how could this shot be taken?

[Stillie]

hey ppl,

i am so curious as to how this shot was taken - i am thinking a long exposure, like REALLY long to be able to catch the starts moving?

 

[undesign]

Star trail photography - plenty of info on the webz. Two links -

http://www.photographymad.com/pages/view/long-exposure-star-trail-photography

http://www.weatherscapes.com/techniques.php?cat=astronomy&page=startrails

Something I'd also like to try soon. IIRC there was a thread recently where someone asked for advice about places to best try shooting star trails. Light pollution is obviously an issue in urban areas.

 

[HapticSimian]

It's not exactly uncommon.

And yes, long exposure... possibly (probably?) combined with multiple exposures; 1 to capture the foreground, and 1 loooooooooooong one to capture the start trails.

 

[Dolby]

I tried this a few months back and it worked - but because it was a test from my balcony, just out side the city etc it didn't look great - but I got the principle correct.

I found multiple 30 second shots worked the best and added in a program (I think I used Star Trails). A single long exposure created too much noise.

 

[hilton]

Dolby, what f stop and focal length did you use?

 

[Dolby]

I can't remember the aperture - I remember practising at F11, but can't recall what the final one was.

AS I say, it was just the principle - so stars etc all worked with little noise.

I used a 28mm 2.8 prime lens and remote shutter. Took around 50 shots and used this : http://www.startrails.de/html/software.html

EDIT : Oh - I didn't get the round effect either, as I wasn't sure where to position the lens