Tutorial Photography Guide: Star Trails

haha well im actually Scottish, I moved to Norwich last year when I moved in with the missus. Must admit though, absolutely love the place.

A bit off topic, do you know of any camera clubs in Norwich?
 
kamikazi929 said:
haha well im actually Scottish, I moved to Norwich last year when I moved in with the missus. Must admit though, absolutely love the place.

A bit off topic, do you know of any camera clubs in Norwich?
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I'm afraid not but look out for Norfolk Mafia Meet's where a decent number of the members from your area meet up and occasionally take a few photo's :thumbs:

Or check out the meeting place HERE

Matt
 
infinity1 said:
i am very new to photography ,but this is a great guide easy to understand.i will be having a go at this shortly :-)
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Thank you Sarah, welcome to TP :wave: and if you've any questions please let me know :thumbs:

Matt
 
I've wanted to try this for a while. Thanks for the guide, Matt, I'll bookmark it for future reference. :thumbs:
 
ZoneV said:
I've wanted to try this for a while. Thanks for the guide, Matt, I'll bookmark it for future reference. :thumbs:
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No worries :thumbs: it looks like you could be in luck tonight looks to be clear :thumbs:
 
alan72 said:
Excellent tutorial!! Need to find some new locations now and get a pass out for an evening!!
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Just a suggestion but I find it's best to take someone with you, it's nice to have someone to talk to :thumbs:

I'm pleased that you like the tutorial :thumbs: and welcome to TP :wave:

Matt
 
Terrible image but it was a quick attempt to see for myself how all this works.

Untitled-141.jpg


The built-in interval timer does a good job in totally automating this, so it's a case of setting the exposure in manual, setting the focussing to MF and just inputting the number of shots and the interval. I set it as 30-seconds but I reckon it's probably better to have no gap and just keep shooting non-stop so there's not the dotted line effect that I have in my image.

I actually shot this out of my bedroom window, as I was looking after the little un so couldn't venture out. Next time I'll shoot with a higher aim and look for the pole star. I'll also go somewhere without as much light pollution.

I found a startrails action for photoshop that can be downloaded - this is what pieced together the 50 or so exposures I did for the shot above.
 
Not a bad effort at all Pat, as you've already pointed out the areas where this could be improved so I shall not go over them :lol: but what I would say is that effect on the cloud has come out really cool :lol: not normal for cloud and stars to go together but in this instance I think it actually works :thumbs:

You so you know if you were not aware StarStaX is a multi platform package so will work on your Mac :thumbs:

Matt
 
Yeah, didn't expect that with the cloud..... forgot to download Starstax.... doing that now :)
 
specialman said:
Yeah, didn't expect that with the cloud..... forgot to download Starstax.... doing that now :)
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It should work well for you :thumbs: it's a great interface for star trails :D
 
Haz, stunning pictures mate. we these done by stacking i presume?

how long did it take you to get these shots?
 
Those are both great Haz, I like them both and the locations work well too :thumbs: you may want to start a thread in either the landscapes or creative section to show these off to a wider audience :thumbs:

Matt
 
MWHCVT said:
Thanks I'm pleased that you've found it worth reading :thumbs:

There are a few different techniques that different people use, if you have a strong touch you can shine that on what you want to focus on and then use auto focus :thumbs: remembering to switch it off once focused :thumbs:

or you can focus to infinity and then take a few test exposure adjusting focus until your happy with the focus :D

If live view is available on your camera you can used that if there is sufficient light to focus manually

If there is a light on your subject AF may be able to lock onto that for focus..

The biggest key is to make sure once you've focused to make sure AF is off :thumbs:

Matt
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Trying this tomorrow for the first time (fingers crossed with the weather)

I am just trying to get to grips with where to set the focus.

Does it not matter if the stars are out of focus?

If shooting at f4 and focus on the foreground interest then the stars will be oof, if you focus to infinity then wont the foreground interest be oof?

Could you clarify it a bit for me?

I am thinking that I just focus on the foreground interest and not worry about focus on the stars :shrug:

Cheers
Nick
 
Spoony said:
Trying this tomorrow for the first time (fingers crossed with the weather)

I am just trying to get to grips with where to set the focus.

Does it not matter if the stars are out of focus?

If shooting at f4 and focus on the foreground interest then the stars will be oof, if you focus to infinity then wont the foreground interest be oof?

Could you clarify it a bit for me?

I am thinking that I just focus on the foreground interest and not worry about focus on the stars :shrug:

Cheers
Nick
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Hi Nick, I always focus on the foreground, the stats are so small if they are out of focus it never been an issue for me :thumbs: but if the foreground is OOF it just spoils the entire image :bang:

Hope that helps and hope the weather plays ball for you :thumbs:

Matt
 
Thanks for the reply Matt

Looking forward to giving it a go.

Cheers for the guide it has give me a good idea of what to do.
 
parker455 said:
Just bought a 20D Matt that I'm using for star trails etc, should see a fair few more from me!
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Nice :thumbs:

Spoony said:
Thanks for the reply Matt

Looking forward to giving it a go.

Cheers for the guide it has give me a good idea of what to do.
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No worries, it's always good to be able to get an idea about what to do when your going to spend an hour plus doing it before you see any results :eek: but remember my golden rule check your focus and composition before your start and then double check it just to be sure, my mate spent 2 hours doing one with me once only to find he was totally OOF :bang:

Matt
 
parker455 said:
How do you go about lighting the foreground too, does it just have to be a single frame that's lit?
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Indeed it only has to be the one frame :thumbs: but if it takes more than one frame to do the different parts of the scene that's also not an issue :thumbs:

Matt
 
Just been out, but came back to realise I was shooting in RAW with VR turned on.

GRRR
 
Just converted to jpeg, I'm pretty happy to say it was my first attempt. Looking forward to finding a more interesting focus point next time! This was just a test really.

Thanks for the tutorial Matt.


Malvern Star Trial by BenMDavies, on Flickr
 
MWHCVT said:
Well you've got some trails in there Ben :thumbs: so that's the start :thumbs: but overall it's very dark, what were your individual photo settings?

Matt
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Cheers, I think its too dark partly down to me boing a bit crazy with the levels on PS.

Settings used were: F4, ISO 800, 62x30s exposures
 
lolage said:
Cheers, I think its too dark partly down to me boing a bit crazy with the levels on PS.

Settings used were: F4, ISO 800, 62x30s exposures
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That explains it :D
 
Right, here i have another attempt!

Not sure why there's gaps in the trails, bit annoying and StarStax seems to make my subjects a bit soft? Not sure i like how it stacks them. May just be the lens i'm using too.. 50mm @ 1.4

Anyway, shot over stock windmill, would be good to shoot with a wideangle or my fisheye next time.

6994497095_25949aff52_o.jpg
 
parker455 said:
Right, here i have another attempt!

Not sure why there's gaps in the trails, bit annoying and StarStax seems to make my subjects a bit soft? Not sure i like how it stacks them. May just be the lens i'm using too.. 50mm @ 1.4

Anyway, shot over stock windmill, would be good to shoot with a wideangle or my fisheye next time.

6994497095_25949aff52_o.jpg
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I'm guessing that your using a programable trigger and that the program is not quite right, what trigger are you using?

It's a fine effort thought :thumbs: I certainly think that you need a wider angle on the subject though :thumbs:

buckas said:
nice write up fella, here's one i did a while back

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=304649&highlight=samson

need to do another...

drew
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I remember that one, it's really impressive :thumbs: I'm pleased you like the guide :D

Matt
 
MWHCVT said:
I'm guessing that your using a programable trigger and that the program is not quite right, what trigger are you using?

It's a fine effort thought :thumbs: I certainly think that you need a wider angle on the subject though :thumbs:

I remember that one, it's really impressive :thumbs: I'm pleased you like the guide :D

Matt
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I've got that 8mm samyang but to be honest it's a pain because it's just too wide..

Such a dillemma.
Trigger isn't programmed, it may be that I'm using an older canon body but it wasn't delaying in the shoot. I'm unsure. Might just need a wider angle
 
parker455 said:
I've got that 8mm samyang but to be honest it's a pain because it's just too wide..

Such a dillemma.
Trigger isn't programmed, it may be that I'm using an older canon body but it wasn't delaying in the shoot. I'm unsure. Might just need a wider angle
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I've the same lens and I love it for star trails :thumbs: I'm confused over the fact that you seem to have a bunch of exposures with a few seconds gap between each and then a section where there appears no gap then back to the dotted trails :thinking: I'm not sure what is going on, what are you setting your camera to? is long exposure noise reduction on or off?
 
MWHCVT said:
I've the same lens and I love it for star trails :thumbs: I'm confused over the fact that you seem to have a bunch of exposures with a few seconds gap between each and then a section where there appears no gap then back to the dotted trails :thinking: I'm not sure what is going on, what are you setting your camera to? is long exposure noise reduction on or off?
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Yeah I'm pretty confused why too, I've not removed any frames from it.. Camera was opn 13sec exposure, ISO 100, f/1.4 on a continuous shutter. Noise reduction wise, the camera doesn't have it I don't think, it's an older 20D I use for trails (don't want my 7D being robbed or shutter going through the roof)
 
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