Star Trails

[Gdad]

My first real effort at this- exposures are aproximately 10min, 20min, and 30min.

 

[annnewjerz]

Those are great pictures!

I have been thinking about testing my hand for longer exposures (basic things like cars driving, etc.) since I'm so new to the dSLR game...but I would have NEVER thought to do stars, just because they never actually look like they are moving (even though I know they are).

Nice pictures to end the night with, since it's such a rainy crappy night here.

 

[NostalgicDad]

Those look great, Jeff. What's also interesting to pick out are the little specks of light that don't trail, mainly in shots 2 and 3. Satellites and other orbital debris, perhaps?

 

[Golf4food]

Very cool. Great shots, especially for a first attempt. The last one is my favorite - almost a vortex created there. Was that pointing straight up, I assume?

 

[ukcatfan]

Was that pointing straight up, I assume?

Only if he lives at the North or South Pole.

 

[ukcatfan]

Nice shots Jeff. Are you willing to share your settings, if you used a filter, etc?

 

[Gdad]

Those look great, Jeff. What's also interesting to pick out are the little specks of light that don't trail, mainly in shots 2 and 3. Satellites and other orbital debris, perhaps?

I am not sure if those were actual objects or just long exposure noise- I had all in camera NR turned off- next time I might try it with the long exposure NR on.

 

[Gdad]

Very cool. Great shots, especially for a first attempt. The last one is my favorite - almost a vortex created there. Was that pointing straight up, I assume?

Thanks- as UK pointed out tese are pointed North MOL- I could see the pattern in the ones over the lake and just oriented the camera a bit up and left to try to capture the center of the swirl.

 

[Gdad]

Nice shots Jeff. Are you willing to share your settings, if you used a filter, etc?

Thanks- EXIF data is there but all were shot with the D700 & 20/2.8 prime lens. No filter was used (should one have been? I have no idea.) Taken between f10 and f8 as said from 10min to 30min exposures. In full manual with cable release (latching) in Bulb mode.

 

[boBQuincy]

Pretty cool! Now I have something to try on a clear cool night.

 

[Golf4food]

Only if he lives at the North or South Pole.

That's what I get for posting near midnight after a long day, ha!

 

[ukcatfan]

Thanks- EXIF data is there but all were shot with the D700 & 20/2.8 prime lens. No filter was used (should one have been? I have no idea.) Taken between f10 and f8 as said from 10min to 30min exposures. In full manual with cable release (latching) in Bulb mode.

I have never even looked into doing exposures that long. I am hardly patient enough for a 30 sec. exposure let alone a 30 min. one!. I was wondering if a ND filter was needed to keep other areas of the shot from over exposing.

 

[Binkrin]

Very cool images. I can't believe there is so much movement in just a half hour. I thought it would take much longer than that. Thanks for sharing!

 

[YEKCIM]

Cool shots, Jeff. Need to try that at Magic Kingdom. The star trails would look really cool as a backdrop to the Castle. OTOH, it might be easier to do in Photoshop (hint-hint).

~Ed

 

[handicap18]

Nice Jeff. I did a few last summer, but where we are is to bright. I did mine for about 25 or so minutes. I should have used the NR. Mine are very noisy and lots of hot spots. It certainly is cool though.

I may try it again next weekend while we're in Maine. Though I'm not sure how much better it woud be than where I am because we'll be in Bangor which is a decent size city (by Maine standards anyway).

 

[Golf4food]

Cool shots, Jeff. Need to try that at Magic Kingdom. The star trails would look really cool as a backdrop to the Castle. OTOH, it might be easier to do in Photoshop (hint-hint).

~Ed

You don't think there would be too much ambient light anywhere near the castle such that any exposure that long would come out overexposed? Where would you setup to avoid any such light? (Serious questions in case I want to try it myself!)

 

[YEKCIM]

You don't think there would be too much ambient light anywhere near the castle such that any exposure that long would come out overexposed? Where would you setup to avoid any such light? (Serious questions in case I want to try it myself!)

Definitely; that's why I suggested Photoshop!

(Not trying to hijack your thread, Jeff...)

~Ed

 

[juligrl]

Nice shots! My husband and I did that one night too right after we got our camera - very neat!

 

[rtphokie]

Sorta related....

Jupiter and it's moons shot 2 nights ago from my driveway through a brief gap in the clouds. I'm still learning. Next time I'm out I'll try lower exposures and stack 'em up to show the moons and hopefully see some definition in Jupiter. I've yet to get a good shot of Jupiter where you can see the cloud bands. I can see it through the eye peice but cant image it... yet.

ISO 1600
1.3s (13/10)
f: beats me
1000mm Meade telescope

 

[YesDear]

Very Nice Jeff.

You know one of the common mistakes people make trying to take an image of the moon is to think they need a long exposure and they are disappointed because it is blurry. They forget that the moon and the stars are moving and even a 1 second image can detect motion!