This is a photo that was made during my Digital Night Photography Workshop on June 2, 2012.
Capturing star trails is a photography technique that goes way back with film photography. The photo would be made on a very dark night with a very long exposure often lasting more than an hour. This image was taken during a full moon and only a few miles from the lights of Fort Smith Arkansas. The technique of stacking multiple exposures was used to capture the star trails without overexposing the rest of the image. The stacking process also greatly reduces the noise created with digital sensors, making numerous short exposures instead of one long one. Another advantage of the stacking process is the ability to edit individual images, which I did to remove a red cast on the trees made from the tail lights of a car during some of the exposures and the removal on an airplane passing through the image.
The circular path of the stars is caused by having the North Star in the image. The North Star or “Polar Star” is aligned with the Earth’s axis causing it to appear stationary while the rest of the stars appear to rotate around it.
The location is Wilson Rock, an abandoned park on the Arkansas River south of Muldrow Oklahoma. Due to the still night and the full moon we were able to capture the reflections of the rock on the water.
The software used is “Startrails” written by Achim Schaller from Freiburg Germany. The software may downloaded and used for free, but he will gladly accept donations if you like the software.
Great Places for Great Photos
Let me help you to find a great location for your next photography adventure. I will list many lesser-known destinations, as well as the famous "Icon Locations" for photography. I will provide photos (Lots of Photos), location information, consisting of what there is to photograph as well as other information about the destination. I will give costs, maps, directions, contact information, and other essential information for a successful photo trip. I will only post for locations that I have personally photographed to ensure a quality guide to great locations for photography. If you know of great places that are not posted, please send me the details, I may just decide that is a place I need to go!
Greg Disch is a freelance photographer located in Arkansas. Greg specializes in nature, scenic, wildlife, and other outdoor subjects in Arkansas and other areas of the country. Most of the images on this site are available for sale as prints, personal use, or rights managed stock photos.
Greg offers both classroom instruction and in the field hands on photographic workshops. Classroom sessions are normally held in Fort Smith Arkansas, but arrangements can be made to bring a class to your group.
All classes and workshops have small class sizes designed to provide an optimum student to instructor ratio, where you can get the personal attention, you need. Most classes and workshops are limited to a maximum of six participants and will be held with a minimum of only two.
If you are looking for a wonderful opportunity to get personal individual instruction, I do private workshops and classes at a location of your choice, whether doing a location photo shoot, coming to your home or business, traveling across the country on a road trip, or at my classroom. This is a fantastic way to learn digital workflow and be sure that your computer equipment is properly configured for optimum performance.
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