WTH happened here?

So I went out to try some star trails at the beach.....

Shutter 30 secs
Aperture F22
ISO 1600
95 images stacked with 2 dark frames.
EOS 7D with 18-55 at 18mm IS turned off.
Tripod mount, the tripod wasn't extended at all and was pressed into the sand for better support as well.....

Noise reduction turned off along with high iso noise reduction and review time. I have no clue whats going on but this looks like garbage..... Any clue?

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seoul4korea wrote in post #12285793
So I went out to try some star trails at the beach.....

Shutter 30 secs
Aperture F22
ISO 1600
95 images stacked with 2 dark frames.
EOS 7D with 18-55 at 18mm IS turned off.
Tripod mount, the tripod wasn't extended at all and was pressed into the sand for better support as well.....

Noise reduction turned off along with high iso noise reduction and review time. I have no clue whats going on but this looks like garbage..... Any clue?

Personally I would blow it up big and hang it on the wall. Nice shot !!!!!!

Was there a lighthouse centre shot? Or do none of the individual shots show this effect? Because it looks very much like flare.

If it is the result of the stacking then no, I have no idea, unless it is some setting in the process. What stacking software were you using?

Show us a single image as I doubt there are many stars in there at all, because f22 is way too narrow an aperture.

looks to me like you have a high intensity, moving, light beam in the shot. It all seems to originate from a specific point amongst the buildings. I live by a beach and see such things as part of light shows. Across the estuary from us (about 20 miles away) is another seaside resort (Blackpool, UK, famous for light shows) I can see their light beam displays from my house.

It doesn't look like it was on for long, just a few flickers across, but it may well be that your aperture stopped it showing unless it was pointed right down your lens.

The weird thing is that the beam seems very concentrated, any pattern that takes place in the angle of hitting your lens wouldn't show up as movement at the other end. Maybe it was a just a particularly bright light source, stationary, but on a mast and as the wind moved the mast it drew those patterns?

Definitely looks like a strong light source in the shot caused this, one way or the other. If you go back and look at that part of the shot again, at night, you will probably spot what caused it.

yeah i'm not sure.... As for the aperature what would have been a good value? f/8? Also one of the things bothering me is the amount of noise.... (Which I understand the high ISO effects and the heat of the sensor due to the exposure time and such) I went off of ISO 1600 from what I was told before but I'm guessing F22 defeats using it..... The strange thing is It was just a pier..... There was some clouds that had drifted into the some of the frames as well.... The thing that gets me is I didn't notice any kind of light or anything flashed in my direction at all..... could it be that I was set up at the right (wrong in this case) that a ray of light from the lights along the pier struck the sensor during exposure?

I'm not at home but once I get back i'll post up a single 30sec expsure.

were you using f22 for DOF or to lengthen the exposure? Like you said, I think iso 1600 with f22 sounds kinda off. You shouldn't need anywhere close to 22 to get everything in focus, so if you're just going for long exposure I'd lower the iso first

It was the last part you had stated. I saw on a post from before that people use ISO 1600 for the stars and didn't think much I guess but that still doesn't explain the crazy ass lights lol.

If you are going to stick with 30 sec exposures, I'd use something no smaller than f4. A lot of stars are pretty faint, and smaller apertures will start to lose them. The only downside is that if you are in an area with a lot of light pollution the sky could end up being too bright.

Why did you choose such a high ISO, you could have chosen 200 or 400 and a larger aperture

Because i'm a noob at star trails and went off what someone else said lol!

It's art!

seoul4korea wrote in post #12292023
Because i'm a noob at star trails and went off what someone else said lol!

I love honesty............

LOL well I mean theres no other real way to explain it.... I'll have one of the frames posted soon.

UFO..............


Great shot

The only reason I know to use such a high ISO is when you DON'T want star trails, Just bright stationary stars in the sky. Like others said for good star trails use something around f/8-11 ISO100-400.