Star Trails/ Night Photography

[coulson]

Apologies if this is already covered in another thread however I didnt see any older posts.

I also understand Thailand is not ideal setting for star trails photgraphy - clouds/ rain, humidity & light pollution. I have never even attempted taking a trail (Bangkok forget it) but if weather permits and location is suitable I'll try it someday soon.

I have a huge problem when setting up for these type of photo's, particulalry with getting the focus right. I take a couple of trial shots and use the display to zoom and adjust, sometimes lucky enough to have a small light source in the frame is good enough too. I dont udnerstand why Canon dont put an infinity dial on their lenses as standard, but theres always some fine tuning neccessary. I use standard presets and bring a torch, it's bad enough fumbling around in the dark to get the setup right, but a couple cold beers when its all good to go and set clicking is worth it. Not to mention the outcome, these photo's are incredible particulalry if the composition is good and polaris can be somewhere in the frame. I have no problem spending time getting it right, however invariably what appears to look ok on the display will be another story when you get home to the laptop to start stacking.

So my main question is how do you get the focus right? and of course if anyone has any other tips for preparing for this type of photo, interested to hear any feedback.

For the purposes of this exercise I have an example below, since I dont have a Thailand shot it has to do, taken in South Oman. The light painting was unintentional and I couldn't remove it as it was halfway through the stack sequence, would have been a cool addon however it showed up my problem with the focus and because there was a light breeze any trees are going to give a strange blurry effect. I also forgot to take a dark frame which left a lot of noise in the picture. Resizing it for posting here seems to have pixelated it somewhat too, but for the purposes of this exercise I'll leave the flaws intact.

I used a Canon 550d EFS 18-55 standard lens, have since upgraded to EOS 7D mk2 thats another thread as it is way too sensitive for long exposures where traffic is the subject, I'm still wrestling with that one.

F/8.0

ISO 800 (I prefer 200 for still shots but trails become uneven unfortunately and noise becomes another issue)

30 seconds continuous shooting over 90 minutes

Image stabilizer disabled.

I have read that disabling the mirror lock up helps too but I cant figure out how

Any advcie on setup appreciaed, also love to see anyone elses samples........

Edited May 29, 2015 by coulson

[Tywais]

Probably will help if you get familiar with hyperfocal distance. Of course at night it makes it more difficult but if you can find a spot that is visible at the hyperfocal point that will be good to infinity. Don't need to try and focus on the stars themselves which is indeed a challenge.

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/hyperfocal-distance.htm

http://www.digitalcameraworld.com/2013/02/08/how-to-calculate-hyperfocal-distance-free-photography-cheat-sheet/

[Goshawk]

Yes! this is just what we need . . . a proper Astrophotography thread.

Personally i always find that manually setting my lens (i only ever use the wide Tokina 11-16mm f2.8 for this type of imaging) to infinity, then backing off ever so slightly gives the best results. Maybe that's just my copy of the lens though.

I also agree that unless you can be up into the mountains with the right conditions, astrophotography in Thailand can be a real challenge in terms of finding a really dark site, with clear skies & perfect seeing conditions. The best non elevated area i've ever found was at the camp ground of Nam Nao NP . . . darkest sky i've ever seen anywhere . . ink black . . blazing stars . . very bright milky way . . really breathtaking! Alas, i was there last about 7yr ago and didn't have the gear that i have now to be able to record it properly. But i'm going back for sure.

Meanwhile here's a (non trails) wide field shot of Orion, Taurus, Gemini & the 'dogs' etc... from horribly light polluted Hang Dong, Chiang Mai at ISO 400 on an 8 sec exposure . . .

[coulson]

Thanks Tywais, had a good read through those and a few more. Time will tell though as getting it right in the field is always another story.

Nice shot Goshawk, doesn't look like a wide lens in this case? Planning a trip up North in November, might try and get out to that spot, even up in hills.

[Goshawk]

^ that is one huge area of sky, to fit all those very large constellations in one frame could only be done with the Tok.

[Paulp]

No experience with Star Trails, but I would like to share this Milky Way Shot from my last vacation in Idaho. Many better ones out there but since it was my first attempt I was really excited to get some experience at this type of photography.

I can't wait to go somewhere again where I can see the stars at night like at Priest Lake Idaho.

[Paulp]

And my only selfie I have taken. I do apologize for adding a little hair to my head as the bald spot was dominating the scene

Edited December 16, 2015 by Paulp