C&C: Night time shot with stars across fjord

[Compaq]

f/2.8
25 seconds
ISO-100
tripod used
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This is my first attempt at stars in landscapes, and I'd like to know where I could improve. I would like to use smaller aperture, around f/7 for a sharper image, but I'm limited to 30 seconds as I don't (yet) own a trigger for my shutter. At least I was able to go as low as f/2.8, my brother and brother in law used their kit lens I thought about cropping away that lowest part so that the reflections went out of the image, but decided against it....
Also, there a blue thingy in there I didn't bother try to remove at this hour. So, here goes.....


Stjerner over Høylandsbygd by Bokehliciousness-ness, on Flickr


Thank you for commenting!

 

[Patrice]

Nice image.

The stars appear as elongated objects. That is a result of the earth rotating during your exposure. You'll have to increase your shutter speed to reduce that effect. But then your exposure might be too dark. So, use as high a iso as you can manage, or look into stacking a number of shorter exposure into one image.

You can counter the effect of the earth's rotation by various tools that rotate your camera at the same rate but that would then introduce apparent movement to the stationary objects within the frame.

 

[Railphotog]

I assume you have a protective filter on your lens - UV, Skylight or such? If so, it is probably the cause of the "blue thingy: in your photo. Light passes through the filter onto the front lens surface, then back up to the bottom of the filter and back again to the sensor. Such reflections are usually offset and upside down in the image; the light lights on the left appear to be the source.

 

[Compaq]

Thanks!

No filter or protective rings stuff on my lens. I saw the stars appeared as small stripes even on camera screen, and it's only 25 seconds. That's cool (the fact that it only takes 25 seconds, not that I have striped stars).
Noise reduced in topaz denoise as noise actually was quite visible.