Flicking through Instagram, there’s loads of lovely pictures of the heavens.

How do you go about taking such photo’s?

Tripod, remote shutter/self timer, out of town, exposures from 1/2″ up.

But mostly photoshop.

Lots of stuff on youtube. Either long exposure (with the camera moving to prevent star tracks) or lots of shorter exposures all stacked together.
(But I am not an expert.)
And lots of patience.
And warm clothes.

Go to the beach, wait till one of the of the many many z listers takes a dip, take photos… Am I missing something?

Image stacking is the way forward as you can get rid of noise quite effectively.

This kind of thing:

https://fstoppers.com/photoshop/stacking-how-reduce-noise-photoshop-astrophotography-pro-162857

I auto align images though.

I used this software:
Deep Sky Stacker

which combines a load of images, compensates for the movement of the stars and gets rid of some of the noise. I never had the patience to get anything decent.

I took this a few years back when there was a company (Lightbuckets, now defunct) selling remote access time on telescopes.
I’m not sure whether I still have the original files, but I think I used the software that richmars mentioned to process and colourise. Cost me a few quid to rent the telescope, but it was an interesting process, although not the best of pictures.
Messier 42, by the way.

I took this a few years back when there was a company (Lightbuckets, now defunct) selling remote access time on telescopes.

Things like that delight me. I want a go now. Off to Google….

It is ‘easy’ now with digital cameras. I put mine on a tripod, set up the interval timer to take 40-50 images, every few seconds, turned it on, went inside.
When finished you have a SD card full of images that you put into DeepSkyStacker.

Flicking through Instagram, there’s loads of lovely pictures of the heavens

I got a selfie with Paola Pezzo earlier this year… its not on Instagram though.

Either long exposure (with the camera moving to prevent star tracks) or lots of shorter exposures all stacked together.

Or for the really good photos both.

The equipment needed to get the really amazing photos can be very expensive. You also have to find somewhere where there is really very little light pollution and inevitably the British weather will produce cloudy skies every time you find time to go out and take photos. The post processing of the images also takes a long time.

If you already have a good SLR and a range of lens with large apertures. Then you just need to invest in a tracking mount and sturdy tripod ~£300 – £500 and thats for a basic setup. But if starting from fresh it might be better to rent some time on a remote telescope and if you really enjoy it start investing in a system of your own.

Vinnyeh – nice picture, much better than my first attempt. I now have a 200mm F2.8 lens for my camera and going to try an other attempt at Orions Nebula this winter. If I can get similar results to the above I’ll be very happy.

You need more than a tripod for serious astrophotography. You need a computerised tracking mount and even then the accuracy isn’t great and you get into the realms of guide cameras etc.

I’ve just started out – just waiting for a clear night to have some first attempts.

Actually not many of the deep space photos are photoshopped per se but are the result of many hours of capture carefully stacked using specialist software then final tweaking in PS.

For anyone serious about astrophotography you must buy Making Every Photon Count first and read it cover to cover before spending a pound. The hobby is a money pit even if you know what you’re doing. If you don’t you could spend thousands and just end up disappointed.

With DSLRs often they can be modified to remove the filters that cut out IR/UV etc.

I took this a few years back

That’s ace, well played.

Just hang around Mayfair or film premieres and see who pops up.
For C/D list then outside ITV studios or the corination street set.

With DSLRs often they can be modified to remove the filters that cut out IR/UV etc.

Yep – can get a reasonable astro modified dSLR for £150 or so on eBay or but a cheapish body and send it off to be modified. I can dig it a link to the most reliable person in the UK who does this if anyone is interested.

Ah, a bit more complicated than I thought 🙁

Depends how serious you want to get. Can start off with just basic equipment. The main tricky bit is that the earth rotates. Though just pointing up with a long exposure you can get nice star trail shots.

Unless you live where I do and it’s just all light pollution. Though lights have been turning off after midnight but the locals are moaning about that.

To start with get the fastest lens you have f2.8 or more would be good. Then taking lots of photos less than 10 sec duration to avoid movement blur and then stacking them will give you a start.

@dannybgoode, yes please, if you can recommend someone that would be handy.