OT. Extreme Imaging - Let's see what you got!

[chrishet]

Being new to reef aquaria photography I've been inspired by the pics/techniques posted to this forum. I've always had a passion for imaging difficult subjects. From close up imaging to very distant/faint deep space imaging. Here are a few of my favorites...

[Don_Gnomio]

wow.... amazeing


did you use a microscope to take the 2nd and 3rd pic?

[this is me]

Originally posted by Don_Gnomio
wow.... amazeing


did you use a microscope to take the 2nd and 3rd pic?

You mean a telescope.

Amazing shots!

[Don_Gnomio]

yea..sorry..my brain dosent function after a full day of school...lol

[chrishet]

Hi Victor, here is a link to my website.

http://hetlage.com

On my site I have information about each object I've imaged and the equipment used to take it.

Keep those hobbies under control, it can get expensive.....

[Flipturn88]

Love the galaxy shots! They never cease to amaze me.

And greetings from a fellow Atlantian. I think we've met before--I'm the fish store girl.

[chrishet]

Hi Kayla! Thanks!

[this is me]

Just checked out your site and damn!! amazing!!
All the equipments and photos!!

[gregr]

absolutely stunning images... those astro photos make me feel really small
actually, i've seen quite a few astro photos and yours are certainly some of the best i've laid eyes on. really superb.
a friend of mine is in one of those clubs and sends me images all the time. i think people would appreciate the images even more if they knew home much effort and skill it takes to get that kind of detail. thanks for sharing-
Greg

[Robert Becker]

Very nice images, Chris. Have I seen your work somewhere before? Perhaps magazine covers or photo.net maybe?

[chrishet]

Thanks all, no published images yet-still trying.....

[DNA]

Those astrophotos are incredible and for sure very few know how much work goes into taking them.
The rest that knows really appreciates it when they are shared. Thanks.


The northern lights are relatively easy, but allways magnificent.


This is one of my difficult subjects.

[gho]

Chris, those are some really awsome shots! How did you take them/process them?

EDIT: Espeically the moon/galaxy ones.

[chrishet]

DNA, you are a true artist! You website is awesome. Great work!

[rich_tilbury]

Brilliant shots of the Horsehead Nebula and Eagle Nebula(?) It is amazing how far imaging technology has come, those sort of images used to be professionals only just a decade ago or so. Get them into Astronomy magazine now! Well done!

[chrishet]

Thanks Rich! That is Orion Nebula, not the Eagle.

Thanks Gregory, Most of my deep astro work is done using a special camera made by Santa Barbara Instruments Group. It is an 11mp Kodak chip that is used for scientific purposes, very sensitive and incredible dynamic range. The camera has a peltier cooling chip that chills the imaging chip to well below ambient temps -30 deg typical. This reduces noise and allows me to take longer exposures. The camera is monochrome so in order to get color shots I have to shoot through LRGB filters. Processing includes combining the color channels and a lot of noise reduction techniques. I takes time but the results are rewarding.

[Detritivore]

nice shot of the running man too chris did you use any filters (OIII, Ha, etc...)?

[MitchellB]

Chris
Great stuff. I played around with some star trails over the weekend but nothing to scream about and certainly not in your caliber. Astro photography is something I have always been interested in.

For the budjet concious what would a decent scope be?

I shoot with the 20D as well as film.
Any good( besides yours of course) sites dedicated to the art of astrophotography?

DNA

Every time I see that pod pic I get jealous. I love those shots.

[aberg12012]

I got some... I guess they are extreme in their own ways.

[chrishet]

Alan, sweet! What lens did you shoot those bike shots with?

[chrishet]

Thanks Detritivore, no special filters on the Orion Nebula shot, just RGB. I prefer to shoot just RGB but some of my deep nebula shots have an H-alpha data added (like the Horsehead above).

Mitchell, believe it or not it isn't about the scope so much as it is the mount. I take images with normal camera lenses sometimes. In order to take long images like this (4-8 hour exposures) you need to track the sky very accurately. I'll give you an example. My camera has a pixel size of 9 microns. If a star drifts more then that one pixel I get a blurred image (kinda like shaking a camera during a long exposure). So just think of the accuracy, you need to take an exposure, perhaps hours long, at an object millions of light years away, sitting on top of a constantly rolling ball (earth), and not deviating more then 9 millionths of an inch! So if your really want to get into deep space imaging get yourself a good mount, minimal Losmandy G11. and don't forget to have fun!

[Detritivore]

chris, did you get yours with the gemini GOTO? what do you think about the G8?

[joefish]

Holy cow , nice pictures there guys ,

After reading this thread and seeing those Images I'm going to throw my camera out and call it a day .

Keep up the excellent work .

[chrishet]

I started with a G11 with Gemini, I really liked it but it took a lot of tweaking to get it to track well. I think the G8 is a bit too light for imaging. Right now I have an AP 900 mount with goto. A much more accurate mount. I have a friend that has a Losmandy Titan with Gemini and he loves it.

[Philwd]

Those are absolutely great shots. You exposed for 8 hours!! My longest ever on film was 3 hrs on hypered tech pan. Man the cramps after that one....

Phil