Startrails at landmarks around England

AndWhyNot

AndWhyNot

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Andrew
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Here's my favourite images from a set I've been working on over the last 12 months or so.

I started trying to shoot urban star trails after hearing numerous togs stating that startrails was purely a dark-sky activity; that you had to get as far away from light pollution as possible. Having achieved a couple of shots in challenging conditions I figured it could be an interesting (or at least different!) way of capturing a shot in scenes that have been photographed countless times before.

To put some stats to the story, over the course of the set I've covered over 4k miles, including visiting the same locations repeatedly when conditions have conspired against me. All but one final shot (Durdle Door) has been made using the stacking method, and the remaining images are made up of a total of nearly 1200 frames (first time I've added that up :eek: )

But given this is a photography forum, you're probably more interested in the pictures than me blurting on about stuff so here goes:

01/
A Halo for an Angel

02/
Lord of the Night

03/ Time


04/ From Afar


05/ Arch Rivals


06/ Power Lines II


I still have a few landmarks on my hitlist but the set so far is on my flickr - amongst other scenes, I also shot startrails over landmarks at St Michael's Tower at Glastonbury, Clifton Suspension Bridge, more London landmarks and the Spinnaker Tower.

If you're interested in the how-to, there's an urban star trail tutorial on my blog.

Happy to hear comments, constructive crit and expressions of personal faves if anyone feels like contributing- thanks for looking :D
 
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Wow, impressive. It's hard to pick a favourite to be honest, I especially like the one of the Wembley arch and the one on the Angel of the North :D
 
These are all great shots, well done for getting so many iconic landscapes in this style.
 
I very rarely get around to posting here these days but this is a superb collection of work. The shots a beautifully made, the Angel being my personal favourite but also as snappers the appreciation of the work, time and effort involved is enormous.
 
Those are great, but where's the one of the Spinnaker Tower I saw on your Flickr? :annoyed: I DEMAND fair treatment for all parts of the country :bat:

;););););)
 
dazzajl said:
I very rarely get around to posting here these days but this is a superb collection of work. The shots a beautifully made, the Angel being my personal favourite but also as snappers the appreciation of the work, time and effort involved is enormous.
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Exactly!! An incredible collection :clap:

edit: sorry, meant to also say, my favs are the o2 dome and the starlight express, brilliant!
 
Thanks for the positive feedback everyone, a big relief after the effort that went into making the set and who knows- perhaps even some encouragement for more... ;)

Interesting to hear so many preferences (here and elsewhere) for the Angel shot. I always had a suspicion that circular trails were preferred from a viewing perspective, whereas the further away you shoot from Polaris makes it preferable purely from a shooting perspective. Financial Times liked the Angel shot too - this was last Friday :D

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Southdowns said:
Those are great, but where's the one of the Spinnaker Tower I saw on your Flickr? :annoyed: I DEMAND fair treatment for all parts of the country :bat:

;););););)
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Guessing you mean this one (being so local, I've shot trails at the Spinnaker twice) ;)

07/ 31 Minutes
 
These shots are incredible, a really well deserved set of images after the hours you've stood in the cold capturing them. Fantastic!
 
Cracking shots, I'm going to be different and say No3 is my favourite.
 
AndWhyNot said:
Interesting to hear so many preferences (here and elsewhere) for the Angel shot. I always had a suspicion that circular trails were preferred from a viewing perspective
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I don't think it's just the circular trails, I think it's the fact that the trails work with the subject more than any of the others, as hinted at by the image title.

AndWhyNot said:
Guessing you mean this one (being so local, I've shot trails at the Spinnaker twice) ;)
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That's the one, thanks ;)
 
2011 Was a great year for your stratrails Andrew. Looking forward to see what you get up to in 2012!
 
Lovely set. The Angel is my favourite too. (y)

I'm dying to try some more star trails, but a shutter malfunction means that continuous shooting isn't currently possible for me. Must get it repaired.
 
I don't look in Creative Photography very often. Clearly I am missing out. Those shots are some of the best I have seen on this website.
First class.
 
Just started getting into star trails!:eek:

As far as i have gotten is my back garden but everyone of your images are inspirational and make me determined to get out of the garden to shoot some!:clap:

I have'nt got a favourite I LOVE EM ALL.....:love:
 
love them all.

Can I just ask how you do them? I am assuming something like lots of 10 second exposures then stacked in an astro prog or photoshop.........

However, my real question is, if i take, say a 20 sec exposure at 16 Mp, it takes about 15 secs to write to the card...... admittedly raw, so do you just go for fairly low res jpeg's?
 
Absolutly amazing, No1 has to be my fav but all of them are so good. Hopefully a few years down the line i can be producing shots like this, or at least close.

Very Inspirational.

Matt
 
Wow these are fantastic, really inspiring stuff. I will be going out and shooting some star trails when I get back home next week.

Rest of your flickr is great too. Added you as contact so I can find you again, hope you don't mind.

Cheers,

Ryan.
 
Wow wow wow. These are absolutely stunning Andrew. My favourite is the Halo for an Angel. The fact you've positioned the image where you have makes it a huge winner. Congrats for getting into the nationals as well.
 
How rude of me, just realised I never said thanks for all the positive comments on this thread previous. A bit late now but thanks guys, means a lot.

Lynton said:
Can I just ask how you do them? I am assuming something like lots of 10 second exposures then stacked in an astro prog or photoshop.........

However, my real question is, if i take, say a 20 sec exposure at 16 Mp, it takes about 15 secs to write to the card...... admittedly raw, so do you just go for fairly low res jpeg's?
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All of them were done using the stacking method to capture then stacked in StarStaX and polished in PS. Sounds like your long exposure noise reduction is on, the camera creates a dark frame in the same conditions as the intended shot so you can use it for subtracting noise. You should be able to turn off the noise reduction feature and do any necessary NR in post.
 
1,2 & 5 are my favourites, though all are nice. It must have been frustrating waiting at each site to get the nice and clear night needed.
 
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