Sunday, August 9, 2009

Star Trails 2

Back in May I posted a photo of my first attempt capturing star trails. I recently returned to the same spot with a different technique to see if I could get a better result. This is a series of ten different pictures taken for five minutes each. I later layered them in photoshop to get this result! During my first attempt I noticed a lot of noise, or grainy specs throughout the photo. It was a 45min exposure at a high ISO. So this time I thought I would take a series of photos, shorter in time, but combined would make up the same time as the first. I added an extra five minutes to get longer star trails. 
Next time I'll be including a little light painting where I'll fill in the trees with a flashlight!

2nd Attempt
Canon 5D, EF 24-105 f/4L IS USM, f/11, bulb setting for 10 photos @ 5 min each, combined later in photoshop, ISO 400

1st Attempt
Canon 5D, EF 24-105 f/4L IS USM, f/6.3, bulb setting for 48 min, ISO 400

3 comments:

  1. I've never seen anything like this before, beautiful shots Perry.

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  2. Hi Perry, it's me again (Simon).
    Have you tried taking star trails with an ISO setting of 100 or less? It may take longer for the exposure but you'll notice a lot less noise. Further to this, try to get well outside the city, like to Blomidon or Musquodoboit and leave your shutter open for hours at a time in the winter after december. Yes it will be cold, but you'll have a longer time for exposure.

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  3. Hey Simon, ISO 100 will be my next one. The lower ISO makes sense. This location is at my cottage which is well outside the city and there are no worries about interference from city lights. I didn't realize December is a better time for longer exposures. Thanks for that tip. Be sure to check back.
    Perry

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