Star trails

beeje25

beeje25

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176
Name
bryan
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here is my first attempt at star trails:

TRAIL_1tog.jpg


TRAILS_2_tog.jpg


try that agin
 
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or not.... as the case may be.
 
ArronTucker said:
I love Star Trail photos, never got the hang of it yet though. 2 good shots there
Click to expand...

both of these are stacked images each iso 100 f.4 30 second's exposure with the tower light painted on a few image's total lapsed time around an hour each
 
I am just trying this site from phone....yes please, could you be a bit more specific about technique for star trails?..they look lovely , I never quite got it!!...do you use manual focus?
 
Hi Bryan,

I love the idea with the tower in the shots and these are very nice shots.. At the moment, getting anywhere decent for me is not an option. However one thing I noticed is that with your shots, the trails all have gaps in them suggesting too long a delay in between the shots.

How are you doing each of your shots do you have a timer remote or are you manually opening and closing the shutter?

Just for a heads up, I bought an Intervalometer for £22. (Canon equiv. is about £130 I think). It works fantastically. - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Timer-Remot...I1HU/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1332801742&sr=8-2

Here's a test shot I did last night with it. A very simply boring point up at the sky shot but it worked great. The minimum time between shots is 1 second but it's never noticeable.

Not embedded as the thread is for your shots, not mine. ;)

http://ipc.smugmug.com/Night-time/Night/i-T2Sc4jM/0/O/Startrails.jpg
 
MIVC said:
I am just trying this site from phone....yes please, could you be a bit more specific about technique for star trails?..they look lovely , I never quite got it!!...do you use manual focus?
Click to expand...


Choose your focal length (most of the time it's the widest one). Locate a very bright point of light at as far a distance as possible and then auto focus your camera on it. Switch to Manual Focus, then try a test shot at F8, ISO 100. Try 2 or 3 minutes for example. What you're looking for is a shot that is not overly polluted by sodium light but allowing the stars to be photographed brightly. You'll even see them looking a little elongated as if the camera was moved.

Once you've got decent exposure and you're happy with the level of ambient light to star detail, calculate how many shots you'd need for an hour or two's worth of trails. So a 3 minute exposure would require 40 shots for 2 hours.

This should give you some decent trails. ooh, Also it's good to focus on the North Star (Polaris) as this will give you the circular trails. Often you can photograph other stars for a sweeping effect across the sky. See my post above on how to easily achieve multiple shots without having to babysit the camera :)

Apologies for kinda hi-jacking the thread a little.
 
Nice enough trail.

I'd try straightening the tower. Maybe try taking trails where there are no towns in the distance to avoid pollution as IMO your ISO is far to low to get the most out the night sky.

Scott.
 
Interesting re. the ISO Scott. You'd recommend a higher ISO? I'm fairly new to trails in a way although have done a few before now but if increasing the ISO would bring more detail then I'm certainly all up for that.
 
Thanks for the comments and advice I don't mind my thread being hijacked as long as it helps others.

The gaps are caused by me removing frame from my image I had someone running through a few shots with a light wand that I wanted removed.

There is no need for intervalomiter if you use a cable shutter release locked in the pressed position no gaps at all ,set the to continueus and high speed the camera will do all the hard work you just need a cuppa to keep warm.

I do use manual focus my lens allows me to set the focus to infinity so i don't have to worry.

Thanks for the ISO tip I'll try a higher one next time
 
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for a first attempt not bad... some things to learn on the way (I was the same when i tried earlier in the year)

as mentioned above - straighten it up.
30 secs a pop is fine - have you got all the NR turned off - if so, you should be able to finish one exposure as the next starts.
I have a Pentax K5 - last time I tired star trails, I did 30 secs exposures at ISO800...... would be comfortable taking it up to 3200 or 6400. the 7d should be capable of the same quite easily enough.
If yuo use star stax, do a completely black image as well (lens cover on) - when it combines it will remove lots of noise, and don't be scared with the flash to lighten up the foreground interest for another exposure.............

(y)
 
Lynton said:
If yuo use star stax, do a completely black image as well (lens cover on) - when it combines it will remove lots of noise, and don't be scared with the flash to lighten up the foreground interest for another exposure.............

(y)
Click to expand...


Could you a saved black file of the same size?
 
don't quote me on it, but I assume so, as effectively the same data is being recorded (i.e. the black cat, asleep in a coal cellar at midnight) - unless your lens cap has magical translucent properties............

Only one way to find out!
 
Hi Beeje, i do quite alot of star trails, this really is not bad for your first go, but as has already been mentioned, bump up the iso, if im using my 400d i would go for 400-800 depending upon light pollution etc, nice wide app, F4 seems to work well the somewhere between 25-45sec exposures again depending upon lighting conditions(y)
not intending on hijacking your thread but heres one from sunday using those settings

85/366 Startrail TP Meet Chesterton Windmill by The-dodo, on Flickr
 
beeje25 said:
Thanks for the comments and advice I don't mind my thread being hijacked as long as it helps others.

The gaps are caused by me removing frame from my image I had someone running through a few shots with a light wand that I wanted removed.

There is no need for intervalomiter if you use a cable shutter release locked in the pressed position no gaps at all ,set the to continueus and high speed the camera will do all the hard work you just need a cuppa to keep warm.

I do use manual focus my lens allows me to set the focus to infinity so i don't have to worry.

Thanks for the ISO tip I'll try a higher one next time
Click to expand...



Cool, that explains the gaps :).. The intervalometer is just a preference. It is just simply a cable shutter release but has a few other little tricks. I intend to do some time lapse stuff at some point anyway with X minutes/Hours delay in between the shots so the one I have will be perfect for that, on top of being able to do the star trail stuff too :).

I'm going to play around with the ISO's myself. I suppose I'd always tried to use as low an ISO as possible because when I was using my 400D, anything about ISO 400 is just unuseable unless you use a lot of post processing to clean up.

With the 7D, ISO noise isn't an issue.
 
IanClark said:
Interesting re. the ISO Scott. You'd recommend a higher ISO? I'm fairly new to trails in a way although have done a few before now but if increasing the ISO would bring more detail then I'm certainly all up for that.
Click to expand...

Yes Ian. I normally go for 640-800. But it always depends on the sky in front of you. I get away with a high ISO as I shoot my trails out to sea so no pollution. But if you shoot in a town or towards one the. You won't get away with it.

That said, you should always avoid shooting towards a town.
 
Hi Scotty, I had a little dabble last night. Set to ISO400, each shot 10 seconds. Wprked well.

I think shooting towards the town is subjective to how far away you are I think. I must admit I've seen a few star trail shots with towns really far back in the distance and they've been quite good. Also, there's a guy on here does urban star trails (fandwhynot is his name) which are really cool.

Anyway, I started a new thread. The shot taken from our back garden (we live in a reasonably brighly lit area).

Thread here - http://talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?p=4533798#post4533798
 
Interesting location, as has been said already your settings were not really optimum to get the most out of star trails, you may find it useful to give my guide to star trails a read through (y) I'll be happy to answer any questions that you may have (y)

Link to the guide in my signature (y)

Matt
MWHCVT
 
Thedodo said:
Hi Beeje, i do quite alot of star trails, this really is not bad for your first go, but as has already been mentioned, bump up the iso, if im using my 400d i would go for 400-800 depending upon light pollution etc, nice wide app, F4 seems to work well the somewhere between 25-45sec exposures again depending upon lighting conditions(y)
not intending on hijacking your thread but heres one from sunday using those settings

85/366 Startrail TP Meet Chesterton Windmill by The-dodo, on Flickr
Click to expand...

Love this shot!!! Love the colours and trails!!! Well impressed!!
 
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