Failed attempt at star trail

Rolyratman

Rolyratman

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Roly
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Thought I would go out last night and have a go, to be honest I wasnt expecting much (Good job too) as the moon was up and bright and when I had cycled around to a suitable location next to a lake the mist rolled in.

I took 98x30 second exposures with 1x dark frame with the lens cap on and 1 x with the trees painted with torch light.

The problem was, and I didnt realise until I had got back home that my lens fogged up around the 35 shot mark...:bonk:

So this is taken with 32x30 second exposures and only a dark frame as the light painted one was a blur of light. I then converted them all to JPEG and stacked them using software from startrails.de.


Star Trail Experiment by o RATMAN o, on Flickr
 
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I've only tried this twice and your image is miles better then my attempts. I'd say it's a excellent first image(y)
 
Cheer's guys.

I don't think I applied any sharpening Matt but now you got me thinking. I've still got the RAW files so I might have another go at processing.

It was more of a learning session rather than a serious attempt to be honest, just wanted to get familiar with the technique before we have a moonless/clear nights.

I really enjoyed myself and I'm looking forward to getting back out there soon :)

Thanks for the comments guys :)
 
Rolyratman said:
Cheer's guys.

I don't think I applied any sharpening Matt but now you got me thinking. I've still got the RAW files so I might have another go at processing.

It was more of a learning session rather than a serious attempt to be honest, just wanted to get familiar with the technique before we have a moonless/clear nights.

I really enjoyed myself and I'm looking forward to getting back out there soon :)

Thanks for the comments guys :)
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I love doing these (y) hence why I've written a guide to them, and why I'm just arranging the purchase of a new lens to let me get even more out of the style (y)

Matt
 
It was you're guide that I read that made me decide to go out and have a go Matt, thank you :)

It was also my first shots with the Sigma 10-20 that I picked up from the classifieds here, I had seen some good trails taken with that lens so I'm hoping with a bit of practice.

What lens you getting?
 
Nice job Roly, it's come out quite nicely considering. Dew is a right pain... I have been known to take a hair dryer (on cool and from a distance) to my scope optics to clear them off...

Where did you capture the images Roly ??

Love to know what you think of that 8mm Matt... been looking at one of those myself. For this and other things...
 
jgs001 said:
Nice job Roly, it's come out quite nicely considering. Dew is a right pain... I have been known to take a hair dryer (on cool and from a distance) to my scope optics to clear them off...

Where did you capture the images Roly ??

Love to know what you think of that 8mm Matt... been looking at one of those myself. For this and other things...
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Well all be it only for an hour or so have used one in the past and loved it, hence why when I saw one in the classifieds I thought what the heck I owe myself a christmas present, the thing that astonished me was just how much you can fit in frame, and the fact that it all seems to be in focus all of the time :shrug:

THIS and THIS are a couple of photo's I've taken with the one I used on a TP meet
 
Wow... works great... my list is growing ever longer...

Sorry Roly... a minor diversion ;)
 
Good first effort OP, you already know what went wrong and that will stand you well when planning your next shots. If you're out over the next 4-6 nights as the moon comes up later and later, make sure you're not facing the direction where it's going to rise into your frame.

Matt's Q about sharpening- an interesting one, that, as I did a stack a while back that caught some condensation towards the end. Thought I'd got rid of all the affected frames but after stacking the final image looks over-sharpened, much beyond how yours looks.

Manc Man said:
Lucky that you have stars near you, near me if you get 2 your doing good.
Nice pic
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Sounds like you need to have a read of my urban star trails tutorial :)
 
AndWhyNot said:
Sounds like you need to have a read of my urban star trails tutorial :)
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Indeed, in fact if it's okay with you Andrew, I'm going to request that the mods put a link to your tutorial into the OP of my tutorial on TP (y)
 
AndWhyNot said:
Sounds like you need to have a read of my urban star trails tutorial :)
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having looked at you blogs in the past, I would say your the daddy when it comes to long exposure and night photography. But re star trails it's not something I have am interest on doing at this time, maybe when I get more experienced.
 
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It's not perfect, but I wish I could have done that!! I think it's very good, well done.
I wouldn't call it a fail, it's a well executed photograph, plus you know where you went wrong. Better luck next time.
 
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