first go at startrials

blastman · 11 Aug 2011 at 08:54

ok, ok, I know it's not awesome, but i love the star colours and for a shot that took 10 minutes to setup and then an hour of film watching inside I'm pleased.

If the weather holds out, I'm going to have another crack on Friday with a much wider lens.

Johnny|lucidcomposure · 11 Aug 2011 at 09:10

yeah too much pollution really. Wanna go far out of the area and try not to shoot an horizon over a town. Also your focus is off. Focus at infinity or just focus one something REALLY far away.

wakayoda · 11 Aug 2011 at 10:39

Maybe lower the ISO so you can get a bit less distortion, longer shooting then to ;D

blastman · 11 Aug 2011 at 10:42

yeah i need to fine tweak my process.

I did use a low iso (100) but i think the mrs might have turned the lights on in the kitchen a few times, hence the washed out look.

I'll try again with a better foreground, more sky and less horizon, no lights on in the house and I'll go for 2 hours instead of one.

NickK · 11 Aug 2011 at 17:25

I would check out a Neodymium filter to help remove the sodium street light pollution (orange glow).

Another trick is to take shorter exposures then stack them to make one long star trail.

Marzipanogram · 11 Aug 2011 at 20:39

I've never tried shooting the stars.

But, from what I've read, like shooting people, it's best done it short controlled bursts.
That way you will minimise noise.

People usually shoot for 2mins maximum at a large aperture (4.8 ish) at ISO 400.
And take multiple shots over a couple of hours, then blend then together in Ps or software like this:
http://www.startrails.de/html/software.html

NickK · 11 Aug 2011 at 21:21

A DSLR is built for speed, so you'll find that heat from the amplifier (amplifies the pixel signal before analogue-to-digital conversion) causes noise on long exposures.