Star trails with the city scape

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demonicangelz

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Hi there.

I've recently thought about taking a star trail shot with the city scape in the picture. As you guys know the night sky in the city is polluted with light.

However since I am more interested in the starry part of the sky, I was thinking a 3 stop GND filter would allow me to cut down the exposure of the cityscape which is at the bottom of the frame.

Will this work? (I don't own a 3 stop GND, and I would need to borrow or buy one to try this out) It would be better if some one who has tried this idea confirm that this would work before I actually venture out to try the idea.

Is my explanation clear by the way? Or do I need to clarify further what I intend to do?
 
I think you're on the right lines, but stars a very dim (like several seconds exposure) and the average cityscape is quite bright, often shootable at hand-holdable shutter speeds. The difference between the two will be very vary a lot, and I would guess at being far more than three stops difference.

Probably best to shoot stars and cityscape separately and merge in post processing.
 
It's perfectly possible to get very good star trail results in and urban environment, I live is one of the most light polluted areas of the UK and have no issue in doing star trails :thumbs: if you check out my signature there is a link to guide to light trails, and also linked in my guide is specific guide written by Andrew (AndWhyNot) and incredibly experienced and talented photographer on doing urban star trails :thumbs:

Matt
MWHCVT
 
It's a nice clear day today, meaning a clear sky tonight hopefully, so may give Star Trails a go later! =D
 
Adam Priseman said:
It's a nice clear day today, meaning a clear sky tonight hopefully, so may give Star Trails a go later! =D
Click to expand...

If this clear sky had been forecast I think it's save to say I would have sent out the notification of a star trails meet, the metO are positively useless :shake:

Matt
 
^ Thanks Matt

OP - you don't need a GND, and if you use one you're likely to find all sorts of additional issues like flare, colour casts and odd-looking graduations. Flare is the killer off streetlights in urban areas- you know, if you just want to kill some glow near the horizon it might work.

Instead, work really, really carefully on your composition so you can take advantage of the darkest elements in your location without causing highlights to blow.

Hopefully these London examples show what's possible when the sky's in your favour.


Lord of the Night: startrails over Nelson's Column by AndWhyNot, on Flickr


Linear Relationship: startrails over The Gherkin by AndWhyNot, on Flickr


Arch Rivals: startrails over Wembley Stadium by AndWhyNot, on Flickr
 
Andrew, very nice :)

But how do you get star trails that long with an exposure time of 13-20sec as per exif?
 
HoppyUK said:
Andrew, very nice :)

But how do you get star trails that long with an exposure time of 13-20sec as per exif?
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Because that's the base exposure, Andrew like myself take several (hundreds) of short exposures and them merge them into a single exposure using starstax or other such software :thumbs:

Take this evening because we got some unexpected clear weather I went out and did a star trail with 45 second exposures @ f/3.5 ISO800 :thumbs:

Matt
 
MWHCVT said:
Because that's the base exposure, Andrew like myself take several (hundreds) of short exposures and them merge them into a single exposure using starstax or other such software :thumbs:

Take this evening because we got some unexpected clear weather I went out and did a star trail with 45 second exposures @ f/3.5 ISO800 :thumbs:

Matt
Click to expand...

Thanks. So the full story is not quite as straightfoward as presented then ;)
 
HoppyUK said:
Thanks. So the full story is not quite as straightfoward as presented then ;)
Click to expand...

Well if you take the time to read my guide it's completely explained and Andrew does an amazing job on explaining in more detail the speciality of urban star trails :thumbs:

Matt
 
Hi Andrew,

Just read your blog post. Great insight and great pictures. One thing though, like if I want to grab a picture of a star trail with the city scape, is that possible? If I'm far away enough there wouldn't be as much street lamps, would you think that GND filters would work in this case?
 
It may be possible, maybe not. Best thing would be to try it. You'll know straight away though, any flare will be obvious through the frame.
 
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