Star Trails with Tree and Light Painting

[PhotoExtremist]

Hey guys, I took this shot on a tripod and put my camera on an intervalometer so it takes 30 second exposures right after one another, and then I took a flashlight and light painted to tree several different times in about 5 or 6 different frames



then i put the files together in a program called startrails.exe, excluding the light painting ones

then i imported the star trails image into photoshop and placed the light painted tree frames on top of it, using Lighten as the blending mode

the shots were taken using incandescent white balance I think, in order to ensure that the flashlight light didn't come out yellow.

also did some minor hue/saturation adjustments.



oh and I also just recenetly made a basic walkthrough video showing the process of light painting the tree and combinging the light painted layers into photoshop, i uploaded it here if you want to watch: vlue's deviantART gallery

Tell me what you think
Evan

[imabhi]

Excellent share...thanks for that

[thegreysquirrel]

Great shot. I saw you mentioned 30sec exposure one after the other but how many shots in total was this? Love the light painted tree too, it was actually the idea of doing that which forced me into getting my first DSLR.

[edbayani]

very good use of photographic and editing combination knowledge.!!

[PhotoExtremist]

Hey, thegreysquirrel, that is the same reason why I got my DSLR too!!

And I don't remember, I think I deleted the original files. Probably somewhere between 60-300.

[steamsmyclams]

Wow! That's a lot of shots. But it's produced a stunning shot. Thanks for the tips!