can you tell me your settins for this? I tried and it was over 20min and they didn't move much. Of course I only had the big dipper out that night. We don't get many stars here that often Especially with all the fires going on around us. This is most excellently done

I didn't think we had many starts here, with all the city lights, so it was a nice surprise.
Settings; ISO 200, f4, 120 exposures at 20 sec. Stacked with StarStax (freeware). Program so great I might even make a donation.I have tried several different photos over the last few days and been trying to figure out why you sometimes get the circle and sometimes not.
I'm pretty sure it is the direction you aim your camera. I get it if I aim my camera South, you will probably have to aim it North.
Good Luck

If you're in the Northern Hemisphere aim the camera at Polaris (north star), in the Southern Hemisphere aim for the celestial south pole.

I love how theres more in this picture than just the trail well done!

Congratulations for your fist place (as per usual)!!!
Your work is very captivating, holds my eyes most times

Thank you, I was trilled with this photo and I learned a new technique.

congrats , well done !

Excellent. You really produce winners for all themes. Way to go.

very nice and congrats

Good job! No stacking

Thank you Kyricom! Nope, no stacking. This is right by a lake with not any town near to it. therefore i could go for a such long exposure.

you are a very brave man! 17mins in one frame..?? with your Digital SLR...?? hopefully it did not burn your sensor..nice photo!

I heard this one before...
That your sensor can burn with a long exposure.
I shot a 30 min exposure at f:6 (3 shots) but nothing happened.
Is that a "photo legend" or is it possible?
This 8 mm lens are great author.I must have one!!!

I've done 100+ minute exposures with my sensor still going strong.
I've also tried pointing a laser directly at the sensor without burning it.
Dang those Nikonsensors are tough!

I do agree with you, they are tough! Now i can see why Canonians prefer to stack their photos in this contest

I've taken 25 min exposures on my canon 7d and 5d mark ll with no problems...

Yep - I have taken a 64 minute exposure on my entry level Canon with no problems. Sounds like one of those urban myths to me. The idea of stacking is better image quality (less noise)

Amazing!

The reason why i didn't stack was i didn't knew about that technique at the time.
I've pointed a laser into my sensor. how bout' that Canonians? :P

pfft! You getting any older yet? Good to see you around.
Nice job and congrats buddy.

Thank you! @c-dawg:Not getting that much older. But i've examinated school and start working as a part time pressphotographer part time carpenter

wow very nice!!! Can you explain your "stacked" thing? I'm a bit confused :/

Great shot.
Amanda have a look here;
http://www.diyphotography.net/your-complete-guide-for-photographing-star-trails
and a link to StarStax, which works on the Mac
http://www.markus-enzweiler.de/software/software.html

Thanks Amanda& Friiskiwi - Stacked shots are multiples of shots from the same spot. Just think of the stacks as all of the photos placed on top of one another. A 'star-trails' program then just blends all of these images into one and with any luck, the only movement is the position of the stars, hence the 'trails'

amazing

MnMCarta... it's basically adding layers when people chop

Actually - that is a rather ignorant view. It has Nothing to do with chopping, it is overlaying the same image multiple times.

172 stacked x30 ha ya that ain't chopping but it sure is a cool affect.

Great shot. could you tell us how long was the timepause ?

Hmmmmm.... now where have I seen this before? lol, Awesome job Author!

Thanks Artifakts & Locksmagic
This is my first startrail attempt shot about 5 weeks ago.
The image is around 134 frames of 30 second exposures and stacked. Wish I had read the tutorial in the theme goal before hand, will hopefullt try another one in the next couple of nights
It's really dark out here so I estimated the lenght of time it would take for a single exposure then divided that by 30 sec exposures, put the camera on tripod and shooting continuous 30 second exposures, go inside for dinner and coffee and hope dogs don't run into tripod in the dark

Efforts have paid ! It's really a great shot !
We also thank your dogs to be wise !

author, this is a great image. would you be able to put an sbs, so we can see how you achieved it. I for one, have never played with stacking images like this, I think it would be a good one for us to see.....

Hi Ade - I have no idea how to make an SBS, let alone one with 134 shots in it but you can either take a single exposure or lots of 30 second ones. I have read that many shots turn out better than a single long exposure. If your using a wide angle lens, set the aperature around f5.6 - f8, ISO around 400-800 depending on your light conditions.
The startrail is a free program that automatically stack all the images for you. It can be found at http://www.startrails.de/ In the tutorial provided in the theme, I have read that the startrail program is a bit old now. I downloaded the one provided in the tutorial but have not tried it yet - hopefully tonight.
Anyway - in Startrails, you just select all the images you took and hit the automate button. It can also be done in photoshop either manually or create/find a free 'action' for it - not everyone has photoshop which is why a program such as startrails is a bonus
If someone can tell me how to creats sbs - I'll see shat I can do.

No probs author, I will look into the star trail thing. Thanx.

The sbs is almost simply putting the stages of your work into photo form. In this case, maybe a screen shot or two of the images in the program and some blurb. Your description here should help us though......

Incredible

Nicely done, but I do feel the headlights detract from the image.

Personally I think the headlights give the image more depth and intrigue. It reminds you that, while these stars are moving around overhead, life carries on down here.

I love the headlights as well, it makes it seem as if this was a snapshot and not a long exposure. I also love the angle!

Thanks for the input, I had thought about not including the headlights but ultimately decided that I like the fact that unlike almost all other star trail photos the addition of the headlights gives a sense of action. Most foreground images in star tail photos are interesting but lifeless subjects, just wanted to give it a different touch

Love this one well done