Jodrell Bank Star Trails

ed_o_brain

ed_o_brain

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Daniel
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Jodrell Bank Star Trails - First Attempt by Daniel Cadden Photo, on Flickr

For a long time I've had the desire to capture some star trails, and after an hour working out how to use the D700's intervalometer, this is the end result from my first attempt.

The images were shot raw, 20+ 30 second exposures at f2.8 / ISO 200. Some tweaks in Lightroom, then exported as high quality JPEGS which were then stacked in StarTrails.exe

I wanted to shoot Jodrell Bank for my first attempt because I've got quite a fascination with the place. And being out in that dark countryside with nothing but the occasional sound of the dish moving is quite an unusual experience... you can almost image getting chased down by UFOs whilst fumbling for a torch.

I know there are stacks of ways this can be improved... composition for one.. I'd love to have had the radio telescope much more prominent in the foreground.

I spotted a lovely church in Chelford which I thought might be a nice subject for similar treatment - if anyone wants a shot at that I'd more than happily have you along.

Your critique on this is more than welcome.
Thank you.
 
i quite like this, the idea of jodrell bank in the background as the worlds first largest radio telescope and stars just does it for me

andy
 
An excellent idea, and love that you've got Jodrell bank in it. Personally, I think the trails are a little too short... but I like it.
 
As you say, I think it would have been better with the dish bigger in the frame, but I know it's hard to get close up at night when it's shut. Did you take an image of the dish and add it to the light trails, as the dish is permanently moving unless "parked" in the upright position? (ie - would have been blurred) :shrug:

I like it overall though. (y) I've been meaning to do this for ages.

Gareth
 
It's not that the trails are too short, just that there's not enough of them IMO. If you're going to expose for a relatively short time, try gathering much more light via ISO or aperture settings so the trails seem less of an afterthought.

That said, for a first attempt I'd choose something like this every time over a back garden job.

Can recommend you ditch startrails.exe in favour of StarStaX (www.starstax.net). Does the same job, still free but multi platform and much faster.
 
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