I really like star trail shots with a little bit of color or clouds in the sky, but obviously any long exposure shots of sunset or clouds will result in a bright blurry nothing. So, to compose this image I layered an appropriately exposed twilight image of the Moon with Venus, then left my camera in the exact same position until dark (after Venus and the Moon had set). Then I took star trail images like normal. I layered the images together in Photoshop and adjusted the colors.
I think if I had to do it again I would take a lighter "base" image at twilight and let the stars shine through just a bit, rather than having a primarily dark sky with just a hint of sunset. It turned out pretty much like I planned - maybe some more clouds next time for something more interesting, and less air traffic gosh darn it!
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| Layered and adjusted image. It would be more whimsical without the planes! |
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| Basic star trail image, about 270 frames with Canon Rebel XT, colors and contrast adjusted in Photoshop |
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| Base twilight image, original color, 18mm, ISO 200, 5 sec, f/4.5 |
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