Photographing star trails - the best tips

Star trails are one of the phenomena that you can photograph at night. In our article we show you how this works best and what you have to watch out for.

Equipment for photographing star trails

The first tip we can give you is the right equipment. You don't have to be afraid that you have to spend a lot of money. However, your camera equipment should meet a few general requirements.

• The most important thing for photography at night or in low light is a tripod. Due to the high exposure time, you have to hold the camera steady, which only works ideally on a stationary surface.
• Next, of course, your camera should not be missing. We recommend a DSLR camera, as this will give you a better result.
• No matter which camera you choose: Make sure that you connect a remote release to it, switch off the autofocus and set factors such as exposure time and continuous shooting.
• Be sure to have a spare battery with you and fully charge the main battery of your camera beforehand.

The right place

The ideal time to take pictures is after sunset or before sunrise.

• First, find a suitable place to take pictures. It's best to look for a nice spot during the day.
• Ideally, your camera should be facing north so that you have the North Star on your picture. This is the center of the star trail because it is not moving.
• Apart from the stars, there should be no other light source other than the moon.
• Also make sure you have a cloudless night, otherwise you won't see much of the stars.

Photographing star trails - how to do it

We recommend that you take a test shot prior to the series of pictures. So you can see if the exposure fits and rule out later trouble.

1. First screw your camera onto the aligned tripod. Please do not forget to set up the remote release.
2. Now you have to set the focus for your picture. That sounds more difficult than it is.
3. Light up the subject with the flashlight, in this case the sky, and let the camera automatically focus on this point.
4. Then switch to manual focus so that it can no longer be adjusted.
5. Set the exposure time on your camera to 30 seconds and activate the continuous shooting function. You only have to release it once, instead of after each picture.
6. You should leave the ISO value quite low. Just experiment a little. We can recommend anything between 100 and 300, after which there is more noise.
7. You can let the camera take pictures until the battery is empty. You should then have enough pictures for a star trail.
8. Put the images together using a program such as Startrails.