[Zekester]

I was looking for a thread to post my latest Star Trail photo, but there wasn't a dedicated thread - so I made one! Post your Star related photos here - Star Trails, the Milky Way, Astrophotography, whatever...

Rattlesnake Mountain Star Whirl

[Wazzu_camper]

I've done plenty startrails over the years, but this is likely my fav.

Half Dome shot from North Dome.

[Bedivere]

I have yet to get a good star trails shot. Something always screws them up. I have a few regular star shots I like, these two being my favorites:

[Zekester]

[Bedivere]

Thank you Zekester!

[blastoh]

from sahale

A sky full of stars over the North Cascades. The yellow glow on the right is actually light polution from Everette/Seattle over 75 miles away in a straight line.

also of sahale with the Andromeda Galaxy

Sahale Peak above the Sahale Glacier. Above that, on the upper right hand corner, is the Andromeda Galaxy.

[Jim Dockery]

Capturing better stars is one of my highest priority goals in photography, but I haven't had a lot of success. I've seen a few streak shots I've liked, but much prefer the more realistic look of sharp stars which requires high quality sensor (good high ISO) and a fast lens, and or an Astrotrac. Here are a few of my best efforts, they look fine reduced size on the web, but wouldn't make good prints:

My favorite so far - Rainier (with climber's headlamp streaks) reflected in Tipsoo Lk.

North face of Rainier

Shi Shi

Here is one of the best star shots (using an Astrotrac) I've recently found that shows what I aspire to:

Bryce Canyon by Steve Perry

Steve has masterfully captured a beautiful foreground element that perfectly complements the stars and gives a fantastic sense of place.

[Zekester]

I've read that star trails are a kind of "gateway drug" to night landscape photography...and I can see what they were talking about! I've only done a couple of star trails - that one up top being the most interesting so far - and now I'm itching to get out to do some more. Too bad it's probably the worst time of the year for clear skies.... Now all I need a better DSLR, and a faster lens, and a lighter tripod, and..... I did find this blog which was packed full of good tips on star related photography: Star Circle Academy They even have some webinars that look pretty interesting, too.

[blastoh]

[Zekester]

I thought the Nakashima barn outside of Arlington would make an interesting foreground. Unfortunately, the barn was much closer to the road than I had hoped and forced me to really crop my composition to avoid the lights from Hwy 9. I'm pretty happy with the results though:

Nakashima Barn Star Trail

[Schroder]

My camera just won't do it.

[gb]

[Jim Dockery]

You're right gb, go to the astrotrac thread I posted last week to read Steve's description of how he made this picture.

[Zekester]

[gb]

No, I agree. It is a really cool image. I guess what is real in photography is up to the artist's discretion. For myself, though, I tend to like images that look real, without noticeable flash fill or visible split filters, etc. But, I do admit to using split filters occasionally; but never more than one or two stop splits, sometimes stacked and offset so they are less visible. Still, my best star streak image is a three hour job silhouetting an ancient bristlecone. And that is not what I saw either. So, there you go...