Today for most of the day there wasn’t a cloud in the sky.  So, I thought tonight would be the perfect night to attempt a photo that I’ve been wanting to take since I got my cable release for my camera.   What I wanted to capture was the movement of the stars streaking across the sky.  Unfortunately, I came to the conclusion that being in the center of Orange County is just not conducive to this kind of photo.   The fact that the moon was almost full also didn’t help.
 
I discovered that people use two methods to create this effect.  One is to take a single photo with a very long exposure time (which is what I attempted).   The other is to take multiple 30 sec exposures and stitch them together later in the computer.  This second method would’ve worked better when it comes to the kind of light that surrounds me here in Orange County.   In order to get the kind of streaking that I wanted I would need to keep the shutter open for at least an hour but when I do that here the entire sky just goes gray.  I guess I’ll have to make a trip out to the desert sometime to try this one again.  Oh well.
 
For the sake of interest, have you heard about the guy who built a pinhole camera and took a six month long exposure?  He captured six months worth of the movement of the sun going across the sky including both the winter and summer solstices.  Check it out here.