joshy

Star trails - Waikawau Bay, New Zealand

Jan, 2016

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392

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+25

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Behind The Lens

Location

Coromandel, New Zealand

Time

It was taken between 11:30pm and 3:30am.

Lighting

It was a full moon out so I took the chance to experiment with star trails with the foreground lit by the full moon. The full moon as an awesome lighting affect.

Equipment

I used a Sony A6000 with a Rokinon 12mm 2.8 set on a cheap tripod.

Inspiration

I love astro photography and have a spot I want to do star trails with moon lighting to light up the waterfall in the foreground. I wanted to experiment with this while I had the chance to make sure it would work the way I wanted before I drove an hour to the other location and sit there for a few hours to get the star trail effect.

Editing

I did the usual post processing on the photo. Adjusted the contrast, white balance, etc. then synced those adjustment with all 420 photos in lightroom. From there I used an app called StarStax to stack all the photos together.

In my camera bag

Obviously I have my Sony A6000 with it's 16-55mm, 55-135mm, 50mm and the Rokinon 12mm. I also carry a tripod, intervalometer, two radial ND filters, three extra batteries, two bounce cards, and a variety of flashlights and small led lights for light painting when needed.

Feedback

Keep a close eye on your camera while taking these shots. If are not careful your camera can gather condensation depending on the conditions. Make sure you set up your shot the way you want it before starting the time lapse. There is nothing worse than waiting a couple hours to find you screwed up the shot. Your camera may have the ability to take timelapses and create a video, but I would recommend having it just take the time lapse as RAW files so you can fully process and stack them. You can always turn them into a video later. One last thing. Experient with the direction you point your camera for these shots. Different direction will have different effects such as pointing at the northern star will case a circular star trail effect.

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joshy

joshy

Star trails - Waikawau Bay, New Zealand

Behind The Lens

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