This is my first tracked astrophoto, and I think it turned out okay. I wanted more integration time but it was freezing cold where I was shooting, so I left earlier than I would have. I'm not really sure if the reddish swirls in background are nebulosity or artifacts.
Unmodified Canon 70d with canon 18-55mm ef-s lens at 25mm
Homemade barndoor tracker (I borrowed from astronomy club) - manually turned
34 light frames (34 min. total exposure, 1 min. subs)
Bortle 4/5
Shot at f/4, ISO 2000
15 flats frames, 25 bias frames
I didn't take any dark frames as I cut the night short from the wind and cold
Processing
Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker
Siril - cropping, background extraction, color calibration, histogram and curve adjustments, some saturation adjustment, green noise removal
Lightroom - Contrast, saturation, luminance, and other fine adjustments
Great first shot! The reddish streaking adjacent to Alnitak (the left most star - actually a three star system) is the flame and horsehead nebulae! Flame nebula is the circular spot at 10-11 o’clock there, and the streak at 6 o’clock is horsehead.
Run Starnett next time. You need to minimize the stars a bit.
Okay thanks, I will give that a try. I was wondering if I should do that.
You need shorter subs. 1 min is too long. All your stars are oblong. I would increase iso and take some 15s subs and check out the stars and see how round they are. After you find a good time length adjust iso to get enough detail without whitening out the stars.
Are you using the canon app? They have an intervalometer you can use once you get everything set up. If not I would recommend getting one. Makes shooting with dslr much better.
Good luck and clear skies.
Yes, I am using an intervalometer. I noticed that the stars were oblong. I figured it might be due to my polar alignment not being precise enough. It is just a plastic tube on the barndoor tracker. I will definitely experiment with shorter subs next time I go out, and I know there are ways to find the 'optimal' ISO for your camera but I kind of winged it this time.