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Archive 2006 · 203: star trails

nlamendo

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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · 203: star trails

I was lucky enough to capture an Iridium flare while taking the exposures to assemble this star trail shot. Taken this evening, it is the equivalent of a 61 minutes of exposure.

Just posted shorter assembled exposure of 50 minutes. The sky was noticably brighter in the first 10 minutes, so I removed them. I also resized in several steps as suggested. I think it looks better. What do you Think? I think I also spotted a second Iridium flare just above the trees on the lower right. Talk about being lucky

Thanks for looking,
Nick L


	http://members.localnet.com/~nickl/Star_trail_050306_41sm.jpg

Edited by nlamendo on May 04, 2006 at 10:22 PM GMT (Reason: image processing improvements)

Edited by nlamendo on May 04, 2006 at 10:24 PM GMT

Edited by nlamendo on May 04, 2006 at 10:26 PM GMT (Reason: bad url)

May 03, 2006 at 11:19 PM

anselwannab 2-time assignment winner

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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · 203: star trails

Iridium flare, as in the element or the satellites?

Did you paste layers to get the "61 Minutes"

Bulls-eye, I think it is a great pic.

Mark

May 03, 2006 at 11:48 PM

nlamendo

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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · 203: star trails

Hi Mark,
Thanks for the comments. Yes, the satelite reflects sunlight off its solar panels, which we see as a flare. Sixty one 1 minute exposures were stacked in photo shop using lighten layering.
Thanks
Nick

May 04, 2006 at 04:40 AM

ironabike

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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · 203: star trails

WOW. Fantastic work, Nick. Congrats.
Jane

May 04, 2006 at 06:31 AM

cogitech

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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · 203: star trails

Nice work!

Please do not take this the wrong way, and this criticism is not of the image itself, but I think you may need to revisit your resizing method. The "jaggies" created by the resizing significantly reduce the "quality" of the image.

I'm only saying this because I think it is a terrific photo and I'd like it to be shown at its best.

Cheers,

May 04, 2006 at 08:52 AM

canandaigua ph 1-time assignment winner

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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · 203: star trails

Fantastic astrophotography Nick.........you're letting out your area of expertise here, I believe. The resulting exposure is perfect, and the static trees compliment the star movement.....not to mention the iridium flare.

contrary to Paul.....I do not see the 'jaggies' he mentioned.

GREAT take on the long exposure idea......this is on the extreme end of long exposure and done well!
Kudos!

Peter

May 04, 2006 at 09:47 AM

Photon
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · 203: star trails

Nice one, Nick! I do see the jagged, rope-like texture of the trails. It's tough to avoid that in a downsize to 640 pixels, but it might be feasible to smooth the effect by doing the downsize in stages, and avoiding any sharpening until the final step.
Nice colors.

May 04, 2006 at 01:33 PM

gnuhaus
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · 203: star trails

As the webmaster for the National Observatory, I like this image! Star trails are cool because you can see the colors of the stars. Our eyes tend to take in all the photons and make almost all stars look about the same color. When you "spread them out," like in this image, you can really see the differences.

And how cool to catch the iridium flare!

Well done!

May 04, 2006 at 02:34 PM

cogitech

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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · 203: star trails

Photon wrote:
Nice one, Nick! I do see the jagged, rope-like texture of the trails. It's tough to avoid that in a downsize to 640 pixels, but it might be feasible to smooth the effect by doing the downsize in stages, and avoiding any sharpening until the final step.
Nice colors.

Fred's resize plugins do a nice job....

May 04, 2006 at 03:54 PM

nlamendo

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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · 203: star trails

Thanks Jane, I appreciate the comments.
-Nick

May 04, 2006 at 09:33 PM

nlamendo

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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · 203: star trails

Hi Paul,

Thanks for the comments.
-Nick

Edited by nlamendo on May 04, 2006 at 09:48 PM GMT

May 04, 2006 at 09:35 PM

nlamendo

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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · 203: star trails

Hello Peter,

Thanks for your comments. This was the perfect WA for testing the intervalometer I made for my D70. I rushed to get the images, and stayed up late to assemble them, so that no one else would beat me to it. There was a first quarter moon in the sky that brigthened the sky but this technique keeps the sky as light as the lightest image. I noticed the sky getting much darker after the first 10 minutes of exposures. Think I'll assemble a shorter exposure to make the sky a liitle darker. Also will give the resize plugin a try, if I can figure it out.

Thanks
Nick

May 04, 2006 at 09:44 PM

nlamendo

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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · 203: star trails

Hi Jess,

Thanks for the comments, I'll see what I can do.

-Nick

May 04, 2006 at 09:57 PM

nlamendo

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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · 203: star trails

Hi Mark,

Star trails are one of my favorite astro shots because they are simple to create and show a lot about our planet's motion and the colors of stars. Glad you like the image.
Thanks
-Nick

May 04, 2006 at 10:01 PM

anselwannab 2-time assignment winner

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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · 203: star trails

Is the jagged thing a monitor/hardware issue? Did you edit the pic since this aftenoon. On my work laptop I didn't see the aircraft trails that are perpendicular to the Iridium flare, but on my home screen I can.

Just a thought.

May 04, 2006 at 10:32 PM

nlamendo

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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · 203: star trails

Hello,
No I don't think it is a monitor thing, I just finished editing the picture tonight. Actually I removed the first 10 minutes of images, the sky was brighter during these shots. The lighten layering means the background will always stay as light as the lightest image. Removing the first light background shots lets more details show. I also used smooth resampling when I resized the image in several steps. I haven't figured out how to keep those darn airplanes from flying over my camera, so in 50 minutes worth of images there are usually several to be seen

Thanks
Nick

May 04, 2006 at 10:56 PM

bouchto
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p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · 203: star trails

Great shot, I would like to try that on a full battery charge

Tom

May 06, 2006 at 08:05 AM

nlamendo

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p.1 #18 · p.1 #18 · 203: star trails

Hi Tom,
Thanks for the comments. Yes, a full battery is required for even a short duration like this shot. For even longer exposures, and AC adapter or external battery supply is necessary. This is something I don't have yet or else I'd have tried for a longer exposure.
-Nick

May 06, 2006 at 08:26 AM

albireo
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p.1 #19 · p.1 #19 · 203: star trails

I've taken tons of shots of satellites but never took the time to get an Iridium flare. Good exposure timing - great length of star trails.
Excellent!
Joe

May 06, 2006 at 11:37 AM

ziggy
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p.1 #20 · p.1 #20 · 203: star trails

Nick,

Great execution on all aspects.

Mind sharing what lens you used and your ISO/apperture settings?

Also, I see more horizontal trails -- over on the left just below the middle there are two trails with some separation. Something else I noticed, if you go to the center of the star trail, then look about a 1/4 inch to the right, you will see a diagonal dotted line (going from upper left to lower right - it passes through about half of the star trail)... anyone else seeing what I am seeing? Is the dotted line part of the post processing?

May 06, 2006 at 01:52 PM

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