• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • About
  • Baseball ’19
  • Day Zero 3
  • Earl
  • My list
  • Photo Blogging Challenge

A 'lil HooHaa

Messing with the blogging world since 2005

night photography

Learning star trails

August 5, 2011

Star trails above Fitch's Bridge in Delhi.

I’ve wanted to learn star trails for a long time.

Some of the ones I’ve seen on Flickr are simply amazing. With this week’s theme in The HooHaa 52 being stars, I thought it was the perfect time to challenge myself and go for it.

Earlier this week when coming home from a softball game, the skies were clear, dark and amazing. So I stopped at the top of Meridale Mountain and set up the tripod, hoping to see if I could figure something out. I stayed for a while, took a few shots and realized I vastly underrated how hard star trails are.

So, back to the drawing board.

Knowing the weather going into the weekend wasn’t being looked at as perfect for star trails, I aimed for Wednesday or Thursday, which would follow another softball game.

Wednesday got washed out.

Alas, despite clouds throughout the day Thursday, things cleared up to allow me a second go at these things Thursday.

I was more prepared this time as I went and researched star trails a bit more online and had an idea of what I did wrong the first time (exposure, lens setting, exposure time etc.)

Earlier in the week, my attempt was awful. With not setting my camera to “infinity,” I got nothing but a blur. And with only going for a short amount of tiI didn’t even get any blurred star trails!

Awful!

Back to figuring things out, I guess!

After looking at many star trails photos on Flickr and reading about techniques in other places, I realized a few things:

  • I needed something in the foreground to attempt to focus on.
  • I needed to set the camera at infinity.
  • For a single exposure, I was looking at a 20- to 30-minute exposure, at least.

Enter Fitch’s Bridge.

I’m a nut when it comes to photographing covered bridges. But I’ve wanted to come up with other ways of shooting them, so this was the perfect example. Fitch’s Bridge is outside the village of Delhi, so it would be dark, for the most part. I just needed to hope against cars and houses with flood lights (which killed my final of three shots of the bridge).

This was my first attempt:

First attempt

I like this, but I wanted to get more of the bridge. My second attempt is the one at the top of this post.I like that one because of the streaking car lights coming through the bridge.

I still need to get better focus on the foreground object, I think. And I need to find a place where I think I can get a good foreground object and a solid, dark backdrop for the stars. I have a few ideas that I plan on trying out.

Too, I need to be better prepared to light up the foreground object so I can focus. A large flashlight or floodlight so my camera can see the object would be best. Maybe even setting my car up to point at the object, get everything set, turn all the lights out and then let the image go.

I’ve seen some things about taking 100 or so images of 30-second exposures and stacking them. It sounds like a cool way to do this, but I wonder how it works considering if I tried a 30-second exposure, I get nothing but darkness. If anyone has any thoughts on this, I would appreciate it.

Star trails are wild, that’s for sure. It’s actually one of my Day Zero goals. But until I get an image that really wows me, I won’t check it off yet.

It’s a challenging image, that’s for sure. But I think, when done right, it’s totally worth the wait.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com.

Filed Under: My world, Photography Tagged With: covered bridge, covered bridge photography, delaware county, delaware county ny, delhi, delhi ny, fitch's bridge, long exposure, long exposure photography, night photography, photography, photos, star trails, stars

5 Comments

Primary Sidebar

Welcome

Welcome to A 'lil HooHaa!

This is a personal website covering many topics! We host a monthly photo blogging challenge, and then every January hold a fun writing challenge.

Thank you for stopping by and hope this becomes a stop for you!

Connect

  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Follow

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 876 other subscribers

Instagram

hoohaa29

Ok folks… barbershop experience is good times. H Ok folks… barbershop experience is good times. Hair, tend to the beard … you get it. In Oneonta, check out @studio11chris at @studio11barbersuite ! Tell him I sent you! 

#haircut #barber #beardtrim #barbershop #hair #beard #oldschool #studio11
On the tracks. #adventures #goldenretriever #dog On the tracks. 

#adventures #goldenretriever #dog #dogsofinstagram #railroad #geocaching
Who’s world? Harper’s world. Give her a foll Who’s world? 

Harper’s world. Give her a follow at: @harper_dublin. 

#goldenretriever #dogsofinstagram #happy #dog #iphonography #photography #love #iphoneonly
Harper protects that ball. #goldenretriever #dog Harper protects that ball. 

#goldenretriever #dogsofinstagram #dog #happy #life #fun #chuckit @chuckitfetchgames
The normal look after ice cream. #goldenretrieve The normal look after ice cream. 

#goldenretriever #dog #dogsofinstagram #tongue #icecream #pet #fun #iphonography #photography
Where do you wish you could be? Winning the lotto Where do you wish you could be? Winning the lotto would allow me to live near the beach … would love to be back there now!

#beach #sand #sun #goldenretriever #outside #dogsofinstagram #dog #love #iphonography #picoftheday
A sunrise before we leave this morning. Until next A sunrise before we leave this morning. Until next time … 

#sunrise #nature #water #ocean #love #photography #photooftheday #avalon #goldenretriever #dogsofinstagram #iphonography
Beach therapy. #beach #water #sun #bonding #gold Beach therapy. 

#beach #water #sun #bonding #goldenretriever #golden #photo #photography #photooftheday #iphonography #iphoneonly
I’ve really been enjoying #HipstamaticX and tryi I’ve really been enjoying #HipstamaticX and trying different setups. The pinholes ones have been fun. 

#photography #photo #photooftheday #iphonography #iphoneonly #nature #flowers #tulips #color #pinhole #pinholephotography
Saturday was Harper’s birthday. Not sure what li Saturday was Harper’s birthday. Not sure what life would be like without her!
Last Saturday was the first mow of the year. Last Saturday was the first mow of the year.
Got the ball! #goldenretriever #dogsofinstagram Got the ball! 

#goldenretriever #dogsofinstagram #dog #mydogharper #photography #iphonography #photooftheday #chuckit @chuckitfetchgames
She was so still for this photo. Make sure you f She was so still for this photo. 

Make sure you follow her on Instagram at: @harper_dublin !

#goldenretriever #dogsofinstagram #dog #goldenretrieversofinstagram #harper_dublin #akc #photography #photooftheday #love #mydogharper #harperdublin #instagood #happy #picoftheday #fun
Life is good. #goldenretriever #dog #bestfriend Life is good. 

#goldenretriever #dog #bestfriend #dogsofinstagram #selfie #lifeisgood #enjoylife #instagood #iphonephotography #photography
After a nice snowy walk! ❄️❄️❄️ #gold After a nice snowy walk! ❄️❄️❄️

#goldenretriever #snow #winter #dog #dogsofinstagram #photography #photooftheday #ınstagood
Harper is counting down to Santa Paws! You know, Harper is counting down to Santa Paws! 

You know, of course, Santa Paws travels with Santa Clause, making sure to find treats and toys for all the good little doggies! (We know they are all deserving, right?) So, Harper put out some milk for the big guy, carrots for Rudolph and the reindeer, and special cookies for Santa Paws! She is ready! 

#SantaPaws #Christmas2022 #HarperChristmas #MyDogHarper #GoldenRetriever #DogsofInstagram #PhotoOfTheDay #Photography #Christmas #IPhoneography
One of the best parts about having Harper as my be One of the best parts about having Harper as my best friend… ❤️
Couldn't resist stopping on the way to work to sna Couldn't resist stopping on the way to work to snap this shot. The colors in the sky were fantastic and the scene was nice looking (though, to be fair, I drove by what I think would have been a better scene -- the valley and hills full of snow etc.)

#Snow #Winter #Sky #Color #InstaLove #photooftheday #picoftheday #iPhoneography #nature #love #instalove #photography #happy #smile #photo
The best of times??? 🤪🤪🤪 The best of times??? 🤪🤪🤪
Just a break on our morning walk … #goldenretri Just a break on our morning walk …

#goldenretriever #dogsofinstagram #mydogharper
Load More Follow on Instagram

YouTube

P.J. Harmer

P.J. Harmer
A video looking at my first year and a half of owning a golden retriever, my first dog. It's had its ups and downs, but I've truly loved the ride and look forward to the future. 

Music: Happy before we get old by Michael Shynes via Artlist. 

► My blog: http://www.hoohaa.com
► Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hoohaa29/
► Follow Harper on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/harper_dublin/
► Like on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HooHaaBlog

Thank you for watching. :)
When these boxes come, there usually some excitement. But this one ... is the ultimate unboxing! 

#cielovideo52 #52weekchallenge #week5 #weeklychallenge

Music: Happy to be Happy (Dapun)

► My blog: http://www.hoohaa.com
► Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hoohaa29/
► Follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/softball29
► Like on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HooHaaBlog
I hate being in front of the camera, but also realize sometimes it's not the worst thing in the world. So, I'm getting better with it. Week 4's theme was all about us and having us in front of the camera, so I tried to come up with a creative way to do it. 

#cielovideo52 #52weekchallenge #week4 #weeklychallenge

Music: Infinite Wonder (Ben Fox)

► My blog: http://www.hoohaa.com
► Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hoohaa29/
► Follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/softball29
► Like on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HooHaaBlog
Load More... Subscribe

Archives

Categories

Calendar

June 2023
S M T W T F S
 123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
252627282930  
« May    

Search The Site

Site Information

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

A 'lil HooHaa © 2023 · Created By Coded Creative

Copyright © 2023 · Ava Mae on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in