Idaho Stars

[flechtight]

Looking for help.this is my second attempt at stars. I took this Pic plus 15 others( actually more like 100, but thats another issue ) at 24mm f/3.5 Iso 800 @ 27sec.exposure ( rule of 600, my bad ). On a couple of frames I painted the monolith with a flashlight for 27 sec. as well.

Can I stack those other frames to achieve a more intense star field vs star trail.
I am using a Mac, have CS5 ( not very good at it yet) it seems that most the stacking is done to create star trails.

[FrankMi]

Hi Jon. That is a fantastic image. As you are asking about star trails, have you seen this thread?

Startrail ISO reference

[flechtight]

Thanks, I have now. Still no answer for stacking for starfield ( Milky Way look).

[Frankie]

Jon,
I really like this image. It makes me wish I was right there looking at that sky deep in my thoughts. I know nothing about taking photos of stars, so I can't really help with that, but I really do like the image!
frankie

[Myk]

Nice image, another thread that may be relevant to you Milky Way photography - how?

[Paw Paw Bill]

Thanks, I have now. Still no answer for stacking for starfield ( Milky Way look).

You would have to manually aline the stars to each other as the time for each shot would be different and the star would be in a different part of the sky. The result would be star trails, otherwise. Depending on the direction the camera was pointing, you may have to slightly rotate each shot as well to counter the curve effect that shows up at increased rates when pointing north (in the northern hemisphere). Too much time difference would prevent any consistant exact overlay.
This is assuming that it would intensify the stars to begin with. You could also end up brightening the background around the star as well. You may be better served by increasing contrast on a mask of the starfield only, and then brightening the field.
Have not done this myself, just my thoughts of things to consider if it were me.

[Donald]

Jon

The only problem with achieving what you are seeking to do is that you'd be moving the resulting image well outwith the realms of reality. Now, there's nothing wrong with that in terms of the pursuit of artistic expression. But I'm wondering why you want/need to do that when you are able to produce images like the one you have shown us here?

[flechtight]

I thought I might be able to give the image a little more depth with some type of stacking technique, I played the sequence of shots back on a slideshow and can clearly see as Paw Paw stated the amount of aligning that would be required to stack the stars and would ultimatly shift the foreground in an arc.
I have done this place on our ranch before using very long exposures for star trails but the image was flat, I really want to convey what I saw and felt at the time.

It was a good learning experience and will keep at it

[flechtight]

Jon,
I really like this image. It makes me wish I was right there looking at that sky deep in my thoughts. I know nothing about taking photos of stars, so I can't really help with that, but I really do like the image!
frankie

Thanks Frankie