I have been wanting to attempt the technique of star trails for a long time now and always seemed to find an excuse to not stand out in the cold at stupid-o-clock in a field for 3 hours. Last nights sky went from being very overcast to incredibly clear in the matter of an hour so I grabbed my mate Darryl straight after work and headed out to an area we had checked out the week before.
Star trails above Perth
Darryl shoots with an old 35mm Olympus OM10 (brilliant piece of kit) and I was out with the D200. He borrowed my old tripod with one wonky leg but it still works a treat.
We were both using BULB mode in order to keep the shutter open as long as we wanted and used my watch to keep tabs on the length of the exposures. The major benefit of Darryl’s camera is that it doesn’t need battery power to operate, and after an hour my 1st battery had died on me.
The hardest part of this whole affair is composing a shot in complete darkness so it’s best to let your eyes adjust to your surroundings before starting.
For me the most surprising factor was how little noise my camera gave off considering the lack of light and the length of time the shutter was open. This almost makes up for how crap the D200 is at Infrared shots (grrrr @ Nikon).
Camera settings (pic on right):
ISO: 100
Aperture: F11
Shutter: 15mins
Manual focus
There is a great guide to taking these shot at THIS WEBSITE.
We will be going out again when we get the opportunity with a better foreground setting – watch this space!
