How to shoot a star trail ?

As a child I always liked the way the stars blinked in the night sky. It is always amazing looking at the stars. And then we were habituated to looking at falling stars and praying for our good.

When I got my first dslr, I wanted to see and shot the moon which was amazing experience and then came the stars. I did see some stars as a kid too, through the telescope our school had in the science laboratory, courtesy our science teacher. Frankly speaking  I did see nothing except darkness. And when I saw on internet that we can shoot the stars as they move (Or should I say the earth moves, because the stars are stationary objects, as per the scientists).

I had been trying a lot to do this and failed miserably a couple of times too. Although I am writing this now, I am not sure whether I have succeeded in shooting a star trail or not, that my readers will judge.

http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/spectacular-australian-star-trails

My Preparation :

A DSLR with long shutter speed facility and burst mode. (I took many shots of 30 seconds duration). And then stacked the images on above the other to get the shot. Also some people suggest you take a BULB mode shot. I tried that too, but did not find suitable results.

A steady tripod is a must so that the camera does not move a bit.

A silent and dark sky is a must, so I chose a night before new moon so that there is no moon in the sky. Also disturbances from light sources should be avoided. Unfortunately I could not do that, because I am in the heart of a city. Anyway I positioned my camera in such a manner that it focussed only on the sky and did not got distraction from city lights. My house fortunately is at a part of city where darkness prevails.

I needed a remote shutter release mechanish, which I purchased form ebay for 300 rupees. It works well.

And last but not the least PATIENCE is the key to the shot.

PROCEDURE :

I mounted my Nikon D5100 DSLR on the tripod and set the aperture to f/5.6 and shutter to 30 sec and multiple shots mode. I chose the ISO to be 1000 and took a test shot of 30 seconds and then adjusted the focus by looking at a distant source of light and then kept the camera still and with the remote trigger I pushed and locked it so that the camera goes on taking 30 seconds shots till I let it do it.

After almost an hour I remembered that I had left my camera outside and rushed and stopped the trigger and found it had taken some 100 shots.

Then I downloaded the images to my computer and used a freely available software called Starstax (DOWNLOAD) to compile the single image. I chose the gap filling mode on the software.

After the single stacked image came out I created a new document in photoshop of 900px X 596px and pasted the image and reduced the size and then improved the contrast and color and added some sharpness and got this result.

I know this is not a big image compared what people have got, but I am glad I have found a good quality star trail. My experiments will continue though.

Home coming on day three of the tour

As planned earlier we got up early in the morning on the 19th of May and reached the beach. I took to the bed while everyone left for shooting the sun. I followed them to the beach after sometime, and the situation was not better than the previous morning. There were still clouds and the temperature was low. Kids played on the sand and were busy making sand castles and I was watching the day beginning on the beach with salesmen getting ready with their gears to sale things to tourists and cameramen were busy asking for peoples permission to shoot their photos for some money.

Dosa at Restaurant Parijat near our hotel @ 50 is awesome.

Shot with Nikon D5100 from the running car at 100 KMPH

If you want to take your photos on the beach, it is a better way too. No need to carry your own camera and invite risk of moisture. These cameramen can take your photo and provide you with copies within half an hour in your hotel rooms. So many people were taking bath in the sea and we could not bath due to the high tides, it was not advisable to take bath in the rough sea.

Kids went on the camel ride with Dr Girija and his wife and enjoyed the ride much while we relaxed on the beach sands which was made unsuitable at places to sit down as some people had used the beach at a public latrine. The special Ginger tea served on the beach is something which you must try said my friend who is an ardent fan of tea.

We left our hotel rooms well in time and my friend Dr Girija left for Cuttack to his in-laws house while we waited for starting the journey to Bhubaneswar. We took the breakfast in the Parijat Restaurnat near hotel Basu, behind Puri Hotel where the Dosa served was much bigger than we expected. Although the extras coming with the Dosa were not much tastier, but the Dosa was superb. For fifty rupees you can fill in your tummy with this big dosa.

We moved from Puri towards Bhubaneswar by ten in the morning and reached Bhubaneswar by half past eleven and as I had plans I took my family to the Inox Movie theater to watch the Godzilla Movie in 3D. Frankly I had never had the option to watch a 3D movie in a cinema Hall. Although I had seen 3D movies at home on my TV, but watching it is a big screen is really amazing. The movie was nothing exciting except that the 3D effect made me glued to the screen. I must though admit the food items sold inside the Inox Movie theaters could have been cheaper. It feels bad to spend a thousand rupees on eatables inside the auditorium which you can get for less than two hundred rupees elsewhere. May be economy is booming, how can people spend so much in the movies ? It definitely is an option for a middle class family.

We enjoyed the movie, the popcorn, cold drink, sandwich, burger, potato pops (10 for 80 rupees, vs 40 rupees for more than 20 in Berhampur), french fries etc. Mamun my daughter had a great time there. Sometimes she god scared too, but overall the movie experience was awesome. I would definitely like to go back to the inox again for another movie.

After the movie we went to the canon camera shop to experience some new and tested models and it was fun watching all the cameras kept on stand for you to test. I wished if we could have such a store in Berhampur too.

From Bhwani mall to the Big Bazaar we moved for purchasing some items for our kitchen which are rarely found in Berhampur and we packed in some items and rushed out to catch to car to come back to Berhampur as the car driver informed that there is a Chief minister programme at Hinjilicut and he needs to move out fast so that he can carry the CM in his car. We started from Bhubaneswar by four in the afternoon and Prafulla the driver did indeed showed some quick driving skills at times moving the car from one side of the road to the other at the fast speed and making it to Berhampur by six in the evening.

The journey was equally enjoyable like the journey while going to Puri. Three days well spent in Puri, Konark and Bhubaneswar. And I was feeling lighter in my pockets too. Lol, the vacation was worth remembering for a long time. Sadly I could not spend more time in the temple and neither at Konark and so I plan to return to these places again in near future.

If you are planning to spend a weekend somewhere I would suggest you go to Puri, that is a nice place and in last so many years things have changed for good. This time while moving inside the temple I did not face any Panda Menace anywhere, may be because we were accompanied by Mr Saroj Sahu our friend. Anyway the tour to Jagannath Puri ended in a great satisfactory way.

A half day tour to the Black Pagoda

(Some of the Photos in the blog may be unsuitable / disturbing for minor blog readers, so parental guidance is advised for all people below 13 years of age)

Early morning on the day two of my journey to Puri I got up early in the morning to go to the beach and shoot the rising sun. At the beach it was dark at half past five although there were people all around  yet the light posts on the beach were still giving light to the day.

Early Morning view of the beach road in Puri

Camera lens with moisture

I opened my camera and to my utter surprise the lens of the camera was covered with moisture. All my efforts to erase off the moisture was fruitless. Thankful to my wife who always carries a lot of tissue paper in my camera bag I tried and cleaned the lens of the moisture. I took some shots on the beach full of people from everywhere and at about six in the morning I saw the sun way up high in the sky in between clouds. I was sad I could not take a photo but then I was happy too because there were clouds which meant the day is going to remain cooler.

a boy enjoying camel ride on the beach

The sun playing hide and seek from behind the clouds

the beautiful puri-konark marine drive road

Our team at Ramchandi, I am behind the camera

I received call from my wife who informed that all are getting ready to move to Konark and so I quickly reached the hotel room and got freshend up and we were out in the car moving towards Konark.

Entry ticket to the Sun temple @ 10 Rs / Person

The sun temple from the path to the monument

Artificial Baya weaver bird nests on sale near Konark temple

The sun temple of Konark

The Puri-Konark road has always been a pleasant place to drive. I remember in 2006 I happened to visit this place on a bike and I drove through this path and enjoyed it a lot. We stopped at Ramchandi Temple and did some Puja there. Then we went behind the temple because someone informed that there is a river and one can go on a boat to the other side of the river  and enjoy the natural beauty. The idea did not well enter into my mind neither my friends so we took some snaps of the family and kids there and then moved to Chandrabhaga. The chandrabhaga sea beach was crowded by then and the high tides coming to the shores were making huge noise. The templerature was going up and yet the sun was no where to be seen. I was sad because I could never shoot the Konark Temple in this cloudy light to my full satisfaction.

When we reached Konark the sun was up and smiling and we moved to Geetanjali Restaurant of OTDC near the sun temple for some breakfast, but frankly telling neither the fast was broken nor it was fast, we spent almost an hour in the restaurant waiting for the food to be served and the price list did indeed break our patience. Anyway, we had something in our tummies and we moved to the temple. My camera was all too busy taking photos of the sun temple from all corners and sides.

Broken Artefacts at Konark Temple

A photographer trying to teach the innocent visitor how to keep her hands up
so that he can shoot her like she is touching the top of the temple

We had to take tickets to enter into the temple. Earlier the tickets were a bit costly I felt and this time I had to pay only ten rupees per ticket and there was no ticket for camera. That was a nice surprise for me. Because I remember the last time I visited the temple in 2006 we had paid some money for tickets for carrying the camera into the compound.

The roughly hundred feet pathway leading to the temple compound was crowded with shops on both sides and they were selling products some made locally and some imported from other parts of the country. I saw a shop selling artificial Baya weaver bird nests. I had been searching for Baya weaver birds near Berhampur for a while and  yesterday while we were coming to Puri I had seen some Baya weaver bird nests near Ganjam and so I was making plans to visit the spot after I return to Berhampur.

From outside the temple compound I took almost twenty plus shots of the temple in quick succession thinking some photo may look awesome from them. After I entered into the temple compound I went on a clicking spree and shot many photos and although the temperature was growing and my friends and their kids were having a difficult time facing the heat I could not resist taking photos of the temple.

While we were planning to come back, a local cameraman approached us and we could not resist the temptation of taking some photos and he made us move from place to place and took some good photos of ours, also with out camera. Then he informed that he will be delivering the photos within ten minutes and so we though we should spend the time seating in the garden and there we sat and while we were seating there I took some snaps of my friend Dr Ram with his family, who was seating at a distance from me. As promised the cameraman delivered our photos within ten minutes and we were surprised at his art of making us look good.

We left for our room by half past eleven from Konark although I was not happy with the decision because I wanted to take some more photos, but the heat was simply unbearable. While coming back I picked up some cashew and other codiments from the shops on the sides of the path. We reached the hotel room by half past twelve and took rest. When we got up it was past afternoon, the tour had taken its toll on us and we were relaxed after sleeping for a couple and an hour in the afternoon, thanks to the chilling AC, we never felt it was summer.

Mamun and Rishi pose for a shot near the lion statue

My sweet family

In the evening I moved towards the Shree Mandira (temple ) again for buying some Prasad (Sukhila Prasada) and taking some shots of the temple in dim light. The ricksaw ride from the beach to the temple was painful, not because we were uncomfortable on the ricksaw but because the old man who was riding the ricksaw was becoming breathless. While moving out of his ricksaw I gave him forty rupees as decided and advised him to go home and take rest. He gave a sarcastic smile and said, Babu, who will feed us ? I was thinking what about the Rupee One per Kilo Rice that government of Odisha is giving ?

Shree Mandir at Night

Sun temple as seen from a distance peaking us from behind the trees

I went into the temple with Nyasa, my daughter and although there were some policemen outside the lion gate (Singhadwar) no one bothered to stop me or check my pockets for possible ammunition or other explosive devices, although I did not have any, but in the recent past I had read that the security of the temple have been beefed up and I was watching people entering the temple at will without any checking. This is definitely a negligence which the local police officers must look into. What I saw again was surprising some policemen were watching cricket scores on their mobile phones while people passed by. This was simply ridiculous, and we people of the state are crying out loud and foul for security of the temple.

I purchased some prasad and came out quickly and then we moved and changed places to take shots of the temple from different angles so that at least some photos can come nicely. After that shooting session we came back to the hotel room, and this time we hired a young rickshaw puller and also for less money (Thirty rupees only). 

In the evening we again went back to the beach bazaar and moved there till tale at night and returned to the room and took rest while I was busy packing things as we were to vacate our rooms in the early morning hours. I do not understand why these hotels have such weight checkin and checkout times, 7 AM in the moring. My friend Saroj Sahu told me that they made this deliberately for the Bengali tourists who reach Puri by train in the  early morning hours and also leave by train by early morning hours.

Puri, every Odias land of Devotion

NH 5 Near Rambha

NH 5 Near Bada Ghat Road in Khallikote

(Most of the Photos in the blog post are taken with my DSLR from my running car, so the quality of the shots may be little soft and hazzy at places)

For last five years we have been waiting eagerly to Visit Puri. It somehow did not happen because of busy schedules and mismatching of time between we father daughter duo, when I was free she had her school and when she was free I was busy in college. Somehow during this summer vacation my wife along with her friends (wives of my friends) planned for a two day trip to Puri and I was summoned to take leave from duty.

View of the road from inside our car

I was thrilled at the thought of going to Puri. I remember when I was studying in MKCG Medical College, Berhampur, we had some friends who were Telugu speaking, they used to visit the Tirupati temple at least once in a year on any pretext. It was a sort of challenge for us too and we made a group and decided to visit Puri at least one a year and that tradition continued well pass medical college years too but of late we were been so much entangled in the humdrums of life that we could not visit the Temple in the last more than four years. When this programme was planned I was excited, because I always felt I had some special bonding with our lord Jagannath. I never tried to pull his legs for some silly demands neither I tried to passify him with my sorrows. I thought he listened carefully to what ever I said and that was for me the most important link between him and me.

We decided that the second weekend of May we will be heading for Puri. Well in advance I requested my friend Mr Saroj Sahu to book a couple of rooms for us and he did that with much happiness. World is a good place because of good people like him, he whole heartedly welcomed us and also declared that he will take us to the temple and will look after the Prasad (Abadha) and other formalities.

Hillocks near Khurdha look like this due to removal of stones

Our friend Dr U Girija Pati was to come from Cuttack and we were to travel from Berhampur by a car. My friend Dr Ram Sahu had managed to hire a good car (a Toyota Innova) for our travels. We made a plan that we will be going to Puri on the 17th and stay there on 18th we will move to Konark and on 19th we will be coming back via Bhubaneswar where Dr Ram had some official formalities to do. On the morning of 17th we were to start our journey.

Roadside mango seller with customer

Bhubaneswar Roads look red due to Krushnachuda trees

Despite all our efforts we were delayed by a couple of hours while starting our journey from Berhampur and we started off at 11:30AM in the morning. But thankfully the driver of our car, Mr Prafulla was a great driver, he took us to Puri in less than four hours and we did not even feel how we spent the four hours in the car.
The long hot highways due to the sun was giving us views of mirage on the road and the long paths near Bada Ghat in Khallikote was a scenery worth viewing. The temperature inside the car was cool as the AC worked wonderfully and we did not sweat it out a bit. While we were passing through the National highway on the road side there were makeshift huts for selling mangoes. And people were stopping by to peek at the mangoes and buy some. That was more lucrative to us and then the Chilika Dhaba near Balugaon was yet another distraction and yet we held our feelings strong for our very own Abadha and did not stop by for some petpuja.

As we were nearing Khurda the roadside hillocks were having a faceless view and many of the hillocks had been completely or partially mined out for stone pellets. How careless we are for our own environment and what ecological imbalance we are causing to ourself. Although we can not do away with the stone pellets too because we need them for building the houses. But the way these small and medium hillocks looked was a scary scene to watch.

Dhauli Hill with the monument of peace

When we were going further the driver informed that we will be passing through Bhubaneswar although it is a long route but then it is good one and the other routes to Puri via Khurdha, Jatni and other small towns may be a difficult one and we left the decision on the Driver himself, because we were enjoying the cool air inside the car much.

As we approached Bhubaneswar the burning red Krushnachuda trees on the both side of road gave a treat to our eyes and I took some snaps too. On the left side of the road at a distance I saw the Khandagiri and Udaygiri mountains and the temples. I have not visited these places in last more than five years and wish to come back to these places in near future.

My friend Dr Girija reached Puri in the morning and checked in to the hotel and was busy visiting some of our friends at puri because we had informed that we will be reaching puri in the afternoon.

The journey from Bhubaneswar to Puri was very nice although midway there were at many places the road was closed and diverted for repair for the ensuing Nabakalebar Jatra in 2015 for which the roads are being widened and made more lanes so that more vehicles can be acommodated on the road. Then I saw the Shanti stupa the largest Buddhist monument from inside the vehicle, although I wished to drop by and take some close shots, I could not insist on it as we were getting late to Puri where the God and Abadha were both waiting for us.

The gate welcoming devotees to Puri Dham

In next one hour or less we crossed the gate welcoming us to the PURI DHAM and a sense of gratitude to the lords and devotion took up a huge space in my heart and mind. God I have made it to you. I am coming to see you and talk to you about many things. Things which I had been jotting in my mind for quite sometime. I may be different from all other earlier visits because this time, times have changed and also people. I need your blessings for not only me and my family but for everyone.

Hotel Pushpa, where we stayed

We reached our hotel by half past three. In four hours !!! How can that be possible. A journey of more than 250 KMs in four hours and unhurt and untired. We jumped out of our car and rushed to our room and there our room was clean and waiting for us. I could not take much photos of the hotel or the room because I did not wish to. But finding a hotel near the sea beach and having AC within a couple of thousand rupees per night was my tagline to My friend Saroj Sahu and he had got this hotel room for us for only 1200 per night. The room was spacious and AC was superb. In less than ten minutes the room was chillingly cold.
We got ready to visit the temple as my friend Saroj Sahu came to pick me up from the hotel and we left for the temple. We entered the temple from the West side and were checked by security personel at the entrance and then we were inside the temple and my friend Saroj Sahu was guiding us from one to the other small and big deities and was telling us stories, associated with them and soon we entered the big temple, the Shree Mandir and while holding the Garuda Stambha, I was trying to catch glimpse of Chakadola. My daughter Nyasa was very excited about all this and Saroj Babu held her on his shoulders and let her have a view of the lords from behind the Garuda Stambha. Then we entered the main temple and fortunately the crowd was thin and no one tried to push us further and we had eyefull of view of the lords and then had the opportunity to have the arti. All I asked was good will of the lords for my family, my friends, my state and country and all the people.

Our hotel room for the stay

We visited the Bimala Temple and Lakshmi temple and some more temples before we entered the much awaited Anand Bazaar to give rest to our taste buds and there we were seating on the floor while a Sevayat was serving us delicious Abadha, Ghee Rice, Ada Kanika, Mahura, Khata. Saga, Dali, and some more delicacies which we put in our stomach as fast as we could. Three families having Abadha on the floor in Anand Bazaar and paid 900 Rupees including the tips to the person who served us. I must say the Abadha was awesome. I have come to Puri many times in life but never had the chance to taste the special Abadha as ordered by my friend Mr Saroj Sahu.

After having Abadha we head towards the hotel room and took rest for sometime before we were again ready to hit the street on the beach for small time shopping and eating out. The beach road was crowded with a whole lot of people and the makeshift market on the sands of the beach was ready to lure the visitors. We were mesmerized at the variety of people we saw on the beach, there were Bengalis, Gujratis, Tamils, Telugus and much more than that. All colours, all languages speaking only about one Religion Jagannath.
On the roadside of the beach there were some shops selling fresh fish and prawn for tourists to savor the taste of sea food while enjoying the sea breeze. The other things that caught my attention was Masala Chana, Fried Fish, Khaja and some cloth stores especially near Swargadwaar. These shops were selling all types of Odisha traditional handloom products and the variety simply enthralls anyone entering the premises of any shop, the sellers in the shop are well equiped to lure you into their trap and sell you something or the other. Our families were busy too in browing sarees and other clothings while we were roaming on the beach footpath trying to taste all delicacies.

Puri beach market in the night lights

What better to chew than some chana masala on the beach

Gods of all sizes and shapes sold here for visitors

Who wants to taste some sea food fresh and raw

Colorful fabrics on show to  lure customers

You are at Puri and do not see Khaja, Impossible..

A shop selling Odishan clothes to customers

Fish, prawn and crab, what you want is all here

Baccha Party posing for a picture

Elephants of different size made from white stone

Puri beach market as seen from a distance

I parted my way to take some quick shots of wonderful art work in some shops and although I took more shots I particularly am posting these photos because they were distinct. The small to big size elephants made of stone and a shop window full of three deities of all size. I was glad I was there.

After spending some time on the beach and eating the Momos (Chinese dish) on the beach we returned to our hotel room tired for the day and there I finished my day one of the tour at Puri. I was browsing the camera for good shots as well as my mobile and was trying impatiently to update my status on facebook while my mobile internet was not helping me a bit.

Today I had the opportunity to travel from Berhampur to Puri via Bhubaneswar in four hours without trouble and pain. I saw the Lord Jagannath and other deities on the Ratnabedi. Also saw the moving deity on the Palanquin going for the Boating ride on the Narendra Puskarini. Ate stomach full of Abadha with complete satisfaction.

If you are planning to come to Puri during this time of the year be well prepared for the hot and humid environment. Do be careful of pick pockets as well as people trying to cheat you inside and outside the temple.