This is 172, 20-second exposures combined in StarStax. I was out on the deck, camera on tripod, clicking my infrared remote every 20 seconds, for over an hour :) I was definitely lucky capturing that large meteor right in the center; couldn't have asked for a better setup!
I know the image is pretty messy, but it is my first legitimate star trails shot and I am pretty darned happy with it! :)
I am now selling some of my prints!
http://aaron-aldrich.artistwebsites.com
Born in San Francisco, raised in NW Montana, traveled the world for 23... learn more
Fantastic! I tried to get star trails and meteors last night too, but I failed miserably. My technique wasn't right for it and then it got cloudy. But yours is so cool!
@mummarazzii Thanks Lisa! @swilde Thank you Sue! :) @peterdegraaff Thanks Peter, that would be fantastic! Something I want to try as well, but it would have to be one loooooong exposure rather than a bunch of "little" ones like this one :)
Are you kidding me, this is breathtaking!!! You were lucky and you did a great job! Is it you just leaving the camera for a 20-second shot and you do it over and over again? No other settings? I am also planning on going somewhere with my camera and tripod tonight. Here in Bulgaria the right time is today until 10.30 pm. I hope I can get at least one descent shot!
@velina Thank you so much Velina! My settings were: f/4 (you want to open your aperture up all of the way), 20-second exposures (I didn't want to go any longer because just in case I got some meteors crossing the frame, I didn't want them too washed out), ISO 1600 (since I was only going with 20-second exposures, I needed to raise the ISO enough to get a nice image so the trees and mountain were still lit up just a bit). Camera MUST be on a tripod and you shouldn't touch it at all, so either use a cable or infrared remote to trip the shutter each time. It was tedious, and I was standing the whole time so it was tiring, but it was ultimately pretty rewarding :) Good luck!
Fantastic. I tried a 20 min exposure last night, bbut the clouds came over. I did get some trails, but they were pretty average. Would you have the ISO and Ap at those settings for a longer exposure time?
Does your remote sensor not allow you to program so that it would automatically take the next shot in sequence without you having to take the next shot?
@velina Awesome Velina, you're welcome! :) @norikohaizumi Thank you so much Noriko! :) @veg66 Thanks so much Joanne! :) @onie Thanks Leonie! I would have had longer exposure times (at least 30 seconds) but I wanted to make sure I got a clear meteor trail if I was lucky enough to get one). The longer you leave the shutter open, the more washed out a sudden change becomes, like a meteor. But if meteors weren't a factor, I would reduce my ISO to about 100 or 200, open the aperture all of the way, and do 1-minute exposures. And pre-focussing to infinity and taking it off of autofocus before the shoot is a must as well!
@rockinrobyn Thanks Robyn! I used the App "StarStax" to stitch everything together (it is a program made for this specific purpose) and it actually took less than a minute :) @tigerdreamer Thanks Karen! :)
@webfoot Thanks Paul! I was using my infrared remote, which is pretty basic. My corded remote has all that fancy stuff on it, but it was in part of the house in which my son was already in bed, so I bit the bullet and did it manually :) @chriswang Thank you so much Chris!
You did an awesome job of capturing the shooting stars wow! It actually doesn’t feel too messy to me at all. Amazing to see so many stars trails together.
@cjphoto Haha, thanks Chris! I had no idea this was on PP! :) @jonesp Thank you Paul! @espyetta Thanks so much MaryBeth! Those are mountains at the bottom, my backyard :) @lizzybean Thanks Lizzy! Hopefully it will clear up enough for you to see something; this should last a few more nights :)
This is amazing, and what patience you have! I gather this has to be done on a clear night as the odd cloud would blur the image. If this were my pic I would be over the moon with excitement. Well done!!!!!!!
OK, confession time, reflections really truly aren't a push - here's the ones I've put in a set on Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/12323897@N04/sets/72157625019570808/ - there are more ... I can rinse this with a puddle / droplet / globe shot this week, and I've had a lot of practice at them, or I can be honest and suggest you really push me.
As for a push for you, I'm going to set you the same thing I set @binny last week - to create an abstract using bright primary colours, bonus points if you can include all of red/green/blue or red/yellow/blue
@kamb Thank you so much Karen! I haven't done many of these, but I would imagine a cloud would mess it up pretty badly :) @boogie Thanks Mags! @andycoleborn Thanks so much Andy!
My goodness Aaron, I'm so jealous! This is absolutely out of this world (sorry for the pun) and an absolute FAV!!!
I sat up on a mountain for about 2hours and froze in the wind and dampness in the air, just to try and capture one of the hundreds of meteors that fell last night. Each time one fell, I had my bloody lens facing in the opposite direction! Managed just one measly, not well focused/exposed shot, with a very faint trail which shot into a lit area!
So damn frustrating, but to be up in the middle of the night and to see such a wonderful phenomena, made it worth all the while!
Your shot and processing really rocks!
@rwhite Thank you so much Rosie! And I've been there! This time I just left the lens pointing in the same direction the entire time because chasing meteors in the past just hadn't worked. There were quite a few I knew wouldn't be in frame, but I just trusted that some of them would be and I got lucky :)
I forgot to ask you, but I just shared this over to Facebook. I have only done that with someone else's pic about three times..but thought my friends who love space and stayed up to try to see the showers might like it. If you mind, I'll remove it. :0)
Super shot Aaron - perfect timing with the meteor and the star trails are magical. I long for star trails like these. The framing of the foreground and sides works well too. Fav.
Aaron, congrats on this awesome capture! Instant FAV for me. Is the program you easy to use? I was thinking about getting Startrails, but would be3 interested to know what you think of StarStax?
@pammerritt Thanks Pam! @grammyn Thank you Katy! :) @louiesphotos Thank you so much Louie! :) @shirljess Thanks Shirley! I was SO surprised at how easy StarStax was to use; I was anticipating a long wait while it was combining the images but it took only seconds and was finished. I thought to myself; "this can't be it," but sure enough. I've used it only this once but I am very impressed :) @brontosaurus Thanks!
@myhrhelper I tried using bulb before with terrible results, so this time I just took a lot of 20-second shots back to back (172 shots to be exact) and stacked them all together for this shot.
Aaron...I had no idea how much effort it took to take one of these photos. Amazing capture. Great composition, pov. Love the two shooting across. Now, in NJ....I'm gonna try this...but the difference is, you'll only see one streak, since we're only able to see one star. Thanks for that NYC. grumble, grumble, grumble....
Congrats on the top 20
Wow I love this! A-May-ZIng! I live in London and star trails like this is something you can only dream about! Off to the darkest part of England soon so I can give this a go!! Fav!
Great results, I too try this for the first time http://365project.org/lorinc/365/2012-08-22
but I found my biggest battle was condensation on my lens and people around me. I like these shots you will never get the same result twice.
@swilde Thank you Sue! :)
@peterdegraaff Thanks Peter, that would be fantastic! Something I want to try as well, but it would have to be one loooooong exposure rather than a bunch of "little" ones like this one :)
@mandyj92 Haha, thanks Amanda!
@onie Leonie... this is what I was talking about... lots of shorter exposures then stacked ;)
Does your remote sensor not allow you to program so that it would automatically take the next shot in sequence without you having to take the next shot?
@norikohaizumi Thank you so much Noriko! :)
@veg66 Thanks so much Joanne! :)
@onie Thanks Leonie! I would have had longer exposure times (at least 30 seconds) but I wanted to make sure I got a clear meteor trail if I was lucky enough to get one). The longer you leave the shutter open, the more washed out a sudden change becomes, like a meteor. But if meteors weren't a factor, I would reduce my ISO to about 100 or 200, open the aperture all of the way, and do 1-minute exposures. And pre-focussing to infinity and taking it off of autofocus before the shoot is a must as well!
@carolmw Thank you so much Carol! :)
@ozziehoffy Haha, thank you Cassandra! :)
@rockinrobyn Thank you so much Robyn! :)
@wardie Thank you Paul!
@northy Thanks Northy! :)
@johns366 Thanks John, it is definitely worth the experience! :)
@tigerdreamer Thanks Karen! :)
@chriswang Thank you so much Chris!
@auroralinda Thank you so much!
@mpoppins Thank you Maria! :)
@wildernesswillie That's great William, so hard to do without remote!
@tanja_1211 Thank you so much Tanja!
@jonesp Thank you Paul!
@espyetta Thanks so much MaryBeth! Those are mountains at the bottom, my backyard :)
@lizzybean Thanks Lizzy! Hopefully it will clear up enough for you to see something; this should last a few more nights :)
@mstipe Thank you Michelle! :)
As for a push for you, I'm going to set you the same thing I set @binny last week - to create an abstract using bright primary colours, bonus points if you can include all of red/green/blue or red/yellow/blue
@boogie Thanks Mags!
@andycoleborn Thanks so much Andy!
@bardejov Thank you so much! :)
@filsie65 Thank you Phil!
I sat up on a mountain for about 2hours and froze in the wind and dampness in the air, just to try and capture one of the hundreds of meteors that fell last night. Each time one fell, I had my bloody lens facing in the opposite direction! Managed just one measly, not well focused/exposed shot, with a very faint trail which shot into a lit area!
So damn frustrating, but to be up in the middle of the night and to see such a wonderful phenomena, made it worth all the while!
Your shot and processing really rocks!
@pointnshoot28 Thank you so much Donna! :)
@grammyn Thank you Katy! :)
@louiesphotos Thank you so much Louie! :)
@shirljess Thanks Shirley! I was SO surprised at how easy StarStax was to use; I was anticipating a long wait while it was combining the images but it took only seconds and was finished. I thought to myself; "this can't be it," but sure enough. I've used it only this once but I am very impressed :)
@brontosaurus Thanks!
Congrats on the top 20
@jdr4690 Thank you Rob!
@losthorizon Haha Beau, too funny! Thanks!
@kellc Thank you Kelly! :)
@rockinrobyn Haha, thank you Robyn, same to you! :)
but I found my biggest battle was condensation on my lens and people around me. I like these shots you will never get the same result twice.