First time doing star trails

[birdbonkers84]

Crawton star trails 90 by Mark Coull, on Flickr

2nd attempt doing this, got it right this time, this was taken roughly around 2am, after waiting almost 2 hours for the clouds to shift. Unfortunately there was the moon to the right and a old house light to the left. I'm pleased with it, but could of tried it portrait to get more of the night sky in it.
Nikon d7100 + 18-55 lens, 30s x 90 shots, comp'd in StarStrax.

 

[crimbfighter]

Looks really good! I don' think I would go portrait orientation, but maybe either stepping back from the foreground rock structure, or use a slightly wider focal length. I think the stars should be the main subject and the foreground is used for reference. As it is now, I feel like the foreground is a little too much of the frame. This could certainly have been what you were going for, but to me it should be a little smaller in the frame.

 

[birdbonkers84]

Looks really good! I don' think I would go portrait orientation, but maybe either stepping back from the foreground rock structure, or use a slightly wider focal length. I think the stars should be the main subject and the foreground is used for reference. As it is now, I feel like the foreground is a little too much of the frame. This could certainly have been what you were going for, but to me it should be a little smaller in the frame.

Thanks,
Unfortunately this was a wide as I can go with the 18-55 kit lens, just waiting on the money from some lens sales to come through and I'm going to buy the Tokina 11-20. I would of liked to move further back, but that would mean falling off the edge of the cliff face lol. I plan on going back at some point so I'll definitely take your comments on board.

 

[crimbfighter]

I definitely wouldn' recommend falling off the cliff! I look forward to seeing the redux.

 

[Derrel]

Good early effort! Perhaps a bit more depth of field was needed to pull the foreground rock structure 100% into the focus zone, yet still, well-composed mostly, and good trails. And oh boy, what a fantastic rock to have in the foreground, with that hole in it, revealing a tantalizing peak-a-boo star trail spot! How fortunate to have such a place for a star trail shot to be set-up at.

 

[birdbonkers84]

Good early effort! Perhaps a bit more depth of field was needed to pull the foreground rock structure 100% into the focus zone, yet still, well-composed mostly, and good trails. And oh boy, what a fantastic rock to have in the foreground, with that hole in it, revealing a tantalizing peak-a-boo star trail spot! How fortunate to have such a place for a star trail shot to be set-up at.

Thanks Derrel for the comments,

The foreground structure is actually a ruin of a house, the area I was in is the site of an old ruined fishing community, 23 houses and 1 school, but it's been deserted since 1927. There's a farm and a couple of fancy houses there now. I don't know what caused the hole in the wall, but being able to see the star trails through it was my idea behind the composition. I'll work on my manual focusing technique for next time! I only know of this place due to it being next door to RSPB Fowlsheugh, where I have been photographing the seabirds last year.

 

[Destin]

Love it! Personally I might have done a little light painting at a near 90 degree angle to the face of the wall to add some depth to the surface of it. But that’s a minor quibble.

 

[birdbonkers84]

Love it! Personally I might have done a little light painting at a near 90 degree angle to the face of the wall to add some depth to the surface of it. But that’s a minor quibble.

Thanks, my friend I was wish actually did that, which brought all the detail out of the wall, so I'll be giving that a try next time as that is something I did notice with my wall.