How to Create Amazing Star Trails
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- Опубликовано: 12 янв 2025
- Nightscape photography is a wonderful way to develop our skills and awareness of how our cameras work and the methods required to obtain a great image. One of the creative expressions of nightscape photography is Star Trails. Today we look at the behind the scenes capture process as well as the complete editing of this gorgeous location.
I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments section below.
Website: www.nightscape...
Facebook: / nightscapeimages
Instagram: / nightscapeimages
Equipment I use:
Nikon Z6
Nikon D750
Nikon 20mm f1.8
Nikon 14-24 f2.8
Sigma 35mm f1.4
Nikon 50mm f1.8
Nikon 85mm f1.8
Yongnuo RF603nii remote triggers
DJI Mavic 2 Pro Drone
Godox Flash Equipment
LED Lenser P7.2 torch
Z96 continuous light
Syrp Genie Mini
Sky Watcher Star Adventurer
Video Equipment:
Panasonic G9 camera
Panasonic GH3 camera
Panasonic 12-35 f2.8 lens
Panasonic 14-140 f3.5
Panasonic 25mm f1.7 lens
Z96 video light
Yongnuo YN300 video lights
Sennheiser Radio Microphones
Hi Richard, another great instructional video. Yes people do need to here things repetitively. The average person, if getting a 30 second message delivered only verbally, needs to hear that item 11 times before the key points are understood. Just a fun fact for you.
Thanks for your insight cbmilne, really appreciate you watching.
Richard Tatti, what more can I say...you're an absolute brilliant - as an astrophotographer, artist, and above all a teacher!
Very kind of you to say Robin. Thanks so much for watching.
Totally agree ☺️
Hi Richard, again thank you for your videos…this is likely my 3rd or 4th time to watch this star trails tutorial and it seems I pick up a ‘tip’ every time that I had missed previously.
Thanks again Dan. I think your star trails are wonderful. To be honest I haven't done any for quite a while . .I must get back out to do some soon.
Ijust subscribed amnd want to say Thank you for sharing. I got to say I learned a lot. I come from the old days of film. So you are a great help when it more creatively!
Thanks so much for your great comments and support Henry.
I have had a look at other tutorials but I prefer your method and will try your way first, many thanks love all your videos :)
Thanks so much for taking a look Phil. I really do appreciate that.
Great video as always. Thanks for sharing. Nyall
I really do appreciate you watching my friend.
Never get bored of these videos your post work is fantastic and definitely helps me
Thanks Richard 👍👍👍
Really pleased to hear that Brian .. thanks.
Thank you!! Thank you for making this look easy !!
I'm pleased you found it helpful. Thanks for watching.
Good job again Richard.I think you are big magician.Thank you!
Haha, thanks for watching Peter. No magic here ....!!!
your video has been the first video that actually made sense when working with layers in photoshop. Thank you!!!!
Hey Julie, I'm so pleased to hear that. Always here to help if I can.
Amazing. Thank you! Great work and the final image is BEAUTIFUL!
Thanks a lot for watching Dan
@@nightscapeimages.richard what lights do you use for your light painting?
@@headfuel I just use a small flashlight. LED Lenser P7 series. Sometimes I'll use LED panels to do low level lighting. See this video. ruclips.net/video/Dd_jqe1DxQk/видео.html
Your test shot is awesome itself
Thanks Karen, really appreciate you watching.
Yet another fantastic tutorial. Been too busy lately to do anything but I will be back to go over it again with your video help.
Thanks Bruce. Yes life often gets in the way of our photography. Hope it all goes well when you do finally get out there.
Thank you Richard, brilliant tutorial.
Thanks so much for watching, I really appreciate it.
Hi Richard, I have just watched this video again and have to say it is so much better than I first thought. That photo turned out super and you made it look so easy to do. I love how you check it all and make sure that you got rid of all those imperfections, making sure that the image is as good as can be, brilliant ! I am saving this to my useful videos so that I can watch it over and over again till I learn as much as I can on how to get shots like this. Thank you for sharing this and showing us how to do these types of photo, I think it is great that you spend so much time helping us learn and it’s much appreciated 😁👍
I really appreciate your kind words of encouragement Duncan. Thanks so much for watching.
Richard, one of my favorite videos so far.
Thanks heaps Jon, really pleased you like it.
@@nightscapeimages.richard Why not use a light like this to avoid having to walk around in camera shot (as I noticed you also did on the old tractor from January 2019)? One could just aim this where needed as needed. Then you wouldn't have to edit out the light trails and perhaps have fewer layers to deal with. Good shot, but it might make it easier to accomplish is all I'm saying. Edit: The original link didn't work but it's this same type of light just brighter. It was 2,800 lumen.
www.walmart.com/ip/STANLEY-900-Lumen-LED-Lithium-Ion-Rechargeable-Spotlight-SL5HS/38243761?athcpid=38243761&athpgid=athenaItemPage&athcgid=null&athznid=tic&athieid=v0&athstid=CS020&athguid=d58394d3-ca2-16e812c1264002&athancid=null&athena=true
I picked up these when shooting a train on trestle about 30 feet/10 meters high so I could set the ISO low to avoid noise. It worked out well and they also have battery powered version if one doesn't want to string extension cords around hooked up to an inverter in the car. The upside for me is that I can turn them all on at once when they are corded.
www.walmart.com/ip/Hyper-Tough-2000-Lumen-LED-Area-Light/244454447
Wow 🤩! Another beautiful one ☝️. Very informative , again! Thank you 🙏👏😍👍
Thanks again Carole, as usual your support is much appreciated.
Many many many thanks for your effort and for sharing your knowledge 🙏🙏
No problem at all Sergio, thanks for watching.
A fantastic tutorial, Richard. Great video. Thanks a lot.
Thanks so much for watching Ivo
Wow, toute une excellente démarche pédagogique! Many thanks for your time!!
Thank you so much for watching Andre
amazing shot Richard, your usual excellence
Thanks heaps Andy, really appreciated.
great insight with respect to post processing, thanks a lot, Richard
You're welcome. Thanks for watching.
Great video Rich, very informative many thank's
I'm so pleased you like the video Anthony, really appreciated.
Amazing results , i really enjoy your videos
thanks for all these informations
Really appreciate you watching Mohammed, thank you.
Another beautiful image Richard. You are a very good teacher. Reinforcement creates knowledge and skill.
Very kind of you to say Jules ... you've made my day ... again ..!!!
Another great video and very informative. I'm a complete newby to night time photography and your videos are a great learning medium. Big thumbs up.
Thanks so much for your kind words Andy. Always here to help.
I agree I love it too Thanks for that I'm only a beginner of Nightscapes and Photoshop plus I have Paintshop ProX8 it will be a lip biting , hair pulling time but it will be FUN
Thanks so much for looking Rick, really appreciate it.
Very much like your work. I do a similar process with cars and now you have given me some new ideas about some places I know not far from where I live. Keep up the good work.
Thanks so much for watching Geoff. I hope you get some awesome images.
Sunday morning in Norway, a cup of coffee and a new video from you. 27 min really well spent:-) Thanks for another excellent tutorial and please do repeat yourself:-)
Really appreciate your great support my friend .. thanks again for watching.
Great tutorial and I especially enjoyed the chance to glimpse a bit of the South Celestial Pole! Cheers!
I really appreciate you watching Michael, thank you.
Excellent. I hope you are your family are safe from the fires in AU.
Thanks so much Walter, all safe here. The fires are a long way away.
awesome mate carnt wait to give it go
Fantastic, I'm glad you like it.
This is amazing work… thanks so much for sharing!!!
You're very welcome Greg. Thanks for watching.
Another great video as well as a beautiful image that helps us all strive to take better images and enjoy this fascinating past time
Good on you Steve, really appreciate you watching.
Спасибо за высокий уровень ваших работ и детальное пояснение создания шедевра. Лутший!
Thank you very much for your kind encouragement.
Your videos are always a joy to watch. Thanks for all your work!
I'm very pleased you enjoy them .. thanks for watching.
I love rubbing it out. Such a good time. Great tutorial!
Thanks for watching Michael
Just awesome! Thank you for the tutorial.
Thank you very much for watching Bernadette, really appreciate it.
Beautiful ❤
Thanks for watching
Excellent video and superb end result, just wish I had the patience to do this..
Thanks a lot Dave, as they say .. .Patience is a virtue ...!!!
Thank's for an interesting video, I will need to watch it again for it to sink in.
Thanks a lot Anthony, really appreciate you watching.
Fantastic image again!
Thank you once again for commenting.
As usual great video. Appreciate your tutorials.
Thanks heaps as usual Kevin, really appreciate it.
Great educational video ,thank you
Very enjoyable,
Thanks a lot for following Phillip, really appreciated.
Nice approach, thank you for sharing!
Thanks a lot for watching Simo
Fantastic video, Richard! Don't hesitate to repeat things as this is how the information finally trickles into our brains! Indeed something finally 'clicked' for me with the masks! I really appreciate all the time you take in these videos. I shall be saving this one to re-watch for sure!
Thanks as always for watching, and your kind words Robin. Take care.
@@nightscapeimages.richard at the risk of sounding like a total idiot, are the two little white blobs in the shot clouds or other space goodies? I noticed the same thing on the other video, Simple Star Trails. 😳
@@robinc-k7162 They'll be the Magellanic Clouds . .galaxies here in the southern hemisphere.
@@nightscapeimages.richard ah, ok. I thought as much! We cannot see them in the northern hemisphere.
Fantastic mate yet again
Really appreciate you watching, thanks heaps.
@@nightscapeimages.richard your welcome mate I can not wait for some clear nights in the UK I will be trying a few shots out myself I have a location in mind already
Fabulous image. Thanks for these how-to videos. I can't wait to do some of my own.
No worries at all John, I'm pleased to know it's helpful.
Thank you for this excellent tutorial it has made me want to photograph the night sky. I have ordered a 20mm lens for my camera on the back of watching this and am now going over to check out your channel and other videos. Very much appreciated. Thanks.
Thanks so much for watching Carl, I really appreciate your encouragement and support.
Thanks for showing us the simplicity of Lr and Ps blending technique. Wish to see a lot more useful post process of yours to come. Cheers
I really appreciate you watching and leaving a comment.
Such an easy and effective technique. Thanks for these videos that show the post-processing steps. Very helpful. The last time I was out doing night photography, I ran into another photographer who mentioned he follows your channel, too. From the USA. Thanks Richard.
Thanks so much Tony .. it's a small world isn't it ..!!!
Beautiful jobs 👍🏽👍🏽
Thanks for watching Ken
Fantastic image!!!❤️ Love it 😊👍 great work! Thanks a lot...
Thanks very much for watching Michael
@@nightscapeimages.richard i enjoy every video 👍
Thanks for sharing!!
Thanks so much Bryan
WOW That was great Richard great shot thanks
Thanks so much Jeff, glad you liked it.
Great explanation of your technique. I find your images inspiring and your videos really informative. You have shown me why my images have not always worked. Thank you and keep these coming please.
I'm really pleased you like my videos Adrian, thanks so much.
Thanks for this I had a go last night inspired by your video. End result was no where near yours but it was great to follow the steps for when I have a decent clear night to try again!!
Thanks very much for watching. I'm glad you got some images.
Amazing video! This is easy to follow and comprehend! Haven’t found a better video than this! Thank you so much!
Thanks very much for watching Aaron, really appreciate it.
Great tutorial very well explained 👍
Thank you so much for watching.
Great video again Richard as you said it’s beginning to sink in now the process. Looking forward to more from you as you’re a natural educator on these mate easy style and very thorough and your enthusiasm to pass on your knowledge is greatly appreciated.
Cheers Carl
Thanks again Carl for your very kind words. I'm glad you're finding these videos helpful.
Fantastic mate
Say no more 👍🏻
Thanks again Shane
Another great one. Thank you.
Really pleased you like it KinniGS
Wonderful as usual! I particularly appreciate that you are combining location photography with post processing. that is very helpful and yes the more I hear it the more it sinks in . thank you so much
Scott
Thanks a lot Scott. I particularly love being out on location so it makes sense to combine the two together.
Thank you so much for a great tutorial. You're an excellent instructor. I appreciate every video that you produce. I will be a applying your methods in my milky way photos.
Thanks so much for watching Kevin, I'm really glad you liked it.
What a great video! And another excellent tutorial! You're absolutely right, repeating the techniques and the processes involved is the best way of making sure it all sinks in. It's certainly how I learn best. The beauty of these videos is that, despite the above, the tutorials never seem repetitive (and I watch these again and again) because of the different subject matter, the enthusiasm and passion in the teaching, and the all round coverage from equipment, technique, editing, process, workflows......all just spot on. Thanks again, Richard, for another superb tutorial!
I know I can always rely on you for great encouragement Simon, thanks so much.
Always enjoy your work, amazed actually! Thanks for sharing your talent.
Really appreciate your kind words Randy, thanks heaps.
fantastic tutorial...makes me want to run out and get a wide angle to try this ....
Thanks heaps for watching my friend.
Hands down the best tutorial for star trails and post-processing that I've come across. Well done and thank you!
That's very kind of you to say Jason. Thanks so much for watching.
Fantastic final image!!!
Really appreciate you watching.
Brilliant tutorial, and beautiful image! Thank you for sharing!
I'm so pleased you like the video Veronica, thanks so much for watching.
Gorgeous shot, Richard. It’s very pleasant to learn from you. Thanks, man.
Thanks very much for your kind words TehStriker. I really appreciate you watching.
Actually, I learned from you how to make/edit a star trail in a previous video. But it is always a pleasure to listen to you explaining how to do it again!
Thank you, Richard. And congratulations for your work.
Best Wishes from Brazil!
Thanks again for supporting my work Rafael, it is most appreciated.
Richard, I want to see all the series. Thank you, great job!
I'm so pleased you like it Patricia, thank you.
Trank you Richard, this is awesome again.
Thanks so much Bjorn
Amazing work!
Really appreciate you watching Zach
Awesome video Richard love your work.
How do you work out what size lens to use?
Than ks a lot Brad. You can use any lens for star trails .. it all comes down to how much of the sky you want to include in thew shot really.
Hello Richard, I enjoy your tutorials very much. I also love the area and the conditions you have close to your door (less light pollution, fancy old farm machines etc.), difficult to find here in central Europe. While enjoying your videos I stucked at this one. About watching your editing process I asked myself several questions. 1) why not using tools like StarStaX to remove your gaps in your star trails? You are using little helping tools like Sequater, why not for this specific process? 2) why not taking one overexposed picture with very high ISO of the foreground only as a helpful layer to separate the foreground from the sky? In this case you can make a selection much quicker by hand or wizard tool than painting "black in black" and painting afterwards the trees back again 3) if done 2nd you can copy and invert this layer to all "Star"-layers and do not have to find out which layer is effected by unwanted light (as from car) - it also secures that you do not forget to remove any unwanted light. As I can see the final result, there are still blue flares in the grass and much orange light from the car or something else in tree on the left side. Understand me right, I do not want to criticize, just want to ask, why you do some steps on the hard way... KEEP ON UPLOADING! Regards from Germany! Sebastian
Hey Sebastian, these are all very good and helpful suggestions. I have used starstax in the past but it doesn't use raw files so it makes the job a lot more tedious. As well as that I like to add layer masks in photoshop in case I need to remove plane trails etc which you can't do in Starstax. As you suggest, there are always many ways to achieve the same result and I think it's good to have some input from people who think along different lines. Really appreciate your comments.
@@nightscapeimages.richard Hello Richard, thanks for answering. StarStaX is developing a version that will work with raw, let's see when it's on the market. But today StarStaX supports TIFF-files, no need to compress the files to jpeg. Looking forward to your test pictures using a 85 mm f1.8 lens as you mentioned it. Have fun with what you love to do! You're inspiring a lot of other people! Best wishes to down under! Sebastian
@@yetishooter Many thanks indeed Sebastian
Thanks Richard, a mammoth effort, still on my todo list. great end result. 👍
All the best...........Peter.
Really appreciate you watching Peter, thanks so much.
Great explanation how to take star trails and light painting. For sure I have to try and practice it. As always thanks for your support to towards those who want to learn.
You're very welcome Mario, thanks for watching.
Thanks again Richard, great video! Think we have a few hot nights ahead, albeit is snake season again, but hoping this is more motivation to head up the Calder this week.
Yes it does look like some hot ones on the way. Good thing about star trails is that you can shoot them at any time of the year.
Again, FANTASTIC tutorial, well done mate!!! Richard, as I was watching your process, I couldn't help thinking about your computer setup for handling all these ram/disk space hungry processes ...I was wondering if you might touch a bit on this subject and do a short vid about your setup, ie amount of ram you have installed, if you use a dedicated hard drive for your performance setting within Photoshop etc. I know that's always a bit of a boring subject for some, but could be helpful for others who my be having trouble putting together a composition due to computer hardware issues. I know this, because I was one of those folks for year. Thanks again, forever a fan!
I'm just using pretty standard computers really. To be honest one of the great things about shooting lesser amounts of images for these star trails is that the processing power required is reduced. I think any reasonably fast computer with good amount of ram and hard disc space will do the job.
Loving this series, Richard! Don't think twice about repeating the information; repetition is a wonderful form of learning.
Really appreciate you watching Bruce, thanks so much for the comments.
Great work, Richard! Thank you so much for your explanations!
I'm so pleased you tuned in Jorn, thanks so much.
Thank you Richard. That was wonderful. Cheers
Really appreciate you watching Greg.
Thanks a bunch! Wonderful process you have and that i'm learning.
Thanks a lot for watching Bret, much appreciated.
Awesome tutorial
Thanks so much Paul
Just yesterday I watched your previos video, and this morning comes another one. What a treat for weekend. Great way to learn editing and stacking nightscape images. Thanks for all the effort. Hope to see more videos like this. Cheers!
Many thanks indeed Milorad, always very much appreciate your comments.
Thanks for the concise tutorial! Always helpful as usual! :D
Really appreciate you watching Lyne
New subscriber here! I've been wanting to learn how to do star trails for so long and this is the perfect how-to for it! Thanks for all your efforts in doing this informative video. I know there's not only hours with taking the actual shots but also with making and then editing down your video to 27 minutes takes a lot of work as well. Excellent work, thank you so much!
Thanks so much for watching Teresa, I'm so pleased you found the video useful. Always happy to help if I can.
@@nightscapeimages.richard This is probably a stupid question, but have you ever attempted to shoot the Aurora's? I live in Alaska and winter time is our best viewing time but the very cold weather can be hard to deal with. I'd love to know what it's like in the Southern hemisphere. Anyway, thanks again for your helpful videos!
Hey Teresa, yes I've shot the aurora but we don't get them as big as you would over in Alaska that's for sure. Australia is a pretty warm place generally.
terrific mate when i watch you style i feel relaxed and know this will be good am looking forward to the warmer nights to have a go as we all still think yep its a wonderful world cheers an beers bobby j.
Good work Bobby, thanks a lot for watching.
I just tried shooting star trails for the first time tonight. Thank you for the inspiration and the instructions! It was extremely helpful and for my first time I would say I got decent results.
That's fantastic to hear .. I'll be keen to hear how you go in the future.
This was a video that I was lucking forward to see .
Nice one !
Thanks very much for watching Marius, much appreciated.
Just found your channel. Very informative video...instant sub! Happy to be a part of the journey. Thank you!
I really appreciate you watching the videos Ted, thanks so much.
Great video Richard, really enjoyed watching it, I learn something new on every one. Keep it up mate
Thanks so much Matt, really pleased you tuned in.
Fantastic video! Love how you show in field and post processing of night images that's is easy to follow along with most only show one part. Can't wait to see what's next.
I really appreciate your support Louis
Great work! Another excellent video tutorial Richard. I have watched all of your videos up to this point, and have been so entertained and impressed. Thank you for the effort you have put into these. You manage to put a smile on many faces, and fire our imagination and appreciation for the beauty of rural scenes and the night sky. Looking forward to making you acquaintance at one of your workshops in March 2020. Jeff
Thanks so much for watching Jeff and I'm very much looking forward to meeting you in March … take care.
That's an amazing old building (one of many in Victoria from what l've seen) as always l greatly appreciate the time you have taken to share your knowledge and experience, beautifully blended 👍
Thanks so much Leigh. I hope you guys got home safe and sound. I'm going to be closely watching your work from here on .. I reckon 2020 will be a break out year for you ...!!!
@@nightscapeimages.richard The pressures on haha! My health permitting l hope to continue on my journey. I have a new project in the pipeline to donate framed images to feed4farmers to sell off as l always wanted my photography to matter and if it can help them to help our farmers l'm on the way to hopefully achieving that.
Hey Leigh, no pressure intended at all. You will achieve great things .. of that I am sure.
Another great tutorial, was really looking forward to this one and it didn't disappoint.
Thanks heaps Three-phase, I'm glad you like it.
Great video again 👍🏼 definitely going to try the 3min approach rather than handling many 30sec files, makes good sense to me.
Thanks a lot Gurdeep, really appreciated.
@@nightscapeimages.richard Thanks again for the CTO gel info, I'll go give them a visit.
I've been looking forward to this one Richard and really enjoyed watching. As a maths teacher myself I fully appreciate the benefit of revisiting a topic - again…and again…and again!
Keep up the good work :]
Good on you Paul. Thanks so much for the encouragement.
@@nightscapeimages.richard My pleasure Richard. I had meant to ask you - which make of intervalometer do you use?