OK...final discussion about night photography for awhile. All week I've been posting discussions to get people to post and even think about their night photography now that we have longer nights in the northern hemisphere. Yes, I know my friends from Australia have great weather right now. Shut it. I don't wanna hear.
I've posted discussions on the Blue Hour, night-time B&W, long exposures, and sunsets without the sun in the frame. All of these are things you can do with these longer nights.
Now for a different one. I don't know how many people will have photos like this: stars. Now, these don't have to be star trails. They don't have to be wide, sweeping views of the Milky Way. Instead, any photo of stars will work.
Here is a little, tiny tutorial for capturing stars. Shoot at 800 ISO and use the 600 Rule. The 600 Rule states that if you want pinpoint stars instead of trails, use an exposure time that is 600 / focal length. So...shooting with a 50mm lens gives you a 30 second exposure. Then you get pinpoint stars in the sky.
Show us your stars, star fields, star trails, any night-time photo that has stars in it.
My only ever star shot turned out so lame I stopped trying right afterwards. As I don't have a car and live in a big city it might be a while till I try again. Here's my lame attempt:
And just for the fun of it, here's what I did with the stars offered by Picnik ;):
@dweezie I know what you're thinking. "Did he fire six shots or only five?" Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement I kind of lost track myself. But being as this is a Nikon D200, the most powerful digital SLR camera made in 2003, and would shoot a photo so powerful it would blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky?
@jasonbarnette I would shoot a picture for your thread... BUT... tis' impossible... now I know what you're thinking... "no it isn't.. a moron could do it.." but no, its impossible. I've tried, I've failed... epic... With my "vending machine camera from walmart".... its just not possible. :/
i spent a couple of hours attempting sky shots in my backyard. unfortunately Melbourne's suburbia is littered with light polution. I guess i'll try again next time i'm in the countryside. very envious of people who manage to capture star clouds.
@gingersanders To get the picture to show up, instead copying the link to the page, there is a Share box on the page for the photo, which contains the code that you need to copy and paste to get your pic to show up in the thread. It's along the right-hand side, under Details and Tags. :)
@gingersanders On the right side of your screen on the day of your shot there is a box w/ code in it and the word Share above it. Copy and paste the code in here (the reply box) and hit enter.
@dweezie Nice! Now...do you REALLY wanna add some pop to this photo? Either take a bright LED flashlight or preferably a speedlight and light up those trees. Boom.
@jasonbarnette Hia...I'm messing around with a relatiely clearish night...I took 2 hours worth of 30 second exposures but a big 'orange' cloud passed through at some point and as it's processing now (on startrails.de) it's gradually becoming uglier and uglier (probably as a result of the said cloud)...other than removing these cloudy shots (resulting in breaks in the lines) is there a trick to "getting rid of it"?
Some really great shots here. I just tried my first star photo the other day. Nothing too exciting, but it was fun to do. I think there is a bit too much light pollution in my area to get a really dramatic starry sky.
Nevertheless, here is Orion:
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Not a star to us, but it probably looks like one from somewhere else in the Universe.
And of course, the biggest star in our sky...
And just for the fun of it, here's what I did with the stars offered by Picnik ;):
Hopefully though this will spur people to give it a try.
Well, do ya, punk?
Smith Rock, Oregon
Ok. I guess I don't know how to get the image to show up.
this one was before I discovered noise reduction .....
sorry if this is too many shots
Thanks to several of you for pointing me in the right direction!
a href="http://365project.org/gingersanders/365/2011-05-24">
Nevertheless, here is Orion: