Star Trails Photography for Beginners | Step by Step Tutorial

[@jcaff6963]

Thanks, Raphael, some great tips there. Our photo club will be shooting both Milky Way and Star Trails and I will be using mirrorless (MW) + dslr and phone for star trails. Go Photopills. John

[@PhotoPills]

Cool!!

[@melindapryor]

I've had PhotoPills for 2 years and I never knew the blue lines were the star trail templates, awesome!

[@PhotoPills]

Cool!

[@photog1529]

I've been using hyperfocal focusing for many years with a basic table I created in Excel and then guesstimating distances. The AR feature in Photopills for hyperfocal distance is a game changer. Thanks for that tip, Raphael. ..I'll be putting that to good use.

[@PhotoPills]

Thanks so much!!

[@bobsheridan6692]

Thanks for another great video on shooting the night sky. PhotoPills is a fantastic tool which I use for all of my photography, especially shooting the Milky Way to determine best location and times to shoot during the night. Keep up the good work!

[@PhotoPills]

Awesome! Thanks so much Bob!

[@Diaryplan]

Great video - thank you.

[@PhotoPills]

Thank you Pat!

[@Thexderify]

Great information

[@PhotoPills]

Thank you Mark!

[@magendhirannarainasamy2228]

Very detail info Rafael

[@PhotoPills]

Thank you!

[@mirekdz8131]

Great tips. Thanks for this video.

[@PhotoPills]

Thanks so much Mirek!

[@scdawes]

Great video to help me as a beginner in night sky photography , have you any links to the gear you mention eg lens warmer , headlamp and small light panel for the foreground ?

[@PhotoPills]

Yes! Check the chapter on gear of your Star Trails photography guide: www.photopills.com/articles/star-trails-photography-guide

[@JeffreyJDavis]

Super informative, thank you. I learn new functionalities of PhotoPils with each of these videos!

[@PhotoPills]

Thank you Jeffrey!!

[@nomadickirankp]

Good information

[@PhotoPills]

Thank you!

[@roberthennessey128]

Thank you can’t wait to try these tips

[@PhotoPills]

Coooooo!!!

[@Gamer1235813213455]

Great app!!! Does it make any difference to set camera to Bulb and set exposure time on intervalometer versus setting exposure time on camera and setting intervalometer Bulb setting to zero?

[@PhotoPills]

Hi Doug! We prefer setting the camera to bulb and use the intervalometer. We don't trust the in build intervalometers.

[@itchin4adventure688]

I love this app and this video! Thank you!

[@PhotoPills]

Love you too :P

[@TiagoSilva-gf4eb]

it's funny because I've been reading your pdf about star trailing and yesterday I finally got the chance to go out and shoot!!! photopills trully makes a difference no matter what you are trying to shoot. it's amazing!

[@PhotoPills]

So cool!! Imagine.Plan.Shoot!! :P

[@TiagoSilva-gf4eb]

@@PhotoPills I’ve uploaded it on PhotoPills awards section, hoping you guys check it out and maybe, just maybe share it with the world ahah

[@yvonpiret6436]

Hello there, i have downloaded the Photopills, but never used, but i am ready for my first stars trial. I found a subject which is an abandoned green Bedford van , and it sitting under a tree in the middle of nowhere...! Question: do i need to light the van for all the 200 photos? If so, what colour would you suggest? (2)Spot led light which i can increase the power and change colour!! Thank you for your help!! Ciao from Sicily!

[@PhotoPills]

You only need to illuminate the foreground in the first photo (and also in the last one) to have 2 base images :P

[@Chalky555]

Hello, thanks for the video. Reference the hyperfocal table, after you have chosen your camera does the focal length figure down the left take into account the sensor crop factor. For example, if I'm using an Olympus E-M1 and a focal length 12mm micro four thirds lens, on the table do i choose 12mm or 24mm. Thank you.

[@PhotoPills]

Yes! When you select the camera, PhotoPills automatically takes into account the crop factor. So the focal length you need to select on the left is the nominal one, not the effective one. If you're using a 14mm focal length on your lens, then check the 14mm focal length on the table.

[@Chalky555]

@@PhotoPills hello, thanks for your speedy reply. Your efforts are much appreciated.

[@gabrieljakab]

Hi. Thank you so much for this excellent tutorial. Allow me one question please. How long you suggest to shoot and what interval to set if I want to achieve circle pattern like you showed in the example image with the tree in the front? Thank you

[@PhotoPills]

Shoot for 1h or so. The delay between photos 1 or 2s max. The shorter the better. The exposure, use the same you'd use for Milky Way photography (15-25s).

[@gedheaton1415]

This is without doubt one of the best apps out there,(even though I aint got a clye how use it )haha,Im defo going set aside a weekend soon and just focus on PP.

[@PhotoPills]

Awesome! Thanks so much!!

[@kelv52]

I can recommend you look at vlogs from outdoor photography school as well, also very helpful instruction of how to use the pills, been binging myself these last few days, and thanks to Raphel and the other channel got some good knowledge under my belt

[@moli1604]

Thanks for a superb video. A quick question please on the hyperlocal part of the video. In your example with the Z6, you chose 14mm at F2.8 giving a HF distance of 2.33m. When you switch to the augmented reality view in the bottom left of the screen there is a focal length of 26mm figure. On my app with my Sony A7R4 shooting at the same setting as you it show 30, if I select that, I can then choose between 30mm & 60mm. What does this mean please and what should I select?

[@PhotoPills]

The focal length on the AR view refers to the field of view of the camera on your phone. If you choose 60mm you'll see that the AR view zooms in. It has nothing to do with the hyperfocal distance calculations.

[@moli1604]

PhotoPills Thank you.... it’s obvious now you have explained , I should have looked a little harder.

[@tejasroowala6780]

Hey, I am using photo pills & enjoy it a lot. Could you pl suggest an approximate time interval between two shots in case of short exposures?

[@PhotoPills]

1-2s max!

[@threesixmarine]

Question on light painting. Do you keep the ISO at 1600 and do you have to stand outside of the frame with the light source so you're not in the frame?

[@PhotoPills]

Yes... keep the ISO... and yes... stand outside the frame. We place the LED panels pretty far away from the subject :)

[@kelv52]

Great detailed presentation as always during whichyou mention, long exposure noise reduction is better to be turned off,(which it is on my Canon camera). l also have HIGH ISO NR, (which was set at standard) I have never been able to shoot stars without there being small trails, even though i have fully followed guidance using the pills and setting the speeds as little as 5-10 seconds, does the HIGH ISO NR play the same part as you mention here about long exposure noise reduction. ? I am unable to test it due to overcast skies over the last week, and it looks like being so for another week

[@PhotoPills]

Wow! Shooting 5s exposure you get trails?

[@kelv52]

@@PhotoPills not as in what you show here, but not dots of light, you can tell there is movement the shots seemed sharp and exposure fine, I deleted them some time ago, as it annoyed me to see this, maybe I was being picky as in parts they were ok, but at a 100 per cent, it was not what I expected.....hope I have made this clear, do you think the use of HIGH ISO NR could be playing a part

[@PhotoPills]

@@kelv52 Does it happen with all stars or just the ones around the corners? It could by coma aberration: www.lonelyspeck.com/removing-coma-aberration-in-adobe-photoshop-astrophotography-tutorial/

[@kelv52]

@@PhotoPills this does look similar, not sure it is actually this problem, but at least I have another option thanks to you, thank you so much for taking the time to research and reply in such detail

[@saikattalukder2180]

Hey, I've noticed that the stars in the final image after stacking doesn't have that vibrant colours as compared to the one you showed earlier in the video. Can you give some idea about post processing technique?

[@PhotoPills]

Shoot at low ISO (800-1600 max) in a super dark sky. You need to capture the color of the stars, don't overexpose them.

[@leannemcallister1004]

Hi, How many photographs do you need to take to achieve medium to heavy/dense light trails?

[@PhotoPills]

Hi Leanne! I'd say that minimum of 1h shooting. But we like shooting for 3-4h

[@eurocharger]

Rafael, please can you advise where we can buy the PhotoPills mobile phone cover/case?

[@PhotoPills]

Hey! I think I don't understand what you mean by PhotoPills mobile phone cover?

[@eurocharger]

@@PhotoPills the back of your mobile phone has the PhotoPills logo so I thought it must be a case or cover?

[@Arctis34]

Could you write some of the things you say on the video? For example when you say intervalometer that could be on the video. I couldnt understand the name of the device that demoisturizes the lens

[@PhotoPills]

Noted! It's the Dew-Not Dew Heater Strip :)

[@chicocc]

Superb. Had the same issue

[@nikokane5]

What focus area setting do you use for star trails?

[@PhotoPills]

Hi Niko... What do you mean with focus area settings? We focus on our subject, making sure that it falls behind the hyperfocal distance to get the star trails in focus too :)

[@nikokane5]

@@PhotoPills for your camera setting “focus area” , I’m using a Sony so would I set this to wide or maybe one of the flexible spot settings? Tnx , love your app.

[@GS-hv9rd]

@@nikokane5 niko, you probably want to use manual focus for this. Those settings are for autofocus if I’m not mistaken. You can use AF to focus on your subject and then turn AF off. With hyperfocal distance though, this is mostly, if not exclusively a manual focus feature. ‘Happy trails!’

[@nikokane5]

@@GS-hv9rd I do use manual focus. I didn’t realize that overrode the focus area settings. So when in manual focus the focus area doesn’t matter?

[@GS-hv9rd]

@@nikokane5 correct.

[@SuperPashash]

Para los rastros de estrellas creo oportuno se puede hacer en todo momento de las fases de la luna.

[@PhotoPills]

Sí, así es! La luna ayuda a iluminar el primer plano :)

[@lockechrisj]

I like your videos, wish audio was louder. I have to max out my device volume to hear them

[@PhotoPills]

Thank you for the feedback :)

[@MoLetalis]

You do not want to use the same exposure time you for the Milky Way, because the whole point of that exposure time is to prevent star trails from forming. Just use the longest exposure time your camera will allow, because in the end, you stack all the photos anyway. And the longer your exposure time, the lower ISO you can use to expose the stars and hence, less noise per image

[@PhotoPills]

that's a good point!

[@nataala_]

How can I order this app and pay with PayPal please? My card in GPay is expired and, for the life of me cannot add another card.

[@GS-hv9rd]

Just a suggestion, try adding the new card first then removing old one. Also, maybe try putting it in 1 digit off and then seeing if you can then delete old one and fix the digit

[@PhotoPills]

Thanks for the help!

[@diegosoloaga3673]

increiblemente te entiendo mejor en ingles que en español

[@PhotoPills]

Eso me dice mi madre!