During The Shoot Episode 1: Star Trail Photography

[23adelle23]

awesome! thank you!!!

[mralec69]

I can't really comment on stacking images.  I don't shoot and produce that way. I'm guessing there are a number of tutorials on youtube on stacking images to create trails.

[TheBassmastersmith]

Hi. i have the d60 so i am forced to take multiple shorter exposure shots and stack them on my computer. The problem is, when I have taken one photo the camera takes a while to process the photo, leaving a gap inbetween each photo (7 seconds or so). So when i go to stack them the star trails appear as a series of dots, not smooth lines. Any help would be much appreciated.

[tmigot]

@TheBassmastersmith

Why can't you shot longer exposure with your D60? that camera does have a bulb mode AFAIK.

[pickledlovesnovas]

good vid.

[onlineahmeds]

Thanx a lot very helpful information

[mralec69]

I start with f/5.6 This gives me some latitude to adjust exposure up or down with an aperture change. I set my focus point to infinity, manually.

[heuykiller]

What aperture do you use in the images?

[mralec69]

@Arra41 I make a test exposure at ISO1600 to make sure I like the overall exposure level. Then I switch to ISO100 for a finished image that has very little noise. What ever exposure time I had at IS) 1600 needs to multiplied by 16 for an equivalent exposure at ISO100. Hope this helps.

[Arra41]

@mralec69 HI there,

Firstly thank for the reply : )

I can not get my head round it, why do a test exposure ?

So you do a test ex at ISO 1600 for say 3 minutes, you check after that for what ? The composition, to check the stars did indeed trail.

If you did that for 3 minutes its then down to 100 3 mins x 16 = 48 yeah..

Please forgive me for not getting it,

Thnx, i will hopefully be going out soon to try this as i have not done one before, how can i focus on a dark sky at night ?

[mralec69]

@Arra41 yep, you do a test at ISO1600 for overall exposure level, composition, etc. If you want to. You don't have to, but I do. Your math is correct. To focus, I manually set focus to infinity.

[Arra41]

Very informative video, it was easy to watch, i don't understand the timing of ISO 100 = 16 mins ?

Arras UK

[Arra41]

Very informative video, it was a pleasure to watch...

Arras UK

[snifnscratch]

ACJohnsonphoto, many thanks for the tips and pointing me in the right direction (north)!!!

[rocboy2006]

Any idea on how long a fully charged Canon 40d battery can last in bulb exposure? The longest I tried was about 20 minutes, having a bit concern for longer exposure 40mins+.

[V2SkiLLz0R]

Really good episode!

[owendart]

I've just been messing around with my camera and yes it does work :D so happy can't wait now untill a clear sky is out then I can get snapping :):):)

[mralec69]

Hey Owendart, I don't shoot Nikon so I really have no idea about the features of the D60. My intuition says YES, but....

Thanks for the feedback.

Alec

[owendart]

great video, thanks. will all these settings work with a nikon d60?

[sonydscp71]

great video, i've started experimenting a few weeks ago and found what you said summed it all up.

[arslan920]

thx so much!!

[writexman]

superb presentation & thank you for the details !!

[ruminanto]

Thanks for the nice tutorial...really a crisp informative tutorial!

[ACJohnsonphoto]

Thank you. I've just finished a two part series on using Split Neutral Density Filters and I'm preparing another star trail demo from Death Valley. Stay tuned and happy new year.

[ritopgun]

good info, thanks for the video