My first star trails shot

[superdiver]

I decided to give this a go, I tried a 20 minute and a 30 minute and a 60 minute shot tonight while watching the COWBOYS win...lol

On the 20 minute shot the composition was bad, and on the 60 minute shot the trails were nice but the tress in the foreground were badly out of focus. The one that turned out best was this 30 minute shot. I did mess with it a bit in PP and ran it through Noise Ninja. Spent a grand total of maybe 5 minutes on it. Lets just say its a starting point. Please tell me where to go from here...

like I said, 30 minutes, ISO 100, f8, used my 24-105 at 24mm, bulb shot with a remote, on an older 30D, cc and directions to improve please...


http://superdiver.smugmug.com/photos/436922857_Q8jPK-L.jpg

[superdiver]

wrong place too, thats what happens when you post late at night...lol

can a mod change the section to the Galaxy one, I dont know how...

[Olli]

Moved. :)

I always enjoy these star trail shots, David, and yours is a great example.

[superdiver]

Thank you and thank you...lol

[drevilsmom]

Beautiful composition!! I really like it!

[Celestron]

Very nice , love the forground !

[superdiver]

Thank you all, I have another 2-4 nights of clear sky, then it will probably cloud up till late spring. we are having a rare cold/clear snap, down into the high 20's (cold for us) and I plan on going down onto the beach in front of our homes and shooting from there. I dont know, there may be too much light in that direction.

The home in the picture is my neighbors across the creek from my deck.

I wanna learn to stack them, but cant find any help anywhere. I use elements 6, is that capable of stacking? If so any help would be much appreciated....

[superdiver]

OK, here is my second go froim last night,,,CC plz... same house, but from the beach....

http://superdiver.smugmug.com/photos/437640544_tsfnF-XL.jpg

[Celestron]

I really like that second shot much better !

[superdiver]

me too, thank you!

[superdiver]

hey, do you know how to stack multiple long exposures? I have been asking and no one is talking...its like a CIA secret...lol

[superdiver]

I have aperature and elements 6 if that makes a difference

[Celestron]

I have aperature and elements 6 if that makes a difference

There is a few here that do it and well and maybe they haven't seen your thread yet but one i know for sure is NightHound (Steve) . Find one of his threads and PM him and ask . He's always willing to help . I use Registax but i don't do the best job so i'm by no means an expert :( . Also read this thread , he does a good job :

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=597063

[Nighthound]

Wow David, that second one is very nice. Looks like a very dark area.

I PMd you back. Sorry I couldn't be of more help.

If anyone that reads this knows of a quality stacking software program written for MACs please post it here.

Thanks

[superdiver]

what about using a "bracketing" program to do the same thing? Will that work?

[Adrena1in]

Nice shots, especially the second attempt. I like a little sky-glow or light-pollution in my trails, but the first had a little too much perhaps. I also prefer such shots at wider angles, and if it can include the celestial pole then all the better, as it shows the point around which all the stars are rotating.

I've used Photoshop Elements to stack trails images, but only two or three images. However, the effect should be the same for many images, I assume.

Let's see...I do a File/Open on all the images I want to stack, and they appear in a line along the bottom. (Sorry about my non-technical jargon, I've had Elements a long time, but don't really know how to use it that much!). I then drag each image from the bottom and drop it in the main editing window, on top of the first image I opened. This creates new layers, each layer containing a separate image. Going to the layers section on the right of the screen, I then select each one and change the Opacity to 50%, so that all images become visible in the main window.

(I'm assuming here that you set all to 50%...it might be that I have in fact only ever stacked 2 images, so they had to be 50% each. It might be that with three images they have to be 33%, with four they have to be 25%, etc, etc. I'm sure someone can correct me.)

Anyway, just give it a go and see what happens. I'd still expose for a good 2 or 3 minutes minimum for each image, to get enough light into the camera and to bring out any dark objects, like trees or the house.

[Cole_Schmitt]

Perfect shot, I like it ALOT.
I like your house also :p

[superdiver]

Thanks, I will give that a try...i have also had elements ofr a while and still dont know how to use it...lol but what you say makes sense...


Nice shots, especially the second attempt. I like a little sky-glow or light-pollution in my trails, but the first had a little too much perhaps. I also prefer such shots at wider angles, and if it can include the celestial pole then all the better, as it shows the point around which all the stars are rotating.

I've used Photoshop Elements to stack trails images, but only two or three images. However, the effect should be the same for many images, I assume.

Let's see...I do a File/Open on all the images I want to stack, and they appear in a line along the bottom. (Sorry about my non-technical jargon, I've had Elements a long time, but don't really know how to use it that much!). I then drag each image from the bottom and drop it in the main editing window, on top of the first image I opened. This creates new layers, each layer containing a separate image. Going to the layers section on the right of the screen, I then select each one and change the Opacity to 50%, so that all images become visible in the main window.

(I'm assuming here that you set all to 50%...it might be that I have in fact only ever stacked 2 images, so they had to be 50% each. It might be that with three images they have to be 33%, with four they have to be 25%, etc, etc. I'm sure someone can correct me.)

Anyway, just give it a go and see what happens. I'd still expose for a good 2 or 3 minutes minimum for each image, to get enough light into the camera and to bring out any dark objects, like trees or the house.

[superdiver]

Perfect shot, I like it ALOT.
I like your house also :p

thank you!