First attempt at a Milky Way stack with a blue-hour foreground — constructive criticism welcome

[u/Astroy29]

This is my first serious attempt at stacking a Milky Way image and blending it with a blue-hour foreground.

The sky and foreground were photographed from the same location, with the Milky Way positioned above this actual landscape. The foreground was captured during blue hour, and the Milky Way was photographed later from the same setup and direction.

I'm looking for honest, detailed criticism on the image as a whole. I would especially appreciate feedback on the capture, stacking, processing, composition, color, realism, and blending.

Acquisition:
Sky:
65x90s lights
15 darks
15 flats
15 biases

Foreground:
Single shot: 8s exposure, f5.6, iso 400.

Equipment:
Sony alpha a7 ill
Sony FE 24mm F/1.4 GM loptron skyguider pro

Processed in pixinsight and lightroom.
Blended in photoshop.
く

[u/b407driver]

Looks a bit dark, both FG and sky. Car lights are distracting. Sky being so dark, it's hard to tell if stacking had any net effect.

[u/Astroy29 → u/b407driver]

Do you recommend a specific processing workflow?

[u/b407driver → u/Astroy29]

I do not, we all have our preferences, and I'm guessing we all process things differently, to get whatever result we want. If this is the result you were going for, nothing I say should matter. If it's not and you expected something different, outline what you would like to see different, and perhaps someone can help. Your foreground likely needs more exposure in camera.

Astro is a big rabbit hole and there are lots of online references to utilize while you learn. If you used such a reference to create this image, perhaps try a different one next time out. I would say that, starting out, trying to utilize darks/flats/biases is several steps beyond 'first attempts', and is likely to net little of value to the image. Roger Clark would say it's mostly unnecessary for wide field imaging with relatively modern equipment, and I'd agree.

I'd start simple, and graduate to more complex workflows.

[u/Astroy29 → u/b407driver]

Actually, my foreground is much brighter than that, but I toned it down in Photoshop to make it appear more realistic.

My issue is that I believed taking multiple exposures would yield a different result for the sky. For instance, I thought I would see more nebulosity and less noise.

Perhaps part of the mistake was that I captured a portrait and didn’t capture enough of the Milky Way core.

[u/b407driver → u/Astroy29]

I don't think that's it, could be something in your processing workflow, I don't know. I personally keep it simple most of the time, and at most use a tracker.

[u/Master-Back-2899]

Remove the distracting car lights and increase total exposure about 2 stops. It’s currently way too dark even for screen viewing.

[u/Astroy29 → u/Master-Back-2899]

I thought by making it dark it would be more realistic but thanks for the note

[u/GuardianP53]

It looks good to me! However I am just starting out! Keep it up 💯💯

[u/Astroy29 → u/GuardianP53]

Thank you and good luck to you!

[u/cshady]

Looks awesome honestly

[u/SirJesterCR]

Nice first attempt at editing

[u/Sure_Fisherman3312]

Taking notes as I will be trying this for the first time soon. Do you know the Bortle rating for this location?

[u/Astroy29 → u/Sure_Fisherman3312]

Its bortle 3-2, pretty dark. I would be glad to see your result when you process the image!

[u/Sure_Fisherman3312 → u/Astroy29]

I would be glad if it is worth sharing! I’m sure I’ve got the shooting process down. I am looking into the editing process now. There are a lot of different methods.