#STARTRAIL TIMELAPSE TUTORIAL MOVIE#
#STARTRAIL TIMELAPSE TUTORIAL SOFTWARE#

Not necessarily needed if your camera has one built in, but I still prefer to have a remote. This is probably the one thing you don't have, but they can be found cheap on the web. A cable intervalometer - used to set the exposure length and interval of the images. It needs to be able to keep the camera perfectly still for long periods of time. There are just a few things you need to get started with shooting star trails and time lapse, most of which you probably have sitting around at home: A DSLR Camera A Stable Tripod for your camera to sit on.

#STARTRAIL TIMELAPSE TUTORIAL MOVIE#

Instead of stacking the images one atop each other, as seen in the making of star trails, the images are displayed one after another to make a movie of the stars moving. This method is also the general idea behind the creation of astro time lapses.

#STARTRAIL TIMELAPSE TUTORIAL SOFTWARE#

The best method with digital is the take a series of short (~20-30 seconds) exposures then stack them in specialized software to make the arcs. When the shutter is left open for a long time on digital cameras all kinds of thermal noise, exposure issues, etc.

Back in the film ages the method for making these images was to open the shutter and let it go for hours, but that method doesn't work too well with digital cameras. Star trail images show the motion of the stars over a long period of time, making beautiful arcs. I've had a few people ask for a tutorial on how I do my star trail and time lapse, so here it is. These real-world examples, shot in desert-dark skies by Tanja Schmitz, are set alongside simulations of the time and calculations of how many degrees in the sky the stars will move, courtesy of the PhotoPills app.Two of my favorite hobbies are photography and astronomy, and it only gets better when the two are combined. So I’ve prepared some examples for you to help determine how long you need to plan your star trails shoots for to get the result you want! Some real-world star trail length examples However, rules, as I’ve said before, are meant to be broken in astrophotography. The general rule of thumb we go by is never shorter than 2 hours at the absolute minimum, and always as long as we can stand it. So, is there a magic number of time for the ultimate star trail image? Yes…and no, it depends.

This is a pretty good procedure to follow when trying to decide how long your star trail shoots should be.

I’m an engineer by day, and one thing I’ve learned over the years is when someone asks you for an estimate, take your first guess, double it, and add 20%. Or, do you want long, sweeping, slightly arcing or nearly straight lines, which is what happens at 90 degrees away from the poles in the east and west? And, how long do you want your star trail lines to be? Short, long, or mega-long? North or south and how high? Depends on your latitude. Are you wanting to shoot circumpolar trails (those cool concentric circles)? Then you need to know where the celestial poles are for your location on the planet. You also need to familiarize yourself with your sky. Luckily, that also makes it easy to do the math! Shoot to the 30-second limit of your camera’s exposure timer. You should have a much better idea of what to expect from your star trails by the end of this article, and you should be able to decide how long your imaging sessions really need to be to get the results you want! Things to think aboutįirst thing - throw out everything you learned about exposing for perfect stars with the rule of 500 (which is meant to be broken anyway). When someone asks you for an estimate, take your first guess, double it, and add 20%Most beginners get excited at any length of successful shoot when they first try to photograph star trails, but I’d like to make that first time out be even better, save you some time, and explain a little about how star trails really work.

Startrail timelapse tutorial