking forward to your future milky way images!
I don't really like PS for this sort of work, it often ends up with poor results. Oddly enough, lightroom is better for stitching. While this is an older article - I've done some testing on various software (including free) astrophotobear.com/ultrawide-panorama-software/
Awesome!!! Is this the rising/setting moon there on the image at e.g. 4:58? How clear is the sky there that you still see the Milky Way in the images? Jaw dropping. When you made this great tutorial, did you still use a Lightroom version, stitching converted/rasterised images, instead of raw files, as current Lightroom CC versions do? Due to raw stitching, any pre tweaking - so says Adobe - will be obsoleted on processing the stitched image... Did you shoot the 15-30 at 15mm? For your kind reply, many thanks in advance, really will appreciate.
Hi Roland - it's a setting crescent moon. The sky is clear enough you can see the cloudy mass that is the milky way (remembering that the camera exposure and ability to see some IR brings out the definition and colour) - so it does look faint, but slightly defined with the eye. I tend to use LR and do a little noise control prior to sitching and export as tiffs (otherwise some stretching during stitching will stretch the noise). I was shooting at 15mm - I have done a blog post recently about different focal lengths and what it looks like though.
Excellent work. I have always been confused about how to shoot pano's using two rows as you have done. I thought you needed to keep the camera level for a pano. Do you tilt the camera upright on the tripod to do the images of the sky? Not quite sure how you accomplish this?
where abouts do you focus with such a small depth of field? i plan on using a 1.4 to try this and i'm worried about getting things out of focus. thanks
Wouldn't you make the stars pop out a little bit more if you used a bit of sharpness but carefully controlling the radius and detail of it? Also, by exporting all those photos to TIFF, making the panorama and only then doing your postprocess work in lightroom, at this stage aren't you loosing most of the information that was on the original RAW files? Like exposure for instance? Making your ability to enhance the picture quality reduced? Great tut, thanks!
+Helder Pinto Hi - in the second video I do more of the post processing of the image. This one is mainly around the process to go to stitching. I personally don't do much in sharpening in the sky - but that's a personal preference. I believe you may lose a little going to the TIFF format, but not all that much - especially going to a 16 bit. However the benefits for me of doing some noise control and the lens correction overweights that - it's harder to deal with stretched noise.
That's true , thank you , im always worried bc ive done astro with it before but im in the uk and atm you cant see the galactic center atall so its just some really feint dust and because of that I think my camera isn't up to getting photos like the ones you produce
Hi Michael. Excellent vid. I'm using a similar setup to you with a rrs Pano head and rail. I'm struggling getting the second row level. After tilting up what do you do to ensure the full set of photos are level from edge to edge?
Hi Peter - when I'm doing the panorama - I'm just shifting it 15-30 degrees each time. I am using PTgui (pro) to stitch. I sometimes have an issue with stitching, in which case I can manually connect the images by way of control points (just ways of telling the software what points to connect). What software are you using? Feel free to email me michael@astrophotobear.com.
+Saptarsi Bhowmick Hi - my current primary camera is a canon 6d plus a tamron 15-30 f2.8. In the next few months though, I will also work on some panoramas using a crop sensor camera and kit lens 18-55mm
hello, I have a sony nex5n. What affordable wide angle lens do you suggest i purchase for astrophotography as a beginner and Will I always need editting software? Should I change my picture format to capture RAW?
Hi - I'm not too familiar with the camera - but having a quick look - the rokinon 12mm F2 maybe suggested. But really you may just want to try out with your current lenses first. Definitely shoot RAW if you can. You don't always need editing software, but for better results - yes. If you're shooting RAW - definitely need editing software
this is early September at around 8pm in the Southern hemisphere - for a setting milkyway. Earlier in the year - can catch the milkyway rising and setting depending how long we wait. I believe you have difficulties in the northern hemisphere catching a larger area around the core :/
Zhorell Ski I use a combination of apps - skysafari and photopills. Make sure you check the moon phase rise/set times and I'd suggest doing a search for light pollution map - as that will definitely affect.
I remember stumbling on your 500px page just a week ago, my jaw was on the floor man, and now by pure chance i stumble on your youtube channel and get to see some of the art behind those shots, man you are good, cheers
What software you use to stick your images?
Excellent tutorial. When I use PT GUI, it actually puts the Milky Way always straight/horizontal, so I end up with a very bend horizon and straight Milky Way...Any quick fix for this, since it requires a lot of work in PS to correct, even with the wideangel filter... ? Thanks for the advice
+Ix Tussy hi - can you give me some more details such as rows, frames etc. For example with a 2 row, I'd either/or change the panorama type and pick up the middle and push it upwards to straighten the horizon.
Very nice final image! I've seen other shots taken in that area and I'm always impressed because of the complete lack of light pollution at the site. Consider yourselves lucky "down under" in western Australia.
Great work! I am your big fan and this video is really helpful! Can't wait for the part2!! Thanks!
Very useful tutorial, thanks. Hopefully I can do the stitching in PS6.
great video. but
1. your starting clip needs volume correction
2. at what time was this picture taken?..
thanks
Muditha K you can see when and where the milkyway is on stelarium mobile or stelarium app on computer
Hi from Russia! Good work! Love your pictures! :)
awesome!!!!
very informative, cant wait for part 2!
Amazing tutorial but I would also love to see a tutorial for that first image.
Muy bueno, muchas gracias.
Ill Bear ;) with you
Wonderful work!
Great Work as usual Michael! What tripod head do you use for pano?
+Lorenzo Damiani hi - I'm just using a ball head with bracket. astrophotobear.com/panorama-nodal-point-on-a-budget/ I've more recently changed to an L bracket for my camera and using a rail - but it's basically the same thing
Thanks for the video. I'm going to Perth in November and will put on the list to go. Hopefully I can get some Milky Way shots.
Hi Michael. I am really inspired by your astrophotos! If I can find the right location (and Italy doesn't offer many great dark spots though...) I will certainly try to achieve similar results because your shoots are truly beautiful. I have a question that immediately popped in my mind when I first saw you astro-panos. Does the Earth rotation bothers you for a 20-ish pictures pano? I mean, from start to finish I think that the stars would have moved quite a bit. How is this affecting the pano and how do you counteract this issue (if it is an issue)? Thanks!
I have a problem when i take self portrait panorama, when i stitch the photos there’s no me inside the picture. Can you help fixing that? Any technique?
what software are you using? panorama software may just blend the image in a way that it thinks is the right way to do it. I use PTGui Pro that has a masking feature in it that ensures that the selection I mask is included. I know that hugin (free) has masking as well.
Michael Goh My friend edited it for me, he is using lightroom. Thankyou i will try hugin
What's the Panorama software?
very sorry on delay - been very busy. This is PTGui pro
Michael Goh hey there's no delay, thank you very much
Michael, I cannot find your part two on UTube. Please help.Thanks
Very well done
Thanks! PTgui looks great and has much more control over the stitching process.
Awesome work Michael! One question, do you use a pano? Thanks!
BTW I have RRS' single pano head but I haven't tried it for astrophotogaphy. I hope to get a chance to try it soon.
+Chris Moy thanks muchly - I'm using a ball head with an arca swiss plate and a levelling head. I use a nodal rail and an L plate. I'm more concerned with the horizontal parallax than with the vertical - and even then, it's only if the foreground is really close.
Thank you for the reply! It sounds like we have similar pano gear. I need to give my pano head a try with the milky way. Looking forward to your future milky way images!
nice 😍😍 go on
Which software is used for panaroma stitching
Are PS pano features advanced enough for this type of work?
I don't really like PS for this sort of work, it often ends up with poor results. Oddly enough, lightroom is better for stitching. While this is an older article - I've done some testing on various software (including free) astrophotobear.com/ultrawide-panorama-software/
Marvelous Skies !!! I loved it :)
Awesome!!! Is this the rising/setting moon there on the image at e.g. 4:58? How clear is the sky there that you still see the Milky Way in the images? Jaw dropping. When you made this great tutorial, did you still use a Lightroom version, stitching converted/rasterised images, instead of raw files, as current Lightroom CC versions do? Due to raw stitching, any pre tweaking - so says Adobe - will be obsoleted on processing the stitched image... Did you shoot the 15-30 at 15mm? For your kind reply, many thanks in advance, really will appreciate.
Hi Roland - it's a setting crescent moon. The sky is clear enough you can see the cloudy mass that is the milky way (remembering that the camera exposure and ability to see some IR brings out the definition and colour) - so it does look faint, but slightly defined with the eye. I tend to use LR and do a little noise control prior to sitching and export as tiffs (otherwise some stretching during stitching will stretch the noise). I was shooting at 15mm - I have done a blog post recently about different focal lengths and what it looks like though.
absolutely stunning image, wow
Excellent work. I have always been confused about how to shoot pano's using two rows as you have done. I thought you needed to keep the camera level for a pano. Do you tilt the camera upright on the tripod to do the images of the sky? Not quite sure how you accomplish this?
very sorry on delay - been very busy. Yes - I tilt the camera up and down ;) just needs to be level on the horizontal plane
where abouts do you focus with such a small depth of field? i plan on using a 1.4 to try this and i'm worried about getting things out of focus. thanks
Hi - I tend to use live view and focus on any bright star before putting on the tripod. With an ultrawide - the hyperfocal distance tends to be
Wouldn't you make the stars pop out a little bit more if you used a bit of sharpness but carefully controlling the radius and detail of it?
Also, by exporting all those photos to TIFF, making the panorama and only then doing your postprocess work in lightroom, at this stage aren't you loosing most of the information that was on the original RAW files? Like exposure for instance? Making your ability to enhance the picture quality reduced?
Great tut, thanks!
+Helder Pinto Hi - in the second video I do more of the post processing of the image. This one is mainly around the process to go to stitching. I personally don't do much in sharpening in the sky - but that's a personal preference. I believe you may lose a little going to the TIFF format, but not all that much - especially going to a 16 bit. However the benefits for me of doing some noise control and the lens correction overweights that - it's harder to deal with stretched noise.
+Michael Goh (Astrophotobear) very good poing. thanks again!
How good you you think he regular sony a7 will be at doing this
+Leo Brown Hi Leo - should be fine. I can do panoramas with a crop sensor camera fine and the Sony A7 has good noise control and is a FF
That's true , thank you , im always worried bc ive done astro with it before but im in the uk and atm you cant see the galactic center atall so its just some really feint dust and because of that I think my camera isn't up to getting photos like the ones you produce
+Leo Brown the peak district or forest of Bowlands will be a great place to shoot the milky way
thank you
Hi Michael. Excellent vid. I'm using a similar setup to you with a rrs Pano head and rail. I'm struggling getting the second row level. After tilting up what do you do to ensure the full set of photos are level from edge to edge?
Hi Peter - when I'm doing the panorama - I'm just shifting it 15-30 degrees each time. I am using PTgui (pro) to stitch. I sometimes have an issue with stitching, in which case I can manually connect the images by way of control points (just ways of telling the software what points to connect). What software are you using? Feel free to email me michael@astrophotobear.com.
Michael Goh thanks. I think I figured it out last night. Did 3 row panorama and came together well in ptgui. Thanks for advice!
Which camera and lens setup are you using sir?
+Saptarsi Bhowmick Hi - my current primary camera is a canon 6d plus a tamron 15-30 f2.8. In the next few months though, I will also work on some panoramas using a crop sensor camera and kit lens 18-55mm
what's the software's name u used to create the panorama?
Hi - used ptgui pro
hello, I have a sony nex5n. What affordable wide angle lens do you suggest i purchase for astrophotography as a beginner and Will I always need editting software? Should I change my picture format to capture RAW?
Hi - I'm not too familiar with the camera - but having a quick look - the rokinon 12mm F2 maybe suggested. But really you may just want to try out with your current lenses first. Definitely shoot RAW if you can. You don't always need editing software, but for better results - yes. If you're shooting RAW - definitely need editing software
Michael Goh what will RAW give me? Do you know what mount I would need for rokinon to sony emount? or an old mc sakar 80-250mm lens?
raw gives you the ability to bring back much more detail and edit the photo much more than a jpeg.
Nice!
What program did you use to create the pano?
+Brenda Robbins Jones Hi - PTGui pro
Cute. Hehe
Wowch
did you use high NR in camera ?
nope
也粵語長片高清
Whoa!! What time of the year did you took this? Is this visible (whole milky way) in the US too?
this is early September at around 8pm in the Southern hemisphere - for a setting milkyway. Earlier in the year - can catch the milkyway rising and setting depending how long we wait. I believe you have difficulties in the northern hemisphere catching a larger area around the core :/
Is there a website the shows time and location? I'm in southern California, Thanks!
Zhorell Ski I use a combination of apps - skysafari and photopills. Make sure you check the moon phase rise/set times and I'd suggest doing a search for light pollution map - as that will definitely affect.
get sky guide the app, you can choose any point in time and it will show you how the sky will look at that time. I use it and its great
Zhorell Ski I live in socal too your best bet for astrophotography around there would be Palomar observatory and joshua tree national park.