Krishnan Photography

Attempt at Startrails – Uksan Lake

February 3rd,2019

I had tried to shoot a milkyway at Sandakphu but my lack of expertise got me a nice blur of a shot. However this weekend I had a chance to learn some of this techniques from folks who were more proficient than me.

Basics for shooting ( Note to myself for reference )

  1. Use an external wired remote shutter release. Its way more reliable than the internal intervalometer.
  2. Must have a fully charged camera battery. Two batts recommended.
  3. Must have a tripod
  4. Check moon phase for least moonlight
  5. Check weather for no clouds
  6. Check site for light pollution. Need a dark spot to setup.
  7. Shoot some 150 shots for startrails ( 62.5 mins total time for 150 shots at 25 sec each)
  8. ISO 800 – 3200, 25 sec exposure @ F2.8 on a 17mm about wide lens. Check exposure with a test shot and see you get sharp stars.
  9. Set manual exposure , lock the external wired remote in and keep it pressed for 62.5 min.
  10. Check infinity of lens since the mark on the lens can drift. Manual focus helps. Focus at infinity, keep AF manual and VR set to OFF.
  11. Can paint in a foreground subject for compositional interest.
  12. Shoot last four frames with lens cap on for “Noise frames”.
  13. Multiple apps available for the phone to locate the stars & milkyway One I saw being used was “Photopills

Post Processing flow

  1. Shoot RAW
  2. Process one frame and copy the settings to all other frames except “dark frames”
  3. Convert all 150 RAW to a jpegs.
  4. Use a stacking software like Sequator / Starstax for stacking the shots and get the combined shot.
  5. Final process in Photoshop or similar



Light Painting

Image Processing / Landscapes / Tips / Trip Reports

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