First Attempt at Astrophotography - May16

I've been wanting to try this out for awhile now. My camera (a Canon 5d Mkii) is a terrific piece of kit and can resolve amazing detail.

I played around tonight and took these of the night sky. The camera was mounted on a tripod and I used a cable release to hit the trigger.

Most exposures were about 10-20 seconds long with a wide aperture (f2.8) to let as much light in as possible.

I then used both Photoshop and Photomatix to accentuate detail.

Thinking about buying a telescope so I can point it at the planets and constellations and mount my camera to it. So expect a few more shots like these - am intending to get an hour or two out of Brisbane so as to avoid light pollution which should resolve detail better.

Note: click on the images to view. Spot the Southern Cross (Crux constellation) and the aircraft light trail in the second image.