Getting started with star trail photography can seem daunting for beginners, but fear not! In my latest video tutorial, “Beginner’s Guide to Star Trail Photography – From Beginning to End,” I take you on an expedition, guiding you through every essential step to master the art of star trail photography.
This comprehensive guide is designed to demystify the process, from planning the shot to the final touches in post-processing. These 2 videos contain 60 minutes of instruction, so get yourself a drink and a notebook!
Video 1: How to Make Star Trail Photos
- how to select the perfect day and location
- what camera settings to use
- gear recommendations
- post-processing tools and techniques (including how to get those foreground details!)
Don’t forget to scroll down to the second video below where you’ll learn how to turn your star trails into 3 different types of timelapse video!
Beginner’s Guide to Star Trail Photography Video Tutorial
Video 2: How to Make Star Timelapse Videos
We’ll learn how to make 3 different types of videos:
- regular star timelapse
- star trail timelapse
- star comet mode timelapse
If you just want to watch the final timelapse videos, go to the 17:42 point in the video below.
Beginner’s Guide to Star Trail Timelapse Video
If you enjoyed these videos, please subscribe to my YouTube Channel.
Anne,
Thank you for the detailed, thoughtful approach to creating a star trail image.
I’m going to be on the lookout for a location in my locale.
Glad you found it helpful, thanks for your comment Denny!
Thank you. Living in the UK south of London we just don’t have the clear skys.
But I’ve had some surprising success on a couple of occasions over the years.
One problem I have is nailing the focus at infinity. My Sony RX100m3 with its f1.8 lens is great but the focus wheel is electronic and switching the camera off one needs to start again.
And I find other manual focus lenses also focus ‘past’ infinity.
Again thanks for sharing. Hope your health issues are in deep remission.
Hi Thor, I understand what you mean about focussing past infinity! Is it possible to set the focus before it is dark, switch your camera to manual focus, and then turn it off? I think when you turn it back on it will still be on manual focus. Something to try anyway, I have never used that camera so I’m not sure.
My health is slowly getting better. I’m still not 100% but I’m able to do much more than I was before! It’s nice to be able to do fun things again.
Very good demonstration Anne. Can you create the star effects in Photoshop?
Hi Brian, yes, you can … it’s a bit unwieldily with so many layers. But you can bring each photo in to photoshop on a lighten blend mode and it should work. But it will create a huge file with hundreds of layers. So that’s why I like to use starstax, which is a free app.
Hello Anne, once again congratulations on your nuptials, and whether your McKinnell or Burr, it’s got to be a great feeling to have gotten to enjoy that Vegas experience no doubt! Interestingly, 43 years ago, my wife & I had a very simple wedding in Reno, and headed out for a couple of days in one of their fine Hotels, then off tenting our way headed north, to meet up with friends at Christina Lake. Nonetheless, I seem to find Landscape photography to be where I find the most interest, or general nature photography I suppose. I just had a friend asked, here in Casa Grande Az (3 months enjoying retirement here) at an RV resort who wanted me to photograph a ‘Billards tournament’ of which I agreed to. Not having my flash, I made the decision to use my iPhone 14 Pro Max, and it did a wonderful job actually, seeming to gather the light just fine for evening shots, albeit the lighting wasn’t all that bad. So, I might try and reflect more attention to iPhone Photography, with it being so much easier to carry than my Nikon. I would like to do more ‘long exposure’ imagery too, as I’ve never really taken much time to take night photo’s, other than some fireworks images in White Rock once, and of course the moon with my 150-600mm lens, basically experimenting. I’ve tried some bird photography, but I have ‘essential tremor’ in my right hand, so holding the camera/lens for long periods doesn’t work well, so I need to use my tripod, albeit high shutter speeds do help in that instance overall. Anyway, I am following Rays hikes on Facebook, as he’s been showing some wonderful & unique seguaro cactus shots! I often take long walks in the desert while here in the south, looking for unique shots as well. Hoping of course, that the rain will be enough for the desert flowers to be immense this year, as I got some good shots last year of the many, including the cactus themselves flowering. So good to hear you’re feeling better, and have more energy, as it’s been a while for sure. Best of wishes to you both!
Hi Dale, thank you very much! I kept my name McKinnell. Yes Vegas was a ton of fun and we really enjoyed Red Rock Canyon for the wedding.
I have a video on my setup for bird photography because I can’t handle heavy gear either. The gimbal head makes a huge difference! Here’s a link: https://annemckinnell.com/2020/11/12/wildlife-photography-with-limited-mobility/
Hope you’re enjoying Casa Grande, we’ve had some nice weather lately!