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Photographers all have their favourite photo-editing suite, but it’s hard to beat Adobe Photoshop (paid) for night-sky images.

Startrail make movie starstax software#

Software for producing star trailsįew of us want to spend hours editing photos, but it’s crucial for producing a good, clean image. To avoid any camera shake, which can easily ruin a star trail, use a remote shutter release cable, which attaches to the side of your camera.Ī remotely operated intervalometer will make your camera completely autonomous, which makes our final accessories essential: a blanket, a chair and a like-minded friend to keep you company. For settings and techniques, read our DSLR guide.Ī torch is also handy for ‘light painting’, though the old fashioned incandescent bulbs are better than LED models, which create a very cool light.

Startrail make movie starstax how to#

Keep yours in pristine condition with our guide on how to clean a DSLR camera.

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Star trails Adam Jeffers, Cookstown, Northern Ireland, August 2020 Equipment: Nikon D800E DSLR, Nikon 28–80mm lens, static tripod Equipment for star trail photosĪ planetarium or other stargazing app is useful if you’re not confident in finding Polaris (or the celestial south pole if you’re near to or beyond the equator).įor the star trail photograph you’ll need a DSLR (a full frame model is best, but a crop-sensor works fine) on a tripod, ideally with a wide-angle lens. You can then either use them or discard them when you come to stack your images, thus creating a few different versions of your final shot. Once you have finished capturing your star trail images, consider taking a couple more using one-second bursts of torchlight on your subject to create different lighting effects. Tungsten white balance can help reduce the effects of any light pollution.

Startrail make movie starstax manual#

Set the lens to manual focus, then either pre-focus it to infinity (some cameras have a ∞ symbol on the lens), or shine a torch on something 20m or so away and focus on it using autofocus (then switch back to manual).

“That way you can use Photoshop to reduce the noise and any light pollution.” “Always shoot in RAW format,” says Simon. Use a tripod, a wide-angle lens on the lowest aperture setting possible, and shoot at around IS0 800 to avoid too much noise. If you’re shooting multiple 30-second images to stack later – which you should if you’re using a digital camera – then the settings are the same as for any night-sky shot. Credit: Peter Longden How to shoot star trails Peter used a Canon EOS 5D Mark IV DSLR camera and 24mm lens. Peter Longden captured these star trails around Polaris from Buckinghamshire in the UK. Moonlight causes a bluish night sky, but it can illuminate the foreground nicely – it all depends on your shot.įor weekly Moon phases delivered directly to your email inbox, sign up to the BBC Sky at Night Magazine e-newsletter. However, while a bright Moon does wash out a lot of stars, it’s perfectly possible to capture good-looking star trails even near the full phase. A lot of astro imagers have three weeks off every month and only venture outside during the week of a new Moon, when the slim lunar crescent rises late and sets early. Just as important as avoiding light pollution is the position of the Moon. Remember to follow current travel restrictions wherever you are, and stay safe at all times. Take a compass with you in daylight and you can plan your shot before it even gets dark. If you're shooting under a southern hemisphere sky, point south at the Southern Cross (from March to September) or near bright stars Achernar or Canopus (from October to February).

For more on this, read our guide on how to find the North Star. If you want to capture the classic ‘rotating sky’ effect like in the image above, in the northern hemisphere you will have to shoot north at Polaris. Equipment: Canon EOS 6D DSLR, Samyang 14mm lens This type of star trail images is creating by focusing on Polaris to show the stars rotating about the North Star. Sycamore Gap Tree star trails, by Kevin Stewart, Northumberland, 20 September 2019.