Star Trails - How to?

[robb01]

So I finally have everything I need to start doing some long exposure photography, i.e. Manfrotto tripod and wired remote.

How do I best captue star trails? I have a place that I think will make a nice foreground for the trails.

From what Ive gathered its best to use a small f stop, and low iso. Take ~30-40 minutes worth of 20-30 second exposures.

Itll need to be stacked, is there a good free stacking software program to do this, or is photoshop able to do this?

 

[KmH]

how to photograph star trails - Bing

http://www.bing.com/search?q=free+image+stacking+software&go=&qs=n&sk=&sc=1-28&form=QBRE

 

[molested_cow]

For digital camera, it's tricky what iso you should use. It all depends on what kind of effect you want to achieve.

If you want little or no trail, you want to use higher iso. Even with long exposures, if you go with something too low, you will miss some of the more faint stars. Too high you get very noticeable noise dots that will take forever to edit out.

It's easier to do stacking instead of doing everything on a single exposure. Photoshop can do it. Just use "lighten" as the layer filter.

Depending on what lens you are using. The wider the focal length, the longer it takes to get noticeable trail. Start with something short, like 30sec or 1min to get the feeling of the exposure, then work your way to get longer exposures with predictable results. Also, the time of the day matters. If you are shooting within 2 hours of sunset, chances are your long exposures will still catch the distance light. You can choose to use that to your advantage or avoid it. You can also choose to shoot in different directions for the kind of "spin". Shoot towards north/south and you can capture the center. East/west for "straighter" trails.

If you are out in the woods, wear long sleeve, hood(hear wear) and lots of bug spray. Bring a lantern or flash light too.

 

[robb01]

Thanks, those are the tips I was wanting. I also wondered about shooting in RAW, I typically do, but really dont want to PP 250+ images. Is there an easy way to get the white balance correct in JPG?

Also, I had planned on using my Tokina 12-24mm lens to do this, is that a good lens to use?

 

[analog.universe]

I would still shoot RAW and just batch process. Not sure which converter you use.... ufraw is free, and allows you to make a settings file based on one image and then apply it to a group.

Star trails can take lots of time depending on the effect you're going for. It's helpful to remember that the "sky" rotates at 15 degrees per hour. Star trail shots with 3 hours of exposure are not uncommon. As mentioned, the stars will traverse more of the frame in less time with a longer focal length, but personally I'd use the 12-24 and just put the time in. : )