Exposure time 30,0 Sec.

During one of the 200 shots, a calculation of the trees was dodged with a bright flashlight in order to be able to recognize them later in the finished picture. The tree now points to the North Star, which surrounds itself completely unimpressed with a star wreath.

=>Interest in recording technology?

And then the clouds came from the sea - despite a recording altitude of 1,600 meters above sea level, this series of recordings was a race against time. But surprisingly, the clouds behind the trees waited until the last picture was in the box and now convey a special look in this black and white composition of the finished star trail picture

=>Interest in recording technology?

We had rented a nice little house at over 1,600 meters above sea level, which offered ideal conditions for star trail photography. Light pollution is generally low on La Palma and was particularly low here, in the vineyards and above the clouds. In some nights, the sea of clouds over the coastal regions even shielded the light of the towns and settlements there.

The interesting rock formations in the north of La Palma can also be used as objects for star trail photography. Here is an example on a - unfortunately - somewhat busy road, so that only about 100 of the 200 pictures were usable. But the picture basically shows the idea of the composition ... even if it is more suitable for documentation than for wall decoration. Or is it?

The blue hour is of particular importance for photography.

Pictures taken at this time of day, when dusk changes to darkness after sunset, can create a mixture of unsettling melancholy and uncertainty about the threatening black of the night, the moods that, on closer inspection, have nothing to do with the subject. Perhaps they also evoke memories of experiences at this time of day, when our powerful sense, our visual perception, begins to lose its protective power with diminishing light and invisible dangers are suspected in the shadows ...

It can get damp near streams and this can lead to fogged optics. Here the front lens fogged up and produced a fog effect - in other words - about 50 of the 200 pictures were unusable for this reason and on another thirty the position lights of the planes landing in Cologne drew their "airplane trails". But the rest of the pictures could still be used for this "hint of star trails" over the Hanfbach valley. Unfortunately, a higher ISO or longer exposure time could not be used due to the high level of lig

For several years we have been dealing with the recording of star trails or star tracks, i.e.