Vent: My backyard astrophotography session was ruined by light pollution

I set up my gear hoping to get a clear shot of Orion, but the glow from the city washed everything out. It made me realize how much we sacrifice natural night skies for urban convenience. What are your go-to techniques for minimizing light pollution in photos?

3 comments

3 Comments

mia_ross2h ago

Try combining filters with stacking, but have you scouted locations using light pollution maps?

rivercarr6h ago

Watched my friend drive two hours to a state park just to escape the city glow for his Milky Way shots. He swears by a dual-band filter now, specifically the Optolong L-enhance, which he says cuts out most of the sodium vapor glare. Even with that, he still stacks like fifty shots to pull out detail, and his last image of the Orion Nebula turned out shockingly clear despite the suburban spillover. It's a whole process, but seeing his results almost makes the hassle worth it.

david_price6h ago

Seriously? The Optolong L-enhance actually cuts out most of the sodium vapor glare? That's hard to believe because in my experience, even with fancy filters, suburban light pollution usually washes out everything. I've dabbled in astrophotography and never seen a filter perform that well without being miles from any city. Stacking fifty shots on top of using the filter just sounds like an enormous amount of effort for one image. It's cool that his Orion Nebula turned out clear, but I'm still skeptical about the filter doing that much heavy lifting. Maybe his processing skills are just that good, but I'd need to see the setup myself to be convinced.

-1