Seibu Tamagawa Line - Attempting Star Trails
Taking on the challenge of train light trails and star trails
Have you ever seen those astrophotography shots where the star trails are swirling around (star trails)? Today, I decided to try my hand at that kind of photo.
When I looked at the evening sky, there were no prominent clouds, so I thought, "Maybe this will work?" and came to a field along the Seibu Tamagawa Line.
Looking up at the sky, a few stars are shining (perhaps the fact that there are only a few is the point).
The sky in Tokyo has strong light pollution (a phenomenon where city lights reflect off the sky, making it look bright), so the area near the horizon looks bright even at night, and the number of visible stars is very small...
Even so, it might be because the air is clear at this time of year that I can see this many. From early spring to early autumn, the humidity rises, making the conditions quite difficult.
I started shooting about an hour after sunset.
The OM SYSTEM OM-1 has a mode called Live Composite, which is a feature that allows you to fix the camera and keep the shutter open for a long time (or more accurately, continuous shooting) while only capturing the bright parts as they overlap on a single image.
Watching the camera's rear monitor, I could see the star trails extending little by little as time passed.
Just as I was watching the monitor with high hopes, thinking, "Could it be that I'll succeed on the first try?", a white band of clouds suddenly appeared from the sky behind me!
"Oh no!" (a mutter that slipped out unintentionally)
I had to stop shooting about 25 minutes after I started...
Having predicted that no clouds would form tonight, I learned once again how difficult natural phenomena can be.
I will definitely get my revenge on this!
I told myself with strong determination as I headed home.
In times like these, it's nice that the damage is minimal because the shooting location is close by.
After shooting this time, I felt that the train light trails were a bit too strong, so next time I want to try again while keeping the exposure a bit lower, while still making sure to capture the stars clearly.
It's not easy to succeed right from the start, is it?
Once I manage to capture the scene I had in mind, I will upload it again.
See you later!