The Stranger

Image Critiques Nightscape & Astro Critiques
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TheStrangerAntiTail.jpg
TheStrangerAntiTail.jpg1000×1500 1.11 MB

Critique Style Requested: Standard

The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.

Description

I went out to photograph C/2023 -A3 Tsuchinshan on Saturday night and I did manage to get it. I went out again tonight since I happened to see other photos of the comet exhibiting an Anti-Tail.

The tail of comet always points away from the sun as the sun’s solar wind pushes the comets particles away from the comet as these particles ablate off the comet. An anti-tail will appear when the earth starts to cross the comet’s orbital plane, which is happening on 10/14 and 10/15. The anti-tail points towards the sun and is made up of remnant particles left behind by the comet and indicates where the comet has been. The strange thing is I could not seem to capture the anti-tail with my longest lens, the 400mm, but at 80mm it comes out fairly prominently.

Specific Feedback

Any feedback is appreciated.

But I was wondering about what looks like a vignetting but I did not apply any. How can I remove that?

Technical Details

Nikon D850, Nikon 80-200mm f/4 MF lens, at 80mm f4, 4 sec, ISO 800
Edited in Camera Raw and the finished in PS.

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1 Like
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An impressive capture Youssef, a wonderful comet-shot showing the fabulous range of black/blue from top to bottom, it gives a real sense of an object visiting us from deep space.
And thanks for the explanation about the anti-tail.
Sadly my own part of the planet is mainly cloudy this week.

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Wonderful, with a good view of the anti-tail!! I’ve read that tonight it should still be visible but then fade away the next days due to the sun angle – it is visible due to forward scattering. You have a gorgeously clear horizon!

When I load into LR I always check lens correction, which should take care of most lens vignetting, but some of the profiles aren’t perfect. There is also a very significant sky brightness gradient that is brought out by increasing contrast. A mask in LR could moderate it.

1 Like
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Not only is the photo wonderful, I love the information you been providing Youssef! It’s a real education about things I didn’t know. Thank you.

Similar to @Diane_Miller, if I do reduce the vignette I use the tools in the raw converter. For most of my images I actually add a vignette, so I can’t claim to have a lot of experience under my belt.