Create AMAZING STAR TRAILS (Astro-Photography Tutorial)

We've been promising for a while to bring you a night time photography tutorial and here it is! We actually met on an astrophotography course Stephen was hosting, and this is the first time we've photographed the stars since!

We're at Portland Bill, Dorset, to photograph the night skies and create a star trail. Star trails, in this case, are made up of multiple long exposure photographs and capture the appearance of the movement of the stars across the night sky.

Most of the county of Dorset is excellent for landscape astrophotography because of two reasons. It has excellent dark skies, and some of the most iconic landmarks in England. Where we are, on the southern tip of the island of Portland, is a particularly good location for night photography. There's no light pollution between you and France. Dorset in general also has some fantastic night skies, with very low levels of light pollution.

We spent over an hour in the freezing cold to capture 150 images which we later stitch into a single star trail. Stay tuned to follow the process from planning to editing. Don't be daunted by how technical we get towards the end of this video - anyone with a relatively modern smart phone can take these kinds of images.

This is the equipment we use for astrophotography:
- Camera: Nikon D850 full-frame digital SLR: https://amzn.to/3T5qzEk
- Lens: Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 ED: https://amzn.to/3ZxQA17
- Another great alternative (and cheaper) lens for wide angle landscape astrophotography: Samyang 14mm f/2.8 manual focus lens: https://amzn.to/3Yy2qHA
- Tripod: Vanguard Alta Pro 263AB: https://amzn.to/3ZW4FoS

^^ The links above are Amazon UK Affiliate links, which means that if you'd like to purchase one of the items listed, by using that link, we will receive a small 'commission' and you'll be helping to support the channel. Thank you!

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OUR TOP TIPS FOR STAR TRAILS

TOP TIP 1: Visit your night photography location in the day time, so that you can be aware of any obstacles or risks prior to visiting in the dark.
TOP TIP 2: Bring a torch to make sure that you can see in the dark, but be careful not to shine it at other photographers taking images at night.
TOP TIP 3: Be prepared for your images to not work. Weather can play a big part in the success of your shoot, but many factors contribute to the success of a landscape astrophotography shoot. Make sure you have a plan B in place and don't be too disheartened if you get something wrong. The key is to make sure you are happy with everything prior to starting your time-lapse of many long exposures.
TOP TIP 4: Use a tripod! We are working with exposures in the region of 15-30 seconds, and a strong sturdy tripod is absolutely essential for successful astrophotography.
TOP TIP 5: Use your camera's live view feature to focus, and set your camera to manual focus. Your camera will most likely be unable to autofocus in the dark.
TOP TIP 6: Use a self timer of around 2-3 seconds so that the camera has time to steady itself again after you press the shutter button.
TOP TIP 7: Create a series of shorter exposures, rather than one very long single exposure. It's much less risky and you can do more with the files you capture!
TOP TIP 8: Although it's tempting to do so, don't edit your images as soon as you get back home. You'll be tired and the edits you make won't be as good as when you've had a bit of sleep!
TOP TIP 9: Be considerate of other photographers. As mentioned earlier, don't risk ruining other people's images if you're not alone on a night photography shoot.
TOP TIP 10: Check the weather constantly, using different apps. This is the most important stage of planning an astrophotography shoot.

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We're Stephen and Claire. You may know us as the Two Zany Brits who filmed & edited Mapperton Live & American Viscountess. We've now set up this YouTube channel. Be sure to subscribe to follow us on our journey: https://www.youtube.com/stephenandcla...

Follow us on other platforms and send us a tip here: https://linktr.ee/twozanybrits

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Chapters:

00:00 - Introduction & Location
00:59 - Top tips for setting up a star trail
02:20 - Our equipment for astrophotography
02:35 - Settings and tips for photographing stars
04:32 - Test shot
05:15 - What are star trails?
06:09 - Interval timer shooting (intervalometer)
08:09 - Capturing the images
09:04 - Checking our images
09:14 - More top tips
11:05 - Back home
11:27 - Editing multiple exposures into a star trail
14:22 - Our verdict
14:53 - Outro
15:21 - Outtakes

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How do we film these videos? Here's our kit...

DJI OM 6 Smartphone Gimbal: https://amzn.to/3hl608a
DJI Mic Wireless Microphone System: https://amzn.to/3VhvOkt
Apple iPhone 13 Mini: https://amzn.to/3FcD7Eo

^^ The links above are Amazon UK Affiliate links.

#astrophotography #startrails #photographytutorial