![]() Plan to get to your shooting location right around civil twilight. All you need is a camera, wide lens (somewhere between 16mm and 24mm works well), plenty of memory card space, a full battery, a tripod, and most importantly, a way to lock down the shutter on your camera. Shooting Star Trail Imagesįirst, the gear. Learning to put together a good star trail image will teach you many of the skills you need to progress with your astrophotography. If you’ve never shot one, that’s a great place to start. I would use the widest aperture of f/1.4, so that wouldn’t change either.Let’s start with how to photograph a star trail. Since I brought a prime lens, the zoom of 24mm was fixed so that would not change. I would have to refine the ISO and shutter speed when I started to shoot. I even pre-dialed all the camera settings so I’d be ready to shoot anytime.Įvery situation was different. In addition, I packed my scarf and gloves, as it would be cold. (see my video tutorial of “ what’s in my camera bag”). Other than a camera, a lens, and a tripod, I also packed a headlight, some velcro (to secure the camera strap in high wind, if necessary), which were my default accessories for any landscape shooting. My goal was to be quick, so I had to choose the fastest lens. All my Canon lenses are zoom lenses at f/2.8, which meant if all else equal, they would take longer shutter speed. I packed up my Sony A7III and a Sony 24mm f1.4 lens in my camera bag, and left my Canon EOS R5 and all the Canon lenses at home. I could still see other parts (narrower parts) of the Milky Way in the sky, but around midnight, the Galactic Center wouldn’t be above the horizon. Unfortunately, Galactic Center was nearly invisible during this time of the year. It was such a rare opportunity to get a clear sky, so why didn’t I maximize my chance to photograph one more of my favorite night subjects? I also checked my favorite photography app Photopills and found out more about the visibility of the Galactic Center of the Milky Way. ![]() The latter would have been much more challenging in the darkness.Īccording to “Tides Near Me”, an app I often use to find out tide info, there would be low tide around midnight. I realized I had to pick a time during low tide at night, so I could set up my tripod on the beach rather than the logs. It was during high tide when we visited, and the beach was underwater. There was no light pollution (except a minor one which I’ll mention later), something basic in order to see and photograph northern light, or any starry sky. It was near my final pick but not exactly the same location near the US-Canada water border. The above was one of the pictures I took during our recon. At least, I didn’t leave the site because of fear, but the weather. I had only about 15 minutes opportunity and wrapped up quickly. So I had a combination of fear and excitement when I stood in complete darkness. There were two loose cougars in the forest, as reported by my next door neighbor. ![]() I still remember that day when I went out around midnight by myself. No stars were visible afterwards, not to say the light. The clouds moved in quickly and completely blanketed the sky. Fortunately, my camera did detect the light between the clouds, but it didn’t last long. I wasn’t sure what I’d photograph but blindly clicked my camera. I simply pointed my camera to the north (It is fundamental direction in northern hemisphere unless you are north to the aurora belt in the Arctic Circle). ![]() Unfortunately, it fell on a cloudy and rainy weekend (see above image). The first show since we moved to Washington (see our 2020 - A Year In Review) took place last December. As a matter of fact, this is not the first time we encounter high northern light activity in the area (or the northern part of the US). ![]()
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