During a Night Sky and Milky Way Workshop in Sedona, Arizona, I made a star trail image. I also set up a second camera while the main camera was making Milky Way exposures. Check out the Milky Way article here.
Camera support
When you are training two cameras on the heavens, you need multiple camera supports. Carrying two full size tripods can be a bit cumbersome. Enter Platypod. The eXtreme is a solid tripod base. With a ball head, you can have a very low to the ground support. Many times that will be just a wee bit too low. If you add a Platypod Handle, the camera can be raised to different levels. It can be configured with a three, six and a half and a Tenant a half inch riser. Sometimes, I’ll add a second handle as I use lightweight Micro Four-Thirds gear. This set up is a very light and versatile addition to your kit which takes very little space. Sometimes, I’ll take just the Platypod gear in place of a full size tripod depending upon how far I am hiking.
Night AR PhotoPills
Augmented Reality which is built into the PhotoPills app can also show you the pattern the stars will draw when you are putting you composition together. The trails are represented by blue lines with white dots circling around. If you point directly at the Pole Star, North or South depending upon where you are on the globe you get circular trails. Facing East or West will show a straight line with southerly stars trailing off to the south and the others way to toward the North.
Camera settings
When capturing star trails, camera settings are much different than settings for Milky Way. The Milky Way calls for short exposures to keep the stars as points. Also, wide open apertures to gather as much light as possible as fast as possible. Star trails call for the opposite. Close down the aperture by a stop or two and lower the ISO. You will see many star trail images with pure white trails. Pure white trails are overexposed. Stars have color and slightly underexposing will allow that color to render.
As with the Milky Way images, you will often need to blend a separate exposure for your foreground.
Gear
I was testing out the OM System’s new OM5 Mark II which I’ll be reviewing soon. I was able to get a bit over two hours of 30 second exposures before the battery started showing signs of giving up the ghost. Note: If you want to do longer time gathering images you can add a USB battery. I used the M.Zuiko 17mm f/1.8 Lens to frame the scene at f/2.8.
You can learn more about the Milky Way and Night Sky Sedona, Arizona Workshops here.
Yours in Creative Photography,
Bob
