First topic! Always wanted to ask...

[franklinn]

How are people capturing those gorgeous sky shots with the trailing stars?

Obviously a good tripod is a must, but what else (namely, settings)?

[thomascanty]

How are people capturing those gorgeous sky shots with the trailing stars?

Obviously a good tripod is a must, but what else (namely, settings)?

Tripod, remote, put the camera in manual and set the shutter speed to bulb, manual focus, set the aperture to about f/8 or so, then open the shutter and lock it open with the remote. Experiment with the amount of time you leave it open until you figure out what works best, depending on the conditions. In my own experience, I've gotten pretty good results from about 20 to 40 minutes for the total exposure times.

[Mike]

Make sure that you are in an area that doesn't have a lot of light pollution too if you can as, although the skyline can look dark it's easy to get a bright orange glow over the horizon if you're not careful!

[le_R]

To avoid the orange glow, you can also use a shutter controler !
I use a laptop with USB-EOS Remote (http://www.pierro-astro.com/ControleAPN.html#1) to program the shoots.

For example : 356 * 26 seconds from 22h to 4h (800ISO f/6.3 22mm) stacked with starmax1.6f
this is not a great circumpolar shoot, but this is for example
http://chezler.free.fr/bordel/pix/timelapse/final2_6h_mini.jpg

you can clearly see the light pollution of Clermont-Ferrand a big city in France. As a consequence, there are very few stars :(

[Tdragone]

Example from Joshua Tree (obviously)
30 min exposure @ 7.1 ISO 100
You don't need a 200 dollar tripod; but if there's ANY breeze outside you need to have a stable tripod. Must of them have hooks where you can weigh them down it the weather isn't calm.

Use of a shutter release is a necessity. It needs either a self timer (expensive canon one) or a bulb setting to lock the shutter open so YOU time the exposure. <- Bring a cheap watch with you while camping :)



http://www.pbase.com/tdragone/image/59735583/large.jpg

@ Zion; 15 mins 5.0 ISO 100
http://www.pbase.com/tdragone/image/75982051/large.jpg