Experience and post-processing of star orbit time-delay shooting

One day, I had a whim to shoot the star track, so I asked my friends to go with me.

I filmed it all night. Both of them have caught a bad cold so far.

Although tired, I am really happy. Now let me introduce my shooting experience and post-processing flow.

= = = = = = = = Equipment and dress articles = = = = = = = = = =

The first is the equipment details.

Body: Canon 5D Mark III

Lens: tenglong sp 15-30mm f/2.8 divcusd.

Foot stand: Benro GC268TV2

Cable release: MK-RC8, Ke Mei (wire only)

Flash: canon Speedlite 600EX-RT

Memory card: 64G CF +32G SD

Miscellaneous: two spare cameras/eight AA batteries/four /AAA batteries.

Personal belongings: thin windbreaker/mosquito/headlight (wrapped in red cloth)

Description of equipment selection

Needless to say, the whole frame is much stronger than the high-sensitivity half frame.

This time, the lens for shooting the orbit of the star used a super wide-angle focal length of 15mm, which included more foreground and starry sky.

Tripod is very important. A stable tripod can bring high-quality imaging. I think a good tripod is worth it this time.

Cable release must choose a deputy factory for two reasons: low price, delayed shooting function and decisive reduction of shooting pain.

At the same time, don't use wireless cable to publish, because it will be fun for fear of interference and fear of receiving or transmitting without electricity.

The main function of the flash is to illuminate the foreground. Just take it out and the foreground flashes once or twice, which will cause overexposure.

Personal dress code

Pants and socks are necessary because mosquitoes can compete with dense fighter-bombers

Mosquitoes are afraid of water, or they can't run with their clothes covered.

A windbreaker is easy to catch a cold when it is foggy in the middle of the night, but we still caught a cold decisively.

Red headlights help to see the camera clearly in the dark and facilitate adjustment, but they are not too bright and make your eyes white.

This is the equipment I took with me when I went out.

= = = = = = = = Time and place to select articles = = = = = = = = = =

Shooting the starry sky is very harsh on the choice of weather, time and place.

There are several factors to consider: first, the shooting time needs to confirm the moon's profit and loss, close to the full moon, and naturally there is no need to shoot stars.

Secondly, there is no need to take pictures on cloudy days and cloudy days.

Last but not least, the light pollution around the city is serious, and it will not work if the sky is bright for a long time.

However, there will always be various situations in daily life, and we can only try our best to create the best shooting conditions ourselves.

For example, because I have to go to work on weekdays, I have to choose Friday night.

But it was already the twelfth lunar month, and the moon lit up half the sky, so we had to choose the shooting time according to the rising and falling time of the moon.

In addition, the light pollution in Zhuhai is far beyond imagination. Later, we resolutely moved to the beach area with high railing fees to get a pure sky.

But there is no way to choose Polaris, because the direction of Polaris is urban light pollution, so it is impossible to shoot.

Therefore, it is necessary to shoot the stars and do your homework. Here are some mobile phones I use.

AccuWeather is used to inquire about the weather and the rise and fall of the sun and the moon on the day of shooting.

This is the weather situation that night.

SkyView relies on her to find stars, Polaris and constellations.

= = = = = = = = Website layout = = = = = = = = = = =

Of course, everyone was very excited when we arrived at the shooting location.

You need to arrange the shooting location quickly, because in fact, stars run very fast.

Set up a tripod and start shooting (my equipment is on the left)

There are two points to pay attention to in framing: one is framing, and the other is focusing at infinity.

Framing: First set ISO to automatic, and see that the exposure meter is normal, and then press the shutter (this can effectively reduce framing time).

After several times to determine the scene selection and lock the tripod to remain stable (be sure to lock it, just wait to cry. . . )

Infinite focus: aim the flashlight at the farthest mountain or bright star and press the shutter several times to reach the clearest state, then set AF/MF to MF.

The final long exposure must turn off the lens anti-shake.

= = = = = = = = Shooting parameters = = = = = = = = = =

The idea is this: the superposition of multiple photos requires a slight underexposure. The lower the high sense, the better (high image quality). The shorter the exposure time, the better (reducing thermal noise)

So my parameters are: ISO 1000 focal length 15mm f/3.5 exposure 15s.

Turn the camera to door B and insert the cable release device. My delay setting is exposure 15s, and 500 shots are taken every 5s.

Then there is a long wait.

We take turns sleeping in the car. We are mainly responsible for watching camera security and power failure.

Finally, I stayed up all night, hungry and cold, and went to the pickled noodle restaurant 30 kilometers away. A bowl of instant noodles and pig's head soup is full of happiness.

= = = = = = = = Post-processing articles = = = = = = = = = = = =

There are two sections here, one is stellar orbit and the other is dynamic video, which is also the focus of this post.

First of all, I'm a rookie. It's true that I've been in contact with LR+PS for three months. I don't even know layer mask.

So if there is anything wrong, please let me know.

The tools used here are Adobe Lightroom CC and Photoshop CC.

-Orbital synthesis.

Open LR to import the shot material.

Modify the basic parameters of one of the pictures as shown in the figure, and actually adjust it to what you like.

Other parameters are as follows

Moderate noise reduction

Copy the adjustments and settings of this photo.

Copy option

Paste the settings of previous photos after selecting all other photos.

Then export all photos.

The export parameters are set as follows (this is based on personal preference and computer configuration)

Derivation ing

Finally, the combination of materials is obtained.

Exclude some photos with strong light to avoid overexposure when synthesizing, but don't delete them. Create a folder to store them.

There is a preparatory work to be done to open PS (this is very important)

Open the temporary disk and confirm the location and space of the temporary disk.

If the temporary disk is full of various actions and cannot be imported in vain, make sure the space is good.

Now it's official.

Choose File-Script-Load File on Stack

Select the composite material you just generated, and remember to select Create Smart Object.

After stacking, select Layer-Smart Object-Stacking Mode-Maximum.

In this way, you can initially get the synthetic star-orbit map, and then you can get the star-orbit map you want by pulling the curve color scale.

Remember to save, and only PSB can be saved, because it is estimated to be more than 2GB.

This place is full of sense of accomplishment.