The constellation of Orion and the bright star Sirius in Canis Major, down my country road, on a very cold and frosty moonless January night, with the temperature at -25° C. But no wind! This a stack of 5 x 15-second exposures, untracked, for the ground, stacked with mean combine mode to smooth noise, plus a single exposure for the sky, to keep the stars as pinpoint as possible. All at f/2 with Sigma 24mm Art lens and the Nikon D750 at ISO 3200. The image serves as a good workshop example of Rule of Thirds composition.
Orion and the star Sirius, at left, setting in the dawn sky over the Chiricahuas on the morning of December 9, 2015. The orange star is Betelgeuse. Light from the eastern dawn illuminates the landscape. Haze added the natural star glows — no filter used here. The sky is a stack of 5 x 90 second exposures at f/2.5 with the 35mm lens and Canon 5D MkII at ISO1600, with the camera on the iOptron Sky-Tracker to keep stars from trailing. The ground is from another set of 5 similar exposures with the tracker motor off, the eliminate blurring from the camera tracker motion.
A mosaic of the northern winter Milky Way and brilliant stars and constellations in and around Orion the Hunter. The Milky Way extends here from Perseus in the north to Canis Major in the south. Throughout the scene are numerous dark lanes and dust clouds such as the Taurus Dark Clouds at upper right. The Milky Way is dotted with numerous red “hydrogen-alpha” regions of emission nebulosity, such as the bright Rosette Nebula at lower left and the California Nebula at upper right. The curving arc of Barnard’s Loop surrounds the east side of Orion. Orion is below centre, with Sirius at lower left. Taurus is at upper right and Gemini at upper left. Auriga is at top and Perseus at upper right. I shot the segments for this on a very clear night on December 5, 2015 from the Quailway Cottage at Portal, Arizona. This is a mosaic of 8 segments, in two columns of 4 rows, with generous overlap. Each segment was made of 4 x 2.5-minute exposures stacked with mean combine stack mode to reduce noise, plus 2 x 2.5-minute exposures taken through the Kenko Softon filter layered in with Lighten belnd mode to add the star glows. Each segment was shot at f/2.8 with the original 35mm Canon L-series lens and the filter-modified (by Hutech) Canon 5D MkII at ISO 1600, riding on the iOptron Sky-Tracker. All stacking and stitching in Photoshop CC 2015. The soft diffusion filter helps bring out the star colors in this area of sky rich in brilliant giant stars.
