Begginer Astrophotographer, i need some tips, thanks Requests for constructive critique · @VictorBC90 · ... · 14 · 352 · 9

Not bad at all for a 2nd try! Where's your first try? Don't be afraid to post up in the gallery when you've got revisions - lots of quality stuff on Astrobin, but also no worries for us newer people as well, since there's always an available subject for reshoots and improvements years later. Sometimes it's fun to look back on the history of what was shot and remember the techniques vs not having it available on here to look back on. As Orion is starting to rise sooner, here's a shot I just took not that long ago of the same target if you'd like a comparison https://www.astrobin.com/xhuqa4/B/ at 135mm 2min subs - during a mostly full moon at 1am. I'm only maybe 2 years back into astrophotography with still a lot of room to improve. So you'll probably get many more shares to this thread as well, some will be pristine shots as we're accustomed to, and others may be more average like mine - each photographer will have different techniques most likely or exposure times, so it's a hobby where you're always learning. Glad you've started your journey into astrophotography, as it's an area you never stop learning.

Some constructive tips I noticed:
Focus is off - try using a Bahtinov mask over the dew shield next time, or just zooming in very close in your shots to make sure you've got pinprick stars.
Coloration is a bit blue for this target, if you're doing manual curves it's easy to overshoot in one area so just go very slowly, many layers and curves.
You've also got some blur going on. I'd suggest shooting DSO with a star tracker, as you can match the movement of the sky then with longer exposure.
Try stepping down ISO and increasing your shot time - exposure is very very fast, so you're going to get a lot of noise at that amount of ISO. 
Try stepping down the F stop to something not quite at the max - maybe f3.2, if you can. Full open at f2.8 may not be as sharp on a zoom, so adjust then accordingly.
Level your blacks a little so that your curve is not directly peaking on the left side. It's okay to not have a pure black sky as it helps the eye see color detail in DSO objects more.

Others here are far more experienced than me so will likely have more to add. But nicely done! Glad you're enjoying the stars with your camera and starting on the adventure of astrophotography. Also, if you're not yet on Cloudy Nights - try posting this up there as well in the beginner astrophotography section, as you'll likely have others in your same boat. Astrobin gets a lot of vets to this hobby, so the beginner forums at CL may have more regularly browsing that section!
Hope this helps a little!

@VictorBC90:

Not bad at all for a 2nd try! Where's your first try? Don't be afraid to post up in the gallery when you've got revisions - lots of quality stuff on Astrobin, but also no worries for us newer people as well, since there's always an available subject for reshoots and improvements years later. Sometimes it's fun to look back on the history of what was shot and remember the techniques vs not having it available on here to look back on. As Orion is starting to rise sooner, here's a shot I just took not that long ago of the same target if you'd like a comparison https://www.astrobin.com/xhuqa4/B/ at 135mm 2min subs - during a mostly full moon at 1am. I'm only maybe 2 years back into astrophotography with still a lot of room to improve. So you'll probably get many more shares to this thread as well, some will be pristine shots as we're accustomed to, and others may be more average like mine - each photographer will have different techniques most likely or exposure times, so it's a hobby where you're always learning. Glad you've started your journey into astrophotography, as it's an area you never stop learning.

Some constructive tips I noticed:
Focus is off - try using a Bahtinov mask over the dew shield next time, or just zooming in very close in your shots to make sure you've got pinprick stars.
Coloration is a bit blue for this target, if you're doing manual curves it's easy to overshoot in one area so just go very slowly, many layers and curves.
You've also got some blur going on. I'd suggest shooting DSO with a star tracker, as you can match the movement of the sky then with longer exposure.
Try stepping down ISO and increasing your shot time - exposure is very very fast, so you're going to get a lot of noise at that amount of ISO. 
Try stepping down the F stop to something not quite at the max - maybe f3.2, if you can. Full open at f2.8 may not be as sharp on a zoom, so adjust then accordingly.
Level your blacks a little so that your curve is not directly peaking on the left side. It's okay to not have a pure black sky as it helps the eye see color detail in DSO objects more.

Others here are far more experienced than me so will likely have more to add. But nicely done! Glad you're enjoying the stars with your camera and starting on the adventure of astrophotography. Also, if you're not yet on Cloudy Nights - try posting this up there as well in the beginner astrophotography section, as you'll likely have others in your same boat. Astrobin gets a lot of vets to this hobby, so the beginner forums at CL may have more regularly browsing that section!
Hope this helps a little!

Hey psychwolf, thank you very much for the help, really beautiful star effect that you have in your shot!
I will search for Cloudy Nights, thanks for the sugestion.
About the techinical stuff, yeah i hear you, there are many things that we have to be aware and ready before start the photo session, also in the image processing...

David Nozadze:
Hey Victor!

Excellent work for the 2nd try. You definitely understand how to expose and how to process. So, I think you should invest into a simple tracker, something from Sky Watcher or iOptron. Without these, you will alway get those elongated stars each time. But with a tracker, you will be able to expose 30 seconds, perhaps even up to a whole minute per shot. Orion nebula is indeed one of the tricky targets, as you need to have a wide dynamic range in the image to show super bright core along with super dim nebulosity. But once you master it, then it is most rewarding. You can capture it and process it every year and discover something new in it. It was the very first DSO I photographed, almost exactly one year ago. This is what I got: 


But then I reprocessed the very same stack with some new skills, I learned during this year and this is what I got from the same shot:



Now can't wait for this beauty to get high in the sky and shoot again

So as the friends said above, go ahead, shoot as much as you can and then return to your work over and over again and share it with us, please

Clear skies

D

Considering your equipment, it's already a great image.

there are some good tips mentioned already.
Focus, F-stop, ISO, etc. And the post processing is something that simply takes time. Learning what works and what doesn't.
I'm still learning new stuff every day about the post processing.

The biggest improvement will probably come from a star tracker, so you can increase your exposure time, and decrease your ISO.
trying to shoot untracked, it simply put, very difficult.

Obviously, this is a bit of an investment. A "skywatcher star adventurer" or "ioptron skyguider/sky tracker" will cost you a bit.
Depending on how serious you plan on taking this hobby, it might be worth it.