Star Trails

Using my Google Reader I subscribe to the Yosemite photo pool at Flickr. Basically this means that anytime someone posts a new photo to the photo pool, I get to view it using my Google Reader. Usually that means between 3-10 photos per day. I love it.

One of the things I've discovered while viewing these posted photos is Star Trails. What this refers to are photos that are prolonged exposure shots, some as short as 10 minutes and others as long as 2 hours! (meaning the camera shutter is open for that long!) and in the process you can see where the stars have moved in that amount of time. See for yourself:This photo has an exposure time of 91 minutes! I think it's pretty incredible!

Another fun thing to do (apparently) with long exposures is something called "Light Painting." This is simply the concept that if you take a long exposure shot, you can shine a colored light on something, or even write something with a laser pen, and the exposure would pick it all up. Here's one example:
Here you can see the star trails, but you can also see the red tint on the tree. This is due to the photographer shining a red-bulb flashlight up and down the tree trunk during the long exposure shot. This particular exposure was for 46 minutes (the lights in the background are all the cars driving by in that amount of time).

So there you have it: photography really is art. Now I just have to go out and by a $3000 camera to take pictures like these!