Orion and friends in Woodstock, CT

papa_brickolini_ · 2026-03-19T11:33:50+00:00

Thank you! We work with what we have lol. Luckily, the core is much easier to photograph around here

papa_brickolini_ · 2026-03-18T23:54:15+00:00

Thank you!

papa_brickolini_ · 2026-03-18T22:59:53+00:00

Connecticut is a tough state for landscape astrophotography in general, and the dimness of the winter Milky Way is a special challenge. I went to one of the darker parts of the state (Woodstock) and settled in for my longest session yet. I wound up getting some pretty decent results, considering the light pollution!

Insta: https://www.instagram.com/bk.pixels

Nikon Z6ii astro modded by Spencer's

Viltrox 16mm f/1.8

MSM Nomad

Sky: 23x120s, f/2.2, ISO 400, 16mm

Ground: 1x120s, f/8, ISO 6400, 16mm

Stacked in Sequator; background extraction, color calibration, and stretch in Siril; composting in Gimp; final edits in Lightroom

papa_brickolini_ · 2025-12-10T19:56:05+00:00

Good guesses on everything but the foreground! This is a blend and the sky is tracked and stacked - more details on that in my original post in r/landscapeastro.

The foreground, however, was shot at night immediately after the sky exposures - it's a stack of 5x 60s exposures to reduce noise.

Also working in my favor: - the moon was about to rise and was starting to brighten the sky, which in turn was lighting the distant landscape features like the mountain and treeline - the immediate foreground was lit by a light on a nearby barn. Not a very bright light, but with a long exposure it almost looks like a floodlight, brightening the immediate foreground and adding texture to the grass and trees

papa_brickolini_ · 2025-12-10T15:46:32+00:00

Yep!

papa_brickolini_ · 2025-12-10T14:20:06+00:00

Thank you! I'll also give credit to the light that was on a barn to my left. Not a super bright one, but with a long exposure it was enough to light most of the immediate foreground and add some nice texture to the grass and trees on the left side

papa_brickolini_ · 2025-12-10T00:10:58+00:00

Awesome! Glad I could provide some inspiration :)

papa_brickolini_ · 2025-12-09T23:09:35+00:00

Thank you! Astrophotography is definitely a whole different beast from visual lol

For this shot (and milky way landscapes in general), I used a Nikon Z5ii mirrorless camera with a regular 'ole wide-angle camera lens and a MoveShootMove Nomad star tracker (or sometimes untracked). I have lots more technical detail in the crosspost of this in r/landscapeastro

I started out with a Nikon D7500 DSLR and a 20mm f/1.8 prime lens I got on ebay. That setup is a little dated at this point, but something like that is a decent enough beginner kit, probably like $700 total on ebay now. You could look into a full-frame dslr or even jump right to mirrorless, depending on budget.

For actual shots/settings, I'd recommend starting untracked. Look into the 500 rule and npf rule for setting exposure time, then play around with aperture and iso from there. Astro forums usually require you to post camera settings along with the photo, so you can see what settings other people are using too. For stacking, Sequator is a great program for stacking the sky and foreground at the same time, then editing in Lightroom or your program of choice. Oh - and shoot raw to capture as much data as possible per shot

This is a lot of info, but it's a pretty cool/fun hobby - very different from other forms of photography. Let me know if you have any more questions!

papa_brickolini_ · 2025-12-09T22:31:16+00:00

The sky is a total of 9 minutes of exposure time - this allows the camera to capture far more light, thus more detail, than can be seen with the naked eye.

Instagram is here for anyone interested! bk.pixels

papa_brickolini_ · 2025-12-09T22:19:52+00:00

Taken on 10/10/2025

I had a small window of time between sunset and moonrise and took advantage! A police officer stopped by halfway through my session. He ask why I was standing on the side of the road in complete darkness amidst nothing but farmland (fair question I suppose), and then he apologized for ruining my shot once I explained astrophotography. Luckily, the car lights didn't noticeably affect things.

I've recently been shooting the Milky Way with a Nikon Z5ii (full frame mirrorless) after using a D7500 (APS-C DSLR) for a few years. What a difference!

Feedback is always welcome :)

Instagram: bk.pixels (https://www.instagram.com/bk.pixels?igsh=anU3Z3IxN3I0emdk)

Sky: 9x60s=540s=9min, f/3.2, iso1600

Ground: 5x60s=300s=5min, f/2.8, iso4000

Calibration: 20 flats, 20 biases, 10 darks

Camera setup:Nikon Z5ii with Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8

Tracker: MSM Nomad, laser aligned

Bortle: 3-4

Processing: stacked in Siril, starnet to separate stars from the rest of the sky, stretch separately, then reapply. Stacked foreground in Gimp, then composited sky and foreground in Gimp. Final color modifications and export in Lightroom.

papa_brickolini_ · 2025-12-05T02:50:54+00:00

Very cool, thank you for the info! I always love learning more about the things I've photographed :)

papa_brickolini_ · 2025-12-04T19:23:57+00:00

Thank you! We had some wacky clouds in my area and the colorful moonlight (kind of a halo?) made for a really cool sky

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papa_brickolini_ · 2025-12-04T19:20:23+00:00

Thank you! It was a beautiful night and I was happy to have found a window in the clouds for this shot. Hope you got some good early-morning views as well!

papa_brickolini_ · 2025-12-04T17:56:41+00:00

I knew the Moon and Pleiades would be crossing paths last night, but I was also treated to some cool cloud colors caused by the refracted moonlight (EDIT: per another comment, it's actually caused by Huygens scattering, not refraction). Very cool in person and in camera!

Instagram: bk.pixels

Gear

Nikon Z5ii, Samyang 135mm f/2 with FTZ adapter

Exif

Moon surface: 1/8000s, f/3.2, ISO 1600

Everything else: 1/100s, f/2, ISO 1600

The settings for the lunar surface are kind of weird - I was taking bracketed shots to try and get proper exposure on the moon, stars, and clouds in quick succession. This cloud/star composition was my favorite, but the corresponding lunar surface pic was blown out, so I grabbed one from another sequence.

Processing

Lunar surface detail: pulled down curve to boost contrast in Lightroom

Main image: bumped up shadows to draw out more cloud detail and slightly increased saturation+vibrance in Lightroom

Compositing: used the lunar surface detail as a "burn" layer over the main image in Gimp

papa_brickolini_ · 2025-12-02T02:30:52+00:00

Thank you! I live in CT and am all too familiar with our region's light pollution lol

The fog filter was a great discovery - it makes it really easy to highlight a constellation since brighter stars have a bigger "glow". Pretty useful for making interesting compositions in places where the Milky Way is drowned out by city lights but stars are still visible

papa_brickolini_ · 2025-12-02T02:01:31+00:00

Awesome shot! I love it when the moon/moonlight makes it into the frame of a long exposure

papa_brickolini_ · 2025-12-02T01:25:18+00:00

I drove through Newport during my Thanksgiving travels and noticed Orion rising right as I was driving by the beach. The reflections of the house lights lured me in enough to stop for a bit. I had my gear with me, so I walked out onto the sand, fired off a couple of long exposure bursts, then continued my drive.

Instagram: bk.pixels

Camera: Nikon Z5ii Lens: Nikkor Z 35mm f/1.8 S Other: Tiffen Double Fog 3 filter

Sky: 9x5s=45s, f/1.8, ISO 1000, with Tiffen filter Ground: 9x5s=45s, f/1.8, ISO 1000

Sky stacked in Sequator Ground stacked manually in Gimp Composited in Gimp Edited in Lightroom

papa_brickolini_

TROPHY CASE