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Early attempt at Star trails
Jan 16, 2018 10:39:59   #
jaybreeze Loc: North Carolina
 
I recently became interested in Astrophotography and have been amazed with the images everyone creates. This was my third attempt at Star trails from my backyard. Now, if I could divert the air traffic...
Nikon D750, 20mm, 142 images/10 dark frames @ 1/30, f4,ISO 800.
StarStax to process the images.

Jeff


(Download)

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Jan 16, 2018 11:29:06   #
Europa Loc: West Hills, CA
 
Nice job Jeff, you were able to keep some of the Star color.

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Jan 16, 2018 12:22:07   #
jaybreeze Loc: North Carolina
 
Thanks

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Jan 16, 2018 18:44:59   #
SonnyE Loc: Communist California, USA
 
Looks Great Jeff, keep at it.

I started off doing Star Trails, camera on my tripod, bundled up in a lawn chair, and manually releasing the shutter...
Not long after I got my first Intervalometer. Now I have a wireless one for that kind of sky shooting.

But.... there's always a but, it lead me to wandering about Orion. And one night I finally found The Great Orion Nebula in my spotting scope. It was still tiny at 60x, but I could see it!
Then I spent a month debating with myself if I wanted to venture into trying to image 'Space Stuff', then another 3 making 'wish lists' on three different vendor sites.
Finally, I pulled the trigger on one, and spent the last 2 years figuring the stuff out.
So, watch out. It can suck you in.
But it only takes the equipment. No licenses, no traveling (unless you want to of course), and no annual dues. It takes barrels of patience, but returns wonderful rewards

Star Trails also go me interested in time lapse overnight runs. Which gives you a lot of fun things to do after a night of a gazillion images. (Well, in my case, about 3,000...)
Then, if you want to, edit out the airplanes. Or leave then in for interest.

But it can be a blast!

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Jan 17, 2018 07:49:28   #
jaybreeze Loc: North Carolina
 
Thanks Sonny. I definitely have the bug and have already started researching equipment. I've been into photography for 40+ years and know about being "sucked in". For the short time I have been toying with doing astrophotography, I find myself starring up in to the night sky and being amazed at what I never gave a second thought to.

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Jan 17, 2018 09:41:00   #
dlmorris Loc: Loma Linda, Ca
 
Not bad at all. But on my screen the lines are not so smooth. Could be a couple of reasons. I think Star Trails has a setting to smooth them out... What were your settings? I have found that 30 sec exposures or less, with no more than 5 sec between them (giving time to download the exposure to the camera chip) works pretty well. You got a little foreground in the exposure, which always adds interest. Trees, mountains, buildings.... Airplanes happen! Hard to get the pilots to turn off their lights. That program will also make a timelapse movie using the same exposures. So you get a star trails picture and a movie from the same shots. Two for the price of one! Have fun!

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Jan 17, 2018 10:07:56   #
jaybreeze Loc: North Carolina
 
dlmorris wrote:
Not bad at all. But on my screen the lines are not so smooth. Could be a couple of reasons. I think Star Trails has a setting to smooth them out... What were your settings? I have found that 30 sec exposures or less, with no more than 5 sec between them (giving time to download the exposure to the camera chip) works pretty well. You got a little foreground in the exposure, which always adds interest. Trees, mountains, buildings.... Airplanes happen! Hard to get the pilots to turn off their lights. That program will also make a timelapse movie using the same exposures. So you get a star trails picture and a movie from the same shots. Two for the price of one! Have fun!
Not bad at all. But on my screen the lines are no... (show quote)


Thanks. MY exposure was 1/30th (cable release locked for continuous shooting) and I used the StarTrax and had the gap filling option checked. I will try it in Star Trails to see which looks best.

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Jan 17, 2018 16:07:39   #
bwana Loc: Bergen, Alberta, Canada
 
jaybreeze wrote:
I recently became interested in Astrophotography and have been amazed with the images everyone creates. This was my third attempt at Star trails from my backyard. Now, if I could divert the air traffic...
Nikon D750, 20mm, 142 images/10 dark frames @ 1/30, f4,ISO 800.
StarStax to process the images.

Jeff

Nicely done! Good focus.

You could push the exposure a bit; maybe 5-10 sec. This would add brightness and additional star color.

As for the airplanes... They make your images unique!

bwa

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Jan 17, 2018 20:13:33   #
jaybreeze Loc: North Carolina
 
Thanks. I will try a longer exposure next time.

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