First "somewhat" success with long exsposure for star trails

[Jethro790]

Lots of hot pixels (or is that noise) that came out in this 2 hour exposure on my XTI (all the red dots). Was worse until I cleaned it up with DPP. I was surprised it came out so bright, I must have more light pollution than I thought where I live. Anyway, let me know what you think. Too bad I missed Polaris, but I am pleased I got anything at all!

XTI with 10-22, approx. 2 hour (1016sec.), f.5.6, no in camera noise reduction, tripod mounted, resized and processed in DPP

http://geoffreysworld.com/StarTrailMED.JPG

[Celestron]

It's not that important that Polaris has to be in the picture . I think you have a great shot here ! Like you said tho you have alot of LP . This is a good example what i was telling others . If you shoot in the city you can not escape LP . Also it continues to pick up LP you don't actually see and adds to your image and in the final results you do see it and well !! You can darken this some and of course it will darken the tree but you have to decide which image you want to stand out most . One thing i see in your image is in the left bottom corner . You have a plane going throught it . Double stripes going straight and right in between where the stars actually start to bend in rotation the opposite direction than the ones closer to the north . What you have captured when is unique is the center point of rotation between north and south . Look close at the left corner and you can see it nicely . Congratulations !

[bowtie`]

Cool pic Jethro! I do love single images!

But there are a couple of minor things that have me scratching my head. The EXIF data says 1016 seconds. That is only 17 minutes. Two hours is about 7200 seconds. To get that amount of star trails I really believe you when you say and it shows 10mm and 2 hours, I am just curious why the discontinuity? Also those planes must be very low overhead to come out like that at 10mm or did you crop the image, significantly?

NOne of this really detracts from a great image, just has me wondering.

[Jethro790]

Hmmm, I did not realize that, didn't do the math on the time! I am now confused as well about it, but I can tell you that I had it on bulb, a very dark, clear and cool night, and it was a 2 hr. exposure. Can't explain the EXIF. I did not crop the image at all, I am probably 17 miles as the crow flies to the biggest commercial airport in NH, so I get planes overhead often. They are low enough that I can hear them.