76 DIGITAL CAMERA^ AUGUST 2019 http://www.digitalcameraworld.com
Create stunning star
trails the easy way
Use your free Star Trail Kit in Photoshop CC, and
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About your star
trail actionsThe Star Trail Kit is comprised of
two .atn files, which will generate
a star trail effect from scratch,
or create the rotation effect from
an existing shot of a starry night
sky. Once you’ve loaded the
actions into Photoshop CC, you
can use them to create a long-
exposure effect that emulates
the earth’s rotation over a
period of several hours.
Jon Adams
Jon is a professional
photographer and writer.
He also provides
one-to-one and small-
group tuition in both
digital SLR and Photoshop
image-editing skills.s the Earth spins on its axis, the stars in
the night sky appear to rotate above us.
Even though we’re spinning at a speed
up to 1,000 miles per hour (depending
on our latitude), the movement is still
too slow to register on our eyes without additional help.
The best form of assistance is photography, as a long
exposure will turn the stars into streaks of light.
Recording these star trails isn’t easy, however: it
requires a cloudless night, dark skies that are free from
light pollution, and very long exposures several hours
in length. Nowadays, the long exposures are usually
broken down into hundreds of continuous 30-second
exposures that are then stacked together, but a
good star trail shot is still a considerable undertaking
with many variables that can spoil the result.
Many photographers will still relish the logistical
challenge of capturing genuine star trails – but to make
life a little easier, I’ve created some special Actions for
Photoshop that automate the entire process from
scratch – or from a static-shot starry sky. With a star
trail quickly generated, you can then drop it into any
night scene to add an extra dose of awe! Let’s take
a look at how to use your free star trail Actions...A
STEP BY STEPFILE & VIDEO
Download the
disc: http://www.bit.ly/
dc219discBefore After
FREE
Star trail
actions