Diurnal

Unfortunately, this is what I am.  Diurnal is the opposite of nocturnal.  I prefer to be out in the daylight and sleep during the night.  Diurnal.  If I was nocturnal, I would probably be better at photographing star trails.  Star trails are long exposures of the stars.  They really are very simple............if you have patience.  Anyone can create them...........as long as you have little to no light pollution, a clear sky(no clouds) and..............time.  While up north last week I decided to try my hand at creating star trails.  Their is little light pollution up there, at least not like around here, the skies were clear except for the stars, and I had plenty of time. Once you have these ingredients, you setup on a tripod, point your lens to the skies, and open the shutter for a long period of time so the camera can squeeze out(or in) any light that might be present.  This can't be done on all cameras, but many can.  The trick is to know how long to keep the shutter open and this usually comes down to trial and error.  But, what comes with this is the necessity to be patient.  The shot I am showing below was with the lens open for almost 13 minutes. On top of the 13 minutes exposure is another 13 minutes for the camera to process the shot.  It can be done quicker, but to reduce the amount of noise in the pic theres a setting you can turn on and it makes a much cleaner pic.  So, 26 minutes for one shot.  If I was nocturnal, eh, no problem. With waiting comes sleepiness.  I'm sure if the temp was above 30 degrees while doing this I wouldn't get so antsy.  But, it wasn't.  Below is a shot I found on the internet that shows pretty much what star trails should look like.  It always helps to have something in the forefront or the background of your pic, too.  Below that shot is my first attempt.  I hope to have a stunning shot by the end of summer. I just got to take more naps.