"We are the stars that sing. We sing with our light. We make a road for the spirits to pass over." (DCD-Spiritchaser) I'm switching computers and operating systems and my scanner is down. So I'm cross posting (from photocritique) this image of Zion. Taken on the banks of the Virgin River from about 10pm to 3am with an old Canon AE1 and 20 mm @ F5.6 on velvia.

-- Larry Korhnak (lvk@gnv.ifas.ufl.edu), October 25, 1999

Answers

I think this is spectacular. Did you find the north star and visualize the result before you took the picture?

-- Patrick Feltmate (pfeltmat@tupmcms1.med.dal.ca), October 25, 1999.

This is one of the coolest star trail pics I've seen. I only wish the rocks in the foreground were a little brighter. I'm not even sure how to do that, though.

-- Mark Castiglia (markus777@earthlink.net), October 25, 1999.

It's bad enough that you make me like B&W, but now star trails? Another subject that I'm not fond of, but yet you have done a good enough job to leave me in awe. I always liked my stars to be pinpoints, until now. Another superb job Larry.

-- Brad Hutcheson (bhutcheson@iname.com), October 25, 1999.

Very impressive! I've attempted pictures with star trails, but never this successful. I'd also like to see the rocks better lighted.

-- Alan Davenport (w7apd@arrl.net), October 25, 1999.

Very nice photo! I am intrigued by the patterns: The stars above the pole seem to spiral (elongated circles), and the trails on the left seem to be almost vertical (only possible at the equator). I guess there must be quite a lot of distortion with that 20mm lens...

-- Gordon Richardson (gordonr@iafrica.com), October 26, 1999.

Very well done. The center of the circle is perfectly placed.

What distortion ?

-- Jan van Bodegraven (jan@macrophoto.com), October 27, 1999.

Now that everyone is done looking at this it's safe to confess that placement of the north star was mostly a happy accident. The "rocks" are really the canyon walls. The experience of taking the picture was good mediation about scale. I tried lighting the walls with my big maglight but it didn't help :-). However, my nephew also did a star trail at the same time with gold 100 and his walls look great, but the sky is too bright. Anyone ever try a GND filter for star trails? I used a Minolta Dimage scan Multi to digitize the slide. The scanner had to reach way down in its guts to get this one. Sharpening did some damage to the trails. Thanks for the comments!

-- Larry Korhnak (lvk@gnv.ifas.ufl.edu), October 29, 1999.

Larry, not EVERYONE's done commenting. I was never overly impressed by most star trail shots either, but this is really amazing! I like the dark walls. I am mostly impressed with the forethought and patience that must go into taking a shot like this. Kudos! Donna

-- Donna P. Bollenbach (cassidy@icubed.net), October 30, 1999.

WOW!!! Spectacular. Great shot!!!

-- Subbu Kalinathabotla (subbu.kalinathabotla@cellone-sf.com), November 12, 1999.