Chez Spud

I’m SO excited about this guest post [Spud does a little dance]. I know absolutely nothing about shooting stars (as in taking photos of them rather than those ones that scoot across the sky, although knowledge of the latter is also shockingly scant) but I DO know that our guest blogger Amber is the bee’s knees when it comes to this subject; it’s one of her many areas of real strength. The woman is a legend in her own galaxy.

I can’t wait to give this a go, she makes it look and sound suspiciously easy. As you can see I’ve never tried star shooting as the best I could offer as a photo to head this post with is a picture of my bracelet! Also, I finally learnt what ‘focusing on infinity’ means from reading this post…I’ve been wondering since last November when I made my first attempt at shooting fireworks. Hoorah, knowledge and insight is all mine…mine, mine, mine.

With huge thanks to the lovely Amber who, you’ll remember, was our first Camera Club guest blogger with a wonderful post about getting the most out of your point & shoot. Welcome back! x

Shooting Stars

I am fascinated and obsessed with star trails.  What are star trails you ask?  Well, They are bascially just light trails, which you learned about in the guest article by FS Photography…Stars are light trails with a twist. You see, stars stay in their assigned places in the sky, but we here on the earth are constantly moving in an orbit. That being the case the stars seem to change their position in the sky constantly. When taking a long exposure of the sky on a clear night, the camera actually captures the trails of light left in the sky as the earth rotates. Fascinating isn’t it ;)

What do you need to capture star trails?

Well you need a DSLR camera, a tripod, and a place where you can see the stars at night with limited light pollution. A remote or cable release is also VERY useful, but not necessarily essential. I’ll explain…

Preparing the shot

The most difficult part about capturing star trails is setting up the shot. It takes planning, and seriously, who likes that?  But it’s worth it. Take time during the day to scout out possible locations for your shot. This is essential as once it is dark enough to capture the stars you usually can not see anything around you. lol. I learned this the hard way. Take note of things that might damage your shot, such as street lights, nearby roads, etc.  Ideally you will want to be shooting away from distracting lights. You also want to take note of the landscape. While the stars in themselves are dazzling, including foreground in your shot makes for a stronger composition. Be sure that all foreground elements are at least 10 feet or more away from you.

Another interesting tidbit to keep in mind is…the direction you shoot will affect the movement of your light trails. Don’t worry about this at first as any star trails you capture will be amazing.  But, it is interesting to note that if you face North, the light trails will move in an arc around the North Star, or Polaris.  If you want to capture circular trails in the sky, therefore, it is handy to carry a compass while you scout for locations. Then, once it is dark, you will know exactly where to find North :) Ok, so have you picked a location? Good. Let’s move on.

Taking the shot

So it’s a nice clear night, you have a location, and it’s time to take your shot.  Now for the technical bit ;)  First, set your focus on infinity*. Next, ask yourself some questions. How dark is it? Are you way out in the country with hardly any noise pollution? If so, keep your aperture wide open to soak up the light, something like f/5. If you live where there is more light pollution though, start out with a smaller aperture like f/10. With practice you will learn what is best for your area.  In super dark places you may need to increase your ISO, but I suggest trying it at the lowest number first ;)

Next question…how long do you want to shoot for? When I first started I over eagerly insisted on super long exposure times. Don’t make my mistake. Try shorter exposures first, like 3 minutes. See how the shot comes out. Was it sucessful? Great, now try 5 minutes. Remember, the longer the exposure time, the more noise in the image. To take exposure times longer than 30 seconds you will most likely need a remote for your camera, or a cable release. Set you shutter speed to “bulb” and use your remote or release to take the shot. Be sure to time your shot carefully.  If you do not have a remote or cable release then take consecutive 30 second shots over the course of 3 minutes, or whatever you want your exposure time to be.  For a 3 minute exposure using the 30 second method, you will have a total of 6 images. Layer these images one on top of the other in Photoshop and set the blend mode to “lighten”. Voila, you now have a 3 minute exposure ;)

This is just an introduction to the wonderful world of star trail photogrpahy, which I also am still learning. Try these tips and with practice you can learn to make longer and longer trails through extended exposure times as well as layering consectutive long exposure shots in Photoshop, or in a star trail program like this. Have fun!! :)

* Question from Spud…”Erm, how do you set your focus to infinity?”…Amber…”Well, on some lenses you will see an infinity symbol where you can set the focus to. You know, a sidewise 8 symbol.  On my Nikkor lenses it means that I turn the focus all the way to the far right. I make sure the lens and camera is on manual and stays all the way to the right. As long as you do not have any foreground objects closer than 10 or 20 feet, everything should be pretty much in focus. The stars will definitly be in focus!” Spud shuffles off…