Just a short message to say thank you Richard for the teaching's and inspiration you have given to all, to get us out and create great shots like what you produce. I was intrigued by this video on star trails mind you, it was a younger you, but not any less informative you lol. You didn't use layer masks and instead, used the clone tool to remove the light from the car head lamps on the individual layer. I figured that when you started using layer masks, it was a better and non distructive way of removing light from the layers, or adding back if need be. The clone tool is good but hard to correct if adjustments need to corrected afterwards. Also I shoot in raw so white balance isn't much of an issue for me in post. I do reckon however that the best practice is getting white balance right in camera like you do because it learns us about light and conditions and not to take for granted.. we can easily fix in post .. There might be a time when we shoot in JPG for instance and forget our settings are baked in. I know you know all of that but pondered on some points in the video before understanding finer detail but thats part of the learning curve we go through to create beautiful nightscape images.. One suggestion.. why not create a questions and answer forum for people who watch your content to discuss all things nightscape. My experience is I learn a lot from like minded people when we can chat and exchange ideas. Thanks again Richard, ATB, Damian.
Thanks so much for watching Damian, and for your very insightful comments. I guess I regard these comments sections as being that forum .. each video has it's own topic and lots of people comment and ask questions. I know myself that I enjoy reading comments on people's videos as they often ask a question I was thinking. Thanks again for your great support.
I'm chomping at the bit to get out, although it's going into winter and will be cold here in the northern US. I have scouted out a bunch of places that should give me excellent views. I just need some clear nights... it's been solid clouds or rain lately. This was excellently done... I'm now understanding the LR and PS edits too.
Hi Richard, Thanks so much for all your inspirational video tutorials. I used some of your information to shoot my first star trails this week. Here in the north of England we don't get many clear nights so I haven't had much opportunity to practice. Lockdown due to Covid 19 has encouraged me to look at different photographic genres. I used the Panasonic Lumix GX8 with the built in Intervalometer and the 7-14mm Pany lens. I decided to shoot 70 images of 30 seconds exposure ISO 800 at f/4. The result was great but I set the frame interval at 32 seconds and the number of images to 70. What happened is every four frames the camera software stopped and said "video complete" Anyway sat out at midnight in the cold I just kept restarting the time lapse intervalometer until I had enough images. When I got home I explored why this happened and I think that it was because the camera had insufficient time to write RAW files to the SD card. I reset the camera intervalometer at home but used 33 seconds between exposures and it sequenced perfectly. Just wondered if you had come across this before. Thanks again for all your excellent tutorials. Sadly in the north of England we don't see much of the Milky Way core all year but I enjoy seeing yours
Thanks a lot for watching Peter, yes I have seen that before and you may be right about the card speed. Perhaps a quicker SD card may help ..?? I have never had any problems writing to cards even with a 1 second delay but all cameras are a little different.
Another cracking tutorial, and very enjoyable viewing! I now feel inspired to have a go at some star trails with light painted foregrounds. Thanks again for such quality content and instruction.
Hello Richard, great video again!! Where I live there is to much light pollution to do long exposer settings. The settings I use here in northeast Ohio in the United States is around 40 sec. Iso 500, F/2.8 on my Nikon d750 with the Nikon 20mm F/1.8 g lens. I have that camera and lens because I saw how well that combo worded for you! Thanks for the information!!
Hi Richard, Thank you so much for the online workshops you have been putting together, in fact, thank you for all the videos you have made on this fantastic genre. I came across your videos recently and have now watched them all. Absolutely fantastic and I have learnt a lot from you. Now that restrictions here in Qld have been relaxed I am looking forward to getting out this week to put what I have learnt from you into practise. I hope to get down to Melbourne either later this year or next year and hope to be able to attend one of your workshops. I have made a donation via PayPal as your videos (all of them) are worth much more than I could donate at this time. Again, thank you so much.
Richard, I would like to thank you for teaching us your technique for photographing and editing star trails (and the nigh sky in a general way). I was very happy and proud when I received your like in my first photography selected by @startrailchasers group in Instagram. Your work inspires me a lot! Best Wishes!
Hi Richard, another gem. I usually do 30 sec exposures for an hour, which gives me 120 shots. Will probably try longer exposures next time. I am also hoping that you do an episode on panoramas.
Hello Richard , I would like to thank you for this series of workshops online , they have been inspirational , you explain everything in an easy manor that anyone can follow , the other night I managed to do my first successful star trail using your instructions and using your Photoshop tips it was easily put together , many thanks and keep up the good work :)
Great episode Richard liked the back to the future quip! Now it’s about getting out there it’s been a good month so far out under the stars and thanks for your inspiration!
Excellent video again Richard. I prefer the 2- 3 mins exposures, less time to process particularly with a higher resolution camera but not longer than that as the long exposure noise may be tricky to get rid of particularly if max sharpness is what someone is looking for. It also saves a few clicks from the camera counter as if you like doing that very frequently and you aim at 2-3hr exposures, then a new shutter mechanism may be required very soon. Thanks for sharing your fantastic work!!
Great video. Kudos to young Richard !! Since you use Sequator I am sure you know that you can stack the sky images in it and create star trails instead of stacked stars. Might be of interest to some who do not use photoshop. Thanks for sharing the images I am learning so much while struggling to recreate your images.
I'll be getting out this midweek and I'm eager to try my hand at light trails. The weather forecast is for clear skies and with over five hours of the Milky Way, it should be a productive night. Thank you, for all you do too educate and inspire us.
Great video I've only done a couple of star trails in past but used hundreds of 20/30 secs photos. I now use the D750 & tamron 15-30mm f2.8. I'm definitely going to try your longer 3 min exposure technique, thanks again for the guidance & look forward to your next video.
Hallo Richard, thanks again for this excellent video. According to my experience it is worth to stop down the aperture to 5.6 or even a bit more. In my opinion it has two advantages. The first one is: you usually prevent aeroplane trails in your star trails (just not enough light per time in one spot thanks to fast movement). It is an annoying task to erase them in post production. Fair enough in times of shut down planes are not the big problem, but now we have starlink satellites ^^ The second one is a matter of personal preference. I usually do not like overcrowded star trails. This way you have less trails which makes the single trails more visual. I really appreciate that you do not care about camera brands at all. But if I may I want to mention the live composition mode in olympus cameras. This makes the stacking in camera and shows you the live picture on screen, so you have total control on how long you like to take the shot. I always use it for my star trails. I am pretty sure you had some attendencies of your workshops with olympus cameras. Do you know any draw backs of this feature compared to your method. I don`t want to start any brand bashing or so. I just want to know about your experience about this. Greetings Steffen
Thanks for your great comments Steffen. Yes I've seen plenty of Olympus live composite mode .. it's very good. The only thing is that you may still need to add the extra light painted frame for the foreground. There's nothing wrong with stopping down the aperture as you've suggested. I think we should do what works best for our particular equipment.
Thanks for this Richard, you were a little younger then and your methods on post have change somewhat for the better, i do use the single short images for star trails but i must admit your way is better and less stress on the camera shutter....i going to try this the next time i'm out... Great job Richard
Well delivered tutorial Richard. Personally, I quite like some of the pictures where the star trails get broken up by the cloud, I appreciate it doesn't always work though.
Great video - I have seen your video on star trails before and have tried it! IT WAS AMAZING!! However, my practice shot is in the city and I am in the landing flight path of DFW here in north Texas -- so I got many "AirPlane trails" as well! Turned out, the plane trails in the image with the stars were pretty cool! I want to get out of the city soon to get more stars in the image and practice your light painting process!! Thanks so much for these workshop videos -- I appreciate it so much!!!
Well I learnt something there Mate. I didn't know about method 3. On the odd occasion that I've done star trails I've used starstax but your method looked so much better, and I like the way that a light painted foreground subject can be incorporated. So cheers for that Richard. Another great video 👏👏👏
Amazing final image Richard. That was an awesome tutorial on star trails. I will definitely be giving this a go now we’re a little more free to move about. Thanks for sharing the video mate, fantastic work as always 👍🙏
Great video!!! Was waiting for the star trails episode to come out. Keep up the good work and not only me but many others would like you and Alyn Wallace to do a Collab after this pandemic is over! Keep it up
Allô 👋! I’ve tried star trails many times lately. I think it turned out .... not bad but, for the moment I can’t do post-processing. I bought an Asus laptop, which is now a year old and it hasn’t been working well from the beginning. I thought, at a certain point that it would blow up, considering the noise it makes. Harder to have it repaired at the present time. But good news, problem has been found! The other computer I have is also dead but can be repaired. So, I don’t have any of both right now! My XQD card is loaded with a lot of images so far. I’m impatient to see them pictures. I follow your advices religiously 🤩. Did I tell you already that before I found you on RU-vid, I was mostly taking pictures in the daytime and was more a nature/bird photographer? See how you changed my life so far my very interesting and so captivating story telling friend?! Luv ya!
Hello Richard, inspiring video(s), it triggered me on taking star (trail) images. I use sequantor ( can you make a video on that) and lightroom, where in i modify the final image. (Cropping, removing objects )
Thanks a lot for watching Jan. I don't usually use Sequator for making star trails but I do use Sequator for stacking my milky way images. I have a lot of videos about editing.
Hi Richard, just found your video series and it’s great to get them in Australian ! Love the simplistic approach and it’s certainly filled in some gaps in my knowledge. One question though as I have tried to take some star trails recently. Will the Milky Way always feature in the star trail (seems to take away from the clear trails). Keen to come on one of your workshops but they are all booked out (I’m on a wait list).
Thanks so much for watching. No you can point your camera anywhere to get star trails. If you want the full circles you have to point south . .in the Southern Hemisphere.
Richard Another good video by some young bloke, when you change the blending mode, can you select all the layers and being highlighted change the blend?
Looks like the 3rd option or method for star trail is the best one for practice. I really enjoy very much this video with your " back to the future " Richard Tatti. Still have doubt where I have to choose south or north cause Im from Puerto Rico ( caribbean island) Does 10 (3 minutes) shots make the trail perfect circle? We need only 30 minutes aprx for it??
Thanks a lot Luis. You are still in the northern hemisphere so you would point north to see the circles. 30 minutes is certainly enough to see the full circles .. obviously each star is not full but when you group them all together you'll get the circle effect as a collective group.
Thanks a lot Dave for watching. All I do is wrap the lens warmer across the lens and I focus through the lens warmer. You have to be careful when doing this with a zoom lens however as it's really easy to bump the zoom ring.
Thanks Richard pretty simple, just didn't know how much it weighed perhaps show people on your channel how to do seeing that you are showing your all checking dew point and what temp it starts at. Dave
I watched most of your videos, All great and I learned lots and I am a beginner, In this video you are talking Intervalometer, In your new Z6, I think you don't need this, could you please explain how to use Interval timer feature for 30 second exposure
Thanks for watching Nihal. Most of the more modern cameras have built in intervalometers but they only go to 30 second shutter speed. For my star trails I like to shoot about 3 minute shutter speed. To do that I need an external intervalometer.
Hi Richard, I love this series !! Now I have a question. I have a series of images I want to stack. The one I light painted wasn’t the first in the series. Do I still drag it to the bottom like you did with yours ? It will still work the same way, won’t it ?? Thanks in advance and again, your videos are amazing! They’ve been very informative!!
The light painted image will work anywhere in the stack. I just like to make it easy to follow by putting it at the bottom. Really appreciate your support Joseph. Thank you.
@@nightscapeimages.richard Richard good evening, you had your camera in bulb mode but not continuous shooting? This is how I had set up at first. just the interlometer mentioned continuous, Anyway I wont be doing any shooting for a while as I was playing tennis a fell and broke my hand in 3 places, Got a cast put on today. I will have to be content watching your tutorials.
Hello Richard...I love your videos and have watch most of them at least twice. In shooting star trails I see images that seem to have 'heavier' or more pronounced trails than the ones I have done. Is this because they have many more images stacked together or is there something I need to change in my settings? Again thank you for all the work you do!
Thanks so much Dan. You'll find that the longer you shoot the more trails will appear. However there is a recent trend in star trail photography to heavily process them to produce a somewhat dreamy appearance. I can tell you they don't come out of camera looking like that. Some people de-focus a little to make the trails thicker and a lot will add enormous amounts of vibrance and saturation to enhance the colour. Another technique is adding blur to enhance the spinning effect.
Thanks so very much for the absolute best videos (and I’ve watched a few!) Unrelated to star trails I have question regarding panos. Is it possible to light paint compositions. If so how to edit foreground that your normal procedure involves layer masks in Photoshop?
Hi Larry, thanks for watching. Yes I usually light paint all my pano foregrounds although I don't usually edit them separately to the sky. I have done that but it means you'll pretty much have to do 2 panos and blend the foreground with the sky.
Richard, thank you for your guides. You infected me with this type of photography - I love it. Your photos are an inspiration for me, I am looking for such frames in Poland :) Richard, I have problems understanding your focusing method all the time. I understand that you always focus to infinity when taking pictures of the stars (ISO 1600 and F2.8). When you paint objects in the foreground with light, you never change the focus, but you give a lower ISO and the aperture to F5 or F6. And it`s all? In such a case, does the focus automatically focus on the object to be painted? Greetings from Poland.
Thanks so much for following my videos Rafal. I really do appreciate your support. Often I don't have to re-focus on my foreground because when you stop down the aperture of a lens the depth of field increases. So in many cases infinity focus will remain . . for example if I shoot a foreground that is not too close to the camera it will come into the plane of focus simply by changing aperture. If the foreground subject is too close to the camera, then I will re-focus on it to make sure it is sharp. This is dependant on the focal length of the lens. I hope that makes sense.
Thank you, everything is clear now! Maybe I'll give you an idea for a new guide :) There is no movie in your performance on how to replace the sky in a photo using the usual technique in older Photo Shop. Unfortunately, not everyone has a new Photo Shop :( and the skyreplacment function. Maybe you could show it?
@@rafamurawski7525 That's a very good idea Rafal . .However I never used any trackers or sky replacement until photoshop included the option in the later versions.
Richard so did you do all the light painting in one three minute shot by running behind the camera from left to right, could you have done this by lighting with shorter say 15 second shots from various angles. thanks Shane
Thanks for watching Shane. You can do it both ways. The thing to keep in mind is focus. If the foreground subject is very close to the camera you may run into focus issues by doing it in the same exposure as the sky. For the absolute best results I'd use different foreground exposures to light paint and make sure. Hope that helps.
Thanks for watching David. I'm tossing up about the tracker. I don't use them very often and there are some great videos out there already from people who use them all the time .. we will see on that one.
Hello Mr. Richard. Thanks for this beautiful tutorial, or should I thank to that youngster whose video you actually used in this tutorial. He is a very talented guy. I am sorry to hear that people are posting your images without mentioning who took them. That happened to me when on trip with coworkers (even though my images were simply said rubbish, but still far better than ones taken by other people i traveled with). It's s frustrating when someone you don't know copies your images, but hurts even more when friends do it without any permission. Nevertheless that's life. Have few questions if don't mind. Are star trails doable if we have moonlight? Have you tried capture one - Nikon version, for basic version is completely free? Are you interested in deep sky photography since you have tracker? And the last question, what is the line for you when it comes to editing that you dont cross (removing objects, color editing etc). For the last question I understand it's personal preferences, but have seen so many photos online that are more of CGI than actual photos. Thanks again for great video. Cheers!!!
Thanks again for watching Milorad. Yes you can do star trails in moonlight but I prefer only a little crescent moon. I have not tried Capture One. I don't really want to go down the deep sky rabbit hole as I may never see the light of day again. I think I prefer to see images that are based on reality .. in other words I don't really do composite images where the sky couldn't possibly be in that location. I will clone out some distracting elements sometimes, I think it's ok to be creative with colour and imagination but I also think it needs to be explained how people got their shots so that we aren't guilty of misleading anyone.
Thanks Richard - another excellent presentation. To get the turning effect ( circle ) is it only necessary to point the camera South. ? Or is it necessary to find the South Celestial Pole or somewhere near it ? Thanks again mate.
@@nightscapeimages.richard When I say wide angle lens; 24mm in full frame, 12mm in cropped machine. In another question, how do we get an image with a fisheye lens (for example 8 mm lens on a cropped machine).
@@drmtufan You can shoot with a fisheye .. it's just the same as a normal lens except that the horizon is curved. Micro 4/3rds at 12mm is still wide angle.
Thanks for another great video , I have been away and tried a couple of star trail exercises and I think I have understood the process. However ... I don’t go even close to getting the full circle. Can I assume that is to do with the fact I am using 1.6 crop sensor camera to shoot with ?
Nightscape Images I have the full connections in the circle just not the total circle as it doesn’t “fit” into the frame . Perhaps I have too much foreground before the sky ?
Does one of your other videos go into more detail on how to set the correct exposure with histograms? For US Yanks with light polluted skies; it is NOT that easy? Or, as a 77 year old newbie, I am just slow! LOL
Hi Charles, thanks a lot for watching. To be honest a histogram on a night image is not telling the full story because of the obvious .. it's dark. Often large areas of the image are totally black so therefore they show on the dark side. If you push the exposure a lot you end up blowing out the sky. I'm sure this happens when you shoot in heavily light polluted sky. It also depends on what camera equipment you use. Sony and Nikon cameras are iso invariant which means you can under expose them quite a bit and recover the shadow detail in post production whereas Canon cameras prefer to be exposed more accurately in camera. I guess I'm saying that not all systems are equal when it comes to selecting correct exposure. I go by my experience and you'll find the settings don't change very much when shooting nightscapes unless there is significant ambient light or a full moon. I know it may not be all that helpful but the answer is trial and error . .after a while you'll know what works best for your camera.
Thanks for watching Charles. It's only going to be a very slight focus adjustment so you make sure you don't move the camera position .. just slightly adjust the focus ring.
Great video Richard, I’m really enjoying watching your tutorials. Your time lapse at approximately 4 mins, was the building lit up with your Video light? I’ve been thinking about a time lapse with foreground lit up but I wasn’t sure if the light source would be too strong during a 3200iso 20sec exposure
@@nightscapeimages.richard what battery do you think would be required to get about 8hrs of light at low power from the z96, as I see Sony make various capacities
Nightscape Images without by our great help I would not do it. I also shot a video and will edit in couple of days. I’ll post the link once it’s ready hope you will watch it 😊 be safe and God bless
@@nightscapeimages.richard thank you so much I have set my remote and will give it a go tonight. My friend and I really enjoy your videos and look forward to the new episodes. Thank you for all the lessons you're teaching us.
I'm guessing you mean to add multiple meteors to make a composite image ..??? I think the easiest way to do that is to cut each one out using layer masks.
Evening Richard, I was inspired by this tutorial, went out tonight had my interlometer set as per video same as camera. Started it and I watched the timer go through all the 3 minutes sessions. I had expected the light to go off quickly between shots but it stayed on. When the 10 shots finished the camera was busy processing the images which took a while. Downloaded the images into Lightroom, but I had no images at all, I do not know what the camera was processing. I use a Canon EOS-R mirrorless full frame. At a loss to reason why, does it have something to do with the interval not working between shots. Can you advise please. Thanks Gary
This happens to me when I do not allow enough time for the camera to write to the card. Card speed and camera abilities vary a lot. Try leaving more time between shots for the buffer to clear and make sure noise reduction is off.
