first attempt at star trails

8zil8zil Registered Users Posts: 63 Big grins
edited August 15, 2008 in Other Cool Shots
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the past weekend I tried doing star trail pictures for the first time but they didn't turn out the way I wanted them to what do you think???
www.flickr.com/photos/8zil
www.huitzilpedrero.com

Comments

  • DaddyODaddyO Registered Users Posts: 4,466 Major grins
    edited August 13, 2008
    Pretty good really. Did you open up the camera aperture? The stars seem
    pretty dark. Higher ISO yes? :D
    Michael
  • 8zil8zil Registered Users Posts: 63 Big grins
    edited August 13, 2008
    DaddyO wrote:
    Pretty good really. Did you open up the camera aperture? The stars seem
    pretty dark. Higher ISO yes? :D

    in both of them I kept the ISO as low as posible, which is 200 in my camera, I did change the aperture, in the first time is 22, in the second one is 16 (if i recall correctly)

    i don't know why the second one is so much noisier...
    www.flickr.com/photos/8zil
    www.huitzilpedrero.com
  • DaddyODaddyO Registered Users Posts: 4,466 Major grins
    edited August 13, 2008
    8zil wrote:
    in both of them I kept the ISO as low as posible, which is 200 in my camera, I did change the aperture, in the first time is 22, in the second one is 16 (if i recall correctly)

    i don't know why the second one is so much noisier...


    Shoot around iso 800 or even 1600 and as wide open aperture as possible. I generally don't shoot f2.8 but one stop up from that. For noise
    use neat image or some other flavor of noise software.
    Michael
  • SkippySkippy Registered Users Posts: 12,075 Major grins
    edited August 14, 2008
    8zil wrote:

    the past weekend I tried doing star trail pictures for the first time but they didn't turn out the way I wanted them to what do you think???

    I've not tried to shoot star trails myself.
    Quite a few people on the last SmugMug/Dgrin Shoot went out and did star trails, hopefully more folks will see your thread and offer more helpful hints.

    Good Effort thumb.gif .... Skippy :D
    .
    .
    Skippy (Australia) - Moderator of "HOLY MACRO" and "OTHER COOL SHOTS"

    ALBUM http://ozzieskip.smugmug.com/

    :skippy Everyone has the right to be stupid, but some people just abuse the privilege :dgrin
  • InsuredDisasterInsuredDisaster Registered Users Posts: 1,132 Major grins
    edited August 15, 2008
    DaddyO wrote:
    Shoot around iso 800 or even 1600 and as wide open aperture as possible. I generally don't shoot f2.8 but one stop up from that. For noise
    use neat image or some other flavor of noise software.

    Why would you do that? Seems a bit counterproductive. Care to share your reasoning?
    My blog
  • DaddyODaddyO Registered Users Posts: 4,466 Major grins
    edited August 15, 2008
    InsuredDisaster wrote:
    Why would you do that? Seems a bit counterproductive. Care to share your reasoning?
    Your right. It does seem counter productive but it isn't. What we want
    is to gather lots of light fast. Hence higher ISO's and wide aperture
    openings. Considering various lenses hyperfocal lengths we can
    get close focus as close as 3 meters to to infinity depending on the lens.
    Shoot wide open. Gather light fast DOF no problem at wide open.
    ISO's you can play with for what you get in noise result and the amount of "brightness" the image will
    have for what you are trying to do. ISO 200, 400 can work. In the 30D
    at ISO 1600 the noise is manageable with noise reduction software.
    Of course the lower the ISO the lower the noise. So your are looking for a
    sweet spot for gathering light between your lens, focus, ISO and shooting
    environment.

    Theres tons of info with net search saying it way better than I. :D

    Such as for starters....

    http://www.naturescapes.net/112006/ej1106.htm
    Michael
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