Rant: Gave up on a week of star trails because of one lousy cloud bank

I set up my camera at Joshua Tree last Monday and got three nights of clean shots, then a thick cloud bank rolled in on Thursday and ruined everything. Has anyone else had a whole planned week fall apart because of one bad night?

2 comments

2 Comments

luna_kim4011d ago

Had a similar thing happen up at Mount Rainier last summer. I was three nights into a five night Milky Way project and a marine layer just sat on the ridge for the last two days. Ended up taking my best single night frames and stitching them into a composite time lapse instead of a continuous star trail. It wasn't what I planned but the result was still pretty cool with the clouds clearing right at the last moment. Have you tried salvaging any individual shots from your good nights?

wright.taylor11d ago

Same thing happened to me at Big Bend last spring - three perfect nights and then a wall of clouds rolled in on night four. @luna_kim40's idea about salvaging the good frames is solid, I turned my keeper nights into a layered composite that actually looked more dynamic than a clean star trail would have. Sometimes you just have to roll with what the sky gives you and make the best of it.