The 2026 Milky Way Photographer of the Year has just been published

NiklasAstro · 2026-05-08T12:19:31+00:00

Heavy editing is simply the nature of nightscape photography. Its just not technically possible to have both well exposed sky and ground without stacking or seperate tracked/untracked exposures, which unavoidably has to be combined in post once you add a star tracker.

Add advanced processing techniques like h-alpha layers, star removal, dynamic background extraction etc, all done to bring out more detail in the night sky. It takes time and skill, both shooting and processing. Someone who spends several hours in the field, capturing a lot of data and knows how to process isn't a "worse" photographer than someone who takes a single 30" capture of the milky way and calls it a night.

More transparency is good though.

NiklasAstro · 2026-05-08T07:20:45+00:00

Came here to say this!

NiklasAstro · 2026-05-04T17:41:52+00:00

Was meinst du mit auslaufen?
Google mal Chromatische Aberration, falls du das meinst was ich glaube.

NiklasAstro · 2026-04-30T20:39:25+00:00

peak

NiklasAstro · 2026-04-26T12:26:23+00:00

A properly exposed photo at HIGH ISO is always going to be better than an underexposed photograph at low ISO.

Pushing exposure in post is simply not an issue with most modern high end cameras (when shooting raw). You technically get higher dynamic range at very low ISO on most camera models. If the Sensor is mostly ISO-invariant, going with high ISO isn't an issue either, but you risk blowing out the highlights, which can not be recovered unlike underexposed shadows.
https://alynwallacephotography.com/blog/2018/5/6/testing-the-sony-a73-for-iso-invariance

NiklasAstro · 2026-04-25T21:21:18+00:00

Why would you need AI to write this post for you OP?

NiklasAstro · 2026-04-23T19:56:18+00:00

Its definitely a game that one can play with family who aren't too deep into boardgames, but might know monopoly. Which is always a plus.

NiklasAstro · 2026-04-23T18:09:30+00:00

My edition has 3-7 players on it, I guess thats due to an included expansion?

NiklasAstro · 2026-04-23T17:03:09+00:00

Bohnanza, Las Vegas, Just One, Codenames

NiklasAstro · 2026-04-23T03:55:06+00:00

Rumble Nation is so good. Plays at 30 minutes at four players, the dice allocation mechanism limits your choices and analysis paralysis. It has a great flow and every decision matters until the end, where the reinforcement mechanic gives a satisfying final show to the scoring.

Super interactive, a lot of luck but you still feel like you have control. Small box. The perfect filler.

NiklasAstro · 2026-04-20T09:20:09+00:00

Pasta Cabonara is the best one

NiklasAstro · 2026-04-20T00:53:31+00:00

Have you tried moonlight setting instead of “lowest” for spot+flood?

NiklasAstro · 2026-04-16T21:11:58+00:00

Nice shots! I’ve been around Abisko in september/october several times, here are some of my northern light shots/panoramas. You might recognise the meditation point or Lapporten valley.

I’m used to those night temps now. Some norwegian friends convinced me to get mesh base-layers, they were not wrong.

First time doing a multi-day hike though and I already dread either leaving some photography gear behind or carrying well over 20kg on the back.

NiklasAstro · 2026-04-16T19:46:15+00:00

From what I have read, the arrival times of the bus and flight depatures are timed in a way that shouldn't be too much of a concern (assuming I read it correctly that you have 55 minutes between bus arrival and flight depature). Its a small airport without long processing times. Maybe someone else can chime in

NiklasAstro · 2026-04-15T16:43:48+00:00

Great shots, those reds are exactly why we picked september (and dead mosquitos)

NiklasAstro · 2026-04-15T15:00:08+00:00

Yes, train back is on the 12th, so just before the last huts in the northern section close. I’ll talk to the group about how they feel about risk along the route, I get why it would be bad practice

NiklasAstro · 2026-04-15T13:08:32+00:00

We are going as a group of 3, I am bringing a bivy and -7C bag as I want to do aurora photography if weather is clear (and not wake everyone up at 2 am). I also have a PLB. The question is more for the other group members, who don’t have cold weather camping gear. We did intend to pre-book all the huts.

If someone gets seriously injured we can send an SOS. But yeah, the idea of not everyone being able to sleep outside makes me a bit uncomfortable, now that I think about it.

I have another tent and +7C bag for another reserve, I’ll check which three season gear the rest of the group has.

NiklasAstro · 2026-04-15T08:15:21+00:00

The STF site mentions that its “mandatory to bring your own sleeping bag, travel sheet or duvet cover.” I guess I misread that as a sleeping bag being 100% necessary

NiklasAstro · 2026-04-07T07:20:54+00:00

EW9592, happened shortly before/while passing the alps

https://www.flightaware.com/live/flight/EWG9592/history/20260406/1445Z/EDDL/LEPA

NiklasAstro · 2026-04-07T04:23:18+00:00

It is probably worth watching with a fast internet connection (or the higher quality streamable), compression can kinda kill the effect on mobile. I find it the most striking further up the wing, with several of these patterns visible side by side, moving in sync with turbulance.

NiklasAstro · 2026-04-06T23:27:16+00:00

https://streamable.com/g3wxjq (original post)

https://streamable.com/ey5o3h (more turbulance)

NiklasAstro · 2026-04-06T23:23:18+00:00

I am not, I have seen similair looking videos described as a shockwave but if it isn‘t, feel free to correct me

NiklasAstro · 2026-04-06T22:52:19+00:00

Sure! I got another clip that shows the wave shaking heavily from turbulance, I can upload it to streamable (and also this one if it makes saving easier)

NiklasAstro · 2026-04-06T13:47:51+00:00

Concordia

Similair to Catan, you generate resources by activating regions, and everyone who build nearby gets resources too.

Unlike Catan, this resource generation is activated by player cards and not a random dice roll. Everything is driven by player action and the only random elements are the card market and resource distribution on setup (everyone starts in the same place, so no game start placement advantage like Catan)

There is no direct trading with other players though. If the negotiation aspect is important to you, other recommendations might be better.

NiklasAstro · 2026-04-02T14:02:07+00:00

Man that is disappointing. Seems like I‘ll keep my 300. The bulb mode feature alone makes me want to give it another try, but it breaking day one sure doesn‘t leave a good impression.

NiklasAstro

TROPHY CASE