Stars over San Luis

[misskrys]

It's been a while since I've been here... my bad. I'm in the midst of a 52-week project (which I'm seriously slacking on [oops]), but this is one of the photos that I've taken for this project. To be honest, it's pretty much exactly what was in my mind's eye when I set out to capture this photo, but I'd like some critique on it. I can't wait to do another star trail photo - it was an absolute blast (even though it was freezing cold)!!! But I'd like to know what to watch out for the next time I do one!


Stars Over San Luis by Krys Laurelle, on Flickr

This was 200 manually stacked (in Photoshop) 30-sec exposures, for a grand total of 100 minutes.

Thanks!

 

[D-B-J]

Wow, well done. Why did you manually stack them?

 

[misskrys]

Well, for one, I don't have an auto-stacker (unless Photoshop can do it for you, or there's a free one?) and for two, if you want a job done right.... I'm sure you know the rest

 

[stickboy]

Wow, I really like that shot. Well done!

Noob question here if you don't mind... What's the purpose of stacking as opposed to taking a really long exposure in this case? Is it primarily to keep the city lights from becoming overexposed in this situation? Assuming there is no town at the bottom of the picture, is there any reason to stack star trail shots as opposed to long exposure?

 

[misskrys]

Well, my camera body (D5000) is an entry-level body, so it doesn't do well with high ISO/long exposures. So basically, I took a bunch of short exposures and stacked them in order to reduce noise. I'm sure a higher quality body would deal with noise better, so you could theoretically could keep the shutter open for much longer (60min+). I'm sure someone with more experience in this area could chime in.

 

[stickboy]

Well, my camera body (D5000) is an entry-level body, so it doesn't do well with high ISO/long exposures. So basically, I took a bunch of short exposures and stacked them in order to reduce noise. I'm sure a higher quality body would deal with noise better, so you could theoretically could keep the shutter open for much longer (60min+). I'm sure someone with more experience in this area could chime in.

Makes sense. This is an area I want to get into but have not had a lot of experience with, so learning things like this are very helpful.

 

[untouchednalive]

`HEY MISSKRYS, I JUST GOT THE SAME CAMERA BUT WITH THE KIT LENS IT CAME WITH AND HAVE BEEN TRYING A FEW DIFFERENT "FUN" THINGS WITH IT & WHAT YOU HAVE DONE HERE IS SOMETHING I WANT TO TRY OUT NEXT, CAN YOU HELP ME FIGURE IT OUT? IF IT'S EASIER JUST PRIVATE MESSAGE ME... THANKS!

 

[MissCream]

`HEY MISSKRYS, I JUST GOT THE SAME CAMERA BUT WITH THE KIT LENS IT CAME WITH AND HAVE BEEN TRYING A FEW DIFFERENT "FUN" THINGS WITH IT & WHAT YOU HAVE DONE HERE IS SOMETHING I WANT TO TRY OUT NEXT, CAN YOU HELP ME FIGURE IT OUT? IF IT'S EASIER JUST PRIVATE MESSAGE ME... THANKS!

I'm really not trying to be rude, I'm just curious as to why you chose to write all in capital letters?

 

[KmH]

Which on the Internet is tantamount to SHOUTING, and is considered poor netiquette.