32
That space photo from Chile had weird star trails that bugged me for two days
Last week I was scrolling through the sub and saw a really nice shot of the Milky Way over the Atacama Desert. Beautiful framing, great foreground, but the star trails were all slightly stretched in the corners. Not a lot, just enough to notice if you zoom in. I kept thinking it was just the upload compression or maybe my phone screen. But I pulled it up on my monitor at home and nope, the corners were definitely soft and trailing. I shoot with a tracker myself on an old EQ mount I picked up used, so I know how easy it is to miss that when you're checking on a 3-inch screen in the field. It happens to me about every third night out. Has anyone else noticed that a lot of popular astro shots on here seem to skip fine-tuning the tracking? Or am I just being too picky about a few pixels?
2 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In2 Comments
torres.jason1mo ago
Tell me about it. That loupe idea is solid, I might have to borrow that. I've had nights where I thought I was dead on with the polar scope, only to get home and see a subtle drift in the corners on every single frame. It's maddening because you don't see it on that little camera screen, especially when you're cold and just want to get the shot. I've gotten to the point where I'll redo my alignment twice before I even start shooting, because that ten minutes beats spending an hour in post trying to warp the stars back into circles. It's the little stuff that kills you with this hobby, isn't it?
7
umaf441mo ago
Oh man, I feel this so hard. It's like that perfect shot where everything aligns but the corners give it away every time. I've started bringing a little magnifying loupe to check my live view in the field after I learned the hard way that my tracker's polar alignment was off by just a hair. Now I spend an extra 10 minutes on alignment and it saves me hours of frustration later. What do you use to fine-tune yours when you're out there?
4