StarTrail Focusing Difficulties

lewis.arrand

lewis.arrand

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Lewis.
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Evening all and merry christmas - posting before i sign out ahead of a morning peeling carrots and an afternoon feast tomorrow.

Spent today doing a lot of research but found varied answers; my new years photography resolution being I want to master star trails - living in rural northern lincolnshire i can do it from my doorstep.

Focus though is my main problem my kit pretty basic:

Nikon d3100
kit 18-55mm lens
nikon 55-300mm lens
redsnapper, remote etc etc.

Ive used my longer lens in the past and got ok results but I'm stretching the ability of my kit lens (hoping santa brings me a new one) but how the heck to focus it.

Struggling to pick up stars even in live view zoomed never mind focus on them and no 'infinity'.


A further question if i may; to get foreground object and stars in focus is this done by refocusing or is there a trick?

Ive been reading laser pointers etc but just require some clarity as if i could focus I'm fine on the settings.


Many thanks and merry christmas!
 
If your doing a start trail as part of a scene such as say a landscape with a tree, or a nice old building/castle etc then focus on the foreground interest as honestly the scene looks stupid if it is OOF but the starts are pin sharp, where as stars being such tiny points of light it really will not hurt if they are partially OOF, however the reality in my experience is that with landscapes the DoF or acceptable focus is so broad that the entire scene will more or less be in focus, as to how to focus, invest in a decent touch and use that to illuminate what you want to focus on then using auto focus to lock focus switching to manual focus once you've confirmed focus....

If your shooting with company as I recommend as it makes for a shorted evening if you've someone to talk to have then if needed walk to where you wish to focus and then if they point the torch back at you that will allow you to auto focus...

Matt
 
A couple of tips here for you.
1) Keep a lens cloth handy, these cold nights they fog up real quick.
2) If your going to use a torch,make sure it's a red light one. That way you wont ruin your night vision.

Have fun.
 
Your photo looks great to me and is something i'd like to try. Do you mind sharing what settings were used.

Thanks in advance.
 
Thank Matt! I was the messenger not the author!
 
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