It's bloomin' cold standing on top of a hill at night in the middle of winter, but if you want to see stars at their best then you need a dark night and at a latitude of 53 degrees north that means winter!
This timelapse sequence of stars (plus the odd planet plus areoplane) wheeling by overhead was shot one cold and frosty night on the limestone escarpment at Loggerheads Country Park in North Wales, just a few minutes drive from my home in nearby Mold.
The evening started out clear enough but as you can see, clouds moved in so I finished my shoot earlier than expected, although my toes and fingers were grateful for the reprieve.
I've always found night time timelapse photography in winter to be technically challenging, what with long exposures, poor battery life and digital noise to contend with, but the potential results make overcoming the problems worthwhile and despite the cold it's still a wonderful experience to be out to see sights such as these.
Now where's that cup of hot coffee gone?
Filename - stars timelapse 02.mp4
Camera - Canon 5D
Lens - 24-105mm zoom @ 24mm
Exposure - 15 secs, f4, ISO400
Location - Loggerheads Country Park, North Wales
This clip - HD 720p
Clip duration - 16 seconds at 25 frames per second.
Shooting interval - 15 seconds
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