Milky Way over the horizon
Yelm, WA, July 2025
Nikon D5300, 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6, Untracked
18mm, f/3.5, 50 x 8 sec (8 min), Siril
photography
wildlife, landscapes, and the night sky
I started shooting as an upgrade to my phone camera, and shot whatever was in front of me. Then I pointed the camera to the sky to see space dust thousands of light years away. I still do both, usually on the same trip.
Going out on a shooting session is one of my favorite pastimes, since I get to experience the outdoors while looking for unique compositions. Most of the work comes after I’m home, from hunting through my RAW files to postprocessing. It’s always hard deciding on the best frame to edit, since there are so many that tell a different story. I started with a used Nikon D5300 and a kit lens, which I still use today.
Nothing can match seeing nebulae and galaxies with your naked eyes, but I still saw astrophotography as a way to appreciate the heavens with everyone else. Astrophotography has taken me to many dark sites, from Lake Superior to Mt. Rainier, allowing me to view extremely distant galaxies through my telescope while capturing photons for my final image.
Postprocessing is extremely important, since a big objective is getting as much light from the target as possible. I’ve made an animation of the workflow, but essentially we stack images of a long exposure to get a very long integration time, which averages out camera noise and allows for faint details to come through. Then, I use tools like background extraction to enhance the target and a star removal tool to brighten the target but not the stars.
astrophotography
photography