How to Make Sense of Star Trails

Those frosty, unbearably cold winter nights are warming to an almost reasonable temperature here in the Canadian Rockies. Landscape photography at night is a universe unto itself. Spectacular magic only reveals itself to those willing to brave the darkness and that which lurks in the dark. The payoff, though, is worth the challenges of landscape photography at night.  

When calling attention to landscape photography at night, those less familiar with the night sky may conjure up images of starry night skies and perhaps the Milky Way. But there's much more to the night sky than those twinkling star images, isn't there? 

Star trails are a creative technique that can capture the movement of the stars in the night sky. Well, it's the earth's rotation that results in what appears to be star trailing. But there's more to star trails than setting a long shutter speed. You see, star trailing patterns will depend on the direction in which the camera is facing. 

I reside in the Northern hemisphere, so my examples below showcase trailing patterns found up north. 

In the northern hemisphere, when a photographer points the camera towards the east, the stars will arch similar to this pattern:  

^{ISO 200, 14mm, f2, 399 seconds}

Point the camera south, and you might see the Milky Way in your frame, but trails will arch left to right:

^{ISO 500, 35mm, f4, 501 seconds}

Point the camera towards the west, and stars will arch in this pattern: 

^{ISO 640, 14mm, f2, 501 seconds}

And finally, point a camera toward the north star, and stars will circle Polaris (north star)

^{ISO 500, 14mm, f2.8, 601 seconds}

Magical, right? 

Next time you are out underneath clear night skies, point your camera in various directions! You'll be glad you did!