Second attempt last night, using a few suggestions from some folks here and incorporating lessons from an unsuccessful first attempt a few nights ago.
Essentially this is three photos stitched together. One 2-min exposure for the foreground; the others are both 10 x 60-second tracked subs (using a NEQ6 mount). I also took a single static exposure in each of the upwards angles and used the trees / foreground from those (in the stacked image each tree was just a big black fuzzy mess). Painful job stitching it all together but it seemed to work okay.
Both stacked images processed in DSS, then into Lightroom, then into Photoshop for stitching and further editing, then back into Lightroom for final polish.
Camera was Nikon D600; lens was Nikkor 24-700mm f/2.8 at f/4.5. ISO 2500 for all shots.
Tricky part was designing a way for the camera to track in the right direction and also face the right way at the right angle. Drills and saws were involved. Actually rather chuffed I got it to work.
All feedback & suggestions welcome. I'm not 100% sold on the colour & general editing of the sky, but after a lot of mucking around I couldn't find any other look I preferred.
