Exploring Night Sky » Amit Kamble

Apr 04

by Amit Kamble in Astrophotography, Nightscapes 0 comments tags: Amit Kamble Photography, astrophotography, comparison, milkyway, moon, nightscape, photoshop

Before and After moonset – Milkyway comparison

How much does the moon affect when capturing the night sky ? Here is a comparison of what the camera sees when the moon is out and when the moon has set. The night / morning i captured this image, It was Waxing Gibbous moon with 95% Illumination. Moonset was in an hour and that is when i started doing a timelapse to capture that smooth transition from bright to dark sky. The images i used in the comparison are straight out of camera (SOOC) without any editing. The botton one is the first frame and the top one is the last frame of the timelapse. Exif: 15sec, ISO 1600, f2.8 at 24mm on Canon 6D

Apr 03

by Amit Kamble in Astrophotography, Deep Sky, Tutorial 0 comments tags: Amit Kamble Photography, astrophotography, Deep Sky, photoshop, processing

M51 Processing – Photoshop

This is a short video of M51 processing. A friend of mine “Rahul Ramtekar” from Dhruva Skywatchers Association asked me to process this beautiful image of M51 galaxy shot from a Dobsonian telescope. I did not have DSS so this set of image was stacked in PixInsight, but any stacking software will do. The image was taken by Rahul Ramtekar of Dhruva Skywatchers Group – Nagpur, while observing through the 10″ Go-To Dob at Sillari, Pench with Pravin Jat. Canon EOS 60D + Skywatcher 10″ Synscan Dob Alt-Azimuth Tracked 20 images Stacked in DSS + Postprocessing in PS 29Sec, f/4.8, ISO 1600 19th March 2016, 4.20 AM, 21.3732455 N,78.7575318 E Telescope Credits: Observatory, Sillari Pench Tiger Reserve

Apr 02

by Amit Kamble in Astrophotography, Nightscapes 0 comments tags: Amit Kamble Photography, Fuel Agency, Nightscapes, Photo Essay, UNO. MAgazine

My first magazine feature – UNO. Magazine

It was such an honor when the editor at UNO. Magazine asked me if I would like a feature in the magazine. Who could say no to it. This was going to be first magazine feature and really did not know what to write about myself, struggled to start with and then went back and asked the editor for some tips. She suggested writing a photo essay and that’s when I decided to write a short essay on my 4 year journey into astrophotography. After sorting a lot of images and proofing the article, it was finally the time when the article went under the press. Freshly printed, i got to see the final result. Wow, what an amazing feeling it is when you see an article featured in the magazine. I am too happy to not boast about it and the hard work that UNO. and guys at Fuel Agency has done to bring the latest issue to your nearest table. Below is my article feature, feel free to share and don’t forget to checkout UNO. Magazine and Fuel Agency [pdfviewer width=”100%” height=”570px” beta=”true/false”]http://amitkamble.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Uno-Issue-32-2016_Amit-Photo-Essay-2.pdf[/pdfviewer]

Feb 22

by Amit Kamble in Astrophotography, Deep Sky 0 comments tags: astrophotography, AT65EDQ, Deep Sky, Eta Carina, photoshop, processing, ZEQ25

The Carina Nebula: Star Birth in the Extreme

Carina Nebula is a region in the sky much brighter and larger (at least 4 times larger) than the famous Orion Nebula (M42), yet is not as famous. This is probably because of the location of the object which is circumpolar south of latitude 30°S, but is never visible north of latitude 30°N. It is a treat for people in the south and especially for astrophotographers. During the summer, we have Orion up in the sky and as the winter comes, it’s time for Carina to be up nice and high. This not so famous Carina Nebula is an extreme stellar nursery, a home to one of the youngest known star clusters (Trumpler 14), Trumpler 16 which is home to of WR 25, currently the most luminous star known in our Milky Way galaxy together with the less luminous but more massive and famous Eta Carinae star system, and HD 93129A (another luminous star). The nebula lies at an estimated distance between 6,500 and 10,000 light years from Earth. It appears in the constellation of Carina, and is located in the Carina–Sagittarius Arm. I Bought a new AT65EDQ and iOptron ZEQ25 mount but never used it due to bad weather around […]

Feb 08

by Amit Kamble in Astrophotography 0 comments tags: astrophotography, Deep Sky, Lagoon Nebula, photoshop, processing, Trifid Nebula

Lagoon and Trifid Nebula Processing Workflow using Photoshop CC HD

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjMMyVvSz1s?html5=1 Members of the facebook group “Indian Amateur Astrophotographer ” upload one RAW image to be processed by other members. This helps everyone learn and share the art of processing astro images. This is my small contribution to the group on how i processed this particular image of the Lagoon and Trifid nebula using Photoshop CC. The above image was taken by Subhankar Saha, Renganathan Venketesan and Dr. Suresh Mohan on a hot summer night from Yelagiri. The night temp was 29c on may 30th and they forgot finder scope, after some gimmicks they got a star centred and did the GOTO. This is 2 hr exposure from yelagiri at ISO 800x 10 minutes. The image was shot using Canon 500D modified, Takahashi FSQ85 at f 5.3. I’ve used basic curves and level adjustment along with some masking techniques, colour balance and camera raw filter. Click here for a full res image Here is a before and after comparison. Before is the RAW stacked image and later is the processed version. This shows that when you stack images and end up with a dark dull image, do not be disappointed. The image data is all there it’s a matter of […]

Dec 30

by Amit Kamble in Astrophotography 0 comments tags: Astronomik CLS Filter, astrophotography, C/2014 Q2, Comet Lovejoy, Light Polluted Location

Capturing comet “Lovejoy” from a light polluted location

December 2014 has been a lucky month for all astrophotographers, as the comet C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) brightens up and makes a visit in the night sky. I recently purchased a new AT65ED Scope and an iOptron ZEQ25 so that I could spend my holiday in India capturing all the Northern Objects, but unfortunately had to leave them at airport due to baggage restrictions. I was disappointed when I saw all the amazing images from all over the world of the comet. I really wanted to take a shot of the same, as it would be my first ever comet capture. I looked up at my gear and realized i don’t really need fancy gear to capture the comet, i can try with the gear i have. So, finally on 29th December 2014, I headed out to the terrace of my apartment in Nagpur City and set up my gear. Pointed out my camera towards South at around 12:30 AM. At start it was really disappointed as i did not see anything apart from the stars i saw everyday. I was using Canon 50mm f/1.8 on Canon 6D and Tamron 70 – 300 on my Nikon D5100. It was probably because […]