How to Photography: Very Practical Tips for Capturing Star Trails in the Night Sky

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February may be a cold month in the Northern Hemisphere during winter, but that makes for a number of clear, crisp nights when the atmosphere is very dry. Those are the perfect nights for trying your hand at photographing star trails. That doesn’t mean you can’t create star trail photos during other seasons of the year, but they might not be as sharp because the atmosphere is more humid.

With a bit of practice of the 10 tips below, you’re sure to bring home some amazing images that will make your photo buddies jealous. That’s OK, because that means the next time you can show him or her the ropes and shoot together. It will help to pass the time and make it easier to endure the cold temperatures.

  1. First, a bit of celestial education: A star trail occurs in a photo during a long exposure. As the Earth rotates, the stars appear to circle the pole star of either the North or South Pole. In the Northern Hemisphere, this star is Polaris. There is no equivalent star for the Southern Hemisphere that is as well positioned as Polaris. Typically, the Southern Cross constellation works best in the Southern Hemisphere, since it points to the location of a Southern pole star if there was one.

  1. Locating the pole star is accomplished with a compass and your latitude. Point the compass north (or south). You’ll find the pole star at the same degree of angle above the horizon as your latitude. At 40 degrees of latitude, for example, the pole star would be 40 degrees above the horizon and pointing north (or south).
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  1. Your position in relation to the pole star also determines the length of the star trails. From the Earth, it takes 24 hours for the stars to rotate completely around the pole star. This means if you are “close” to the pole star, then the trails are shorter because they travel less distance for every portion of time.

  1. Your first equipment choice is what lens and/or focal length to use. A wide-angle lens will certainly capture more of the sky, but it could require minutes-long exposures to register the trails. A long focal length reduces your exposure to a few seconds and registers longer trails. Remember, however, you will be framing a smaller segment of the sky, which can cause problems composing the image.

  1. A star trail photo is a landscape by definition; and just like with many landscapes, it’s better to include a foreground object to act as a compositional counterpoint to the star trail.

  1. The other absolutely required piece of equipment is a good, sturdy tripod. Any movement will render your images useless. Consider a tripod you can anchor to the ground. If it’s a windy night, then you need a windbreak because the slightest tripod sway will make your efforts futile. Also, consider bringing a remote intervalometer, which you can program to trip the camera, so you don’t have to touch it. Extra batteries are a must and make sure the batteries in all your equipment are fully charged.  Another item I personally use is Night Vision Goggles which gives me the freedom to move around at night with out any additional lights and knocking into my tripod and gear!

  1. Setting your exposure to photograph star trails can be challenging. A good procedure is first to expose for the foreground at a very high ISO, such as 6,400. Your optimum goal is a photo with longer trails, so you simply choose a lower ISO and calculate a new exposure according to your first. If it is 2 inches at ISO 6,400, then as you double the distance, you reduce the ISO by half.

  1. Don’t just think of taking single images of very long exposures. That technique will work, but all that time allows for the added possibility of tripod or camera shake. A better approach is capturing multiple images at shorter exposures, and then combining them during editing. One bad image doesn’t ruin the eventual image.

  1. Another tip when taking multiple images at shorter exposures is to reduce the amount of time between images to the minimum. Each star trail, or concentric circle or arc, will look continuous, with fewer breaks. You’ll also keep the trails one solid, arcing line if you deactivate in-camera noise reduction.

  1. Reduce any digital noise with editing software, as the first step when you’ve loaded your images to your computer. The next step is to fine-tune contrast and saturation. Then, use whatever processing techniques you wish to give your final star trail photos a particular style or unique look.

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