Star trails

[Sherwood]

I went out with the intention of getting a couple of pics of the Perseids meteor shower....and although I saw at least six "shooting stars" the camera was always pointing in the wrong direction, and the wide angle lens I had, wasnt wide enough!
So plan "b" ...I took a series of eighteen 30 second exposures from the same viewpoint using a remote release cable, and then merged them in photoshop (I could have taken one very long exposure, but then image noise would have probably been a problem?)
Hopefully on the next attempt (this was my first) I will include some better foreground interest and no power line:yikes:

Not sure what the dotted line is going 90 degrees to the startrails at the top center near the power line?
...cant remember seeing it at the time, maybe a satellite??

thanks for looking
Mike

 

[Wayland]

That's very good.

I have tried to get star trails long ago with film, but not had much success.

The blending of multiple exposures is an interesting idea.

 

[Sherwood]

Hi Wayland, this photoshop action does all the hard work...
had I known the end result would be as interesting as it is, I would have put a larger memory card in, a fresh battery in and left it to do its best...whilst I got a brew on!
Hopefully i'm out tonight for another attempt, although the forecast is for partly overcast skies

 

[gregorach]

With the right software, you can also stack and align multiple exposures - so rather than getting trails, you get the equivalent of a very long exposure with motor tracking.

 

[pteron]

Like the trails software, thanks for the heads up.

Will have to have a go at that.

Dunc - do you have a pointer to the software you suggest? i wonder if it would give enough exposure to pick out nebulae?

 

[gregorach]

Sorry, it's something that I'm vaguely aware of, but I've never bothered to look into properly. Between urban light pollution and my lack of transport, there's not really much point for me... You probably won't pick up nebulae without a deep-field (large objective, low magnification) telescope though.

 

[pteron]

Maybe I need a scope

 

[ged]

... Not sure what the dotted line is going 90 degrees to the startrails at the top center near the power line? ...cant remember seeing it at the time, maybe a satellite??

I've tried to see the dotted line that you describe by messing about with the image contrast and brightness, but I still can't see it. My guess is an aircraft's strobe lights. Most satellites are either sunlit or not, they tend not to flash.

 

[Sherwood]

Heres a 100% crop of one image with the mystery trail arrowed...

Each exposure was 30 seconds long, ISO 640, f/6.3