Star Trails

[Brendan Dozier]

Here's a try at star trails using Roman's "A Digital Guide to Photographing the Night Sky"
This was a boulder formation just off the mountain hwy headed towards Borego Springs, CA. I combined two exposures, one for the FG, as it started getting dark, and one for the star trails after 10pm. CS5, levels, curves, cloned out fence, NR, auto-aligned two exposures, adjusted color balance, added blue photo filter, slight crop, sharpening.

7D, EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.
Bulb, 1 Hour, f4.5, ISO 100

C & C welcome & appreciated,

- Brendan

[Rachel Hollander]

Brendan - I like the star trails and the color of this very much. I realize the rocks were on a hill but I do find the slanted horizon a bit distracting. Looking forward to seeing more of your attempts at this and to seeing Roman's comments.

TFS,
Rachel

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Brendan,
Exposure wise I think you did very well. The sland of the hill doesn't bother me and the comp works as well. Was that light pollution on the horizon? My guess is yes.....and almost impossible to avoid now. This is a good example of the trails you get when you don't point due north (or south) but it also works here as it is leading me to the boulders. I think you can eek out some more brightness in the tails in either selective color>removing some black from the red and blue channel and perhaps even the white channel.....but you then may have to add black to the black channel and maybe even the neutral channel. Playing around with that should make the trails even more vibrant.....but be careful as you can blow out the whites. An LCE after that tweak will probably be the finishing touch on the sky. All in all these are mminor tweaks and I 'm glad my guide could help you out! Very nicely done!

Which part did you feel helped you the most......was it the focusing at night section?

[Brendan Dozier]

Thanks for your comments and suggestions, Rachel & Roman, much appreciated.

Rachel - I see what you mean, and think maybe if there were more of the mountains showing in the distance, with a level line, it would have helped to counter the slant of the hill composition wise.

Roman - Yes, that was noise pollution, but it was from on coming cars during the long exposure. Probably not the best idea to shoot just off the mountain hwy, but really liked the look of this boulder formation. Though not intentional, I think it created a nice effect and worked well to blend the two exposures.

The section in your guide on FG focusing was very helpful, as well as many other good tips and information to help set-up properly.

Thanks again, and I will get to adjustment tweeks and repost soon. What does LCE mean, did not find that in acronym list.

[Nick Palmieri]

Hey Brendan, having learned from the master himself I will give you my two cents...I think the trails themselves are just perfect. I really like the tone and am not bothered by the light pollution. LCE is local contrast enhancement, if you check out Robert Amoruso's tutorial, that is a great starting point:

http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php/20434-Image-Contrast-and-Tonal-Range-Tweaks-Part-1-by-Robert-Amoruso

I am not thrilled with the FG, I think you would have been better off lighting it with a flash light, or moonlight and having it evenly lit. Not easy to do but some 30 s. practice shots would allow you to perfect it. I would also prefer a level horizon.

Nice job overall, can't wait to see more.

[Brendan Dozier]

Thanks Nick, appreciated your feedback, and thanks for the link to Robert's tutorial. I had used his reverse S curve tweak before but not the LCE. Will have to check it out.

Using a second exposure on the FG was my solution to not having mastered the light painting yet. I did some practice shots, but still need to work on getting a more even application.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

not an expert on this....but I can enjoy it as much as the experts :-) well done...loved the colors, comp and the trails off course. well done.

[Andrew McLachlan]

Brendan, I haven't tried any of these yet, but I think you did very well. I like the comp and the amount of star trails visible. Very nice!

[Brendan Dozier]

Thanks Kaustubh & Andrew!

[John Ippolito]

I wasn't sure about the slope, but after a few minutes it seemed natural. Deep cooler colors in the FG are actually quite nice, as it seems completely plausible to the eye for a night scene - and I like those trails.