Rodney Campbell's Blog

Falling Reign

NIKON Z 7 + NIKKOR Z 85mm f/1.8 S @ 85 mm, 10 sec at f/1.8, ISO 400 x 793 Frames

I’d woken early in the morning (3AM). My camera was still setup but the battery had expired even earlier (around 2AM). Since I was already up I figured I’d just change the battery and start another trails sequence. The sky was still dark and there were no clouds. Why not do two star trails sequences in one easy night

I knew this sequence was going to be shorter (it was already after 3AM and twilight would start soon after 5AM). I figured for this set I’d actually optimise for stars rather than optimise for less shots to process like I did for the previous trails

So with that in mind the aim was to shorten the exposures, shoot wide open and bump the ISO. All with the aim of capturing the most stars as possible (given the light pollution)

So instead of shooting 25 seconds @ f/2 ISO 64 – I’m shooting these at 10 seconds @ f/1.8 and ISO 400. The overall exposure is higher (by between 1-2 stops) but the shorter exposure time should hopefully limit the background bleed

So a whopping 793 frames (2 hours and 15 mins) later we have this result. I kept the later frames which give the pink glow from pre sunrise in the sky. This is my personal favourite of the three star trails over the two nights. The ambient sky is brighter but there’s also way more visible trails than in the previous two shots

I didn’t actually check the spot stars settings for this focal length/aperture/sensor pitch combination at the time. Hey it was 3AM and I was basically half asleep :). But I figured 10 seconds would be enough

Checking now the 500 rule gives about 6 seconds. The NPF rule (which I prefer) actually says 2.3 secs. So I could probably have gotten away with 5 or 6 seconds and still have visible trails in the exposures. That would probably have been the “optimal” exposure time for the best contrasty trails. To keep the background ambient sky as dark as possible. I would however had ended up with nearly 1600 shots (which would probably have exceeded my memory card) :). It would also have been about 1300 frames more than my friend Gerry would have tolerated for a shoot 🙂

Note: These photographs (especially the wider shots) look much better when larger. To see larger versions in an inline overlay slideshow gallery viewer click any of the images.

Don't forget to Share...

Google

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin

Pinterest

Email

Print