First Starscape - C&C Welcome

[reedjam99]

Finally got some time to play around with some light writing this evening, and we turned the evening into light writing, fireworks, and even a few star shots. Anyway, here's my first starscape, shot at 30 minutes.

I'm pretty happy with it as a first try, but know I can do better. Any comments and suggestions are welcome.

Just for fun, here are three thumbnails of my favorite of the fireworks and light writing. The full size shots and the rest are of course available on my Flickr.

 

[iamsneaky13]

although im new to star trails as well(check out my post!) your star trails lack and interesting foreground. i suggest going an looking for something interesting, and then leave a lot of sky in the background.

 

[reedjam99]

This was actually taken in my neighborhood, with all the houses and trees it would have been difficult to isolate a single object to use as a distinct foreground. So I went the other way and went with a straight up shot, using a couple of trees overhanging my deck to frame the top of the shot. I like the effect, but not as much as a nice isolated foreground object such as the lone tree you used in your Star Trails shot.

Speaking of which, was it just that much darker where you were that allowed you a 49 minute exposure at f/5.6 without blowing everything out? My 30 minute exposure was at f/9.0, much wider open than that and things started getting too light. I'm looking forward to getting to a more remote location away from all the ambient light to experiment some more.

 

[PhotoSteve]

Cool experimentation.

Another static feature (other than trees/leaves) would be a good idea. If you can find an old unused and unlit bridge, that would look pretty awesome with the star trails in the background.

 

[Polyphony]

Cool experimentation.

Another static feature (other than trees/leaves) would be a good idea. If you can find an old unused and unlit bridge, that would look pretty awesome with the star trails in the background.

I agree. The star trails look sweet but I think they would look better if you had something like PhotoSteve suggested in your image.

 

[reedjam99]

I know of a perfect church steeple that would look great with the star trails circling around the top. But I don't think it's ever unlit. I'll keep my eyes open for something else that will work.