Dooralong Star Trails

[iceman (Mike)]

Captured on Friday night out at Dooralong, this star trails consists of about an hours worth of exposure. Unfortunately the lens fogged up after that!

Each exposure was 30s, f/4, ISO1600 with the Canon 40D and 17-40mm lens. Stacked using StarStax.

Larger less compressed version here: http://goo.gl/0GmBP

[niko]

Mike,

Is the tree a single image superimposed over the final trails shot? If so, could you provide a few details on how you achieve this?

Many thanks

Niko

[iceman (Mike)]

It's not a single image but it's a composite of a separate stack from a little earlier on.

But ultimately, yes, it's a blend of a stack for the foreground and a stack for the stars.

I simply used layer masks in Photoshop. Topaz Re-Mask is an awesome masking tool.

[gregbradley]

Very nice Mike.

A simple anti fog solution is a strip of aircell insulation wrapped around the lens with a rubber band before you take the camera outside. It keeps the lens a few degrees above ambient.
You can also stick on those heat strips you can buy from a Chemist.

You need to have infinity focus taped down before all this though.

Greg.

[niko]

Thanks Mike

Can you go into a bit more detail about the layer process?

If the tree is in each shot I presume it would be a bit blurry and larger than a single shot because of the blur therefore how do you deal with that when using the masks?

Cheers

Niko

[AstroJunk (Jonathan)]

Yup, I'm hooked on nightscapes. It's really great to see the thought going into composition in astrophotographs, as well as being great to take them! Lovely.

[iceman (Mike)]

Thanks guys!

Originally Posted by gregbradley

Very nice Mike.

A simple anti fog solution is a strip of aircell insulation wrapped around the lens with a rubber band before you take the camera outside. It keeps the lens a few degrees above ambient.
You can also stick on those heat strips you can buy from a Chemist.

You need to have infinity focus taped down before all this though.

Greg.

I've invested in some USB hand warmer gloves and a AA-powered USB power source that I can take out in the field next time. I also have some chemical hand warmers from the chemist, but forgot to take them with me on that night.

While changing dew shields I accidently bumped the zoom range so some of the later ones were at 20/21mm instead of 17mm.

Originally Posted by niko

Thanks Mike

Can you go into a bit more detail about the layer process?

If the tree is in each shot I presume it would be a bit blurry and larger than a single shot because of the blur therefore how do you deal with that when using the masks?

Cheers

Niko

Hi Niko. The composition of all shots was exactly the same. There's no blur - the tree wasn't moving.

I've attached a screenshot of the image in photoshop with the layers.

- The 1st vibrance layer isn't doing anything, I just didn't delete it.
- Layer 1 Copy is the foreground - you can see the layer mask where the white is the visible part. It's the same image essentially, taken from a different stack - more of a lighter foreground.
- Layer 1 Copy 2 is just a copy of the background, with the blending mode set to 'color' to bring some more colour back into the sky
- The top 3 adjustment layers are just personal take for colour, saturation etc.

I hope that helps!

Originally Posted by AstroJunk

Yup, I'm hooked on nightscapes. It's really great to see the thought going into composition in astrophotographs, as well as being great to take them! Lovely.

Thanks heaps! I love it too, can be both relaxing and stressful, but always fun.