Star trails first go

[rids]

ok so after all the star stuff thats been going on i had to have a go. so as tonight had no clouds and me not being able to drive to some were remote i opened my back door and turned off my lights and took 50 mins worth of pics at 30 seconds and stacked them.

Startrails1 by rids75, on Flickr

i did shrink this down alot as i was going to make it black and white and enter it into the comp but liked the fact it was colourful

[cybollox]

Nice one Rids, worth the effort mate

[darkstar]

Very nice would like to give this a go but dont fancy standing in the cold for an hour lol

[chesser]

Nice mate!

[rids]

I did not stand with the camera I was sat on the sofa drinking scotch watching tv lol

[cyprus]

Can you get away with the stars being slightly out of focus when it comes to star trails or is it best to get them as sharp as possible?

Nice pic mate, will give this a try at the weekend if there are clear skys.

[dpSparhawk]

Excellent attempt there Rids. Nicely done. Even got a plane trail in the frame

Cyprus, the best thing to do is get the camera at its widest focal length, focus on a very bright object that is very far away and then switch to manual. At the wide FL, and distance you're photographing the stars at, they'll all be in focus.

Next thing to do Rids, is get out into the mountains or somewhere, and get some foreground detail.

Excellent stuff mate. Well done.

ps. what aperture/focal length did you use on the shots Rids?

[rids]

I used the nifty fifty mate 1.8f I was going to use the kit lens but was lucky I did not as the bloke next door went for a shit and turned on his lights. As its in the middle of an estate there is so much ambient light I could not have any thing in shot. I will next time but I'll have to go on location and move lol

[dpSparhawk]

Funnily enough, there's a guy on TalkPhotography (can't remember his name but I have his site bookmarked at home) who does quite a bit of Urban Star Trail photoraphy. That is, getting them in the city centres with buildings in the shots. He has some good tips on how to cope with the hurdles of that and how to achieve the trails cleanly and sharply as well as the buildings.

I'll link you when I get home tonight.

[peterc4]

well done mate

He has some good tips on how to cope with the hurdles of that and how to achieve the trails cleanly and sharply as well as the buildings.

I'll link you when I get home tonight.

stick it on here mate

[dpSparhawk]

That's what I was going to do Pete .

I finish at midnight so hopefully I'll remember. Mind you, I always jump on the boards so will remember anyway.

[dpSparhawk]

....ok, just looked on TP and found the guy within seconds.


http://longexposuretips.blogspot.com...l-success.html


....and some futher urban star trails.
http://www.longexposures.co.uk/long_...tartrails.html