Desolate Startrails
Desolation Wilderness, Ca.
One of the great things about being in the high Sierra is the darkness. This was shot from my camp in Desolation Valley. With the sound of a waterfall to keep me company I sat in the darkness for 45 minutes shooting this.
This is a composite of 80 thirty second exposures. I stacked the shots together using this easy to use and free program called Startrails. You can download it here: www.startrails.de/html/software.html
Typically to get this effect I will take at least 30 minutes worth of exposures (30 - 2 minutes is a good length) and then one exposure for a foreground if I want to light paint or something then one exposure with the lens cap on (for averaging the blackness in the program). All of that is with the same settings. Then I throw it into the program and viola - a few seconds later I have this!
The great thing about stacking star shots is no noise. The bad thing (if you consider it bad) is you have to sit there and press the shutter every 30 seconds (or however long you choose your exposures). But when you get to lay back and watch shooting stars it's an easy payoff.
Just a little side note - it's always fascinating to see the different colors in each star. When you look at the night sky with the naked eye all the stars look white.
Details:
Body: 5D Mark II
Lens: 16-35L 2.8
Tri pod
Eighty thirty second exposures, ISO 1000, F4.
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