A7RII Astrophotography + Aurora

[Jim Dockery]

I got back out in the mountains a couple days ago and was very happily surprised after checking my first star shot that the mysterious glow behind Mt. Shuksan (no city in that direction) was the aurora! I shot a bunch, set up a time-lapse and went to bed, then got up just after sunrise to get some shots of Mt. Baker. My wife and I went on a nice hike along Baker Lake after that.

The camera did great in most respects, but some longer shots (over 10 sec. have hot pixels that show up rather dramatically in dark areas (I've worked on them in these shots). I experimented with long exposure noise reduction on/off and it did help.

Blend of two exposures - one at late dusk for the foreground, another after the stars came out.

Mt. Shuksan Aurora 1

Mt. Shuksan Aurora 2

Mt. Shuksan Aurora + Milky Way

Sunrise on Mt. Baker

Mt. Shuksan morning​

 

[Doug Kerr]

Hi, Jim,

All stunning works!

Several have aspect ratios somewhat "unexpected" for a "outdoors" shots but very appropriate for the concepts here.

Glad the machine worked so well. It is certainly making its mark in these precincts!

Best regards,

Doug

 

[Asher Kelman]

I got back out in the mountains a couple days ago and was very happily surprised after checking my first star shot that the mysterious glow behind Mt. Shuksan (no city in that direction) was the aurora! I shot a bunch, set up a time-lapse and went to bed, then got up just after sunrise to get some shots of Mt. Baker. My wife and I went on a nice hike along Baker Lake after that.

Jim,

Yes, it's great when one's wife also enjoys the trip! Is she a photographer too?

The camera did great in most respects, but some longer shots (over 10 sec. have hot pixels that show up rather dramatically in dark areas (I've worked on them in these shots). I experimented with long exposure noise reduction on/off and it did help.

Did you find this in just the brightest spots. As there's something in the construction of the Raw image that makes exceptionally high contrast areas non-optimal.


Asher

 

[Asher Kelman]

Mt. Shuksan Aurora + Milky Way

​

Simply divine, and your very parsimonious black border works!

Asher

 

[Jim Dockery]

Thanks for the comments guys. Yes, I'm lucky to have a wife who agrees to come with me on moderate hikes. She isn't much of a photographer, but is going to get into it a bit more now that she'll have my NEX-7 to play with. She mostly shoots for future quilting ideas - her retirement thing is art quilting.

The hot spots are not in high contrast areas, not sure it has anything to do with the RAW compression issue. They are easiest to see in totally dark areas like the mountain in the last image. one way I've delt with it was to select that area and apply a dust removal filter - not any detail in there anyway so it doesn't hurt much.

 

[Andy brown]

Jim.

Awesome. Absolutely awesome.
Sometimes nature smiles upon you and treats you to a spectacle of epic proportions.
You got to enjoy that and also (with your substantial skills) got some astounding images. Money shots to be sure.
I'd be doing cartwheels looking at those on my monitor!
They are all excellent but for me Aurora Mt Shuksan 1 is quite magnificent.

Occasionally, you get a shot (so I'm told) where you think, "Gee, I nailed that one!".... I reckon you nailed that one with a sledgehammer.