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Star Streak Tutorial
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Home : Learn : One Article
Star Streaks
a tutorial by Philip
Greenspun
There I was, up in the White Mountains of California, 10,500' high in the Ancient Bristlecone Pine
Forest. The tree in the foreground is probably 3,000 years old. They grow slowly in the dry climate that
results from being in the rain shadow of the Sierra Mountains across the Owens Valley to the east.
I stuck my Nikon 6006 on a tripod facing east, mounted a 60/2.8 macro lens (I think), and set the
aperture for f/4 (ISO 50 color negative film). I opened the shutter with a cable release and screwed down
the lock. Then I went to sleep for six hours. As the morning began to brighten, around 4:30, I unscrewed
the cable release. No clunk. No motor drive whirr. It seemed that the lithium battery had died. I put a
lens cap onto the front of the lens to block stray light and inserted a new battery. The shutter/mirror
thunked closed and the camera wound up to the next frame. I then repeated this procedure with a Nikon
8008 on an adjacent tripod.
The Nikon had been loaded with my favorite landscape film, Fuji
Velvia. Due to the higher contrast of slide film, though, the
resulting image was much less interesting. Color negative film
compresses the contrast in the original scene, so faint star trails
were recorded right alongside the bright ones. Both the slide and
negative films recorded brilliant colors where my eye could see
none.
Here's my advice to others interested in star trail photography:
http://www.photo.net/astro/star-streak (1 of 9)7/3/2005 2:15:29 AM