Startrails - Take 3: After a bit more reading, I figured out that I didn't have the timer set correctly and I was only getting ~20 minutes of shots. I used 30 second shots for this one...

Curve_in Loc: Virginia

After a bit more reading, I figured out that I didn't have the timer set correctly and I was only getting ~20 minutes of shots. I used 30 second shots for this one and found a spot where the lights were not hitting the camera. Pointed the camera North and turned on a upstairs light. I didn't do a re-check and I somehow reverted back to the 1 second interval rather than 30 seconds. I'll try again tonight. I included a base shot with before color, contrast and brightness adjustments.

(Download)

Erv Loc: Medina Ohio

That is pretty awesome Kervin!! I will have to get out and try that again. I use to do it all the time. Getting lazy in my old age.:):)

Curve_in Loc: Virginia

Thanks! We're all getting old. This is the first time that I've been a bit nervous about taking pictures on a vacation. I hope I can find a cool place for some night sky shots.

SonnyE Loc: Communist California, USA

That's great Kervin!
I particularly like the house silhouetted.
If the exposures would have been 30 seconds, I think the light in the window may have been overwhelming in brightness.
But try it.
You are making great progress. Practice, practice, practice...

Sometimes I spend my days figuring out what I want to do at night.
But being a backyard astronomy enthusiast I'm not only close to home, but I can wait till the next night to try and fix what I did wrong.
(And why my delete key is important to me.

)

A suggestion: If I had your back drop, I think I'd see if the peak of the roof couldn't be framed to hold up the North Star (Polaris).

Curve_in Loc: Virginia

Those are shot at 30 seconds but there was so much light from across the street that I went with a ISO of 200 along with f2.8. Mostly, I wanted to see how that spot in the yard worked for a North facing view.

dlmorris Loc: Loma Linda, Ca

Not sure what you mean by 30 sec interval, but 20-30 sec exposures with 1 or 2 sec between shots should work out really well. I noticed in this star trails picture you can see the colors in many of the trails. That is very good. Shows they are not overexposed. Keep it up!

SonnyE Loc: Communist California, USA

Curve_in wrote:

Those are shot at 30 seconds but there was so much light from across the street that I went with a ISO of 200 along with f2.8. Mostly, I wanted to see how that spot in the yard worked for a North facing view.

"I didn't do a re-check and I somehow reverted back to the 1 second interval rather than 30 seconds."

Anyway, keep practicing. When I began doing star trails my SD card was a plain jane card and wouldn't store fast enough. I'd never thought about its 5 second lag while the data was stored.
After I got a faster, (and bigger) SD card I got rid of the lag I had. (Beginner boo-boo's) A two second storage pause between frames worked good for me.

Curve_in Loc: Virginia

One more try. The moon was just out of frame so I didn't get as many trails. I also went to 400 iso to get more of the house. This time I had 279 24mp images which was rather hard for my computer so I made three images and then merged those three into one.

(Download)

dlmorris Loc: Loma Linda, Ca

I like it! Complete with a bunch of airplane trails!!

Curve_in Loc: Virginia

dlmorris wrote:

I like it! Complete with a bunch of airplane trails!!

Thanks! I just noticed that there is a reflection of a star trail from the southern sky in the upstairs window.

SonnyE wrote:

i "I didn't do a re-check and I somehow reve... (show quote)

I'll check my card speed. I never needed to worry about the write speed until now!

SonnyE wrote:

That's great Kervin! br I particularly like the ho... (show quote)

I know very little about astronomy, so my search for Polaris wasn't very good. When I get to a super dark spot, I do want to get a image of the Milkyway.

bwana Loc: Bergen, Alberta, Canada

Curve_in wrote:

After a bit more reading, I figured out that I didn't have the timer set correctly and I was only getting ~20 minutes of shots. I used 30 second shots for this one and found a spot where the lights were not hitting the camera. Pointed the camera North and turned on a upstairs light. I didn't do a re-check and I somehow reverted back to the 1 second interval rather than 30 seconds. I'll try again tonight. I included a base shot with before color, contrast and brightness adjustments.

I shot quite a few star trails over the past decades. You might look at some of the settings I've used in my album at:

Star Trails

One of my favorites is shown below: (Tamron 10-24mm (10mm used), f/5.0, Canon 60D, tripod,
180x60sec @ ISO3200, 15sec interval between subs)

Have fun!

bwa

dlmorris Loc: Loma Linda, Ca

Curve_in wrote:

I know very little about astronomy, so my search for Polaris wasn't very good. When I get to a super dark spot, I do want to get a image of the Milkyway.

I didn't notice the reflection in the window. Pretty cool! What lens are you using? For Milky Way shots, you'll want about the widest you can fins, short of a fisheye. Though sometimes even that is interesting. If you want to get up around three or four in the morning, the Milky Way is just starting to rise!

CraigFair Loc: Santa Maria, CA.

Curve_in wrote:

After a bit more reading, I figured out that I didn't have the timer set correctly and I was only getting ~20 minutes of shots. I used 30 second shots for this one and found a spot where the lights were not hitting the camera. Pointed the camera North and turned on a upstairs light. I didn't do a re-check and I somehow reverted back to the 1 second interval rather than 30 seconds. I'll try again tonight. I included a base shot with before color, contrast and brightness adjustments.

I like, I like, I like it Kervin.
Craig

CraigFair Loc: Santa Maria, CA.

bwana wrote:

I shot quite a few star trails over the past decades. You might look at some of the settings I've used in my album at:

Star Trails

One of my favorites is shown below: (Tamron 10-24mm (10mm used), f/5.0, Canon 60D, tripod,
180x60sec @ ISO3200, 15sec interval between subs)

Have fun!

bwa

Very cool Boss. What did you use to stack it???
Craig

bwana Loc: Bergen, Alberta, Canada

CraigFair wrote:

Very cool Boss. What did you use to stack it???
Craig

For the one shown, I used a Max. Combine in ImagesPlus 4.0. I've used PixInsight, ImagePlus, Autopano Giga and Photoshop (and probably a few others) over the years.

And with the Star Trails App in my Sony cameras I can generate star trail videos directly out of the camera.

bwa