| I love taking star trail pictures, and they are easy. The hardest part is getting up in the middle of the night, but that's usually taken care of by a call of nature. One mounts the camera on the tripod, sets the lens to about f/4 or so (for ISO 100 film), and uses the bulb setting with a locking cable release to keep the shutter open for as many minutes as one likes -- the longer the time, the longer the star trails. I took this picture at Lower Canyon Creek Lake in California's Trinity Alps, located in the northwestern part of the state. The moon was out, so the foreground rocks were illuminated instead of being stark black silhouettes. Composition is as important in star trail photography as in any other photography, so I walked around until I found a pleasing juxtaposition of this boulder and the tree. I used a wide angle 24 mm lens to take in the entire tree and as much of the sky as possible. The extra depth of field afforded by a wide angle lens helped to keep the important elements of the photograph in focus. |
Timothy Edberg / 6511 Homestake Dr. South / Bowie, MD
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(301) 809-5857 / 1-877-471-6414 (toll-free)
www.edbergphoto.com