I found RAW

When I first took interest in astrophotography, many folks on forums suggested shooting in RAW. I did for one outing, and never used it for post-processing (which is the whole point), then abandoned it to continue shooting jpeg.

Well, to improve my game, I decided to try and learn about post-processing again. I always viewed it as cheating (for no good reason, just because I didn't understand it), but I know most people who are serious about their photography do it, so it can't be that bad, right?

My friend Lindsay is an amazing wedding photographer (shout out if you're reading this!), and I know she spends a lot of time editing her work, so that inspired me to look into it--maybe I could give my Milky Way photos some pop.

Not every program can handle RAW images, or the Nikon specific NEF format. With that in mind, I started using ViewNX2 from Nikon--free software that came with my D7000. It's not meant for heavy editing, but you have some reasonable capabilities with it. I also followed a couple tutorials that used Lightroom to get started for ideas.

Since most of the images that I'm proud of are in jpeg format, I didn't have much to work with as far as testing goes. I did have one image though. It's one that I'm actually really happy with, that I took on Mackinac Island just after grad school. I've already written about it on the blog here--I love the blue hues and the location even more. I didn't think I'd be able to improve upon it much, but I gave it a try anyway.

Here is the original unedited image:

And after taking some time to edit:

I think the greatest change was in the white balance. I'm not altogether sure if I got it right though. The second image seems truer to life, and the colors pop more (particularly the lichen covered harbor wall). I'll play more, and maybe change my mind...

As happy as I was with the first image, taking a few minutes to tweak the image in ViewNX2 made a huge difference, and I love it.

Even though VNX2 is limited in its capabilities, for my purposes it is great for editing. My "workflow," if you can call it that, is simple and I don't do any batch processing. There may be a time when I'm ready to jump to Lightroom and use Adobe's $9.99/month 'Photography' package, but not yet--not until I learn enough to actually need (want) it.

One concrete result of this experiment is that I'm shooting in both RAW and jpeg from now on--my D7000 has dual slots, so I can have the convenience & compatibility of jpeg and the flexibility & endless possibilities of RAW--I shall have and eat this cake.

Inspired boredom

I have a sinus infection.

I spent today in my room nearly exclusively.

Two rather unfortunate statements.

In order to assuage my boredom and ennui, I took to re-imagining the banality of my room using my camera and some natural light--high and low.

Taken 12/29/14 at 12:09PM EST
F-stop: f/4
Exposure time: 1/1250 seconds
ISO: 6400
Auto white balance, auto ISO
with Nikon D7000 body and Nikon 35mm f/1.8G AF-S DX Lens
I love to experiment with depth of field. This is just a tuner and capo on my mousepad. I kept the aperture stopped down somewhat to shrink the field of view and had plenty of light, so I could get away with a higher shutter speed and high ISO.

Taken 12/29/14 at 12:14PM EST
F-stop: f/4.5
Exposure time: 1/2500 seconds
ISO: 3600
Auto white balance, auto ISO
with Nikon D7000 body and Nikon 35mm f/1.8G AF-S DX Lens
Over time some bubbles formed on the inside of my glass of water--a thin enough layer that even the curvature of the glass renders some of them out of focus at f/4.5. I had plenty of light to work with here as well.
 

Taken 12/29/14 at 3:18PM EST
F-stop: f/4.5
Exposure time: 1/250 seconds
ISO: 6400
Auto white balance, auto ISO
with Nikon D7000 body and Nikon 35mm f/1.8G AF-S DX Lens
Here I put three objects in order (the second is pretty dusty), and used approximately the same depth of field as the previous two images. My desk was getting boring, so...to a bookshelf for this one. The painting is from a local Ludington painter. My Grandpa and Grandma Split had it in their home.

Taken 12/29/14 at 6:43PM EST
F-stop: f/1.8
Exposure time: 1/80 seconds
ISO: 6400
Auto white balance, auto ISO
with Nikon D7000 body and Nikon 35mm f/1.8G AF-S DX Lens
I stopped down to f/1.8 for this one on account of low light. The vantage point is from my desk into my neighbor's backyard. There is a little bit of orange light from across the street that gets blurred through the screen. Of the series of shutter speeds and apertures I took, this most accurately described the mood of my room at the time.

Vignette: Echinacea

Image not modified using software; Taken 8/23/14 at 11:28AM EST
F-stop: f/7.1
Exposure time: 1/200 seconds
ISO: 200
Auto white balance
with Nikon D7000 body and Nikon 35mm f/1.8G AF-S DX Lens

Robin was in town this summer, and I headed with Brian and Scott to do a little tenting in Mackinaw City.  We stayed at TeePee and ventured to the island for a day of fog shrouded hiking.

These Echinacea flowers were from a residential neighborhood near the sports park and high school fields on the island.  The coloring on the petals was vibrant and they had clearly seen some fauna love, evidenced by the state of the edges.

Use of f/7.1 gives the photograph some depth and strata, with petals and stamen in focus.  The light was pretty diffuse because it was so cloudy and foggy.

Vignette: Manistee Galaxies

Image not modified using software; Taken 9/25/14 at 10:03PM EST
F-stop: f/1.8
Exposure time: 8 seconds
ISO: 1600
Auto white balance
with Nikon D7000 body and Nikon 35mm f/1.8G AF-S DX Lens

The field of stars here is another image from my professors' 80 acres in Manistee, MI.  This was taken from my campsite.  After taking some photographs at the lake I headed back to gaze in my chair before bed, away from the droves of mosquitoes.

Earlier in the summer in Mackinaw City at a Dark Sky event, I was shown where to find the Andromeda Galaxy, M31.  I dutifully returned to find it in this pristine bit of dark sky.  Not only was I rewarded with a sighting of Andromeda (bright smudge high and left of center), but I discovered later at my computer that I had also captured the Triangulum Galaxy, M33, by accident (dim smudge center, near bottom).  See if you can find it.

This image uses the same settings as my Lake Olga Milky Way photograph.  You can see some stars beginning to trail in the corners, upper left in particular.  Some of the brighter stars in the center make up the constellation of Andromeda.  One can use these as signposts to find the location of the galaxies.

Vignette: Mackinac Island Harbor Blues

Image converted from RAW to jpeg in ViewNX 2; Taken 9/18/14 at 10:42AM EST
F-stop: f/8
Exposure time: 1/250 seconds
ISO: 100
Auto white balance
with Nikon D7000 body and Nikon 35mm f/1.8G AF-S DX Lens

This fall I camped with my parents and friend Cam in Mackinaw City.  It was my first vacation after graduate school, and our first time fall camping on the Straits.  Chilly and delightful.

We found the B&B that a friend of my father was staying at with his wife and this was a view of some docks off the back of it.  It was such a cool, clear day and the moors were so, so empty.  The contrast with summertime bustle struck me right away.

Most striking though were the hues of blue that plastered themselves on any surface they could.  The dock paint contrasted with the water, contrasted with the sky and clouds, contrasted with dock paint.

Vignette: Drizzly Lake Cadillac

Image not modified using software; Taken 12/27/14 at 1:56PM EST
F-stop: f/11
Exposure time: 1/4000 seconds
ISO: 6400
Auto white balance
with Nikon D7000 body and Nikon 35mm f/1.8G AF-S DX Lens

My family and I went to do some XC skiing in Cadillac this Christmas break, but ended up geocaching in the rain instead.  We were driving along the channel between Lake Cadillac and Lake Mitchell when I stopped for this photo.

It was soggy, wet, cold and windy.  Alas, I was the only one who wanted to stand outside.  I wouldn't necessarily recommend these settings, but I wanted to boost the contrast between the open water on the lake and the ice that the crazy fishermen were risking their lives on.  The graininess is an effect from the high ISO setting combined with short exposure time.

I like how the photograph ended up being somewhat old timey and how the patterns in the ice were accentuated.

Vignette: Lake Olga Milky Way

Image not modified using software; Taken 9/25/14 at 9:19PM EST
F-stop: f/1.8
Exposure time: 8 seconds
ISO: 1600
Auto white balance
with Nikon D7000 body and Nikon 35mm f/1.8G AF-S DX Lens

I made this image while tenting for a couple nights in Manistee, MI on 80 acres that a professor of mine at Calvin owns.

Conditions were nearly perfect: the moon was new, Lake Olga is in the middle of private and federal forest land away from cities, and the humidity was fairly low that day.  This photograph was taken well after dark.

Though invisible to my eye, an 8 second exposure was still enough to pick up some lingering rays from the setting sun, below the horizon.  This allowed for some color in the sky and clouds, yet was dark enough to expose the Milky Way in the southwestern sky.

Exposing for longer than 8 seconds with my 35mm lens would start to cause star trailing, so I kept it to a minimum.  As your focal length increases, you will need to decrease your exposure time in order to avoid the trailing effect.