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Star Trail at the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest in Califronia

This one picture is actually over 200 single 30 second exposures merged together in...
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Star Trail at the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest in Califronia

This one picture is actually over 200 single 30 second exposures merged together in Photoshop.
Shot at a crazy high ISO of 12800 by mistake, but I guess it got every little star to light up!
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upload_dateOct, 2014

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Awards

Contest Finalist in Right Down The Middle Photo Contest
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18 Comments |
jeffswanson
 
jeffswanson November 17, 2014
Love it.
stephenippolito
 
stephenippolito November 27, 2014
spectacular star trails!
AlanJakarta
 
AlanJakarta March 23, 2015
Brilliant time exposure. Congratulations on being a Runner-up.
sweetpea72
 
sweetpea72 June 02, 2015
Love this...Congrats! (:
OwenJFitzpatrick
 
OwenJFitzpatrick June 03, 2015
Magnificent. Congrats also.
KayBrewer Platinum
 
KayBrewer June 03, 2015
Congratulations, Jeff...Best Shot Finalist!
BrianaK
 
BrianaK August 07, 2015
Fantastic composition and lighting.
iamgabbymartinezzz
 
iamgabbymartinezzz February 16, 2016
this is extremely van gogh style, yet as photography. I absolutely love this! The texture is there, even if it is a 2d medium! its amazing
enzofinizolafoto
 
enzofinizolafoto February 18, 2016
Fantastico!
valc64
 
valc64 February 20, 2016
Awesome photo, great job!
kristinkokkila
 
kristinkokkila March 15, 2016
Amazing!! I need to learn to do this
kristinkokkila
 
kristinkokkila March 15, 2016
Amazing!! I need to learn to do this
onyanita PRO+
 
onyanita June 28, 2016
congrats on your latest Award....awesome achievement
KayBrewer Platinum
 
KayBrewer June 29, 2016
Congratulations! Finalist Right Down the Middle!
wantchevy1961
 
wantchevy1961 July 05, 2016
This is amazing! I have a question though. I'm old school I guess, where I do RAW photos in digital and film 98% of the time, so I was wondering , how do you get that affect in the sky? I've been seeing alot of this lately.
autumn99
autumn99 May 13, 2017
From my knowledge you layer the images which creates the clean circles
Svea_Knetzke
 
Svea_Knetzke July 17, 2017
This is absolutely one of my favorite star trail photos!
lainy
 
lainy November 20, 2017
Brilliant, I'm loving you're Photo. Well Done.
pjb1966
 
pjb1966 November 29, 2020
Beautiful.. I’ve never been able to do this perfectly myself

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Behind The Lens

Location

This photo was taken on an overnight camping trip in the Ancient Bristlecone forest in California. Lucky for me I met up with another photog who had a warm van while the hour long plus exposures were being made. Also lucky for me, that guy is now a good friend!

Time

We first started the night with shots of the sunset and then moon set near the entrance station of the park. After a few great hours of early night shooting I had to decide if I wanted to go to my nice warm sleeping bag in camp or to drive with my new friend about an hour on the cold bumpy dirt road to Patriarch Grove high atop the White Mountains of Inyo National Forest. Life is short, so I agreed to continue shooting deep into the night. It was about 2 am by the time we got to Patriarch Grove. It was very dark, and very cold. However, the long exposure time needed for the shot actually went by quickly as we talked photography and philosophy in his warm van. I didn't see my sleeping bag back in camp until way after sunrise. Funny side note, on the drive back, the sunrise was brilliant, but we were both way to spent to even think about trying to shoot it.

Lighting

There was no moon. There were no clouds. It was cold. Perfect conditions for photographing the Milky Way and star trails. I did splash the Bristlecone tree with a warm (not LED) flash light toward the end of the long exposure. My new friend told me to bump the ISO as high as I could, so I did. I am not sure this was needed, but man, I think I captured every star that was out that night.

Equipment

Nikon D810. Really Right Stuff tripod. Sigma 15mm fish eye lens. Nikon remote trigger. Zacuto magnifying eye piece to help focus on the stars in live view. Tape to lock in focus once obtained. Don't forget flashlight(s) for light painting and finding your way around in the dark. Warm clothes.

Inspiration

This only my second attempt at star trails. I have always been impressed with night photographs with stars in them, and wanted to give it shot. I have always been sad to have to stop shooting after the sunset, and having a few new skills can open up a whole new world of shooting. There is a learning curve for sure, but it's really not that difficult!

Editing

The free app star stacker worked like a dream. Can't believe is't free!

In my camera bag

Usually way to much! Nikon D810 with the the trilogy zooms. My favorite primes are the Zeiss 135 APO, Sigma 15 fish eye, and the Sigma 35 art. I usually do stuff that requires a tripod (HDR, night photography) and always bring my Really Right Stuff tripod with that wonderfully large RRS bh 55 ball head.

Feedback

My new friend and I meet up for the second time this summer to do more shooting like this. We planed for a time of year when there was no moon. Unfortunately, our much anticipated week was cloudy and raining. The whole week. We got some good sunset shots in Bodie State Park, but night star photography was out due to cloud coverage. So you need to be lucky and/or flexible when planning a night star trail photography trip.

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