Learning as I go!

I tried to stay out as long as I could last night. I even brought my own chair! I prepared a little better for the expected cold temperatures by bundling up like like I was about to march to the north pole. I thought it would be enough. 

Nope. It wasn't.

I'm not sure if it was when I couldn't feel my feet or when I discovered I was covered in frost that made me want to pack it in. 

I went back to Peggy's Cove again. I have big plans in the new year to get further out of the city for better star trails. You can really notice the light pollution from Halifax and as you can also see, Peggy's is a little too close to the airport. 

In the photo below, you can see how the clouds affected the quality of the star trails. Check out the bottom right corer. This was the Orion constellation. The really bright star coming up behind the rock is the Sirius star. I painted the rocks in the foreground with a flash light! 

Continuing With Star Trails

Star trail photography seems to have slapped me in the face! It combines everything I love about photography and yet I've only just begun! Planning for this type of shoot is very important. You have to choose your composition carefully because once you start you could be locked in for hours. Nothing should move. This photo below was taken last night. It combines twenty seven different exposures and spans one hour and 45 minutes. I used google sky maps on my cell phone to help me locate the north star during daylight. Locating the north star is important to help give me an idea of what the end star trail will look like. Because the earth is rotating on its axis, the north star will stay in the same place while all the other stars will look like they are rotating around it.  

The only thing I would do differently is dress warmer and bring a chair! Hope you enjoy.