Lining up shots of the spinning night sky is difficult. You might be thinking...
really? don't you just find someplace dark and point the camera up? Yes, of course, that's how it starts. Once I get that far, I'll start taking 30 second test shots until I find a position I can use. You have to watch out for trees and bushes and giant rocks creeping into the frame. If I'm anywhere near a road, I'll wait for a car to pass and take a few shots to see what the headlights cause. Then you have to check the spill from the campfire, and headlamps of those who wander from the fire. All of this in 30 second chunks. That's a long time to stand in the dark and wait.
Once I find a spot that's good for the 30's, I'll pop off a 4 minute exposure so I can see how the trails will line up. If it's good, I set the timer and sit down by the fire until the battery dies or I run out of wood.
Trails like the one in this post, exhibiting the parabolic effect at opposite corners are usually too chaotic for most people. I understand that, you are looking at a 160 degree view of the sky after all. That's a lot to take in!
But I really like shooting them, so I thought using a static star image as a block for the viewer to stand on might help calm things down. To my eye it's works, but is also problematic. Maybe it looks too much like a million comets on a collision course. Meh, any start is a good start.
For those of you who're keeping track, this is one 30 second exposure and about twenty 4 minute exposures. You're looking west from one of my favorite campsites near Canyonlands NP. An arm of the Milky Way is responsible for the large cluster of trails right of center. The curvature of the Earth is evident in the parabolic gesture. Storms and wind raised dust levels in the lower atmosphere and gave that orange gradient to the lower frame. Finally, further evidence that mankind might be out of alignment with the universe is present as light trails of airplanes travel almost perpendicular to the beautiful continuity.
