star trail Archives - Craig Rogers Photography

Star Trails Above a Forgotten Time

10th March 201910th March 2019Craig Rogers

After a very warm and clear spring day I decided to head to a location I spotted a few weeks back for a Star Trail photograph.

It was a very dark location and I setup using my (very bright) Mountain Bike lights. Set the camera’s built-in Intervalometer and then sat and waited for an hour (listening to the sounds of Wild Boar and Tawny Owls) whilst the camera took multiple exposures. One of the exposures I briefly shone the lights on the Well.

The shots have then been merged together. This was originally just a test shoot but the final result is worth sharing with you. Looking closely at the trails, there are small gaps which suggests the Intervalomter was missing a shot which is strange as I’ve not had this issue before and a count of the final number of images doesn’t match the number I expected for an hour-long shoot. Anyway, here is the final image and I look forward to returning for another session.

{Click image(s) to view on Flickr - opens in new tab}

New Location For A Star Trail Shot Found

28th February 201928th February 2019Craig Rogers

This morning I (and Wally!) stumbled across an old and abandoned Well with many of the workings still intact. A quick look on the PhotoPills App confirmed my thoughts that the angle below is exactly north facing.

This means that Polaris (AKA The North Star) is directly above the well. I love to try to include local features in my shots and therefore, I will return for a Star Trail Shot the next time we have a perfectly clear night sky. The only concern is the area also has a lot of evidence of Javali foraging!

Happy Christmas – Felix Natal

16th December 201716th December 2017Craig Rogers

After creating a Star Trail a few nights back it gave me an idea for a Christmas Photo, so here you go, Happy Christmas (Feliz Natal as we say in Portugal) to everyone who views the site and here’s to a great 2018!

{Click image(s) to view on Flickr - opens in new tab}

Geminids Meteor Shower

14th December 201714th December 2017Craig Rogers

Last night was the peak of the Geminids Meteor Shower. These Shooting Stars are dust particles left behind by the asteroid Phaethon.

It was hoped that there would be a lot of activity last night, however, it wasn’t the show I was hoping for with very little visible meteors burning up.

I left the camera capturing a 15 second exposure every 20 seconds between 10:16pm and 11:23pm. During this time the camera captured a few meteors, however, only 7 were bright enough to use. Can you spot all 7?

Therefore, I decided to merge all 203 photos together to create a star trail photograph also showing these 6 meteors. The reason the stars create a trail is that due to the Earth spinning on its axis and moving around the sun they appear to move in the sky. Polaris, otherwise known as the North Star, is just out of shot on the top left. This star doesn’t move much due to it being aligned with the Earths axis, hence the name North Star, all other stars then appear to rotate around it. The stars on the top right of the photo appear much brighter, this is the Milky Way.

{Click image(s) to view on Flickr - opens in new tab}