Colorful saris are draped in a courtyard in preparation for a wedding in India.

Music from what sounded like a drunken high school marching band reverberated down the street full cows, hucksters, potholes and people.  I knew the cacophonous sound meant one thing – a celebration.  Walking toward the rowdy music, I turn into a courtyard regaled in reds, oranges and the many colors of the rainbow as the misty morning light began to harden.  A wedding was at hand!  My visual love affair with India is renewed.  She never ceases to surprise and delight in a visual feast for the eyes.

Perhaps it is because I am the youngest sibling in my family, or perhaps it was a habit developed later in life – but I must confess that I like to compete and I like to win. I thrive under pressure. It clarifies my mind better than any cup of coffee could by eliminating the unimportant. Whether it was climbing the Nose on El Capitan when I was 19 or being top of my class at Brooks, I always felt I had something to prove to myself, my family and my friends.

This week at the Hui, Dewitt has forwarded the following thought on competition “don’t prove, improve”. Don’t prove, improve – such a small shift of words, such a large shift of intent.

Yesterday afternoon I and 18 other photographers were shooting a hula halau on Molokai and I began to watch my process as I photographed. I know how to make a great picture of this scene. The competitive proving side of me begins to rise. But proving means I do what I always do – improving means I have permission to take a risk and potentially fail. I pause. Don’t prove Jonathan – improve. A weight is lifted off my shoulders. Permission to play, permission to experiment – granted…

Hula dancer, Molokai, Hawaii. (slow shutter)

A time exposure at Mauna Loa Observatory, lasting a little over an hour, produced star trails as Earth rotated. (Jonathan Kingston/Aurora Select for the New York Times)

What are Star Trails?

Simply stated, star trails are the streaks in a photograph left by stars during a time exposure as the Earth rotates.  Objects in the foreground of the photograph remain sharp as they are not moving relative to the camera, while the stars, depending on which cardinal direction the camera is facing, will form concentric circles or streaks in the sky.

Why does Photographing Star Trails require a different technique with a Digital SLR?

In order to capture star trails, one must leave the shutter open on the camera for a long amount of time, often for more than an hour.  This allows time for the earth to rotate and form the streaks associated with star trails.  With film one simply set the camera to the “bulb” setting, locked open the shutter with a cable release, and returned a few hours later to close the shutter.  This method unfortunately does not work well digitally as one of the drawbacks of digital SLR photography circa 2011 is the longer the shutter remains open, the more the image degrades with visual grain, otherwise known as digital noise.

The solution is to slice the single long exposure one would have used for a film capture, into many small separate time slice exposures and then combine them back together into a single frame with a technique known as “Stacking”.  Dan Newton of Liquid In Plastic has written an excellent post HERE on how to photograph star trails using the stacking technique.  I suggest you read it before proceeding.

How to stack your star trail time slices into a single image in Photoshop:

I recommend using Dan Newton’s ”Method 2″ to stack your star trail image slices into a single image in Photoshop.  For a large part of this year the page that Mr. Newton linked to in Method 2 (Chris and Dawn Schur’s photoshop action) was broken, so I have taken the liberty to re-record their action verbatim and make it available for download on this website.

Downloading and loading the star trail stack action into Photoshop

1) Click here to download the Star Trails Photoshop Action.
2) UnZip the file.
3) Copy the action into the Photoshop>Presets>Actions folder.  On the Macintosh the pathway is as follows:  Applications>Adobe Photoshop CS5>Presets>Actions.
4) Open Photoshop and click on the Actions Palette (Window Menu>Actions).
5) In the upper right hand corner of the Actions Palette click the icon with four small horizontal lines.  A drop down menu will appear.  Scroll down and click “Load Actions…”.
6) A finder (explorer) window will open.  Navigate back to your Photoshop>Presets>Actions folder, highlight the “Kingston Startrails Stacker.atn” and click “Open”.
7) In your actions palette you should now see a action called “Kingston Startrails Stacker”.

Running the Startrails Stacker Action in Photoshop

1) Open the dark frame that Mr. Newton talks about in his blog post in Photoshop.
2) Go to the File>Automate>Batch menu in Photoshop:

• Under the “Play” box select the Set: “Kingston-Startrails-Stacker” and the Action: “Star Trails Stacker”
• Under the “Source” set the drop down menu to “Folder” then click the “Choose…” button and select the folder that contains all of your star trail image slices.
• Be sure that “Suppress File Open Options Dialogs” is checked
• Be sure that “Suppress Color Profile Warnings” is checked

3) Click “OK”.
4) Wait while Photoshop assembles the stack.  You will see a bunch of images opening and closing in rapid succession.
5) When Photoshop is finished go to File>Save and give the resulting file a relevant title.

Dan Newton has some excellent suggestions on modifying the  action under his “Method 2″ section here that I suggest you experiment with.

That’s it – Star Trails 101!

Watch how to create startrails using the stacking method the in the following video:

In the following video I demonstrate the above steps as well as show you how to use a Star Trails Photoshop Droplet that you can download HERE to further automate the stacking process.

How to create a Star Trail image using a Photoshop Action from Jonathan Kingston on Vimeo.

How to load and use a star trails Photoshop action to stack multiple, consecutive exposures into a single frame to create a star trails image.

A time exposure at Mauna Loa Observatory, lasting a little over an hour, produced star trails as Earth rotated.

December 22, 2010 - Front page of the New York Times - Jonathan Kingston

Thanks to a recommendation from a friend, in early December I found myself on the side of a volcano at 11,141 feet on the Big Island of Hawaii photographing a story for the New York Times.  The story revolves around the research facility and dedicated staff that has been taking continuous measurements of CO2 in the air since the late 1950’s.  Its a great read and an honor to be featured on the front page of the NYT.   You can read it online here listen to the audio slideshow here and see the slideshow here.  Enjoy!

View of the pacific ocean and sea cliffs on the north shore of the island of Molokai from the Mo'omomi Nature Preserve.

On a recent trip to Beijing, China I met a fabulous violinist named Lin.  As a violin player myself there was an instant connection and through the course of the evening I got to hear Lin’s story.  Lin, had always wanted to play the violin, but came of age during the cultural revolution when the Chinese government was destroying every western instrument in sight.  Rather than giving up his dream to play, shortly after the cultural revolution ended, Lin was able to get his hands on an instrument.  Even though he was well into adulthood at this point in his life, and did not have anyone to formally teach him, Lin dove in with both feet.  Practicing for hours every day, Lin taught himself to read music and play by listening to the recordings of other musicians.  With many years of formal lessons behind me, I can tell you this is an extraordinarily impressive feat.  Lin did all this while simultaneously starting a company and becoming a successful businessman in Beijing.  Listening to Lin play, I could close my eyes and easily imagine myself listening to a violin soloist practicing for a concert at the Lincoln Center.  In fact Lin’s skills have progressed to the point that one of the most famous luthiers in Beijing now gives him violins to play – both to get a sense of how much they are worth, as well as to give him a chance to break in the instruments.

Walking across the wild landscape of Mo’omomi Nature Preserve at dawn on the island of Molokai with giant untamed ocean waves pounding their bass drums on the shore, I wonder at the similarities between Lin playing the luthiers violins; and God, nature, the universe – whatever you want to call it – playing the scene before me.  Violins are endowed by the hand of the luthier with a voice at their creation, just as my eyes are have been endowed with their own perspective on the world. The violins voice develops and sweetens over time and practice until the gentlest brush stroke of bow on string brings forth notes of graceful music, just as my eyes become more adept at resonating to the brush stroke of natures brilliant music.  The violin cannot accomplish this without the violinist, just as my eyes cannot see the beauty before me without the hand of nature pulling its bow across my soul to resonate ever more sweetly in its presence.  The hands of the master reach for the Stradivarius.  One day may my eyes be that instrument.

Waterfall near Petit Lake, Idaho (HDR).

Early summer in Idaho is stunning as the snow melt gives way to hot days and cool nights.  In late June I made my semi annual trek to the Sun Valley area to teach some private photography lessons and had the luxury to spend a day with friends kind enough to invite me to their cabin at Petit lake.  A short walk, slow shutter speeds and seven exposures capturing all the detail from highlights to shadows allowed the above image to come to life.

Ansel Adams once said  -  I can’t verbalize the internal meaning of pictures whatsoever. Some of my friends can at very mystical levels, but I prefer to say that, if I feel something strongly, I would make a photograph, that would be the equivalent of what I saw and felt… When I’m ready to make a photograph, I think I quite obviously see in my mind’s eye something that is not literally there, in the true meaning of the word. I’m interested in expressing something which is built up from within, rather than just extracted from without.

Walking out into the night sky at the Hui Ho`olana, I am stunned by the beauty and the brightness of the stars.  I grab my camera and clumsily attempt to set it up without the aid of a flashlight.  Dinner is winding to a close at the workshop and Dewitt drives slowly past me down the driveway en route to his house next door chanting – l i g h t, l i g h t, l i g h t — Jonathan you have to have light to make pictures.  Cracking up, I made a few attempts to focus my camera as his brake lights receded in the distance before realizing it was impossible to do it visually, and instead I needed to trust the hyperfocal distance on my lens for this Hail Mary shot.  As I finally manage to lock in the right settings for the shot, I begin to wonder why I hadn’t attempted more night photography of this sort before.  Technologically, the ability had been in my hands since the D3 was released but because it had been such a difficult thing to do with film I had a blind spot to this amazing window to the world.  As I pressed the shutter, I was attempting to do something I would never have attempted with film – which is to tell the story of the stars as stars.  Not streaks in the night sky, or underexposed points of light, but as Ansel says – the equivalent of what I saw and felt.

The process makes me wonder what other opportunities I have looked at but not seen on a near daily basis in my life.  As I begin to think about it, the list grows rapidly.  Hopefully I will have many more starry nights to get those things right.

A starry night sky over a retreat center on Molokai, Hawaii.

There is nothing is quite as delicious as a day off after working 12 hour days for more than a week.  This evening, Dewitt and I headed down to the west end of the island where he has been photographing a beautiful series of wave images.  As we set up on the beach, we discussed plans for our October photography workshop on Molokai, and chatted about some wonderful ideas Rikki had for the upcoming class.  Soon the conversation drifted off into reverie of the musical scene that was before us, and the meditation of photography began.

Rock on Papohaku beach, Molokai, Hawaii (tonemapped HDR image).

Dewitt filmed this short video of me moments before the above frame happened.

Click HERE to watch on an iPhone or iPad

Rikki often says it not about me taking the picture, but about the picture taking me.  The phrase what will I be taken by today? regularly enters my mind when I am shooting. Its simplicity disarming the inner critic that tells me that I have to go make a good picture. Its a phrase that gives me the freedom to wait.

This evening the banyan trees near the Hui took me.  Below are two of the results.

Click on the player below to listen to a short clip of some beautiful ukulele’s music and singing in the lodge before dinner.

Banyan tree near the Hui Ho'olana, Molokai, Hawaii

Old Hawaiian home with large Banyan tree in the background, Molokai, Hawaii

Driving the red dirt road to Kamakou preserve on Molokai, one could easily mistake the landscape for western Tanzania.  Grassy plains surrounded by wind sculpted trees make my eye look for the giraffe that will never walk into my frame.  Today we found ourselves bouncing down this road in spite of the rain that insists on clinging to the hills in a shroud of ever changing gray.   It has been at least two years since I last wandered into the preserve and I am excited.  Dewitt speaks often about beginning ones day with a full cup, and as the four wheel drive vehicle I am piloting crawls through the mud into the cloud bank, I feel my cup filling with excitement.  The road is a canyon surrounded by cliffs of moss covered trees reaching to the sky.  When the caravan of cars stops, I feel that tingle of excitement travel from my right index finger, up my arm and around my body.  The light is gorgeous.  A giant soft box in the sky.  So much biodiversity I can’t find the words other than to quote what one workshop participant said — this is what eden must have been like.  My cup overflows.

Click HERE to watch on an iPhone or iPad

Click HERE to watch on an iPhone or iPad

Red dirt road to Kamakou Nature Preserve, Molokai, Hawaii

Trees and fog, Kamakou Nature Preserve, Molokai, Hawaii

Leaf and moss, Kamakou Nature Preserve, Molokai, Hawaii

Biodiversity, Kamakou Nature Preserve, Molokai, Hawaii

Tree branches sculpted by the wind, Kamakou Nature Preserve, Molokai, Hawaii