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hi everyone, hope you are all well.
i am hoping to try and photogrpah a nearby ruined abbey during the night and would like to include some star trails in the image.
the abbey is not lit and is out in the countryside so i hope there will be little light polution.
i have a remote release to use with a lock function so a lengthly exposure is not a problem.
i am thinking of settings like ISO 100 (i use a dslr) f8 or f11 with exposure times starting around 1hour.
does anybody have any tips or help they can offer or know of any decent star trail images?
i have searched the forum and found nothing on these lines.
thanks.
lee.
This is an area where an old mechanical film camera may be better than using a dSLR. These cameras sells for hardly anything on eBay. I should give it a go.
Those links are top notch... and at the risk of repeating what they say here are a few things i found to watch out for:
1.For really long trails you will need exposures in the regions of 1 to a few hours (with a DSLR you'll probably need a battery grip and plenty of spare batteries, as often a standard battery fully charged will last about 1.5 to 2 hours - also you will get "dark noise" or sensor noise the more you use it).
2. As duratorque said, old mechanical film cameras are good for this, however, with film your exposure times increase becasue of reciprocity failure.
3. Make sure that it's a new moon or a slim crescent moon as moonlight will wash out your skies on really long exposures. ( A full moon will allow you to take shots of around 30 second - 5/6 minutes, if you play around with the Iso and f-stops. This in itself can give very surreal effects).
4. Watch out for your lens fogging because of condensation, this tends to happen when it's eally cold and if there is any moisture in the air.
5. Watch out for lights from nearby roads shining into your lens.
6. Find the pole star so you know where the stars will rotate around in your composition.
7, wrap up warm, take a seat and lots of coffee!
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