Dawn startrail

[multiweb]

Playing with that Startrail program I downloaded. Those are subs I got off a video timelapse (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showpost.php?p=804272&postcount=14)I did on Lovejoy Thursday morning. There's a bigger version here (http://www.astropic.net/astro/placidus_lovejoy_dawn_ff.jpg)[1MB].

Still new to this. The little gaps in the trails are discarded subs where I walked in the front with my red torch. Lights trails at the bottom are people cars going to work in Orange in the morning. The highest hill on the right is Mt Canobolas.

Will try to stack the subs and post a still shot of the comet (which is somewhere in there) if I figure out how to stack JPG files. :question:

PS: figured it out - attached the stacked version (http://www.astropic.net/astro/placidus_lovejoy_w_ff.jpg).

[skysurfer]

Nice timelapse !

And it is damn simple when you have a timer. I got an Aputure timer for $30 via ebay for my 40d which works very well. Original Canon ones cost > $100.



Deepskystacker, a free Windows app works very good.

[multiweb]

Thanks mate. Yes I had an old Canon intervalometer I used with my Pentax *istD in the past.

[alan meehan]

A terrific wide shot of the comet Marc looks like a lovely spot
Happy new year
AL

[atalas]

Hi Marc

Another couple of great pics dude! well done.

[Mighty_oz]

What Startrail program was that one Marc ?

[multiweb]

Thank you Alan. Same to you. :thumbsup:


Thanks a lot Louie. Have a good year. :thumbsup:

Hi Marcus, it's called startrail (http://www.startrails.de/html/software.html).

[richardo]

Cool Marc!
I've been following a lot of comet Love Joy images since it has rounded the sun and it's great to see in your image how far it has come on its return journey!

Nice time laps btw, great looking country out that way..

All the best
Rich

[multiweb]

Thanks Rich. :thumbsup: Yeah the forums have been flooded with great shots of it. I reckon it's been the most documented follow up of any comet so far. I was surprised how quickly it dimmed out though, although the tail is just enormous now. Having said that I have a guided mosaic of 4 panels with a 50mm lens (5x300s) that turned out ok. Still working out the colors and stacking.

I'm just a little disappointed that I missed the party when it was bright with two tails but I can't complain too much. Considering the weather here I still got some. :)

[bokglob]

sweet Marc:thumbsup: I might have a go at this myself sometime, soooooo frustrating waiting between darksky holidays:sadeyes: Well done, nice work!

[Hagar]

Nice images Marc. I have never done a star trail. Didn't rock my boat so never happened.

[multiweb]

Thanks Darrell. Yes it was bit of a chase and frustration to get anything on this one between clear SE horizon and especially weather in Sydney. I was very fortunate in the end to be able to use a great spot for it although it was a bit too late in the game.


Thanks Doug. I never did one myself before either so I don't know. Maybe it lacks a bit of star colors. :shrug: Practice will make perfect eventually. I don't know if it's anything to do with my processing. White trails are a bit boring IMO. Will revisit.

What I did was run a batch action in PS on each frame of the timelapse. A bit of levels and slight noise reduction and a little increase in saturation but maybe it needs more color boost.

[CapturingTheNight]

Very nice star trail Marc :thumbsup: If you are worried about the colour of the stars the key (I find) is to get the white balance of the sky correct in camera before you start taking the shots. Going through each RAW sub frame and adjusting the white balance is not my idea of fun when I can have up to 400 shots in a sequence. What this WB works out to be will depend on your skies and camera but for my Canon and very dark skies a White Balance Kelvin temperature of 3800 works well. Once you have that base you can then increase the saturation and vibrance of the colours in post processing to really make them pop. You can find a couple examples of my trails in this thread http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=82359
Can't wait to see more trails from you.
Cheers
Greg

[multiweb]

Thanks a lot Greg. Great tips. Love your startrails color saturation. Will look into it and repro. :thumbsup:

[iceman]

Nice work Marc.

Try StarStax (http://starstax.net), it's even better than startrails.de.

[CapturingTheNight]

Thanks for the heads up on Starstax Mike. I just ran a side by side comparison between it and Startrails.de. I found no difference between the quality of the stacked images. One plus with Startrails is you can spit out a movie whereas you cant in Starstax. I really like the save between each step option in Starstax. I found the processing a fraction faster in Starstax so I might be using it a bit more. Thanks again :thumbsup:

[iceman]

Yeh I think it's the extra options in StarStax that make it a better choice for me.

I've used the 'create video' mode in startrails.de, and it works, but it's pretty limited and can be a bit of a struggle. For creating timelapses, you're better off using alternative more purpose made software.

[Bassnut]

Any astro stacking software will do startrails, you just skip the align and data reject steps. CCD stack worked a treat.

[multiweb]

I tried it last night. It's pretty cool. The only thing that bugged me though is that you can't SHIFT + select multiple pictures to tick them on/off in the list.

Prior to stack the subs I run them all in an action in PS to level them the same way, boost saturation a bit etc... Then I load them all in premiere of after effect and export to FLV/FLA. Is this how you guys do it too?



Not with 1000s of subs though. It's sluggish when loading them all. Unless you've found a way to batch stack? I'm all ears.

[Ross G]

Hi Marc,

Great star trails. Looks great with the high, wide view.

I love your comet photo. Great detail and again I love the high, wide point of view.

Thanks.

Ross.