PhotoNoob Loc: Innisfail, Canada

Hi All, i want to start doing star trails, it is supposed to be a clear nite in my part of Canada, half way between Edmonton and Calgary. My concern is with exposure times, aperture, shutter speed and the like. Any suggestions and help will be greatly appreciated, and many thanks in advance for all that respond. I have a Canon T2I/550d with an EF-S 18 to 55 mm lens 1:3.5 to 5.6 IS II zoom lens, and a EF 75 to 300mm 1:4-5.6 II USM zoom lens, both are Canon lenses. The 18-55mm is a kit lens, and the 75-300mm was bundled with the camera when i bought it. Will one of these lenses work for doing star trails, or should i hold off and save for a lens that will.

PhotoNoob

Swede Loc: Trail, BC Canada

Hi fellow Canuck, I did this quite a bit with my F4s, but that was a while back. it's pretty easy. First find some place dark, no city lights. Set your camera on a tripod, I use to point the camera at Polaris, the North Star, with a cable release I'd lock the shutter open and go have a few beer.
When I thought it was long enough I'd close the shutter and point the camera some place else and do it all over again. Got some pretty neat stuff. A big bonus is if you can get an airplane, satellite or a meteor pass by, bigger bonus of coarse would be a ufo but good luck with that.
as for which lens, I believe anyone that you have will work, just set the focal length for what you want to cover. As for aperture if I remember right I would use around f8, but might be wrong. This is a good place to experiment, it's not a one time thing, the stars have been there for 14 billion years and I'm sure they'll be there tomorrow night.
A moonless night is also a good thing unles you want to shoot the moon. hope this helps, and don't be afraid to show us how you did, and keep looking up.
Swede

PhotoNoob Loc: Innisfail, Canada

Thanks Swede, i definitely will, i had been thinking of shorter exposures at about 30 seconds to a minute then stacking them, what do you think

Swede Loc: Trail, BC Canada

To labour intensive, I'd make sure the battery was fully charged and lock the shutter open. And keep track of what your settings are and adjust from there. what I also use to do was multible exposures. Camera on a tripod, didn't change the settings on the camera. This was with the a full moon, can't remember the times but I'd shoot the first one wait 10 minutes shoot that one wait 5 more miutes, shoot another then divide the time in half shoot again, again divide the time in half again shoot again and then for the final shot I'd leave the shutter open for a couple minutes and I'd get what looks like the moon speeding up, it was cool, wish I could find them. The key here was don't advance the film or the frame.
Play it's fun
Swede

PhotoNoob Loc: Innisfail, Canada

How is this done with a digital camers ???

Swede Loc: Trail, BC Canada

That I don't know, I have never done it with my digital stuff. All I can say is you have to keep the shutter open, be it the B setting but you will need some kind of cable release. Hope some one can help you with your Canon, I'm Nikon. I would like to help more but I have an appointment with a riverbank, some fish are waiting for me.
Swede

:lol: :thumbup:

PhotoNoob Loc: Innisfail, Canada

Thanks anyway, and good luck at the river bank, hope you get lots of withdrawals

Swede Loc: Trail, BC Canada

They all go back

PhotoNoob Loc: Innisfail, Canada

that way you can catch them over and over

Nikonian72 Loc: Chico CA

Shooting star trails with digital is much different from shooting star trails with film.

Most star-trailers shot consecutive 30-second exposures, then image stack hundreds of images in Post Processing to a single JPG or TIFF.
Read more here: http://digital-photography-school.com/4-steps-to-creating-star-trails-photos-using-stacking-software

My favorite star trailer, Lincoln Harrison: http://500px.com/Hakka

mborn Loc: Massachusetts

Here are the settings that I use:
Wide angle lens
Shutter release
All Manual settings (Focus, f/stop etc)
• Star Trail Image Settings
– ISO 100
– Lens at f 4 or f 4.5
– Long exposure noise reduction off in-camera.
– Make a short test exposure at a high ISO
– Start trails will occur after approximately 30 seconds, however, keep the lens opened for at least an hour.
Point the camera at the North Star

ggttc Loc: TN

Here is another tutorial for star trails that I found useful

http://www.jamesvernacotola.com/Resources/How-To-Photograph-Star-Trails/12233655_V7cX4D

EstherP

Hope this is not going to turn into a Canuck-only conversation...
Greetings from the West Coast!



How is this done with a digital camers ???[/quote]

Very easy:
Your camera already sits on a sturdy tripod, right?
Set your lens opening for a relatively long time.
Now use something dark, like a piece of heavy black felt, or black velvet, or a tin can spray-painted black inside, and place it quickly over the lens without jarring the lens. After what you think a suitable interval, remove it. After another suitable interval, replace it, etc.

It does mean you have to forego the couple of beers while the camera is looking at the stars, because you won't have time to go inside. Or you can take the beer with you....
EstherP

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

These links might be useful.

Star Photography
http://www.weatherscapes.com/techniques.php?cat=astronomy&page=startrails
http://howto.wired.com/wiki/Photograph_the_Stars
http://photo.net/learn/nature/sunmoon
http://www.danheller.com/star-trails.html
http://www.lightstalking.com/how-to-photograph-star-trails
http://deepskystacker.free.fr/english/index.html
http://digital-photography-school.com/how-to-shoot-the-night-sky-introduction-to-astrophotography

Greg Loc: Maryland