Star trails, the only was is up(or round)

[JB80]

I thought I'd have a crack at some star trails tonight, something I should of done a long time ago. These are by no means perfect and any advice would be appreciated. Still a first is a first and I enjoyed it.

Seeing as the LP is a big issue here I only used an ISO of 200 which on reflection I should of maybe gone higher. I'm a tad scared of my clip filter as it seems too dark but I probably should of used that at the highest ISO(1600) maybe? Would I get less or more stars?

These were taken at 18mm, f/3.5 and 30 seconds exposure. Both pics were processed in Star trails and PS and used 14 darks. The first pic was 79 images and the second 83 images.

Both were processed differently, I like the second one because you have a reflection in the window and the contrails add a nice look although it is a bit bright.

What did I learn?

Don't stop to take your darks half way through.

Take your first few pics with a shorter exposure for a better background.

I need darker skies.

Maybe try a longer focal length next time.

Use a higher ISO.

I don't know, am I even on the right track here?

[kris h]

Nice set of images m8

[JB80]

Thank you

[Psychobilly]

Nice couple of images... Your definitely on the right track and these work nicely as twilight Startrails...

Higher ISO wouldnt really have helped in this case as your are LP or Skybackground limited... you would have had to adjusted one of the other "corners" of the exposure triangle namely Aperture or Shutter speed to stop the backgound being overexposed...

If you want more stars then start shooting when the sky is darker... or if "artifical" LP is the problem then you might need to think about using an LP filter...

Peter...

[JB80]

Thanks Peter.

I probably should of tried this earlier in the year when we weren't losing our dark skies so quickly. Next time I will start around midnight I think, I waited to about 10:30 but I wanted to try it out.

I will have a play around with some settings next time and if the LP is still bad then I will put the CLS in.

Also: I was positive the thread title said 'way' and not 'was' last night.

Oh well.....

[Psychobilly]

One thing I noticed the other day is that you can alter the results you get in the startrails app by altering the order that you load the lights... The foreground is an average of the first "n" frames in the list - the default seems to be 2 frames but you can alter this ...

Peter...

[JB80]

The first few that frames were on the first pic were at a much shorter exposure and that seemed to make a difference to the foreground average. I tried a few things just to try and get a feel of the software.

[MikeWilson]

Nice looking star trails! You've inspired me to have a go