This was a proof in concept experiment for me on two fronts: 1. Can I successfully take star trails using the stacked image method? 2. Is it possible to take a star trail pic inside a major metro area like Chicago? Both questions were answered with a resounding yes, opening the doors to me to […]
California Dreaming
My first star trail from a mountain top. This was a treat to edit. A long exposure singe take does give you a lot of background light to play with, even in a very dark space – allowing me to nicely bring the salt flats and mountain range into exposure.
On A Dark Desert Highway
A single car cruised through my shot, streaking a break light video through my shot. I laid on the salt flats and looked up at the stars at some of the most beautiful stars I’ve ever seen. It’s so crystal clear in Death Valley, there’s absolutely the most minimal light pollution. Yet, even here – […]
Spinning Though The Trees
I waited till after moon set to open the shutter and capture these beauties spinning between the trees. I made two edits of this one, color and black and white. I probably prefer the color edit between the two.
Stormy Florida Nights
I came out to Big Pine Key in Florida to try and film the perseid meteor shower. I had a very short window of time to work in, as the meteor shower coincided with a waning gibbous moon. I tried to take a few star trails the day I arrived with the moon still up […]
Back To The Mojave
While at a work conference in Las Vegas, I landed the day before the conference started, grabbed a car, and gunned it on interstates and back roads to the Mojave Preserve in California. Time was of the essence and I had a new 10.5mm Prime lens to play with. I found a cool cross road […]
Polaris Under Fall Leaves
Cloud cover – the big bane of single exposure star trail photography – depreciated an already shaping up to be sub par star trail. I thought that framing the shot from the tree tops would be a good foreground. I was still a bit of a coward about straying away from the actual sky itself […]
Low F Stop Light
Sometimes a parking lot will do. I took this in a hotel parking lot in Douglas, Michigan on a weekend trip out of the city. This shot was my first star trail with my 50mm prime lens, which can go down to f1.8, letting more light in. I loved the deep star trails etched by […]
Lessons In Clouds
This was probably my least impressive star trail to date. I was at my sister-in-law’s house in Lansing, NY and I opened the shutter for the night and left it till morning. I knew the battery was low which is why the shutter was only open for 68 minutes. I obviously didn’t want the shutter […]
Green River Edits
This is a 45 minute star trail taken at Green River, IL. Green River is about a three hour drive from Chicago. It’s about the darkest skies I can get locally, so it’s where I was going in 2017 to practice my craft, The blur in these photos is the Milky Way stretching with the […]
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