Startrails variations
JC
Registered Users Posts: 768 Major grins
Finally got a chance to process some startrails I shot last December (I've been a little behind).
4 iterations, with varying amounts of light painting and dawn light. In-person, i get a lot of complaints that my foreground screened in looks fake, which ones do you prefer? Any other C&C appreciated.
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4 iterations, with varying amounts of light painting and dawn light. In-person, i get a lot of complaints that my foreground screened in looks fake, which ones do you prefer? Any other C&C appreciated.
1)
2)
3)
4)
Yeah, if you recognize the avatar, new user name.
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Thanks! I guess I forgot to add that it is a stack of ~700 30second images, with a small break after the 399th while I reset my intervalometer. The foreground is a screen layered image of either a single shot at night with the building painted by flashlight (and the lights on inside), or a screened combination of the night painted shot and dawn illumination.
Thanks- This place is absolutely pitch black at night without the moon, the only light comes from windows if there is a light on, I was trying to capture that with number 1, but it might not make the best image overall.
Otherwise, I like each of them.
Photos that don't suck / 365 / Film & Lomography
Thanks Ian- I don't think HDR would be necessary, I could easily mask the sky or the foreground to combine the shots, if, for example, I wanted the darker sky (no dawn light in the sky) but the dawn-illuminated foreground, or the reverse. My boyfriend thinks they all look fake
Thanks schmoo- I've decided that 30 seconds is the longest I can go on clear nights anywhere in Southern California, or anywhere on the west coast where I;ve shot these, actually. On windy nights when there is a lot of dust in the air I need to go down to 15 seconds if I am shooting towards any of the urban areas. I thought that I was getting chromatic aberration on the short trails with some of my lenses, but I've decided that on the fainter trails I can definitely see a regular pattern of red that I think is a sensor limitation- I don't think I've optimized the ISO for these yet. (now I'm dreaming about trying these with a 5D mark III, but that is not in my hobbyist budget). Maybe I'll rent one sometime.
I'm not sure I agree with him that they look fake. Maybe he's concerned about the color?
I do like the location of the house. That's very nice.
Do you mean minutes? In 30s, the stars only begin to blur.
I shouldn't call you Ian?
Yeah seconds. Any longer and I integrate urban sky glow with the stars. I had Vegas to the NE and LA to the SW.
Doh! I missed the post that said 700 shots...makes a huge difference