Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Star Trail Photography

I promised a while back that I would do some star trail photography, because the Canon 6D allows for that with the "Blub" mode. Now I'm able to hold that promise.

Last night I went out to shoot some new material (more on that later), and stopped by the city park. The sky was bright and clear, and you could see the stars well. I set everything up, took the shots, and these are the first two results.

click on the images for a bigger view

For the first exposure the shutter stayed open for 11 minutes. F-stop 8, ISO 100, 50 mm


This second one was shorter. Shutter stayed open for 2:30 minutes. F-stop 8, ISO 100, 50 mm


I will do a tutorial on this subject matter soon, and explain how you can get images like these. Also I will try it out more myself. The park last night wasn't an ideal place to do this, I will talk about that more in the tutorial. But I think that the images came out nicely.

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Thanks for stopping by. I hope you like the images from today's post, more night photography from Mostar to follow soon.

30 comments:

  1. this is my first time ever hearing of star trails or blub mode... can't wait to see more..

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    1. And I can't wait to go out and make more.

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  2. Wow...these star trails are so very impressive captures.

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  3. Mersad, these are more effective than the complete circles I have done.
    I like them. Try taking a compass and point the camera north. the stars will then make circles around the foreground.
    It is not easy, you need a thirty second exposure maximum and a dark frame to cut out the noise. Make sure noise is switched off in your camera. You don't want to have to wait for a black frame for every exposure. I take hundreds of images at thirty seconds an exposure. Then put the lens cap on for the black frame. It has to be done whilst the sensor is still hot. I then run them in Photoshop using Screen blend mode. If I get a clear night I'll do one they are a cold but fun job.
    I usually light the foreground with flash, van headlights or a torch on both the first and last frame then pick the best.
    No. Don't ask me to show you my work. I post it and forget all but a few images a year.
    I'll not dig any out I'll do a new one. There are no end of tutorials on it and some really slick free software programs to stack star trails in.
    Thanks for reminding me I'll have another go.

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    1. Thanks for the tips Adrian. I really appreciate it. I will have to study this further and your tips will certainly be helpful!

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  4. Really nice shots, Mersad; and I appreciate the shooting information.

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    1. I knew you would. Thanks for visiting Linda.

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  5. Wonderful star trails and terrific captures as always, Mersad!! Thanks as always for sharing! Hope your week is going well!!

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  6. These are neat captures and I look forward to your sharing more about this technique.....I have done a little research on the "bulb" mode but continue to do more information....

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  7. Very cool captures, Mersad! Thanks for sharing, looking forward to see more of your star trails. Have a happy week!

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  8. Nice job! I'm partial to the longer exposure. I like the longer trails it produced.

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  9. Love those star trails - nice work!

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  10. Looking forward to the tutorial you are going to do. These are fascinating.

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  11. I really should give this a try. I live in the perfect location with absolutely no light pollution. Really like your results.

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  12. Öhh, ich verstehe es jetzt nicht. Wie kann man (oder deine Kamera) bei Tageslicht Sterne sehen?? Sonst sind tolle aufnahmen. :-) LG

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    1. Diese Aufnahmen sind nicht bei Tage gemacht. Es sind Nachtfotos, aber weil die Blende der Kamera lange aufbleibt (im ersten Foto 11 minuten, und im zweiten 2:30) bekommst Du einen hellen Himmel mit dem Sternenzug.

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    2. Ok, danke, interessant, bei mir geht es nur bis 2 Minuten offen lassen...LG

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    3. 2 minuten kann auch efektiv sein!

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  13. Nice work Mersad, this is one area I really don't know much about.

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    1. I hope the tutorial that'll follow soon will be of enlightenment.

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  14. Really fun pictures! I wonder if I can do that with my new camera? I'll have to check. Thanks for the encouragement about my gardening! I think I will plant fewer things this spring and wait till fall to expand the list. Nothing better, as you say, than fresh veggies!

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    Replies
    1. I don't think that your camera has it. But you can check on the dial, there should be a letter "B" written on it.

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