1. Photographing Star Trails
By James T Stover

2. Photographing Star Trails
In the days of film and manual cameras, you could make long exposures using the bulb setting. Digital cameras produce too much noise and are usually limited to 30 second exposures. To create star trails, you must combine hundreds of 30 second exposures. Use the following method.

3. Star Trail Camera Settings
Mode: Manual Long Exposure Noise Reduction: Off ISO: Low (200 or 400) Active D-Lighting (Nikon): Off Image Review Display: Off White Balance: Tungsten Aperture: Wide Open Lens: As wide as possible Shutter: 30 Seconds

4. Three Types of Images
Foreground Image: One image of foreground well exposed. Dark Image: One image with the lens cap on. Stars: Multiple 30 second exposures using Remote Control, Rubber Band or Interval Timer. Orientation: South: Horizontal Trails. East or West: Vertical Tails. North: Circular Trails. Combine the Dark and Multiple Star images using software: Startrails or StarStaX. Add foreground using Photoshop.

5. Taking Multiple Images Using Rubber Band
Set Shutter to Continuous Mode
Use rubber band to Hold Down Button

6. Taking Multiple Images Using Interval Timer
Interval must be longer than exposure: I.E. 31, 32 or 33 seconds, depending on camera. Experiment with your camera. If the interval is too short, the camera misses every other shot. Count is twice the number of minutes; I.E. count of 60 gives about 32 minutes. Three or four hours gives nice long trails, depending on how wide the angle of the lens.

7. Image Collection
After three or four hours, you will end up with several hundred images.

8. Startrails to Create Final Image
Add the dark frame and images to Startrails. Process image to create composite image and/or video. Use Photoshop to add in foreground.