How To Create Stunning Star Trail Photographs START TO FINISH

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[@alanalain4884]

Thank you Alyn for all your videos and your awesome shared knowledge that help many of us embrace the night sky photography journey...

[@mustang5132]

He doesn’t mention it early on but make sure you take at least two photos of your background or target first. One with it underexposed so that the lighting looks exactly how you want it, and another a bit more exposed to see the details in the target. Then you can mask them over each other and add all the star trail frames

[@daviesrjack]

Watching for instruction/inspiration in 2024. Miss you, Alyn! Great to hear your voice again. Rest in peace ❤

[@AndrewBerube41]

Same❤❤❤

[@joshfieldsphotography]

Yes this. ❤

[@photobia6593]

Oh God this is bad news. May his soul rest in peace with the stars above.

[@Wheeljack678]

I've spent way too much time googling how to make a composite like you did (switch foreground), and here you show it in so few and simple steps. None of the guides I found mentioned "refine edges" for example. Thank you!

[@fightingfitPT]

Well timed tutorial Alyn, a lot of us trying timelapses from the garden!

[@jayantakrghosh]

He is past now 😢

[@markhollinshead9617]

Thanks Alyn for doing this tutorial, you make it look so easy, just need clear skies now, looks like we'll have to wait a few days. So inspiring Alyn.

[@AnthonyDavidMatthews]

Yet another fact packed, easy to follow tutorial. Inspirational.

[@phindumusa]

what a legend. Greatly missed. Continue to RIP , Alyn.

[@SimonGodfrey]

This has been so useful Alyn! Especially what you did in Photoshop, I didn't know I could easily remove satellites etc with the spot healing tool and you showed me a much easier way swap out the foreground, thank you!

[@chachacha4]

Great tutorial! Covers just what I need, I've been going over old files and now I have a new project!

[@salilchoksi3850]

Although I have been photographing star trails since many years, I did pick up some very useful tips. Shows, that learning never stops. Thanks for a lovely tutorial !

[@nomadtravelphotos]

I just found this tutorial and tried my hand at it last night. Thank you, thank you for a great explanation of the basics of star trails. I'm hooked now!

[@matthifalnil]

Thank you soooooo much! I took an image like this for a school project where we had to take a picture of something in motion, and I’m really proud! It’s not as good as yours, but I’m super happy with it. It also was so much easier than I thought! Though I won’t get feedback on it before the beginning of next year.

[@chiefstretch6810]

How was it?

[@clarissaberry6591]

I just want to say thank you for this video. I never leave comments but I created my first star trail and it is SO cool!

[@easy56wedge]

I found the instructions on the internal intervalometer to be very useful and timely! Heading into my backyard tonight to shoot star trails. Thanks Alyn!

[@Swelinde]

It's a great tutorial, thank you for making it! I had an issue with weird patterns in my star trail shots and your remark about turning off lens correction turned out to be the issue. Cheers mate!

[@AlynWallace]

Sweet glad that fixed it

[@terrygoyan]

I'm here because of the PhotoPils stream. Subscribed and hit notifications. Great tutorial Alyn!

[@antoinednbd3573]

Super interesting ! Now I know how to blend with photoshop. There are a lot of tutorials about it but yours is much easier to understand. Thanks!

[@goatlova2478]

Was waiting for a video like this. Been taking loads of pictures but a totally new to photography and editing and had no idea where to start. Thanks.

[@cult4037]

I live in a heavily light polluted city and usually only get to see the brightest stars but over the course of the lockdowns the skies have cleared up due to less pollution and i can see sooo many other stars which i would never get to see. I've been shooting pics of the skies just because these skies may never return again. Awesome video keep it up 🤘🏻 and Clear Skies!

[@tomfoord8860]

I am planning a trip and want to photograph the night sky. Your video will help a lot when I'm standing in the cold north. Thanks for being so generous with your expertise.

[@1vegasdood]

Super helpful tut! Thanks for the StarStax plug!

[@RichardRostant1]

Concise and to the point. Showing each specific step is quite helpful.

[@yoankolev91]

The tip for manual option to remove chromatic aberration was well worth watching the video! Very well put together. I believe star trails photography is easier than deep sky objects where you take a lot of stills, dark framse, light frames and flat frames etc..

[@richards3192]

Alan, I really appreciate your tutorials Alan. Concise, no nonsense, spot on. Well done mate

[@astrophotos8368]

Your tutorial videos are quick and amazing. I can’t thank you enough. Cheers!

[@hoonior]

This is great, thank you. It's very straightforward, simple to understand and covers a lot of what I've read in huge articles. Brilliant. I spent an hour out last night getting the shots, let's see what it turns out like....

[@BOAT1066]

Excellent Alyn had a go last week, you have now helped to clarify a few things especially on the editing side, I now know what Tiff files are lol

[@Rainy78]

I sure miss you Alyn! I miss WITNS every month. I hope you are resting well ❤

[@joetagg1961]

Best star trail tutorial I’ve watched !! Thanks !!

[@peterwilson1816]

Excellent tutorial Alyn, I'll be n the garden toninght - it was your presentation on the ill fated Norway cruise that got me into Astro Photography !

[@AlynWallace]

Ah that's awesome, welcome to your new addiction 😃🌌

[@aysolar]

Thanks for the tips - my last outing was cut short because of fog on the lens, so i'm going to make sure i have a lense warmer!

[@g4v3r]

ноу чёпинес, грейст стаф дюд!) лоуйз

[@pavelk7078]

Thank you Alyn! Though I thought to be a some-way mature astro photographer, I always find something new and interesting in you videos

[@davelynch6143]

Ace. Very clear. Top tip using shutter duration as star trail limit.

[@tobyjugg6202]

Thats the perfect intro !!! Ive been hung up on tech crap which has put me off doing these. Now I feel confident to give it a go from up here in Anglesey. Nice one.

[@pattischeurich8078]

thank you Alyn, I am about to process my pictures from Big Bend National Park... your video is so helpful. I am one of your Patreon supporters too!

[@puck528co]

Very helpful. Took a million pictures trying to capture some Lyrids Meteors. Your tutorial will help with the startrail work.

[@jimboandthejetset1]

Thank you for this! You break everything down really clearly; going to give it a go tonight, weather permitting 🤞 One question (it may be a daft one) - do you still take darks, flats and bias frames with this type of Astro photography?

[@neild108]

Excellent, easy to understand tutorial, thanks! One question: I do not have an external power source, just a couple of fairly new (tho 3rd party) batteries for my Canon 5D4, and a couple more that are in OK shape. Is there any reason why I could not program my camera to take as many shots as I think it can take on a single battery (maybe just 100, considering they would be 20 - 25 sec exposures and high ISO?), then immediately exchange batteries and do another 100 or so, and perhaps even repeat for a 3rd set? Thanks!

[@virennautiyal6726]

Thank you so much From this this video I’ve learned my first star trail ❤

[@michaelburge9497]

I am new to star trails photography and this looks like an excellent introduction. Thank you very much.

[@philnolan7193]

Thanks Alyn, excellent tutorial, more relevant info than most and some good tips. Looking forward to your premium tutorial.

[@1byte8bits]

Alan, thank you for very detail Star Trail Photo tutuorial!

[@john.advrider3536]

This was really helpful as I am a newbie at this and photoshop (just been using Lightroom). I did have some trouble with spot removal as I had to make the change on the original layer and not the "spot removal" layer I added. The shift+click did made it so much quicker.

[@JeffPattiAkaElliptiVANgo]

Thanks, Alyn. Going out to try tomorrow night in Kanab, UT / Arizona state border area. Thanks for the 500 rule clarification for crop sensor. Much appreciated.

[@RunTheVille]

Thanks for the tutorial Alyn. Learning a lot from you and Trevor Jones of Astrobackyard.

[@nibs8837]

Brilliant video! I am so excited to begin this journey into photographing the night sky! Thank you for providing inspiration during this stressful time!

[@AlynWallace]

Best of luck!

[@piacere_lore]

Thanks a lot for going into details for every step of the process!

[@nightscapeimages.richard]

Very nicely demonstrated and explained Alyn, great work as usual.

[@AlynWallace]

Thanks RIch!

[@BotSquadTalks]

Nice one Alyn.... something new for me to try. Thanks again.

[@tonymarsh3541]

Useful tips 👍 Re-watching this to brush up on my star trail editing 🙂

[@julietharvey4308]

Really good tutorial. Thank you. I have wanted to try shooting star trails for ages - I can’t wait to try this out.

[@alisonfairley5444]

Really great video... I had been wanting to try this for a while now so the timing and content are great! thanks Alyn :-)

[@andrewteece3496]

Excellent. Really useful. I've made notes and will report back once I've put these tips into practice on a clear night

[@IslandGirl4Life]

Your tutorials are super, thanks Alyn. I am on my way now. The lessons I needed.

[@Diaryplan]

Thanks Alyn, Great Tutorial. Now I have an Idea how to do a Star Trail

[@phillipgreen793]

Great Tutorial Alun, lets see what the sky in Maesteg gives me.

[@kathyann1811]

Amazingly stunning! Thank you for this beautiful video!

[@_husnain_7801]

Thank you so much for the tutorial! Thank you for giving me clarity now lets see if i can do this star trail now its a dream shot of mine

[@jamesmcdowell2551]

Thanks Alan, The tutorial was very helpful for a beginner in star trails.

[@rjkivanii]

well explained, tried today with sony's play memories app, result quite good but its not a trail actually.... so decided to do manually and this video was all I needed.... Thanks mate

[@stuartsmith4263]

Really enjoyed your two videos on star trails and stacking. Thank you....signed up for training courses via your link - I hope they keep sponsoring your work

[@tonymarsh3541]

Thanks for the PS, LR and StarStaX tips. I might finally try using more than one layer in my workflow.

[@JosephHawkins]

Alan - in the tutorial you advised saving files as TIFF but when you were in StarStaxx the files in the stack were jpeg ? The then saved the jpeg stack as a stacked Tiff?

[@AlynWallace]

Dammit was hoping nobody would notice that haha I was too lazy to export 700 TIFFs again for the sake of the tutorial so just used the jpgs for demonstration purposes. Good eyes sir

[@JosephHawkins]

Alyn Wallace just so i am clear for you true production work you do use the TIFF files instead of JPEG - i get the procession time would be much greater - thanks for the excellent tutorial and hope you will get back into the field soon - i will be watching for you to post workshops in 2021 as i would love to attend one -

[@AlynWallace]

@@JosephHawkins yeah I'd always use TIFFS so that I've got all that juicy RAW information in there for when I edit the image later on :) sorry for the confusion! I've pinned your post so everybody else sees it

[@suzannebeers6238]

Can I pile on to this question, please? I just tried to do the Star Stax process with .tif files - it would stack them in "lighten" mode, but when I try to use "gap filling" mode StarStax closes without processing the files??? The instructions in their help page say you should stack .jpg files - so I'm re-exporting now in .jpg format. So, was it not laziness after all - and you need to use .jpg for input to the stacking process???

[@MannyG32968]

Just a follow-up on StarStax.. is there an alternative? I'm getting "cannot be opened" when I'm downloading. Thanks for a great video!

[@darkshaman7087]

Bulb mode and then put lens on f2.8 or 3.5 depending on how dark the area is, also low IOS of around 200 to 400 depending on how light or dark it is, and then focus out to infinity and set camera for about half hour does the job of taking star trails for me… Also I’m from Wales living in the rhondda area so not a bad spot here for night photography.

[@takecontrolcheif]

This tutorial by Alyn Wallace could be the best one on YT for anyone wanting to get into astrophotography. Clear, concise, and complete instructions for beginning the journey. Liked, Shared and Sub. Thank you Alyn for sharing.

[@CclassicsX]

When it comes to condensation, I think it really depends on the lens you are using.So far I have never had any problems with my Tamron 15-30.And the Sigma 35 1.4 did yesterday also a good job shooting star trails. Thanks for sharing your workflow :)

[@AlynWallace]

It depends on where you are in the world and what season it is. Here in the UK summer nights are bad because we have warm humid air and then temperatures drop quickly overnight

[@mkbuhain]

Thanks for sharing bro, great and easy to understand tutorial for a beginner like me.

[@MatthewVandeputte]

That .tiff save option is so crucial and I didn't know about it! Great tutorial man, love your pacing.

Melhor canal de astrofotografia! Abraço aqui do brasil 🇧🇷

[@BenLovell80]

Done my first few of these over the past week, it's not quite milky way level addictive but it's certainly heading that way. Cool to be able to get decent results in brighter skies too.

[@Amanlikeme]

I see you don't interact in the comments much but I'm hoping you might here. I'm not much of a photographer but I'm curious, you've taken many star trails I'm sure, but I'm wondering, are there any differences in characteristics in photos between a stable camera and a slowly panned camera in either direction a foot or two, one left to right, and another right to left, moving stars into and out of frame? Yes, it would be a shorter photo than a time lapse, but at the right angle, in a dark enough area, you could shoot 360 degrees. If you have a common background everything will be blurred but if you're shooting the sky at night at the stars, other than the stars trails appearing straight as oppose to circular, are there any other characteristic differences between the stationary and moving camera that would be prevalent to be able to distinguish the difference between the two methods? Would you be able to tell if the night sky is blurring or if the star trails are printing differently in some way?

[@AlynWallace]

Star trails are never perfectly parallel, they always diverge or converge from one another. Also, they're only parallel to the horizon at the North and South Pole so that would be a huge giveaway. In short, yes it would be obvious that one is natural and one is fake camera movement.

[@TwistedPix]

Was trying to learn the best techniques for light trails . Good tips

[@ThomasMatthewEvans]

I believe the Sony A7iii on firmware version 4.01 will negate the need for an intervalometer as it has a timelapse function. You can set delay, interval time and number of images. It also has a silent shooting mode so the shutter won't make a sound but you'll just need to research as I think the shutter in silent mode does affect aperture or shutter or iso or something random like noise reduction?

[@ha9738]

Very useful .. Thank you Alyn .

[@petegerardini2455]

Just thinking. Earth rotates 360 degrees in a day. ,There are 24 hours in a day. So, for each hour a star trails will leave a 15 degree of arch line.

[@wyngaart1]

Nice to see someone work in the same way I do, but I have to say I stopt using StarStaX. I just use it to make a quick startrail (JPG) just to see where I need to clean out the airplanes. Then I make a stack in photoshop or affinity photo (TIFF) and clean out every photo with airplanes and other things. The final result is more sharp and cleaner than with StarStaX. Other thing I do: camera on continues shooting, on the remote lock the shutterbutton. This way you gaps between the little trail in each photo are very small.

[@MarkLeckington1965]

Excellent Job!!! I actually didn't know about that star trail program...

[@lavalleemichel6363]

Alyn, thanks for your wonderful video. Great explanation and very good details too, i am new to the astronomy photography, so much great and interesting technique to learn. I really appreciate your honesty and did watch your video conference with Rafael great info too and was very informative. Looking forward to see your new book and new Star Glow filter... keep the good work you are inspiring people to get out in their backyard and shoot some star trail. Thanks, Michel from Canada

[@liam4688]

Awesome video Alyn! Truly one of the best out there. But just to be clear, other than the lens warmer, do we need any thing to protect our gear from dew?

[@pedrovaleira5]

Thank you for the great tutorial Alyn. How do you get colourful star trails? Is that because of your modified camera? Cheers

[@drewpearson7911]

You make it look so easy. Amazing!!

[@garywedley9601]

That was great Alyn, easy to follow too. Thanks for sharing 👍

[@pauls3696]

That's so good many many thanks for sharing brilliant 👌👌👌

[@aniquewaseem6259]

Excellent video. Very interesting indeed

[@bcphotography]

Good stuff Alyn!

[@irenebenson]

Really helpful. Enjoyed it immensely. Looking forward to trying it out.

[@highlandmediaalba699]

This is so good!! Thank you so much! Hopefully going out this winter to get some shots!!

[@donrenouf5744]

Can't wait to try this........ Tanks, Alyn

[@Pholege_Artis]

Great tutorial! Thanks.😀

[@goreallyspeed4819]

Can't wait to give it a shot - hoping I can use ACDSee rather than Photoshop to get good results!

[@stevesingleton8326]

Really good information ,looking forward to watching some more of your Vlogs etc Thank you

[@bthink1990]

Wow! Thank you for an actually useful tutorial!

[@ChrisWJames]

Thanks a lot, Alyn. This helped a lot to clean up my star trail image. Very much appreciated.

[@BoldBooksandBones]

Very good video! Thank you!

[@davebonehill42]

Thanks Alyn, a few tips and tricks to help me improve from my first attempts.

[@reallymustgetalife]

Excellent! As usual I learned something new! Thank you!

[@computersaysno4900]

I think that for crop sensors maybe it is better to use the 500 rule and add the crop factor to the equation, instead of just dividing with 300. For example 500 / 24 / 1,6 = 13.02 seconds while 300 / 24 = 12.5. I know the difference is not very big but I think that half second there is a more accurate result. Of course if you can calculate with an app the NPF rule that would be better. Great video anyways, thank you!

[@alanalain4884]

Awesome !.. Thank you Alyn...