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How to Create Stunning Star Trail Images Part 2: Combining and Editing Images
How to Create Stunning Star Trail Images Part 2: Combining and Editing Images
by Keenan Hursh
Star trails are one of the most intriguing, interesting, and mesmerizing styles of photography out there. The way one can capture the passing of large amounts of time and the apparent movement of each and every star as it passes across the night sky is magical, to say the least.
This style of photography can seem quite daunting and overwhelming to anyone who hasn’t attempted it, and there are quite a few steps involved, but at the end of the day with a little education and direction, you can capture star trail images for yourself. Which is exactly why I’m writing this article. To educate, inform, and inspire our readers to get out there and attempt this art form themselves!
And if you’d like to take things the extra mile and learn how to capture star trail images in person with the best in the business then definitely check out our Desert Star Trails photo workshop! On this unique trip, we’ll take you to some of the best locations on the planet with professional photographers who can guide you every step of the way regardless of your knowledge or skill level. An article can only accomplish so much, so if you’re passionate about learning this technique then definitely check out our trips!
Because this is a complex topic, I’ve divided the article into two parts. Part one discusses what exactly star trails are, all the necessary gear and planning, and the steps involved in actually going out and capturing a series of photos. Definitely give that one a read if you haven’t already!
Today’s article is the natural follow-up to part one. Now that you’ve gone out and captured a series of photographs, what do you do with them? How do you combine them together to create a stunning star trail image? What software will you need? And much more.
Let’s get into it and cover all the necessary steps and information required to combine your photographs into a beautiful, striking, and otherworldly star trail image!
This style of photography can seem quite daunting and overwhelming to anyone who hasn’t attempted it, and there are quite a few steps involved, but at the end of the day with a little education and direction, you can capture star trail images for yourself. Which is exactly why I’m writing this article. To educate, inform, and inspire our readers to get out there and attempt this art form themselves!
And if you’d like to take things the extra mile and learn how to capture star trail images in person with the best in the business then definitely check out our Desert Star Trails photo workshop! On this unique trip, we’ll take you to some of the best locations on the planet with professional photographers who can guide you every step of the way regardless of your knowledge or skill level. An article can only accomplish so much, so if you’re passionate about learning this technique then definitely check out our trips!
Because this is a complex topic, I’ve divided the article into two parts. Part one discusses what exactly star trails are, all the necessary gear and planning, and the steps involved in actually going out and capturing a series of photos. Definitely give that one a read if you haven’t already!
Today’s article is the natural follow-up to part one. Now that you’ve gone out and captured a series of photographs, what do you do with them? How do you combine them together to create a stunning star trail image? What software will you need? And much more.
Let’s get into it and cover all the necessary steps and information required to combine your photographs into a beautiful, striking, and otherworldly star trail image!
Upload Images to your Computer
It’s worth noting that there are many ways to edit and create star trail images but for the sake of simplicity we’re just going to cover one of the most common and accessible methods in today’s article. We’ll be using Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop to achieve all the necessary steps.
So, now that you have your computer ready to go with Lightroom and Photoshop installed, you’ll need to upload your images. As a sidenote, I upload all of my images directly to an external hard drive so that I don’t fill up my computer's storage, but you can do whatever works best for you. I’ll upload all of my RAW image files into a folder that I can easily find when it’s time to edit.
Once I’ve done this I’ll go ahead and upload my series of images into Adobe Lightroom. One thing to note here is that if you have any sample images that you took before you started your sequence you will need to get rid of them. It’s very important that all the images in the sequence line up correctly so any image you’re going to edit has to have been captured in the exact same position on your tripod as all the other images. Simply go through your library of images until you find the beginning of your sequence and delete all the others before it.
It’s worth noting that there are many ways to edit and create star trail images but for the sake of simplicity we’re just going to cover one of the most common and accessible methods in today’s article. We’ll be using Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop to achieve all the necessary steps.
So, now that you have your computer ready to go with Lightroom and Photoshop installed, you’ll need to upload your images. As a sidenote, I upload all of my images directly to an external hard drive so that I don’t fill up my computer's storage, but you can do whatever works best for you. I’ll upload all of my RAW image files into a folder that I can easily find when it’s time to edit.
Once I’ve done this I’ll go ahead and upload my series of images into Adobe Lightroom. One thing to note here is that if you have any sample images that you took before you started your sequence you will need to get rid of them. It’s very important that all the images in the sequence line up correctly so any image you’re going to edit has to have been captured in the exact same position on your tripod as all the other images. Simply go through your library of images until you find the beginning of your sequence and delete all the others before it.
Edit them in Adobe Lightroom
Now that I have all of my images in Adobe Lightroom, I can start the editing process. To do this I’ll simply select any one of the images in my sequence and start editing it to my liking. I’ll usually edit all of the basic settings until I get a result that I think looks nice. It’s never a bad idea to bring your whites and highlights up and increase contrast to make your stars pop. Really, you’ll just have to mess around with settings until you get something you like.
Now that I have all of my images in Adobe Lightroom, I can start the editing process. To do this I’ll simply select any one of the images in my sequence and start editing it to my liking. I’ll usually edit all of the basic settings until I get a result that I think looks nice. It’s never a bad idea to bring your whites and highlights up and increase contrast to make your stars pop. Really, you’ll just have to mess around with settings until you get something you like.
Once you have fully edited this image you can then copy the settings and paste them to all the other images in the sequence. There are many ways of doing this but I usually either hit the large copy button in the lower left-hand corner of my screen or right-click the image I edited and then click “develop settings” and then “copy settings”.
A popup window will appear asking you which settings you’d like to copy. Usually, you can just move ahead with the pre-selected options but if you’ve cropped your image or applied a mask you may need to select additional boxes.
I then select all of the images in the sequence by pressing the “Command” and “A” keys simultaneously. Once I have the whole sequence selected, I’ll right-click it, click on “develop settings” and then click “paste settings” to apply my edit to all the images. And now all of the photographs In your sequence will have identical settings applied.
Now that you’ve done this it’s time to open them up in Adobe Photoshop.
Now that you’ve done this it’s time to open them up in Adobe Photoshop.
Combine the Images in Photoshop
While you’re still in Lightroom go to the Library module and select all of your images by once again clicking the “Command” and “A” keys at the same time (your images may already be selected). Once you have selected all of them, click on “photo” in the main menu at the top left-hand section of your screen. A drop-down menu will appear and you’ll then click “Edit In” and then “Open as Layers in Photoshop”. This will open all of our edited images as individual layers in a single Photoshop file.
While you’re still in Lightroom go to the Library module and select all of your images by once again clicking the “Command” and “A” keys at the same time (your images may already be selected). Once you have selected all of them, click on “photo” in the main menu at the top left-hand section of your screen. A drop-down menu will appear and you’ll then click “Edit In” and then “Open as Layers in Photoshop”. This will open all of our edited images as individual layers in a single Photoshop file.
Keep in mind this may take some time, especially if you’re uploading many RAW files. I have a relatively new MacBook Pro laptop and if I’m uploading upwards of 150-200 RAW images this can often take more than 15-20 minutes. You’ll just have to be patient and wait for all your files to finish opening in Photoshop.
Now that all of your images have been uploaded as layers in Photoshop it’s time for the magic. It's time to combine all the photos into a single star trail image. It’s honestly comical how simple this part is. Simply select all of the layers by clicking on the image at the top of the layers panel and scrolling all the way down to the bottom. Then click on the image at the bottom while pressing “command” on Mac or “control” on Windows. Once they are all selected click on the dropdown menu at the top of the layers panel (it will likely say “Normal”). This menu provides you with all of the different blending options available in Photoshop. These are ways you can blend two or more layers together. Scroll down the list of options until you see “Lighten” and select this.
Now that all of your images have been uploaded as layers in Photoshop it’s time for the magic. It's time to combine all the photos into a single star trail image. It’s honestly comical how simple this part is. Simply select all of the layers by clicking on the image at the top of the layers panel and scrolling all the way down to the bottom. Then click on the image at the bottom while pressing “command” on Mac or “control” on Windows. Once they are all selected click on the dropdown menu at the top of the layers panel (it will likely say “Normal”). This menu provides you with all of the different blending options available in Photoshop. These are ways you can blend two or more layers together. Scroll down the list of options until you see “Lighten” and select this.
And boom! You now have a star trail image that has seamlessly combined all of your photographs or layers into one exposure. The "Lighten" blending mode only combines the brightest parts of your image so this works perfectly for creating star trails. Before continuing there are a few other things you need to do.
While all of your layers are still selected either click on the drop-down menu at the top right-hand corner of the layers panel or simply right-click the selected layers and then click the “flatten" option. This will keep the desired look but will combine all of the layers into a single layer that will be easier to work with moving forward.
While all of your layers are still selected either click on the drop-down menu at the top right-hand corner of the layers panel or simply right-click the selected layers and then click the “flatten" option. This will keep the desired look but will combine all of the layers into a single layer that will be easier to work with moving forward.
Now that you’ve done this you simply need to click “file” in the main menu at the top left-hand portion of your screen. Then click “save” to save your image. Then click “file” again and click “close” to wrap things up in Photoshop. What’s really nice is that since we started out in Lightroom, when we save this Photoshop file, it will automatically save it in Lightroom so that we can continue to edit or export from there.
This is your chance to make any final edits you may want to the image. Once you are satisfied with the final result you can go ahead and export the file however you’d like and that’s really all there is to it.
Of course, if you’re a bit more experienced you can mess around with masking and overlay additional images on top of your star trail if you’d like. Oftentimes times people will take separate images that better illuminate their foreground and then overlay these on top of the combined star trail images. This is a bit more complex and nuanced so we won’t cover it in today’s article but definitely look into this if you’re interested.
Well, that’s all I have for ya. This is one of the most common ways to create a star trail image. I sincerely hope this article has been informative and helpful and that it has inspired you to get out there and create some star trails for yourself.
Once again, definitely check out part one of this article if you'd like some more basic knowledge on what star trails are and how to actually capture the series of images you'll need.
This is your chance to make any final edits you may want to the image. Once you are satisfied with the final result you can go ahead and export the file however you’d like and that’s really all there is to it.
Of course, if you’re a bit more experienced you can mess around with masking and overlay additional images on top of your star trail if you’d like. Oftentimes times people will take separate images that better illuminate their foreground and then overlay these on top of the combined star trail images. This is a bit more complex and nuanced so we won’t cover it in today’s article but definitely look into this if you’re interested.
Well, that’s all I have for ya. This is one of the most common ways to create a star trail image. I sincerely hope this article has been informative and helpful and that it has inspired you to get out there and create some star trails for yourself.
Once again, definitely check out part one of this article if you'd like some more basic knowledge on what star trails are and how to actually capture the series of images you'll need.
Create Star Trail Images with Backcountry Journeys
At Backcountry Journeys we love creating star trails and run a Desert Star Trails photography workshop purely dedicated to this niche style of photography. At the end of the day this is one of the more complicated and intricate forms of photography and although I can try my best to communicate the editing process to you all in this article writing can only accomplish so much.
If you would like to really learn how to capture and edit stunning star trail images in person with a professional photographer, I strongly recommend reserving a spot on one of our trips. We work with the best guides in the business, and they can help you in person every step of the way ensuring that you aren’t making any big mistakes and providing education and direction. We specifically dedicate parts of this trip to post-processing and image editing to make sure you can combine your images and produce a stunning image at the end of the day!
We also travel to some of the best locations on earth for night sky photography in the deserts of the American Southwest. Be sure to check out our Desert Star Trails workshop and we hope to see you out there on a dark night in the desert sometime soon!
At Backcountry Journeys we love creating star trails and run a Desert Star Trails photography workshop purely dedicated to this niche style of photography. At the end of the day this is one of the more complicated and intricate forms of photography and although I can try my best to communicate the editing process to you all in this article writing can only accomplish so much.
If you would like to really learn how to capture and edit stunning star trail images in person with a professional photographer, I strongly recommend reserving a spot on one of our trips. We work with the best guides in the business, and they can help you in person every step of the way ensuring that you aren’t making any big mistakes and providing education and direction. We specifically dedicate parts of this trip to post-processing and image editing to make sure you can combine your images and produce a stunning image at the end of the day!
We also travel to some of the best locations on earth for night sky photography in the deserts of the American Southwest. Be sure to check out our Desert Star Trails workshop and we hope to see you out there on a dark night in the desert sometime soon!
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AUTHOR
AUTHOR
Keenan Hursh is a Photographer, visual designer, and creative story teller based out of Bozeman, Montana. He draws inspiration from his frequent excursions into the natural world and always brings his camera along to capture whatever adventures he finds himself in. Keenan is passionate about documenting and sharing fleeting moments from the natural world and focuses primarily on wildlife, landscape, and adventure photography.
When it comes to gear, he primarily shoots digital with his Canon EOS R5 and EOS 6D mark ii but also has several 35mm film cameras that get out every now and then.
At a very young age, Keenan started bringing a camera along on his excursions and immediately fell in love with the art of photography. He started out with his parent’s cheap point and shoot and has continuously improved his craft and gear refining his shooting style and producing more compelling and intriguing images.
Growing up in the foothills of Boulder, Colorado, surrounded by mountains and wilderness, Keenan has developed a deep passion for many outdoor activities. When he’s not out on a shoot or using his camera, Keenan enjoys skiing, climbing, hiking, backpacking, cycling, whitewater rafting, and paragliding. If he’s outside, away from the distractions of society and civilization, he’s in his happy place.
Keenan studied Emergent Digital Practices at the University of Denver while minoring in Marketing and Entrepreneurship. Since earning his degree in 2019 he was worked with a wide range of clients, companies, and organizations throughout his career. Apart from photography he specializes in content creation, writing, brand development, and graphic design.
You can view Keenan’s portfolio on his website at www.keenanhurshphoto.com
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"Backcountry Journeys offers guests the unique opportunity to explore our natural world from behind their own lens. We run a selection of hand-crafted Photo Tours, Workshops & Safaris connecting passionate people to exceptional experiences. Locations worldwide.
All Images & Content are property of Backcountry Journeys Photography Tours, Workshops & Safaris LLC - Copyright 2024
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Download our Trip Catalog for detailed information on our many destinations for photography tours, workshops, and safaris.