Helicopter Star Trails
During the forest fire season, I work as part of a Helitack Crew in Alberta that is utilized in fire suppression operations. These helicopters are contracted t...
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During the forest fire season, I work as part of a Helitack Crew in Alberta that is utilized in fire suppression operations. These helicopters are contracted to assist fire suppression. This photo was taken during a full moon so the normally dark foreground was wonderfully lit.
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Sep, 2013Views
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Summer 2020
Contest Finalist in Into The Night Photo Contest
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theMiniMen
February 28, 2015
WOW I was messing around with star trails the other night on my Canon 70D but due to me not being a pro and the Light Pollution of London the results were not great. What lens, cam, settings did you use here please.
Amazing work, thank you
Amazing work, thank you
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Behind The Lens
Location
I took this photo at the Fox Creek Fire Base in Alberta where I spend my summers as a Wildland Fire Fighter.Time
This photo is a composite of a sequence of photos taken over a 45 minute period around midnight.Lighting
The near full moon as well as a bright white yard light provided excellent subject foreground and mid ground illumination.Equipment
Canon 5d Mark II + Canon 17-40 f/4L Lens at 17mm + Vangaurd Alta Pro 263AT Tripod with SBH-100 BallheadInspiration
I've always enjoyed shooting long exposure night photography and am fascinated how the camera can create dramatically different images than what our eyes see. I composed the image with Polaris, the North Star in a position so that the star trails that rotate around it would give an illusion of motion to the stationary blades. This was actually my first attempt at a star trails shot and I think it was equal parts planning and luck that combined to make this a successful image.Editing
This image is actually a composite of 90 30-second exposures taken consecutively and then loaded into a stack in photoshop and blended each of the images using the lighten feature which only combines the brightest parts of two images (the star trails) and then merged into one photo. I prefer the stacking method over one single long exposure because it cuts down on noise introduced in longer exposures and if an outside source of light (i.e. headlights from a car) interrupt the image then I still have something to work with instead of the whole shot being ruined.In my camera bag
I usually carry both a full frame camera (Currently Sony A7R with Metabones IV Canon to Sony E-mount converter) for landscape and portraits and a crop sensor camera (Canon 7D) for longer reach and better autofocus for wildlife. My Lenses that I frequently use are- Canon 24-105mm f/4 L, Canon 17-40mm f/4 L, Canon 70-200 F/4 L, Canon 400 f/5.6 L, Samyang 14mm f/2.8, and Sigma 50 mm f/1.4 Art. I also ALWAYS have a tripod, either my larger Vangaurd Alta Pro 263AT for great stability and interesting perspectives or my smaller Sirui T-1205X for lightweight stability on long hiking trips.Feedback
First and foremost, a tripod is necessary for long exposure shots. The lighting is also key. If I had tried to take this picture a couple weeks before or after when there was not a full moon the image would not have been nearly as successful. To stack images and create a composite image in the method I used, some kind of intervalometer is necessary, whether it is built in or external, to take seamless shots that you can later blend together in photoshop. I learned the process of creating a composite star trail image through an online tutorial and all it takes is a simple internet search to bring up a wealth of information on how to make an image such as this.
