Anything over about 3 minutes clips the highlights on this. There is light pollution from a major airport 100 miles to the south, just under the center of rotation. Why is that better than one long exposure?Ī 6 hour exposure with ISO400 and f4.5 would result in a completely blown out image at the locations I shot these pics from. What is the advantage of 2 minute exposures with a 1 second gap. Startrails 300 x 60sec, f4, ISO400, (5 hours)įoreground 1 x 120sec, f4, ISO400, lit by moonlight only. (6 hours)įoreground: HDR 9 shot bracket, f4.8, ISO100 at dusk. Stars: 190 x 2minute exposures, f4.8, ISO400. (4.5 hours)įoreground: 9 shot HDR, f4.8, ISO100 at dusk Stars: 270 x 120sec, f4.8, ISO400 (9 hours)įoreground lit by setting sun to the right and a flash fired from another camera to the left. I dont really have a set routine for this bit, I'm still trying different things but I might end up with 5-15 adjustment layers to get the transition just right. This will let the stars show through from the layer underneath.ĭepending on the shot I'll use adjustment layers and masks on the sky of the foreground image to darken it and allow the fainter stars to show through, but try to keep some color on the horizon with a smooth transition to a darker sky at the top. Now open the foreground HDR image and paste it onto the startrail image, set the blend mode to 'lighten'. If you used sunlight WB the stars should show their colors, you can bump up the saturation to bring them out more if you want. Now do the stacking process again, but this time load up all the TIF stacks you saved, you should now have the composite image of all your startrail frames. Once finished flatten the image and save as 16bit TIF & close, start again with the next 20-30 shots, repeat until you've stacked all your star shots. This is why I only stack 20-30 at a time, if you stack 150 and have to redo it it takes way too long. When its finished if it has any plane trails I'll find the individual frame and clone it out of that, rather than clone it out of the stacked image. Once I have all the startrail shots transferred to the PC, open photoshop and go to file>Īdd the first 20 or 30 frames to the pop up box and tick the 'create smart object after loading layers' box, then click OK. I sit one of these on top of the lens barrel. They are a small sachet, when removed from the plastic bag they react with the air and generate heat for around 4-5 hours. To prevent dew forming on the lens I use air activated hand warmers, you can get them from camping/outdoor stores. If the test shot looks ok I'll start the remote, I set the remote to 120 second exposures with 1 second gap. If i go to ISO800 I'll halve the shutter speed to compensate.Īlways take a test frame when the sky is completely dark (about 1.5-2hours after sunset) and make sure it isn't blown out, it should look very dark with only the stars visible. Higher ISO settings will capture more stars. If the moon is in the sky or there is any light pollution the shutter speed will need to be lowered. basically the same workflow I use for a normal landscape shot.įor the startrails I start with settings of f4.8 ISO400 and 2 minute exposures (use sunlight WB). I then use photoshop to adjust curves, color, brightness etc. I bracket the foreground shots and merge to HDR in photomatix. I'll usually shoot the foreground just after sunset while there's still some color on the horizon. I take multiple shots and stack them in photoshop. Once the camera is on the tripod and the shot is composed it must not move or refocus. I'm using a d7000, mbd11 battery grip, nikkor 10-24, manfrotto 055 xprob & 410jr geared head, 'aputure' brand MCDC2 compatible programmable shutter release cable. I've had a few members ask how I do my startrail shots.
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