Astro Modified: First Weekend with a New Camera.
On Wednesday, July 3, I set out to trial a new-to-me visible + H Alpha modified Sony A7iii by Spencer’s Camera. I got a later start than planned and felt a bit hurried packing everything up, but I was excited about the plan and had several compositions in mind. I left the house around 9:45 PM and headed for Logan Valley, south of Eastern Oregon’s Strawberry Mountains. As I came up to the last turn, I passed it. Confused at having never seen the road but only fencing, I turned around and and slowly pulled up to the road to find a barbed wire fence across it. It clicked: of course this plot of land would be an allotment by the Forest Service for cattle grazing during the summer. Frustrated and in the dark with no backup plan, I decided to test the camera anyway and just enjoy the consolation prize of an uninspiring composition: a quiet night under the stars. I set up the tripod and declination bracket, polar-aligned the star tracker, and attached the tripod head to the mount. As I moved to place to A7iii into the tripod head, I realized a major flaw in my work. In my hurry to leave the house, I’d forgotten to attach an arca-swiss plate to the bottom of the A7iii. I searched my bag, but I couldn’t find an Allen wrench to use the plate from my other camera. I felt defeated. For whatever reason, perhaps mocking myself, I moved to set the camera down in the tripod head and noticed it fit, balancing there. The night was completely still, so I decided (to hover my hands around the camera body and) take a series of short exposures to stack for a first try with the new camera. For all that went wrong, this photograph came out pretty alright.
Exif:
Ground: Sony A7RIII + 20mm f/1.8
20mm l f/2.2 l ISO 800 l 160”
Sky: Spencer’s Camera astromodified Sony A7iii + 20mm f/1.8
20mm l f/2.2 l ISO 3200 l 15” x 32 images stacked (not sure how I got 32 when I set it for 15)
I spent a bit of time editing the image on the 4th of July after watching a video on processing images from astromodified cameras that Spencer’s Camera had on their Youtube channel, as the raw files for these images are nearly all pink or red due to the camera’s increased sensitivity to red light. The video was extremely helpful, and I couldn’t believe I’d never thought to look for their channel before, as I’ve spent countless hours trying to color-correct night skies over the past few years. This was easily the quickest I’ve ever done it with satisfying results and the blending process was made easy by a simple horizon line.
After a day of work on Friday, July 5th, I set again to try the new camera - this time with an arca-swiss plate attached to the bottom to enable use of the tracker. I got an earlier start, though not as early as I’d have liked, as I set out for a reservoir on BLM land surrounded by an enormous ranch in the Sylvies Valley of Eastern Oregon. Remaining consistent for this new moon cycle, I made it about ten minutes south before I realized I’d forgotten a headlamp. Frustrated, I returned home to grab it and then set back out on the road.
The sun set on the drive to the reservoir rather than after I arrived, but there was still plenty of light available for another hour, so I packed up and set out for the hill above the north side of the lake to scout a composition. About halfway up the hill, I checked the photopills app and realized that perhaps the Milky Way would be positioned too far to the west for what I had in mind (I turned out to be wrong - perhaps a bit frazzled or rushed), but either way I turned back and hiked down and toward the car. On the way, I found a composition by the lakeshore that would work, but the evening hatch of insects was unbearable so I headed back toward the car for reprieve. On the way up the road to the reservoir, I’d noticed flowers that might make for a composition, so while I waited on the stars I decided to check them out.
I’ve seen plenty of photographers create beautiful, focus-stacked shots of wildflowers at night, and I’ve always wanted to replicate something like that. Unfortunately, there was enough of a breeze to keep the task from being a breeze. I ended up having to mask and blend the stack manually, which I’ve never done before. It certainly isn’t perfect but given the conditions I had and it being my first time manually blending a foreground, I’m really happy with the focus and detail. I think more foreground flowers or at least vegetation around the flowers would’ve helped the composition, and if it wasn’t windy, I think having the main subject break the horizon might create a better visual transition from foreground to sky. But that’s the fun for me - to enjoy the successes and to keep chasing something further, better, more beautiful, more inspirational than before.
Exif:
Ground: Sony A7RIII + 16-35mm f/2.8
16mm l f/4 l ISO 800 l 0.8” x 3 images focus-stacked
Sky: Visible + H-Alpha Sony A7iii + 20mm f/1.8
20mm lf/2 l ISO 640 l 120” x 5 images stacked
As the light faded into true night, focus stacking became nearly impossible with the breeze, and though I tried several compositions with different plants, I used the first set of three images I took due to shorter shutter speeds. I headed back to the road and stood for a minute admiring the sky as the Milky Way and several of its nebular structures became visible to the naked eye. I walked up the road to a high point and set up the tripod, star tracker, and astromodified camera to take the sky stack of images. As the camera clicked away, I realized that my hilltop lake overlook composition certainly would have worked just fine for the early hours of the Milky Way visibility. I also noticed that the Milky Way lined up perfectly with the road I was standing on, so after the star images, I broke down the star tracker and setup the A7RIII to take a foreground shot of the road
Exif:
Ground: Sony A7RIII + 16-35mm f/2.8
16mm l f/2.8 l ISO 1250 l 240”
Sky: Visible + H-Alpha Sony A7iii + 20mm f/1.8
20mm lf/2 l ISO 640 l 120” x 5 images stacked
I had the thought of making my way in the dark back up the hill to overlook the lake, but while taking the foreground shot of the road I heard a howl not followed by yips (as coyotes, which are generally harmless to humans, make), forcing me to question if I’d just heard a wolf for the first time. We have both species here in eastern Oregon, but I’ve never heard wolves in the wild before. I’m told their sound is “bone chilling,” and I wasn’t sure if what I’d heard qualified. I’m sure if you have to ask, it doesn’t. Regardless, the question gave me the spooks and I decided to head back to the car and call it an early (12:30AM) night. The composition over the lake would have me 200-300 yards from the car standing in sagebrush and low juniper in the pitch black with only one path back to my vehicle. If they were coyotes it wouldn’t matter, but I’ve met ranch hands that work the surrounding land who’ve plenty of stories to tell about wolves in this valley, and having that topic at the front of my mind, I was in no mental position to wander up into the hills in the dark alone.
After I packed the car, I rolled down the windows and sat in the dark for a few minutes, contemplating the situation. In the middle of my thought, the silence of the night broke out into raucous yipping, presumably from many different coyotes not too far away southeast of the lake. Sitting in the car, I laughed a little bit at myself for worrying, but only a little, as the known existence of wolves still gave me reason for caution. I thought about getting back out to wander up the hill but decided I was content with what I’d collected for the night and that sleep sounded like a far, far more enjoyable idea.
I really enjoy these two images from the second night. I think it’s because of the colors and the edits more than the scenery or the compositions. Early in the editing process, I wasn’t sure if I was impressed with the files from the visible + H-Alpha Sony A7III, mostly because the files are only 57% of the size of files from the A7RIII. But my mind quickly changed as I started editing. What I can’t emphasize enough is how much this camera changed the editing process for me. I’ve never had an easier or quicker time achieving correct colors in the night sky, and that might be worth the investment all by itself! I can’t tell you how much time I’ve spent in the past trying to match color tones between sky and foreground images and how hard it’s been to achieve even somewhat realistic colors in the sky. Attaining that deep, desaturated blue sky while simultaneously keeping the purples, pinks, reds, and oranges of the Milky Way was remarkably easy! And I did it all without brush masks, which are tedious and difficult to create. I’ll aim to create a post in the future detailing my editing process for Milky Way photos, but for now I’m just happy to be enjoying editing them again without taking an entire day to do so.
As always, I hope you’ve enjoyed the read. Thanks for being here.
Until next time,