My first proper star trail shot

[Stegosaurus]

My first proper effort, after a test run in the back garden and a chance to play with my newly acquired Tamron 11-16mm (early Christmas present to myself . The location wasn't as dark as I had hoped, and I had to stop after an hour as the clouds were encroaching, but on the whole I'm quite pleased.

I certainly enjoyed listening to the owls on such a beautiful night, and saw a few Geminid meteors too (there is a faint one in this image, just above the tree).

 

[kinega20]

That’s very nice, especially for first effort

 

[Pixbarmy]

Brings a whole new meaning to dizzy heights! Well done.

 

[scotty38]

Nice, just waiting to have a proper go myself....

 

[scotty38]

In fact it's looking good today so far and with the moon virtually non existent at the minute I may have an opportunity tonight if the thought of being cold doesn't get the better of me

 

[Stegosaurus]

Go for it! Wrap up ridiculously well, take a hot drink, something to sit on and something to entertain yourself with while the intervalometer is doing its thing or you'll be tempted to cut it short.

And definitely make sure you know where infinity is on your manual focus because you aren't going to find it in the dark!

And don't forget a cloth; I got heavy dew settling on my camera. Next time I shall drape something over it.

 

[RichardC27]

Go for it! Wrap up ridiculously well, take a hot drink, something to sit on and something to entertain yourself with while the intervalometer is doing its thing or you'll be tempted to cut it short.

And definitely make sure you know where infinity is on your manual focus because you aren't going to find it in the dark!

And don't forget a cloth; I got heavy dew settling on my camera. Next time I shall drape something over it.

Another way to focus is to use Live View, find the brightest star you can and magnify the view as much as possible. Use that to manually focus until it's tack sharp and then don't touch the focus ring again. Only tried this sort of thing twice but itching to get out and have another go. Yours is an excellent shot especially for a first attempt

 

[scotty38]

Thanks both, yep aware of the need to find infinity..... Another thing I saw somewhere was to focus watching the screen and at the point the distance marker changes to infinity stop there. I plan to use that and then the magnified view to see if I can get it any better, take a few shots to see and then have a go.

 

[Stegosaurus]

Another way to focus is to use Live View, find the brightest star you can and magnify the view as much as possible. Use that to manually focus until it's tack sharp and then don't touch the focus ring again. Only tried this sort of thing twice but itching to get out and have another go. Yours is an excellent shot especially for a first attempt

Thanks! I have done a fair amount of night photography, if not star trails so it wasn't much of a leap. I did try looking at live view but couldn't see a thing... Everything is bloody tiny in ultra wide angle!