Amen to this sentiment! Fantastic all around. I thought 'nearly 2 hours - no way' but I watched every minute and replayed several parts while taking notes Never even heard of a bahtinov mask! So very useful!!! Thank you very much
Yeah I'm an old guy who prefers a dark room but you have laid out every aspect of this perfect. I do believe I will be able to approach your results! Peace and thank you!
How refreshing to see content that is complete, accurate and presented in a thoughtful manner by someone with obvious passion and talent for teaching. Thank you for the hard work that obviously went into this.
I tried many things in my life to help me with my mental state, from extreme scuba to hard enduro, but nothing comes even close how tranquil feeling I get after night of astrophotography. Love your content and thank you for getting me hooked on this amazing hobby.
I have watched dozens of RUclips Astrophotography videos and I MUST say that your explanation and style have come across easier and more understandable.
I spent two whole night following this amazing guide and finally made myself the first astrophography. Although I cannot tell whether they are star or dust on my lens, I am amazed by the result I made. With my naked eyes I could only see at most 20 stars that night , but after the stacking and postprocessing, there appeared a few hundreds of stars. Just wow. Your tutorial is very well explained. Thank you.
Completely agree, never have I seen a video on this 'no telescope, no tracker' subject (there aren't all that many to begin with) that explains everything in such great detail. So well done and I'm inspired to give it a try, I have everything already except some editing software.
Not gonna lie, I skipped over this video so many times because of the length of it. I wish I had given it a chance sooner, because I have spent 10 hours piecing all of this together when you packaged it up for us. Thank you sir.
If you were lost on RUclips about this you have found THE ONLY VIDEO that you'll need to watch on astrophotography!! I was on the fence about presuing this as a hobby. The equipment seemed way outta my budget. I was lead to believe my gear wasn't gonna cut it and investing $1000-$3000 would do it. But after this video I'm very excited to dig in again!! Thank you 😀 for not blowing smoke up our butts 👏 by recommending equipment that would force us to take on a pt job..lol Thanks 👍👍
This video is 2 years old so I'm probl'y commenting into a void but I have to say THANK YOU!!! I started recently on AP on the WORST possible equipment that anyone could even try with! A 6" truss dobsonian using a smartphone, and I have so far figured out so much and am having a blast! I am now awaiting the arrival of a DSLR.
I will doing my first Astrophotography this year in a Himalayan valley and whilst trying to learn the process, I came across your video and it's so captivating! Your patience in explaining and your encouraging words, emphasizing minimum investment have touched me. God bless you. 🙏
Wow, I saw the video time and said ill stick for 5 minutes... but you Explained everything in detail and stuck around through the whole video. I Appreciate this level of Integrity to yourself and to the Art of Astrophotography!
Nico, You are an absolute star!!!! All DSLR come with some sort of software. Canon's Canon Utility has an awesome intervalometer as part of the software, among MANY other really useful features. Just as something that Everybody can download free from the ned and than its only the Tether cable As said thanks again
I noticed this vid was 2 hours long only when it ended and I noticed it got dark outside... Really well put together and comprehensive, thank you for all the useful info!
I came across one of your videos about half a year ago. I since got myself a canon DSLR and a samyang 135mm f2 lens, lens heater, intervalometer, all the basics (except the star tracker). Last night I got lucky with a clear night sky for few hours. I snapped about 400 lights. Now I'm looking at the images before I stack them and I cannot believe how sharp the stars are, I can't believe I took those gorgeous pictures. I wasn't sure I'd actually enjoy the process but I loved every second of it, even though it was freezing outside :D I think I'm beginning to understand what's so magical about astrophotography. I can't thank you enough for the inspiration and the amazing content that you put out.
Thank you for taking the trouble to explain everything, bit by bit, without assuming that someone new to Astro like me would know anything at all. Loved it. Have viewed it many times and also made notes.
Hi, I was interested in astrophotography for ages and now thanks to your tutorials and my new telescope I am enjoying this hobby. I want to thank you for sparing the time to share this with us!
This is the best hobby I've ever undertaken and I will always be grateful to have been stuck at home during this whole covid thing.. I'm so happy this was the first tutorial I watched some months ago and just today I managed to capture Orion with my camera, a 75-300 canon lens and a Canon T6 camera, incredibly clear skies from my patio. Thank you, Nico!
This is exactly what I needed. I was watching another Astrophotography video and I felt like a lot of steps were skipped, even if they seemed basic. But you didn't skip anything and explained your work. Thank you so much!
This is an impressive tutorial that not only teaches exteremly nicely how to step into astrophotography but also takes away the "my gear is not good enough" fear.Well done!!!!
At the moment I am collecting as much as information and inspiration to make astrophotography a hobby of mine. I must say that I keep returning to your videos even if I am reading things from a website or watching some other tutorial videos, because it is not only the useful info you give but also the calm way of explaining that made me forget that I am watching a two hour video. You even made me laugh when you warned the viewer for not getting locked in a state park. Thank you so much for your time and work you put into this.
Thanks, Nico! Other RUclipsrs just rush through the explanation of setting up a DSLR camera. You take it nice and slow for us laymen astrophotographers.
Seriously after all the steps i feel like i can capture the triangulum galaxy with my current setup. I know it might be impossible but my results gave me this amount of confidence. Thank you Nico.
The best part is that Nico shares his images to help us develop our post-processing skills (and for those including myself who have lame excuses for not going out to a Bortle 3 or better site). Thanks again, Nick.
This might sound weird, but while your Tutorials are super useful, the best thing is your voice and the calm way you explain things! It's kinda relaxing honestly, while sitting in front of the PC with a cup of coffee.
This reminded me of my old photography classes when I was studying, nice! I'm about to finish putting together my first kit for AP and get into it properly. I shot the Milkyway last week on a tiny Canon camera.. results had me soo excited. Light pollution where I live is literally nothing, a clear night produces spectacular results. The processing part really helped me understand more about Photoshop, despite having used it for over 20 years in different capacities, I never stop learning! Thanks Nico!
just got into astrophotography and bought my new DSLR camera, this still be an amazing way to get started into the hobby! thank u for this amazing tutorial, subscribed!!!
Sinceramente he estado buscando ayuda para comenzar como aficionado en astro fotografía y déjame decirte que eres la persona que más me ha ayudado, eres el mejor, crack
I swear to you. Last weekend I was asking myself some astrophotography questions such as how to compose pictures etc Your channel came up this monday. I'm really glad for that! So intuitive Thank you!
Watching this as a photographer with years experience, there were plenty of things I knew. In any other video, let alone one nearly 2 hours(!) I would have skipped ahead to the parts I needed to know. But man, you are a terrific tutor. I watched the entire thing, and learned a lot. I was even interested in the bits I already knew. You have a great way of conveying information. Very calm. Thanks for this video. Time to dust off the old Astrotrac, chuck on a 300mm lens and see how it goes :) Thanks for giving me some inspiration.
This is insanely helpful Nico. You've explained pretty much every single bit of capturing Orion. A thorough video that leaves nothing to chance or speculation. Thanks again and I hope to be able to do justice to your tutorial.
Finally i understand everything i need to know about stacking, dark, lights and everything else involved. Gota be the best teacher on here for astro photography, from taking a pic, to knowing what to use, when to use with the camera and how to layer in sequence.
What I love about your videos is how thorough you are. All the settings, steps and everything else is very helpful for beginners, and I always recommend your videos when talking to a beginner.
This was amazing, I’m always in awe every time I see images of the stars and nebulae, but to see the effort and talent that goes into producing these images, from start to finish, really is spectacular.
I learned so so much from this video. I have watched it a couple times in the past week. The way you broke each part down slowly was so helpful. For a person without a telescope I wasn’t sure I’d be able to capture our beautiful universe. Boy was I wrong!!! Thank you so much and please keep these videos coming! I personally love the ones with DSLRs without a tracker . Thank you again
I've been doing astrophotography for a few years now and this video would have been very helpful to me had it been available in 2009 🙂 Your calm approach and the fact we see you do this "live" with the little mistakes we all make (taking a shot with the button, instead of the remote, forgetting to charge batteries etc) is especially helpful. However, your refocusing with the mask @4 sec exposure had me screaming at the PC that it wasn't exactly in focus 😀 Keep up the good work dude!
I agree! In addition, and not to subtract (pun intended) from the obvious great value of information presented in this video, I couldn't unsee the overly subtracted background layer, making the brightness gradient go in reverse (and probably removing a little of witch-head signal, too).
Ok...I'm officially hooked. I was a professional scientist for decades, and a lifelong photographer, so I had lots of "kit" on hand. But your step-by-step teaching approach is exemplary. And your recent "challenge" with Trevor Jones demonstrated the possibilities. Which, as you both know, are endless. Beautiful work, my friend. Thank you for sharing it.
Never before in my life have I watched a 2 hour video on RUclips. But, this was one of the best uses of my time ever. Thoroughly useful and interesting and thank you for taking the time to make this as simple as possible for beginners like myself. Subscribed!
I live in Germany near Bonn and have some heavy gear including Celeston Scopes, mounts, cams and all that fancy stuff, connected to PC with automation and so on. That makes a lot of fun at my „home based observatory“ at my backyard, where I have nothing to carry away when intending to observing the sky on a broad angle. But I can not look to every Object due to restrictions to my horizon, shrinked by some other houses and trees in the neighborhood. I am so happy that I found this video as it enables me now to observe „close to horizon objects“ such as the Atlas Comet currently passing through and take great pictures in a excellent quality with portable and easy to setup equipment whenever it makes sense. Thanks for the hints! Have fun and „clear skies“ to everybody on the channel here.
Awesome, thank you! I love how you take the time to explain every little detail. It's often lost on people that each detail left unexplained is a roadblock or at least a bump in the road for the beginner.
Best tutorial for beginners that Ive found on RUclips. Detailed, thorough and complete explanations every step of the way, from beginning to end. Great stuff.
my equipment is very meager i used a canon eos250 a tamron 70-300 telephoto and using this turotial managed to get an incredible image amazing thank you
I've learned a lot and I'm just starting to get into the hobby. Very clear and easy to understand for those not familiar with photography. I've watched other tutorials how to set the cam etc etc... and this one is by light-years the best one. Thank you for explaining
Very inspirational. How to work with basic photography equipment and to get this result. I salute you, sir. Also the effort and time you took to make this video. Big thank you!
he goes through and actually shows and doesnt move to fast which is perfect for someone learning. im still using this video even a year later! Thank you.
I find calibration is little tricky tho I'm watching this inspite of having no DSLR at all😂😂. Btw nice tutorial with lots of patients to give us a clear understanding of the whole process of taking these shots❤️❤️
Hopefully I’ve streamlined a bit. I would absolutely not do the gradient extraction how I did in this video in 2024. Both Siril and GraXpert are free and do a good job at removing gradients when the data is still linear.
@ something I need a lot of learning and practice on. I’ll check out the other software. Currently using Siril. Purchased a light filter. Now just waiting weeks for clear sky’s. May end up on a road trip! Heh
I am a longtime veteran of astrophotographing (55yrs), but I still learned something from this marvel of a tutorial! I had never heard of this little piece to check the sharpness of your lens. and I didn‘t know the name of the „MFN“ method, which had to compute manually with my pocket calculator (which still works!).
This is an absolutely fantastic step by step tutorial. Normally, I skip any tutorial which is longer than 15 minutes. However, I watched every minute of this 2 hours long tutorial. You really covered lots of information without unnecessary fillers. Job well done! Subscribed!
You sir are a godsend. My fiance's and my honeymoon will be in a location with little to no light pollution and am super excited to try this out. If anyone can't afford photoshop, affinity photo (as of 1.9) can stack and edit astrophotography in 32bit (one time small purchase).
Greetings Pablo! Thanks for sticking with me, and sorry for the inconvenience. Maybe when we are out of lock-down, the milky way will be up- this technique will work great on the milky way core. Clear skies, Nico
Hi, Nico, I live in Uruguay. It's the first time I actually really understand how to prepare my photography equipment for a good astrophoto. We are in winter right now, and I am waiting for those clear nights to get out and try what you are teaching here. It is really awsome. Thank you , thank you soooo much! The best explanation ever! A doubt I have with flat frames, you were talking about an ipad... I take photos up in the hills, so how to make them? I can't be holding my Ipad, as it will surely move and change the taken photo....hmmm those are hard for me to really understand how to do them on field..... If you can help me there I would be very gratefull . Thanks again Nico, Best wishes, and clear stars :)
Hi Daniela, Here's how I do it: After you are done taking your pictures of the night sky (lights), but before you turn your camera off, point it straight up and then rest the iPad (white screen) or drawing tablet on top of the lens hood. Take test exposures only changing the shutter speed until the histogram is just to the left of center. Then take 30 flats. If you are having issues with banding because the flats are too short, bring a clean white t-shirt and stretch it tight over the front of the lens hood, and then place the iPad on top of that. Hope that makes sense. Nico
I have been saving this video for the best scenario that i could find (least light polution) and finally got it. the result was beautifull and that is thanks to this guy. I take my session with a nikon D3500 and a 70-300mm lens (capture the nebula at 70mm) and even of having a crop sensor, the whole process made this picture beautiful.
Awesome so glad you reposted this. I was popping myself. This is by far the best beginners guide for this type of photography. Thank you 🙏 and really appreciate it being free.
@@NebulaPhotos Hi! I plan on buying a camera for Astrophotography, but also plan on using it for photographing wildlife and Cars (maybe just my personal car lol) But I cant seem to decide if I should buy a crop dslr or a full frame dslr I know that with a full frame, at least I think, is better in low light then with a crop dslr. Also a full frame is apparently better at taking pictures like the milky way where it's a large size And the crop dslr are better for planets or nebulas and galaxies far away. Now , I want to be able to take pictures of wildlife, cars, astrophotography and possibly landscape and I dont want to buy a camera that can only do a few of those What is your advice ?
@@DarkestKnight2424 go with Crop. Full frame is too much money, and as a beginner you can still almost do as good a job with crop. Unless you're thinking of prints, full frame isn't really required. Check out Potato Jet video on APS-C. You can save on sensor and lens, and invest that amount on multiple lenses for multiple types of photography you want to do.
Nico, this is a great tutorial! Firstly, you explained how to do dark frames, flat frames,, etc, very well. Most tutorials just say, "Take dark frames flat frames... blah blah blah...", and move right on without telling us how to do them. And I appreciated your comments about ethics in photography. It really irks me when I see photos of storm clouds or sunsets,or nature scenes, that are so over saturated and over sharpened, so there is no way you would ever see it that way in real life. Yet they are usually presented as though that was how it actually looked, in real life. I do some astrophotography, and even though it is pretty well understood that you aren't going to walk out of your front door and see the stars looking like that, I usually mention the camera can see things we cannot see, and that I have enhanced the photo. Thank you for a great, super informative, very thorough, step by step lesson, which I have no doubts will make me much better at what I am trying to accomplish! - RD
I wholeheartedly agree with everyone below, this is THE best tutorial on this subject to be found on RUclips. I accidentally came across it just after midnight last night and just had to watch the whole thing until after 2 a.m.. I have only been in to Astrophotography of this type since comet Neowise and although I had tried some of the techniques you talk about, so much of my knowledge of them was well below par. Now I'm really inspired to have a go at doing it properly - even with my 76 year old brain!! Thank you so much.
@@NebulaPhotos Hi Nico, I do have a question. The camera I'm using is a Panasonic FZ200 and depending on what I'm trying to photograph I'm using an appropriate zoom. That's where I'm a bit unsure regarding particularly Bias and Flat frames. At no zoom the focal length is 4.5mm and at full zoom (24X) the focal length is 108mm so pre-preparing Bias and Flats is no problem. The steps on the zoom control are not linear, so when I go for example 10X zoom I see from the image data that the focal length can be anything from 46.5mm to 49mm and I only find that degree of precision when looking at the detailed Raw image data on the computer after a shooting session Obviously with a bit of care, taking dark frames directly after the lights on location, what ever zoom level I'm on, they will match. So to my question. Do the Bias and Flat frames need to match the light frames focal lengths absolutely precisely? Incidentally last night from my suburban back garden, on a rare clear night, I managed a reasonable Andromeda Galaxy image from 72 shots of 2 seconds / ISO1600, even though most of the stars were not visible to the naked eye. I think ISO1600 is too noisy with this camera though. All the best John
@@johnwalch4887 Hi John, for Bias and Dark frames, the zoom level doesn't matter at all, you can take them at any zoom level and as long as the ISO is the same, and you take them in the dark with the shutter cap on, you are all set. For flat frames, you do want to take them as close to the zoom level of the lights as possible in order to accurately model the vignetting, but I don't believe a few mm off would matter. Clear skies, Nico
If you have a Canon, you can install Magic Lantern on your memory card. It comes with much more sophisticated menu features, among others also an intevalometer.
Any other features provided by ML besides the intervalometer for this astro-photography application? I have read of negative side effects of ML including unpredictable behavior. If the intervalometer is the extent of it I might spend the $30 on a piece of hardware that won't create risk to my $3000 camera.
A really great video, showing how to get into astrophotography using gear you already have, plus one or two bits of really cheap gear - genius! Thank you.
This is the first video I’ve seen by you and it’s excellent. Clear and with details that explain things well. I was keen on astronomy as a teenager but my career and other things got in the way. Now I’m 66, retired and keen to pick up where I left off. Astrophotography is definitely something I’m going to try out. This video should help a lot, thanks! Subcscribed!
This was a wonderful guide. Very in-depth, patient, and inviting to new astrophotographers. I'll be following this myself. You've convinced me I can do it :)
Stunning work. I remember when we first started hearing about people playing with newfangled DSRLs for astrophotography without telescopes in early '00s. Seeing everything explained step by step is wonderful.
Amazing how effectively you can work when you really understand what you're doing, and have practiced it enough you know where they shortfalls are, what options are available, and what methods to use.
I live in New Zealand and a dark sky reserve just opened out about 30 mins away from me and apparently it has some of the darkest skys in the world. A dslr here costs about a grand but I think itll be well worth it considering the available environment!
@@uwu441 Oh damn thanks mate! I'll definitely keep an eye out for em the only ones I saw from a quick glance were pretty pricey so I'll snipe the auctions for a while!
I spent my first evening taking pictures of the night sky. I found you video and RUclips site this morning. What a great comprehensive video, looking forward to my second night taking pictures thank you for all the great tips.
Thank you so much for going over the light pollution map in details. I was worried when you showed some of your pictures that i needed the black areas to capture the details with the stock equipment. Your area is very much like Southern Ontario, so if I drive north just an hour or so I can find areas that match you light pollution values.
Wow, I really LOVE your content and the way you teach! Thank you so much for being very patient and explaining everything ❤In my opinion you're the best youtube photographer I've seen in my life🤗
This is amazing 👏... I stuck the whole way through it... Thank you... 😊... and it gives a person with out the massive budget some what a shining glimmer of a hope that they can catch a star 🌟🤩
One of the best tutorials out there! Also, I must say, Nico's voice is very pleasing to listen to. It keeps me hooked contrary to some other youtubers....
Honestly, this is by far the best tutorial for this type of astrophotography for beginners on RUclips right now! Congrats man!! 👏🏻👏🏻💫🌌
Thanks Pietro! Clear skies, Nico
Amen to this sentiment! Fantastic all around.
I thought 'nearly 2 hours - no way' but I watched every minute and replayed several parts while taking notes
Never even heard of a bahtinov mask!
So very useful!!!
Thank you very much
Yeah I'm an old guy who prefers a dark room but you have laid out every aspect of this perfect. I do believe I will be able to approach your results! Peace and thank you!
I totally agree with this comment, I haven't found anything that's laid it out so succinctly! Thank you!
I couldn't say better, amazing tutorial!!!!
How refreshing to see content that is complete, accurate and presented in a thoughtful manner by someone with obvious passion and talent for teaching. Thank you for the hard work that obviously went into this.
Thank you Alastair. Glad you liked it!
I tried many things in my life to help me with my mental state, from extreme scuba to hard enduro, but nothing comes even close how tranquil feeling I get after night of astrophotography. Love your content and thank you for getting me hooked on this amazing hobby.
God will help you with that mate
Tranquil? I got hunted by tens of mosquitos :c
I have watched dozens of RUclips Astrophotography videos and I MUST say that your explanation and style have come across easier and more understandable.
Glad it was helpful Cilene! Clear skies, Nico
Also, his process reveals much more and with less noise
I spent two whole night following this amazing guide and finally made myself the first astrophography. Although I cannot tell whether they are star or dust on my lens, I am amazed by the result I made. With my naked eyes I could only see at most 20 stars that night , but after the stacking and postprocessing, there appeared a few hundreds of stars. Just wow. Your tutorial is very well explained. Thank you.
Likely they are all stars and not dust! Dust usually shows up as dark spots not bright spots in night time shots. Clear skies, Nico
Whenever I feel like I can’t take good pictures because of my setup, I watch this video for inspiration. Thank you
👍Clear skies! Nico
You are so patient and have been so kind spending all this time to actually explain every little thing. Thanks for sharing your knowledge
Thank you! Glad it was helpful!
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Completely agree, never have I seen a video on this 'no telescope, no tracker' subject (there aren't all that many to begin with) that explains everything in such great detail. So well done and I'm inspired to give it a try, I have everything already except some editing software.
Not gonna lie, I skipped over this video so many times because of the length of it. I wish I had given it a chance sooner, because I have spent 10 hours piecing all of this together when you packaged it up for us. Thank you sir.
Even if you ignore the astrophotography aspects, this is a great Photoshop tutorial!
If you were lost on RUclips about this you have found THE ONLY VIDEO that you'll need to watch on astrophotography!! I was on the fence about presuing this as a hobby. The equipment seemed way outta my budget. I was lead to believe my gear wasn't gonna cut it and investing $1000-$3000 would do it. But after this video I'm very excited to dig in again!! Thank you 😀 for not blowing smoke up our butts 👏 by recommending equipment that would force us to take on a pt job..lol Thanks 👍👍
Amazing tutorial start to finish. My favorite part was at 1:46:46 when the selection layer made it look like all the stars are twinkling :)
This video is 2 years old so I'm probl'y commenting into a void but I have to say THANK YOU!!! I started recently on AP on the WORST possible equipment that anyone could even try with! A 6" truss dobsonian using a smartphone, and I have so far figured out so much and am having a blast! I am now awaiting the arrival of a DSLR.
Awesome Ridley! Have fun with it. Clear skies, Nico
@@NebulaPhotos thanks you too!
I will doing my first Astrophotography this year in a Himalayan valley and whilst trying to learn the process, I came across your video and it's so captivating! Your patience in explaining and your encouraging words, emphasizing minimum investment have touched me. God bless you. 🙏
Wow, I saw the video time and said ill stick for 5 minutes... but you Explained everything in detail and stuck around through the whole video. I Appreciate this level of Integrity to yourself and to the Art of Astrophotography!
Nico, You are an absolute star!!!! All DSLR come with some sort of software. Canon's Canon Utility has an awesome intervalometer as part of the software, among MANY other really useful features. Just as something that Everybody can download free from the ned and than its only the Tether cable
As said thanks again
I noticed this vid was 2 hours long only when it ended and I noticed it got dark outside... Really well put together and comprehensive, thank you for all the useful info!
I came across one of your videos about half a year ago.
I since got myself a canon DSLR and a samyang 135mm f2 lens, lens heater, intervalometer, all the basics (except the star tracker).
Last night I got lucky with a clear night sky for few hours. I snapped about 400 lights.
Now I'm looking at the images before I stack them and I cannot believe how sharp the stars are, I can't believe I took those gorgeous pictures.
I wasn't sure I'd actually enjoy the process but I loved every second of it, even though it was freezing outside :D
I think I'm beginning to understand what's so magical about astrophotography.
I can't thank you enough for the inspiration and the amazing content that you put out.
That is great to hear! Sounds like you are hooked! :)
Thank you for taking the trouble to explain everything, bit by bit, without assuming that someone new to Astro like me would know anything at all. Loved it. Have viewed it many times and also made notes.
I literally spent 2 hours listening to your tutorial, even made notes. Definitely worth my time:-))
Hi, I was interested in astrophotography for ages and now thanks to your tutorials and my new telescope I am enjoying this hobby. I want to thank you for sparing the time to share this with us!
This is the best hobby I've ever undertaken and I will always be grateful to have been stuck at home during this whole covid thing.. I'm so happy this was the first tutorial I watched some months ago and just today I managed to capture Orion with my camera, a 75-300 canon lens and a Canon T6 camera, incredibly clear skies from my patio. Thank you, Nico!
That's great to hear Sam!
This is exactly what I needed. I was watching another Astrophotography video and I felt like a lot of steps were skipped, even if they seemed basic. But you didn't skip anything and explained your work. Thank you so much!
I had no idea I could do this with my camera - MIND BLOWN! Thanks so much for this tutorial!
This is an impressive tutorial that not only teaches exteremly nicely how to step into astrophotography but also takes away the "my gear is not good enough" fear.Well done!!!!
I love this channel. This is like sitting with this guy learning. An honest style of delivery.
At the moment I am collecting as much as information and inspiration to make astrophotography a hobby of mine. I must say that I keep returning to your videos even if I am reading things from a website or watching some other tutorial videos, because it is not only the useful info you give but also the calm way of explaining that made me forget that I am watching a two hour video. You even made me laugh when you warned the viewer for not getting locked in a state park. Thank you so much for your time and work you put into this.
Thanks for your nice comment Samuel! If you have any questions about astrophotography, I'm always more than happy to answer. Clear skies, Nico
@@NebulaPhotos Thanks, I'll keep that in mind.
Thanks, Nico! Other RUclipsrs just rush through the explanation of setting up a DSLR camera. You take it nice and slow for us laymen astrophotographers.
Glad it was helpful Richard!
Seriously after all the steps i feel like i can capture the triangulum galaxy with my current setup. I know it might be impossible but my results gave me this amount of confidence. Thank you Nico.
The best part is that Nico shares his images to help us develop our post-processing skills (and for those including myself who have lame excuses for not going out to a Bortle 3 or better site). Thanks again, Nick.
This might sound weird, but while your Tutorials are super useful, the best thing is your voice and the calm way you explain things! It's kinda relaxing honestly, while sitting in front of the PC with a cup of coffee.
This reminded me of my old photography classes when I was studying, nice! I'm about to finish putting together my first kit for AP and get into it properly. I shot the Milkyway last week on a tiny Canon camera.. results had me soo excited. Light pollution where I live is literally nothing, a clear night produces spectacular results. The processing part really helped me understand more about Photoshop, despite having used it for over 20 years in different capacities, I never stop learning!
Thanks Nico!
just got into astrophotography and bought my new DSLR camera, this still be an amazing way to get started into the hobby! thank u for this amazing tutorial, subscribed!!!
Sinceramente he estado buscando ayuda para comenzar como aficionado en astro fotografía y déjame decirte que eres la persona que más me ha ayudado, eres el mejor, crack
Feliz de ayudar. Cielos despejados, Nico
I swear to you.
Last weekend I was asking myself some astrophotography questions such as how to compose pictures etc
Your channel came up this monday.
I'm really glad for that!
So intuitive
Thank you!
Thanks!
Watching this as a photographer with years experience, there were plenty of things I knew. In any other video, let alone one nearly 2 hours(!) I would have skipped ahead to the parts I needed to know.
But man, you are a terrific tutor. I watched the entire thing, and learned a lot. I was even interested in the bits I already knew.
You have a great way of conveying information. Very calm. Thanks for this video.
Time to dust off the old Astrotrac, chuck on a 300mm lens and see how it goes :)
Thanks for giving me some inspiration.
Thanks so much! I have an Astrotrac too, lovely piece of engineering. Clear skies, Nico
This is insanely helpful Nico. You've explained pretty much every single bit of capturing Orion. A thorough video that leaves nothing to chance or speculation. Thanks again and I hope to be able to do justice to your tutorial.
Finally i understand everything i need to know about stacking, dark, lights and everything else involved. Gota be the best teacher on here for astro photography, from taking a pic, to knowing what to use, when to use with the camera and how to layer in sequence.
Glad the video helped!
What I love about your videos is how thorough you are. All the settings, steps and everything else is very helpful for beginners, and I always recommend your videos when talking to a beginner.
I'm 3 years late to this party it would seem, but how bloody useful is this, thanks fella!!!
This was amazing, I’m always in awe every time I see images of the stars and nebulae, but to see the effort and talent that goes into producing these images, from start to finish, really is spectacular.
I learned so so much from this video. I have watched it a couple times in the past week. The way you broke each part down slowly was so helpful. For a person without a telescope I wasn’t sure I’d be able to capture our beautiful universe. Boy was I wrong!!! Thank you so much and please keep these videos coming! I personally love the ones with DSLRs without a tracker . Thank you again
Thanks Sam! I hope to continue the series with other objects that can be done without a tracker
I've been doing astrophotography for a few years now and this video would have been very helpful to me had it been available in 2009 🙂
Your calm approach and the fact we see you do this "live" with the little mistakes we all make (taking a shot with the button, instead of the remote, forgetting to charge batteries etc) is especially helpful. However, your refocusing with the mask @4 sec exposure had me screaming at the PC that it wasn't exactly in focus 😀
Keep up the good work dude!
I agree! In addition, and not to subtract (pun intended) from the obvious great value of information presented in this video, I couldn't unsee the overly subtracted background layer, making the brightness gradient go in reverse (and probably removing a little of witch-head signal, too).
Ok...I'm officially hooked. I was a professional scientist for decades, and a lifelong photographer, so I had lots of "kit" on hand. But your step-by-step teaching approach is exemplary. And your recent "challenge" with Trevor Jones demonstrated the possibilities. Which, as you both know, are endless. Beautiful work, my friend. Thank you for sharing it.
Watching this at 3 am to quench my astronomy thirst...worth it... definitely trying it sometime🙏
Wow, what patience and calmness. Really, really good instruction. I wish I had seen this before I photographed Neowise at 8 seconds. Thank you
Glad it was helpful Peter!
I really appreciate your work on this video start to finish. Astrophotography has always blown my mind. Thank you!🌠
Glad you liked it! Clear skies, Nico
Thank you so much for this! I never thought I will never get a picture of deep sky objects without any expensive gear or a tracker, You're the best!
Never before in my life have I watched a 2 hour video on RUclips. But, this was one of the best uses of my time ever. Thoroughly useful and interesting and thank you for taking the time to make this as simple as possible for beginners like myself. Subscribed!
I like your profile picture where’d you find it!
I live in Germany near Bonn and have some heavy gear including Celeston Scopes, mounts, cams and all that fancy stuff, connected to PC with automation and so on. That makes a lot of fun at my „home based observatory“ at my backyard, where I have nothing to carry away when intending to observing the sky on a broad angle. But I can not look to every Object due to restrictions to my horizon, shrinked by some other houses and trees in the neighborhood. I am so happy that I found this video as it enables me now to observe „close to horizon objects“ such as the Atlas Comet currently passing through and take great pictures in a excellent quality with portable and easy to setup equipment whenever it makes sense. Thanks for the hints! Have fun and „clear skies“ to everybody on the channel here.
Dude . I freaking love u . Like i dont even have a dslr camera and i watched this video from start to end . This is just mesmerizing stuff
ha, thanks! :)
Awesome, thank you! I love how you take the time to explain every little detail. It's often lost on people that each detail left unexplained is a roadblock or at least a bump in the road for the beginner.
Ive been into Astrophotography with my Nikon D7K for awhile but you were still able to teach me stuff! Thanks!
Best tutorial for beginners that Ive found on RUclips. Detailed, thorough and complete explanations every step of the way, from beginning to end. Great stuff.
my equipment is very meager i used a canon eos250 a tamron 70-300 telephoto and using this turotial managed to get an incredible image amazing thank you
I've learned a lot and I'm just starting to get into the hobby. Very clear and easy to understand for those not familiar with photography. I've watched other tutorials how to set the cam etc etc... and this one is by light-years the best one. Thank you for explaining
Thank you!! I'm in high school and just started getting interested in astrophotography. Great tutorial :)
Awesome Angela! I wish I knew about astrophotography when I was in high school. :) Clear skies, Nico
Very inspirational. How to work with basic photography equipment and to get this result. I salute you, sir. Also the effort and time you took to make this video. Big thank you!
he goes through and actually shows and doesnt move to fast which is perfect for someone learning. im still using this video even a year later! Thank you.
Is this the most useful video on youtube? I have referred back to this so many times in the last year, it's insane! Thank-you.
I find calibration is little tricky tho I'm watching this inspite of having no DSLR at all😂😂.
Btw nice tutorial with lots of patients to give us a clear understanding of the whole process of taking these shots❤️❤️
Finally everything is patiently explained. Much appreciated!
Glad it was helpful Nancy! Clear skies, Nico
Im so happy I found you. You’re a really great teacher.
Thanks Hazel! Clear skies, Nico
It's interesting watching some of your different workflows on image processing and how things somewhat moved around in order over the years.
Hopefully I’ve streamlined a bit. I would absolutely not do the gradient extraction how I did in this video in 2024. Both Siril and GraXpert are free and do a good job at removing gradients when the data is still linear.
@ something I need a lot of learning and practice on. I’ll check out the other software. Currently using Siril. Purchased a light filter. Now just waiting weeks for clear sky’s. May end up on a road trip! Heh
I am a longtime veteran of astrophotographing (55yrs), but I still learned something from this marvel of a tutorial! I had never heard of this little piece to check the sharpness of your lens. and I didn‘t know the name of the „MFN“ method, which had to compute manually with my pocket calculator (which still works!).
I don't even have a DSLR but I'm really into this shit. Thank you for this video!
This video gave me hope. This is the type of photography I have always been most interested in. Thank you so much!
I'm so glad! Clear skies, Nico
100% best astrophotography tutorial I've watched. Thank you!!
Glad it was helpful Michael! Clear skies, Nico
This is an absolutely fantastic step by step tutorial.
Normally, I skip any tutorial which is longer than 15 minutes. However, I watched every minute of this 2 hours long tutorial. You really covered lots of information without unnecessary fillers.
Job well done! Subscribed!
You sir are a godsend. My fiance's and my honeymoon will be in a location with little to no light pollution and am super excited to try this out. If anyone can't afford photoshop, affinity photo (as of 1.9) can stack and edit astrophotography in 32bit (one time small purchase).
Thanks for re-uploading. I'll try as soon as we are out of lock-down and I can find dark skies. Greetings from Madrid!
Greetings Pablo! Thanks for sticking with me, and sorry for the inconvenience. Maybe when we are out of lock-down, the milky way will be up- this technique will work great on the milky way core. Clear skies, Nico
Very good tutorial, worth in every minutes for almost two hours watching
Glad it was helpful!
Hi, Nico, I live in Uruguay. It's the first time I actually really understand how to prepare my photography equipment for a good astrophoto. We are in winter right now, and I am waiting for those clear nights to get out and try what you are teaching here. It is really awsome. Thank you , thank you soooo much! The best explanation ever! A doubt I have with flat frames, you were talking about an ipad... I take photos up in the hills, so how to make them? I can't be holding my Ipad, as it will surely move and change the taken photo....hmmm those are hard for me to really understand how to do them on field.....
If you can help me there I would be very gratefull . Thanks again Nico, Best wishes, and clear stars :)
Hi Daniela,
Here's how I do it:
After you are done taking your pictures of the night sky (lights), but before you turn your camera off, point it straight up and then rest the iPad (white screen) or drawing tablet on top of the lens hood. Take test exposures only changing the shutter speed until the histogram is just to the left of center. Then take 30 flats. If you are having issues with banding because the flats are too short, bring a clean white t-shirt and stretch it tight over the front of the lens hood, and then place the iPad on top of that.
Hope that makes sense.
Nico
Wow. Nice work Nico. It's been a long time since I sat through a RUclips video that long. Very useful information there.
I have been saving this video for the best scenario that i could find (least light polution) and finally got it. the result was beautifull and that is thanks to this guy. I take my session with a nikon D3500 and a 70-300mm lens (capture the nebula at 70mm) and even of having a crop sensor, the whole process made this picture beautiful.
So glad to hear about your successful night!
Awesome so glad you reposted this. I was popping myself. This is by far the best beginners guide for this type of photography. Thank you 🙏 and really appreciate it being free.
Thanks Stephen! Clear skies, Nico
@@NebulaPhotos Hi! I plan on buying a camera for Astrophotography, but also plan on using it for photographing wildlife and Cars (maybe just my personal car lol)
But I cant seem to decide if I should buy a crop dslr or a full frame dslr
I know that with a full frame, at least I think, is better in low light then with a crop dslr.
Also a full frame is apparently better at taking pictures like the milky way where it's a large size
And the crop dslr are better for planets or nebulas and galaxies far away.
Now , I want to be able to take pictures of wildlife, cars, astrophotography and possibly landscape and I dont want to buy a camera that can only do a few of those
What is your advice ?
@@DarkestKnight2424 go with Crop. Full frame is too much money, and as a beginner you can still almost do as good a job with crop. Unless you're thinking of prints, full frame isn't really required. Check out Potato Jet video on APS-C. You can save on sensor and lens, and invest that amount on multiple lenses for multiple types of photography you want to do.
I have watched this over and over and learn something new every time. Thank you!
So glad it's helpful Alexandra! I'm open to questions if you have any! Clear skies!
Imagine this video without timestamps
Nico, this is a great tutorial! Firstly, you explained how to do dark frames, flat frames,, etc, very well. Most tutorials just say, "Take dark frames flat frames... blah blah blah...", and move right on without telling us how to do them.
And I appreciated your comments about ethics in photography. It really irks me when I see photos of storm clouds or sunsets,or nature scenes, that are so over saturated and over sharpened, so there is no way you would ever see it that way in real life. Yet they are usually presented as though that was how it actually looked, in real life.
I do some astrophotography, and even though it is pretty well understood that you aren't going to walk out of your front door and see the stars looking like that, I usually mention the camera can see things we cannot see, and that I have enhanced the photo.
Thank you for a great, super informative, very thorough, step by step lesson, which I have no doubts will make me much better at what I am trying to accomplish! - RD
I wholeheartedly agree with everyone below, this is THE best tutorial on this subject to be found on RUclips. I accidentally came across it just after midnight last night and just had to watch the whole thing until after 2 a.m.. I have only been in to Astrophotography of this type since comet Neowise and although I had tried some of the techniques you talk about, so much of my knowledge of them was well below par. Now I'm really inspired to have a go at doing it properly - even with my 76 year old brain!! Thank you so much.
Glad you enjoyed it John! Let me know if you have any questions. Clear skies, Nico
@@NebulaPhotos Hi Nico, I do have a question.
The camera I'm using is a Panasonic FZ200 and depending on what I'm trying to photograph I'm using an appropriate zoom.
That's where I'm a bit unsure regarding particularly Bias and Flat frames. At no zoom the focal length is 4.5mm and at full zoom (24X) the focal length is 108mm so pre-preparing Bias and Flats is no problem.
The steps on the zoom control are not linear, so when I go for example 10X zoom I see from the image data that the focal length can be anything from 46.5mm to 49mm and I only find that degree of precision when looking at the detailed Raw image data on the computer after a shooting session
Obviously with a bit of care, taking dark frames directly after the lights on location, what ever zoom level I'm on, they will match.
So to my question. Do the Bias and Flat frames need to match the light frames focal lengths absolutely precisely?
Incidentally last night from my suburban back garden, on a rare clear night, I managed a reasonable Andromeda Galaxy image from 72 shots of 2 seconds / ISO1600, even though most of the stars were not visible to the naked eye.
I think ISO1600 is too noisy with this camera though.
All the best
John
@@johnwalch4887 Hi John, for Bias and Dark frames, the zoom level doesn't matter at all, you can take them at any zoom level and as long as the ISO is the same, and you take them in the dark with the shutter cap on, you are all set. For flat frames, you do want to take them as close to the zoom level of the lights as possible in order to accurately model the vignetting, but I don't believe a few mm off would matter. Clear skies, Nico
@@NebulaPhotos Thanks Nico - tonight's the night - sky is crystal clear over here!!
This tutorial is incredibly complete! Makes me excited to snap my first image!
Great to hear! Clear skies, Nico
Watched the entire 2 hours of this tutorial! Such an incredible one, Thank you so much💖
Glad it was helpful Rahul
If you have a Canon, you can install Magic Lantern on your memory card. It comes with much more sophisticated menu features, among others also an intevalometer.
Unless you're using the 1D product line. Canon has said they'll pursue legal action if they mess with the 1D firmware.
Any other features provided by ML besides the intervalometer for this astro-photography application? I have read of negative side effects of ML including unpredictable behavior. If the intervalometer is the extent of it I might spend the $30 on a piece of hardware that won't create risk to my $3000 camera.
A really great video, showing how to get into astrophotography using gear you already have, plus one or two bits of really cheap gear - genius! Thank you.
Best tutorial video for beginners on RUclips!
This is the first video I’ve seen by you and it’s excellent. Clear and with details that explain things well. I was keen on astronomy as a teenager but my career and other things got in the way. Now I’m 66, retired and keen to pick up where I left off. Astrophotography is definitely something I’m going to try out. This video should help a lot, thanks! Subcscribed!
Thanks Martyn, glad it was helpful. Clear skies, Nico
I just wanted to thank you for all the time and effort invested in this tutorial. It was great. Thank you.
Glad it was helpful Laura! Clear skies, Nico
This was a wonderful guide. Very in-depth, patient, and inviting to new astrophotographers. I'll be following this myself. You've convinced me I can do it :)
This is one of the best tutorials I've seen. I can hardly wait to photograph the Orion nebula and see what I can do with it. Thank you!
Stunning work. I remember when we first started hearing about people playing with newfangled DSRLs for astrophotography without telescopes in early '00s. Seeing everything explained step by step is wonderful.
This is about as cool as Deep Space. I have none of these items but you have so will check out your web site. Thank you for sharing your passion.
Amazing how effectively you can work when you really understand what you're doing, and have practiced it enough you know where they shortfalls are, what options are available, and what methods to use.
I live in New Zealand and a dark sky reserve just opened out about 30 mins away from me and apparently it has some of the darkest skys in the world. A dslr here costs about a grand but I think itll be well worth it considering the available environment!
oooh, nice Zac! That's awesome!
you can get a decent DSLR on TradeMe, that's what I did. I got a canon 550D for only $300 NZD with three lenses!
@@uwu441 Oh damn thanks mate! I'll definitely keep an eye out for em the only ones I saw from a quick glance were pretty pricey so I'll snipe the auctions for a while!
I spent my first evening taking pictures of the night sky. I found you video and RUclips site this morning. What a great comprehensive video, looking forward to my second night taking pictures thank you for all the great tips.
Thank you so much for going over the light pollution map in details. I was worried when you showed some of your pictures that i needed the black areas to capture the details with the stock equipment. Your area is very much like Southern Ontario, so if I drive north just an hour or so I can find areas that match you light pollution values.
Best explanation I've heard todate! Everything seems much clearer now! Thank you!
Glad it helped Mike!
Wow, I really LOVE your content and the way you teach! Thank you so much for being very patient and explaining everything ❤In my opinion you're the best youtube photographer I've seen in my life🤗
Thank you for the kind words Sofia! I am so glad you find it helpful. Clear skies, Nico
This is amazing 👏... I stuck the whole way through it... Thank you... 😊... and it gives a person with out the massive budget some what a shining glimmer of a hope that they can catch a star 🌟🤩
One of the best tutorials out there! Also, I must say, Nico's voice is very pleasing to listen to. It keeps me hooked contrary to some other youtubers....
I start today and even have a DSLR but I am already watching this entire video and I'm your follower now!