Tutorial Photography Guide: Star Trails

MWHCVT said:
I set white balance and everything like that in camera from some test frames, so I don't really do all that much PP on images they normally go straight from the camera to the stacking software, then once out of the stacking software, I'll then treat the stacked image like any other photo and apply any sharpening and clone out things like planes and other objects (y) I hope that helps

Matt
MWHCVT
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Yeah cheers ive now got everything i need to go out and shoot star trails just need a clear night

Living close to gatwick i think im pretty certain to have a few stray planes in my shoot
 
If i set up my intervoltometer what sort of setting should i be aiming for say i did 60second exposures how much time between shots should i leave and whats the least amount of shots i should be aiming for

Cheers
 
arkadarka said:
Yeah cheers ive now got everything i need to go out and shoot star trails just need a clear night

Living close to gatwick i think im pretty certain to have a few stray planes in my shoot
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(y) here's hoping for a clear night soon (y)

arkadarka said:
If i set up my intervoltometer what sort of setting should i be aiming for say i did 60second exposures how much time between shots should i leave and whats the least amount of shots i should be aiming for

Cheers
Click to expand...

You need to be looking for an exposure that it going to expose your foreground interest to a level that you like while not blowing the sky out (y) there really is no set answer, you want you exposures to be a long as you can get away with as that will give smoother trails and reduce the number of exposures you have to deal with (y) remember that you will be using a higher ISO so don't forget to take that into consideration :D

Matt
 
Anyone know if I can do this with a d50? I don't think it has a lockable shutter
 
really excited about trying this just need to wait for a cloudless night ...which is few and far between just now :(
 
Haz said:
Anyone know if I can do this with a d50? I don't think it has a lockable shutter
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So long as you can get a locking trigger for your camera it should be no problem for you (y) though I've heard of people just using tape to lock the shutter button down so that if you've set the camera to say 30 seconds continuous shooting then because the shutter button is taped it will just think your taking another picture, it make cost you your first and last exposure :thinking:

But you should be able to get a cable release or trigger I'm sure (y)

lilbunfoo said:
really excited about trying this just need to wait for a cloudless night ...which is few and far between just now :(
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I look forward to seeing your efforts thought the nature of this is that you do need a lack of clouds :bang:

Matt
MWHCVT
 
MWHCVT said:
So long as you can get a locking trigger for your camera it should be no problem for you (y) though I've heard of people just using tape to lock the shutter button down so that if you've set the camera to say 30 seconds continuous shooting then because the shutter button is taped it will just think your taking another picture, it make cost you your first and last exposure :thinking:

But you should be able to get a cable release or trigger I'm sure (y)
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Ah I see, I use a remote at the moment but a cable shutter should let me do this? Thanks for your help
 
Id love to give this a go

I was wondering if there is any way of telling if the sky is going to be clear of clouds prior to the actual night and doing the good old method of going outside and looking up?

Like you said, taking company is a good idea, but all my friends would require a bit of notice if Im going to drag them out in the cold in the middle of the night (y)

Thanks!
 
Hi Matt
I fancy having a go at these maybe up burton dasset or something but my question is about power. How long do the batteries last doing continuous shots like this?. And can you stop it to change batteries quickly? or do you need a battery grip? or can you get a cable to run the camera off a cigarette lighter I the car?
Thanks
Ben
 
faddius said:
Id love to give this a go

I was wondering if there is any way of telling if the sky is going to be clear of clouds prior to the actual night and doing the good old method of going outside and looking up?

Like you said, taking company is a good idea, but all my friends would require a bit of notice if Im going to drag them out in the cold in the middle of the night (y)

Thanks!
Click to expand...

To be honest your best best is to looks out for high pressure front's as generally that seems to be when you get the clear night's, not that I have any meteorological training for experience it's just an observation I've made (y) It would maybe be a good idea to see who from TP is local to you, you could start a thread in the meeting place section (y)

If I'm honest most of my star trails have come from knowing locations I want to do and then when I get a clear window going and doing it, unfortunately sometimes it is a case of dropping everything and going and to do the trail :shrug:

I'm lucky two other members of this very forum happen to be family (y) so if I need company I can always drag one of them into the cold (y)

ben_wtrs said:
Hi Matt
I fancy having a go at these maybe up burton dasset or something but my question is about power. How long do the batteries last doing continuous shots like this?. And can you stop it to change batteries quickly? or do you need a battery grip? or can you get a cable to run the camera off a cigarette lighter I the car?
Thanks
Ben
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Hi Ben,

When it comes to camera life there are a few different factors that can make big differences such as age of battery, temperature as when it cold it drains the battery faster :bang: I shoot with 2 batteries as I have a grip, but my brother in law shoots on a single battery and has no issue with getting +400 x 30 second exposures so it should not prove an issue for you, there are options to power the camera with a power lead but it's not something that I've ever looked into, you can change the battery and if your fast you should avoid a gap but anything more than about 5 seconds and there will be a visible gap...

It's not unknown for me to arrange little outings to demonstrate long exposure techniques such as star trail, light trails and light painting so that is always and option in the future (y)

There are Lot's of great locations for this around Warwickshire so you should certainly give it a (y)

Matt
 
Great tutorial!

I tried this the other night. It was perfectly clear apart from one cloud that came through (its in about 8 shots). Could you just add the cloud shots into it or can you remove the cloud shots without it messing up the star trails? It came through in the middle of my 3 hours out. Do I need to bin it and try again. Might still be ok for a timelapse video for something. :D
 
Muttley99 said:
Great tutorial!

I tried this the other night. It was perfectly clear apart from one cloud that came through (its in about 8 shots). Could you just add the cloud shots into it or can you remove the cloud shots without it messing up the star trails? It came through in the middle of my 3 hours out. Do I need to bin it and try again. Might still be ok for a timelapse video for something. :D
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You cannot just bin them I'm afraid as that would result in a gap in the trails that personally I don't like to see :shrug: but from the sound of it you should still have a go hour+ startrail, and as you point out it should make for a good time lapse image (y)

Matt
 
MWHCVT said:
You cannot just bin them I'm afraid as that would result in a gap in the trails that personally I don't like to see :shrug: but from the sound of it you should still have a go hour+ startrail, and as you point out it should make for a good time lapse image (y)

Matt
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Thank you for all your advice, you have probably saved me hours of trial and error.

I'll give it a go when i get a chance.(y)
 
Great info, Matt.

I guess you have long exposure noise reduction turned off. Is noise a problem?
 
gridlock said:
Great info, Matt.

I guess you have long exposure noise reduction turned off. Is noise a problem?
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I do indeed have it turned off, I've never found noise to be a particular issue, some of the noise seems to be cancelled out as part of the stacking process (y)

Matt
 
aeronic said:
Well, I tried this last night - pretty cloudless night, but I didn't account for the high humidity (84%). After 20 minutes, my lens was all 'fogged up'. Fortunately, it's dried out well.

I got about 2 decent exposures, but not nearly enough for star trails...
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Hi all. New on here and getting ready to attempt first trails.

Tip from another forum- keep your camera in the car boot on the way to the location. Taking a room temp camera straight into a cold environment will result in fogging so by 'cooling' it down in The boot on the way to the location is one suggestion to allow it to acclimatise.

Question: I need to buy a lockable shutter release for this. I have a D80. I simply have no idea what to look for. Plenty of cheap, unbranded cable types from £10-£15 on amazon, that look like they will be fine. They are simple press to focus, press to release and have lockable function. Then you go up to branded ones that look like they do the same job. Then you go up to digital timer types for £40+. What do you recommend and why?

Yes you do indeed get what you pay for but any words of wisdom would be appreciated.

Thanks
Rsvm
 
rsv_mark said:
Hi all. New on here and getting ready to attempt first trails.

Tip from another forum- keep your camera in the car boot on the way to the location. Taking a room temp camera straight into a cold environment will result in fogging so by 'cooling' it down in The boot on the way to the location is one suggestion to allow it to acclimatise.

Question: I need to buy a lockable shutter release for this. I have a D80. I simply have no idea what to look for. Plenty of cheap, unbranded cable types from £10-£15 on amazon, that look like they will be fine. They are simple press to focus, press to release and have lockable function. Then you go up to branded ones that look like they do the same job. Then you go up to digital timer types for £40+. What do you recommend and why?

Yes you do indeed get what you pay for but any words of wisdom would be appreciated.

Thanks
Rsvm
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When it comes to the trigger it's all about what you want to use it for other than trails, utimatly all you need a simple push and lock trigger, as this once the camera is set correctly will force the camera to keep taking photo's (y) the one that I use is a simple one an it only cost I think £12 but there is nothing stopping you going even cheaper (y)

Welcome to the forum

Matt
 
Hi Matt.
Thanks for putting this guide together.
I tried this in the garden the other day and was amazed at the result. The only problem was that it was so cold my battery died after 120 exposures.
This is certainly a technique I will try out on the future.
Thanks again,
Steve
 
Powellypics said:
Hi Matt.
Thanks for putting this guide together.
I tried this in the garden the other day and was amazed at the result. The only problem was that it was so cold my battery died after 120 exposures.
This is certainly a technique I will try out on the future.
Thanks again,
Steve
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No problems at all Steve, and to the battery issue in cold weather your batteries will drain really quick, so make sure that your fully charged, turn of things like noise reduction (y) you really don't need it, personally I use a battery grip this allows me to make use of two batteries and certainly helps at this time of the year (y)

Welcome to TP :wave:

Matt
 
Thanks for the tutorial Matt, very useful(y)
I may set up an exposure tonight whilst I'm doing a management project, it'll give me something to look forward to playing with. The 400d is horrendously noisy above ISO400, do you know how effective the last dark frame is at cancelling noise out? I've downloaded Starstax to do the image stacking.
thanks
Mark
Oh and your Polaris finder isn't working, apologies if this has been mentioned before I skipped to the end of the thread:naughty:
 
maddog.mark said:
Thanks for the tutorial Matt, very useful(y)
I may set up an exposure tonight whilst I'm doing a management project, it'll give me something to look forward to playing with. The 400d is horrendously noisy above ISO400, do you know how effective the last dark frame is at cancelling noise out? I've downloaded Starstax to do the image stacking.
thanks
Mark
Oh and your Polaris finder isn't working, apologies if this has been mentioned before I skipped to the end of the thread:naughty:
Click to expand...

Currently working on a new improved polaris finder developed/photography by Andrew (AndWhyNot) that should be sorted soon (y)

This is the old version :D

Polaris Finder by mwhcvt, on Flickr

As to the noise factor, I've never used the dark frames trick, you should be able to get away with ISO800 as the stacking process helps to reduce the noise (y) so there is not as much noise in the stacked exposure as in a single exposure..

Matt
 
Thanks Matt
Just completed a 1hour stacked exposure, just in the back garden with no foreground, so I have a lot of trails but nothing else. But at least it's given me some idea of the process involved.
 
parker455 said:
I'm giving this a shot tonight if I can get eos utility to work!
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I hope that you get it sorted as it's always a shame to miss a clear night :(

maddog.mark said:
Thanks Matt
Just completed a 1hour stacked exposure, just in the back garden with no foreground, so I have a lot of trails but nothing else. But at least it's given me some idea of the process involved.
Click to expand...

Great (y) I'm pleased it gone well for you I look forward to seeing an on location trail (y)

Matt
 
I'm incredibly annoyed its so clear out! Got the perfect setting too!

I'm going to have to buy a proper timer I think, any 3Rd party ones you can recommend?

Thanks
 
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