star trails time lapse

[canonkid]

Hi i was just looking to see if someone could help me, basically i would like to make a star trails time lapse like this Startrail Timelapse Compilation - Nevada Nights - YouTube i know how to make time lapses and star trails (ive done it before) but i dont really know how to edit these photos to make it like that if someone could help me out that would be great i use final cute express Thanks

 

[Unknownphynix]

Photoshop is best place to edit for good effects-don't shoot RAW, takes longer to write (if you're taking multiple exposures you don't want any gaps in-between shots)
-use tungsten WB
-at least three 30" exposures with nmt 2 seconds Inbetween shots
-turn off noise reduction, and turn off vibration reduction (slightest movements from VR can blur image)
-200-600 ISO
-Don't use AF-continuous focus: I use servo AF and AE lock
-f/4
-prime lens work the best: 35mm, or 50mm
-consider light pollution, if in an urban are stop down your aperture to f/8-f-11
-- in photoshop layer all exposures, layer them using a lighten blend, or overlay
-- I also like HDR EFEX pro 2.


Hope that helps, I live in small town, so I use f/7.1 on a prime lens, and in the picture control I use vibrant.

D7000/ Nikon F3/ Nikkor 50mm 1.8 AF/ Nikkor 28mm 3.5 auto-H/ Nikkor 20mm AI-s/ Nikkor 80-200mm 1:4/ Tamron 70-200mm 2.8/ SB-700

 

[Judobreaker]

Of course he should shoot RAW.
He's shooting a timelapse which is basically a movie, a lot of frames after each other that show a change in the scene.
With moving stars nothing changes very fast so it's not a problem at all if you wait a few seconds between each shot, it's not like you'll notice it on the photo.

 

[Unknownphynix]

True, RAW files are much better and allow more control, but the write speed between exposures is longer, and the trails will be more speckled ( this happened when I first experimented with it). But I typically expose for 1-3 hours consisting of 15-20 10 minute exposures.

 

[Judobreaker]

Nikon D7000 RAW Burst Test

A quick look tells me that with a good card you can save about 1 RAW per second.
Say you have a bad card and it'll take 5 seconds.
I highly doubt you'll notice that short a time!

You also need to remember that the camera has a buffer large enough to contain several RAW files.
You can immediately start taking another photo when the first one is taken, even if your camera needs a few seconds to write the first file to your card.

I'm not sure which camera the OP uses, but I highly doubt it'll make much of a difference.
I don't think write speed can become anything of a problem here...

 

[Unknownphynix]

I shoot RAW 90% of the time, I use 2 16gb 30mb/s and buffer is about 11 I think. Every photogrpher has his/her own way of taking a photo. I shoot JPEG at night just b/c the file size & my iMac's RAM can barely keep up (figure 15-30 18mb RAW eating at my memory).

 

[Buckster]

Hey you two:

The "theories" you've decided to argue is all very interesting, seriously, but ultimately unsatisfying as objective information, which is the sort of thing that's actually useful and helpful.

So, let's see your RESULTS from applying your different theories, and then we can better determine which of you knows what he's talking about.

 

[Judobreaker]

It's kinda clouded a lot here so it's not like I can easily go and do that kinda stuff. Sorry. xD
I've so far only done single exposure star trails although I'm quite confident I'm right, so if I do find a night in which I happen to have time and in which there happen to be no clouds I'll gladly give it a shot. ^^

 

[canonkid]

see how this video is this is what im trying to do Milky Way Time Lapse over Morden Manitoba: Composite with Star Trails - YouTube i know how to take the photos and layer them for a star trails photo but im trying to do a time-lapse like in that video where you can see the trails

 

[Garbz]

Jeesh this thread derailed quickly. Basically I'm not sure how the effect is done or with what software but I can tell you what it is. The frames come up and remain persistent and then slowly fade out over 40 frames or so. The individual frames are not start trails but rather simply shots of stars.

 

[Buckster]

see how this video is this is what im trying to do Milky Way Time Lapse over Morden Manitoba: Composite with Star Trails - YouTube i know how to take the photos and layer them for a star trails photo but im trying to do a time-lapse like in that video where you can see the trails

It says in the description on Youtube:

Composite of previous night time lapse experiments using Samyang 8mm fisheye lens on Canon T1i DSLR controlled by a SmaTrig2, with the added video effect of accumulating star trails, created using 'compose lighten' effect with 'ImageMagick' command-line application and my own script.

Video clips assembled using FFmpeg on Linux Mint 9 OS. Movie created using Kdenlive. Background music by Celestial Aeon Project (creative commons = free).

He basically gives you all the info you need in the description, other than the actual script he wrote. If you need the script the video maker wrote, maybe just email him - he may give it to you.