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Friday, September 13, 2013

Star Trails & the Milky Way

A few months ago, I was blessed to be able to meet up with a photographer I knew from Instagram who offered to give a free workshop on Star Trails. Of course, I jumped at the chance and Michael drove me up to Noosa for the workshop.

We arrived an hour before sunset to walk to Teatree Bay & set up so we could begin shooting about an hour after sunset. It's important to do star trails on a night with no moon and away from city lights.

Firstly shooting towards the north east, I shot a series of 79 consecutive 30 second exposures. Shooting in this directing gives you a semi circular rain effect.
I did minor editing in Lightroom 4 on each image and then stacked them using a free program called Star Stax.

Look below the headland... the iridescent blue glow on the water is Bio-luminescent Plankton.

Next I shot south (60 x 30 sec exposures) which results in a circular star trail effect. I even managed to capture a couple of shooting stars. Can you spot them??

Next, and just before we left, I took a "Milky Way" shot. A single 15 second exposure facing south.

It was a great night!!

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Skywatch Friday          

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13 comments:

  1. AnonymousSeptember 13, 2013 at 2:43 AM

    dat is wel heel mooi gedaan,heel leuk.

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  2. Buttons ThoughtsSeptember 13, 2013 at 3:13 AM

    Oh that had to be an incredible night. Beautiful is all I can say. We are blessed to live in a very dark area so the stars shine bright. You have peaked my interest now:) Awesome. hug B

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  3. TexWisGirlSeptember 13, 2013 at 6:18 AM

    really wonderful, liz!

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  4. eileeninmdSeptember 13, 2013 at 7:24 AM

    Amazing sky captures! The stars and I love the Milky Way shot! Have a great weekend!

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  5. leanne can blogSeptember 13, 2013 at 8:55 AM

    these are beautiful!

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  6. Lisa GordonSeptember 13, 2013 at 10:47 AM

    Oh my goodness, these are amazingly beautiful, Liz!

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  7. Carole M.September 13, 2013 at 1:44 PM

    now that was some gift, and your prize when you got to see them on your monitor like this must've been amazing. I'm not sure I wouldn've slept that night! Does the actual 'stacking' of the images take long? Excellent results Liz

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  8. Grandma Barb's This and ThatSeptember 13, 2013 at 2:45 PM

    Those are incredible photos of the stars and the milky way!

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  9. Joop ZandSeptember 13, 2013 at 5:49 PM

    WOW.....these are all very nice Liz....compliments.

    Greetings, Joop

    http://joopzandfotografie.blogspot.nl

    ReplyDelete
  10. Amazing wonders in my lifeSeptember 13, 2013 at 6:35 PM

    Wow.... Never seen like this before...

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  11. Karen @ Pieces of ContentmentSeptember 14, 2013 at 6:56 AM

    Wow, each of these is stunning! What an amazing experience and result.

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  12. Graham EdwardsSeptember 14, 2013 at 7:36 PM

    Very impressive. I've tried some star shots in NZ but never tried sequencing shots. Having seen your results I may give it a go this summer when I'm back.

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  13. Pat TillettSeptember 23, 2013 at 10:03 AM

    BEAUTIFUL! I need to get myself a tripod and experiment. I'd love to get shots like this.

    ReplyDelete

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