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FORUMS Photo Sharing & Discussion Astronomy & Celestial 
Thread started 31 May 2010 (Monday) 10:55
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Second star trails attempt. Would love some help

 
jackirons
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May 31, 2010 10:55 |  #1

Went out to the middle of Oklahoma last night to try again. This time I took 94 pictures and put them together with startrails.de. A lot happier with the results but I would love some tips for better shots. I know I should have taken more pictures but it was hot outside and I was by myself on the side of the road in nowhere Oklahoma, I'm kinda a wimp.
Each shot was 30 seconds, f/4, ISO 400 at 10mm on my Sigma.
I'm clueless when it comes to astronomy too, all I know is where the big dipper is.
Tips for settings or anything would be greatly appreciated.

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Edit:

Here's an edited version that looks a little better.

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pearts
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May 31, 2010 14:16 |  #2

looking good!

my first attempt looked like this after about 45 minutes, at f2.8, then after some some playing in lightroom 3, I managed to get it back.. as shown in the second photo

I then tried some playing at f8 for 15 minutes, and that worked much better


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zeldaboy101
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Jun 01, 2010 06:28 |  #3

Not bad to start but your ISO is too high, you want to use ISO 200 (do not use 100, 200 has a better signal/noise ratio) so you don't get so much of the red noise in the background like you have there.

As for where to point, it depends where the big dipper is, but if you aim closer to the dipper you'll get more of the neater looking rotation around the pole effect because the dipper is close to polaris, which all the stars appear to be rotating around in a long exposure.




  
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jackirons
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Jun 05, 2010 15:50 |  #4

Thanks!

I'll lower the ISO and aim for the bigger dipper next time.


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jackirons
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Jun 06, 2010 12:41 |  #5

Well here's an attempt from last night. Not sure what the red line is. Also don't know how to edit these very well and don't have Photoshop, any suggestions?

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zeldaboy101
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Jun 07, 2010 10:46 |  #6

Not bad, you definitely got the pole in there too! The red line is from an airplane, as they blink and move across the sky they blink quickly enough to form a line. If you zoom in really close it'll be broken and a series of dots.

As for editing, I mainly use photoshop. You have DPP since it would've come with your canon, right? Open the image up in there and play around with levels, curves, and noise reduction. The big thing is some noise reduction and then using the curves select the R,G, and B channels individually and play around with them to balance the background's color to a more black tone. As is the red is way too much because of the light pollution.




  
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Second star trails attempt. Would love some help
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