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At this weekend we've visited the Nikon Solutions Expo in Essen (Germany). It was a really nice fair with some impressive workshops and live shootings. One of the shootings was with an elephant and Monica Ivancan. Because of the worse background in the studio I had to change it to get a better story. So the model and the elephant are real and just the background is a composition.
I hope you like it
Greets
Matthias
___________________
Used Equipment:
Nikon D7000
+ AF-D 85mm 1.8
+ Pixelmator
After 10 days of cloudy skies, I finally had a clear sky in the early morning. However, the fainter stars were hidden because the break in the weather coincided with a full Moon. Still, I wanted to demonstrate the results of my new processing sequence, so I took this photograph. It was shot with a mild telephoto lens (150mm) such that the entire field of view above the top of our apartment block is within the Milky Way. The Southern Cross and the Coalsack Dark Nebula are the main features on show.
The stars making up the Southern Cross are (clockwise from the left) Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta Crucis, with Epsilon Crucis being the dimmer star inside the cross.
The bright feature above Beta Crucis is the Jewel Box Star Cluster. It is thought to contain around 100 stars. If you zoom into this part of the image, you will see that it is resolved into a dozen or so individual features.
The 500 Rule-of-Thumb for astro-photography is ...
500 Divided By the Focal Length of Your Lens = The Longest Exposure (in Seconds) Before Stars Start to “Trail”
For the 150mm lens that I used for this photograph, this rule would suggest a maximum exposure time of just over 3 seconds. However, I used an exposure time of 30 seconds so that I could capture additional light when restricted to using the f/4 maximum aperture of the lens and the maximum usable ISO of 50 for the CCD-based sensor.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coalsack_Nebula
www.eso.org/public/australia/images/b06/
apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap960503.html
www.shoalhavenastronomers.asn.au/constellations/crux/
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewel_Box_(star_cluster)
Barton, Australian Capital Territory, Australia.
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At the time when this image was photographed, I was using a Hasselblad 500C/M V-series camera paired with an early model CFV II 16MP digital back, S/N 3DSR12142, manufactured in 2008. This back has a CCD sensor. These sensors can only operate at low ISO values, and have a 32 second maximum exposure time to avoid overheating. It is thus not well suited to low light night sky photography. That said, I have been surprised by the result. They have been close enough to being "presentable" to encourage me to find ways to reduce the impact of various classes of noise.
The fine grained sensor speckle noise is easily removed during my normal post-processing sequence. The images that I get consistently have some unusual broad, diffuse dark spots on them. I have cleaned the outer surface of the IR filter and that didn't fix the problem, so the physical features that give rise to these artifacts must be sandwiched between the sensor itself and the bottom surface of the IR filter, a place that is out of reach for me to clean. After many experiments, I have produced a modified form of dark frame subtraction that is effective for attenuating these noise spots. Dark frame subtraction in its true and complete form is a common component of astro-photography post-processing.
Photography notes ...
The photograph was taken using the following hardware configuration ...
- Hasselblad 500C/M body (1994).
- Hasselblad Acute Matte D 42262 Focusing Screen.
- Hasselblad CFV II Digital Back for Hasselblad V mount camera 16MP (2008).
- Hasselblad 45 Degree Viewfinder PME-45 42297 (2001).
- Carl Zeiss lens - Sonnar 150mm f4 CFi - Nr 8912760 - Hasselblad - Prontor shutter (2003)
- FotodioX B60 Lens Hood for Select Hasselblad Telephoto CF Lenses
(Year of manufacture indicated in braces where known.)
Acquired the photograph with an ISO of 50, exposure time of 30 seconds, and aperture of f/4.
Post-processing ...
Finder - Removed the CF card from the camera digital back and placed it in a Lexar 25-in-1 USB card reader. Then used Finder on my MacBook Air to download the raw image file (3FR extension) from the card.
Lightroom - Imported the 3FR image. Used the Map module to add the location details to the EXIF header. Applied various adjustments in the Develop module. Output the image as a JPEG image using the "Maximum" quality option (4080 x 4080 pixels). N.B., I would have liked to apply a geometric correction for the lens distortion, but I have observed that this would compromise the important de-banding process that was performed later in the processing sequence using the Topaz DeNoise plug-in (see below).
photoFXlab - Applied the "Topaz Simplify Dust 1" filter with reduced Structure. Then applied the "Topaz DeNoise" filter with various custom settings, notably color (chromatic) noise reduction and de-banding. Saved the image as a JPEG image using the "Maximum" quality option.
> Applied the "Modified" Dark Frame Subtraction Process (see below) at this point in the sequence.
PhotoSync - Copied the JPEG file to my iPad Mini for the final processing steps and posting to social media.
Snapseed - Applied Selective lighting and color adjustments to darken the building at the bottom of the photograph.
Photoshop Express - Applied the Reduce Noise filter.
Lightroom Mobile - Performed some overall lighting adjustments - i.e., an increase in Temperature, an increase in Exposure, a large increase in Whites, and a large decrease in Vibrance.
ExifEditor - Copied the EXIF data from the Lightroom output image to the current working image.
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"Modified" Dark Frame Subtraction Process
The CFV II 16MP digital back that I am using with a Hasselblad 500C/M V-series camera produces images that consistently have some broad, diffuse dark spots on them. I have cleaned the outer surface of the IR filter and that didn't fix the problem, so the physical features that give rise to these artifacts must be sandwiched between the sensor itself and the bottom surface of the IR filter, a place that is out of reach for me to clean.
The fine grained sensor speckle noise is easily removed during my normal post-processing sequence. I have found the following, a modified form of dark frame subtraction, is effective for attenuating the larger noise spots. Dark frame subtraction in its true and complete form is a common component of astro-photography post-processing.
- Processing sequence to attenuate the relatively broad, diffuse dark spots that consistently show up on images captured with CFV II 16MP digital back, serial number S/N 3DSR12142, manufactured in 2008.
- This sequence is a modified form of dark frame subtraction ...
- Acquiring the Dark Frame ...
- Image acquired with a plain white target, small aperture, short exposure time, low ISO (as per the target image to be operated on).
- Processing the Dark Frame ...
- Imported into Lightroom.
- +5 EV exposure adjustment, then saved.
- Then applied partial noise reduction as per the target image ...
- Used TopazLabs Simplify Dust1 to remove speckle noise.
- TopazLabs DeNoise Color, DeBanding to reduce the chromatic noise and banding noise.
- TopazLabs photoFXlabs Lighting (Shadows to 0%) to make the background darker
> The result is an image with slightly dark background and the elevated noise features and very dark spots.
- Removing the sensor dark spot noise from a target image ...
- Open Dark Frame in Pixelmator.
- Add new layer and open Target Frame.
- Whilst the Target Frame is selected, set blending mode to Difference and Opacity to 100%.
- Merge all layers.
- Save copy as JPEG, best quality (100%), adding a suffix of "-PXMDifference.jpg" to the filename
DES MINEURS SONT INVOLONTAIREMENT RECRUTÉS POUR FORMER L'INTELLIGENCE ARTIFICIELLE ENSUITE MISE À PROFIT PAR DE GRANDS NOMS DE LA TECH, COMME AMAZON, MICROSOFT, GOOGLE, NVIDIA ET D'AUTRES !!!
Ainsi, les géants du numérique externalisent l'étiquetage des données à des plateformes et applications de crowdsourcing, en ignorant eux-mêmes que certains des travailleurs sont carrément des adolescents !!!
Ces jeunes individus, souvent basés dans des pays pauvres à l'autre bout du monde, sont chargés de compléter des tâches basiques pour des entreprises qui font appel à l'IA, pour seulement quelques centimes …
Les tâches incluent parfois des contenus explicites pouvant affecter la santé mentale de ces ados ”volontaires” …
Une exploitation qui met en lumière le côté sombre de l'industrie de l'intelligence artificielle, même si les mastodontes technologiques, qui ont une part indirecte de responsabilité, n'ont pas vraiment la main là-dessus !
En théorie, les adolescents ne sont pas autorisés à exercer !!!
Mais ils peuvent trop facilement contourner les contrôles d'âge, étant donné que tout se fait à distance.
Les plateformes demandent simplement à ce que l'utilisateur ait plus de 18 ans. Des preuves récoltées par Wired montrent que plusieurs mineurs ont pu s'inscrire en utilisant l'identité et le moyen de paiement de proches, qui suffisent à contourner la barrière !
Certains jeunes travailleurs voient ces plateformes comme une opportunité rare de percevoir quelques dollars, même si cela se fait par le prisme de la servitude numérique.
« C'est une nécessité pour gagner sa vie », explique Hassan, aujourd'hui présent sur les plateformes Appen et Clickworker.
L'industrie de l'IA doit faire face à des questions éthiques sérieuses concernant l'exploitation des mineurs, remettant en question la déterritorialisation d'Internet et le manque global de surveillance, au sens bienveillant du terme 🤔
My wife and I took a walk around Freedom Park in Charlotte, waiting for our restaurant to open. It was lovely and brought back memories of hanging out there in the early 1970s, with long hair and guitars.
Shot with Panasonic GH3 and edited on the iPad. I used the following apps: Snapseed > Stackables > Superimpose > Pixelmator
I have been exploring the Mandala function in Pixelmator 3.1. The base image for these trials was the Lilly of the Ice image posted earlier.
The Mandala and Kaleidoscope feature of Pixelmator are fascinating. After cropping the image, I did not like the blue [sky] background of the images. All of them had a strong vignette I could not get rid off.
So I applied the Tiffen Hicon2 and the NCR9 Rosey Hi-Light filter to some before sharpening them some more.
I'm sure I'll try them again with a different and better focused image sometime.
And no, I don't see anything spiritual in them, they are just plain fun to generate and look at.
Maybe an apt title for this is:
"No Dogs Allowed. Comets Every 80,000 Years"
This was a second (and last) attempt to capture the C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan–ATLAS over Lake Huron.
I posted a first attempt where I used my 55-250 zoom and realized I didn't need to zoom much at all. On this attempt, I used my nifty fifty and was able to frame a shot.
I also used Starry Landscape Stacker to get a little more presence out of the comet but, to be honest, the individual shots were pretty good on their own. I ended up stacking 20 shots where the comet was in the upper right of the frame.
I shot this at:
50mm
f2.2
3.2s
ISO 1600
I tried to get a foreground object and had a nice shot of this post and some grass leading to lake before realizing that I had framed a shot that likely would not get the comet when it became visible. I needed to change my composition and dealt with a foreground that was not to my exact choosing.
I did mask a clearer shot of the sign in but just a little. I left the grasses out of focus and most of the post as well.
He just left his home... in ruins. But why? He is part of an elite organization called the Sonos 5. There are five members of this group. Pyrô, Bøss, Spééd, Måverick, and Night Füry. This is Pyrô. He burns things, preferably in the night. He has just left his homeland, Qürix, in flames. You might be wondering why he has a shotgun... Well, let's just say he's nicknamed it the Dragon's Breath.
This is the beginning of a series I started. Continue the series!
Next: www.flickr.com/photos/live2servehm/7205565844/in/photostr...
If you fav, I would appreciate it if you would comment as well.
Variation on the theme of street photography. En travaillant sur cette photo qui est composée de plusieurs photos je suis arrivé à une gamme de couleurs qui m’a fait penser à Toulouse Lautrec.
Just before the natural lighting begins to show the pre-dawn blue and orange colors, the reflections on the lake from the lights of the new development of "Kingston Foreshore" are a delight. On this morning, the small ripples from the faintest of breezes helped to extend the length of the light trails on the water surface. The bright light in the sky on the left edge of the image is the planet Venus. There are many fainter stars visible if you look closely!
I captured this image using the NightCap Pro iOS app on my iPhone 6s Plus. It is a source of amazement how much detail a simple mobile phone camera can pull out of the near-darkness. A long exposure time of around 60 seconds gave the water and the reflections a very smooth and soft texture that I thought was a good way to go with the photograph. It also served to reduce the level of random, high ISO "speckle" noise (i.e., I was using an ISO of 2000) that would be present in the individual frames that this app uses to stack together to produce the final image.
Barton, Australian Capital Territory, Australia.
iPhone 6s Plus - Photograph taken with the back-facing camera on an iPhone 6s Plus.
NightCap Pro - An image with 4032 x 3024 pixels was captured using the Long Exposure mode and an averaging time of around 60 seconds. The app stacks multiple images that were captured in this instance with ISO 2000, an exposure time of 1/3 second, and a fixed aperture of f2.2.
Handy Photo - Used the Retouch tool to remove some lens internal reflection artifacts.
PixelMator - Altered the white balance and then applied overall lighting adjustments.
Snapseed - Applied some of the "People" HDR filter.
Handy Photo - Used the gradient lighting option to darken the upper part of the image.
Snapseed - Added some circular dark vignette to the image.
ExifEditor - Transferred the EXIF data from the original photograph to the final image.
Edited using Pixelmator Pro
Thanks for the comments, faves and visits
To see more of my HDR and 4K videos please see my Video Website: vimeo.com/randyherring