
With a sense of radial balance and something not visible with the naked eye (without a camera and the techniques discussed here), this form of photography is incredibly alluring. It’s trickier as you have to point your lens at the celestial pole in your hemisphere. Star circles photography, meanwhile, captures images with the celestial bodies appearing to move in an arc or even in a complete circle. As the earth rotates, your camera will move with the earth in a straight line. The first is star lines, which are achieved by pointing your lens in an east or west direction to capture straight star trails. There are two main effects you can get with star trail photography. This creates a visual anchor for the viewer and gives them the sense of being grounded while the stars swirl overhead.


Star trail images usually feature a foreground subject such as a tree, derelict building or monolithic rock. Because your camera is on a fixed point grounded to the Earth, the stars appear to be in motion. The stars are not moving, but rather the Earth is rotating on its axis. Star trail photography is a form of astrophotography that involves capturing a picture of a clear night sky with thousands of lines of stars streaking across the view.
