Light Painting, Stars And Rocks Part l

The Externsteine are a towering sandstone rock formation around 40 meters high. They are located in the town of Horn-Bad Meinberg in the district of Lippe in North Rhine-Westphalia. The rocks are among the most famous natural monuments in Germany and are considered to have special cultural and historical significance.

Unfortunately, the place is completely unsuitable for light painting. Too many people wander around here at night with their flashlights. An esoteric self-help group claimed a rock all to themselves and entertained us with didgeridoo, flute and chanting. It almost seems as if this place is busier at night than Alexanderplatz in Berlin. We were here once and made the most of it. 🤨

To bridge the time until the Milky Way became visible, I had the camera rotated. We have practiced this and it almost always produces interesting images 😉
First I tried a few 180° rotations. Not an easy undertaking! As you can see in the following picture, I had to cover the lens from time to time because visitors were shining their flashlights into the picture.

I had a bit more luck with the next picture. No disturbing light influences from other light sources.

At last! After 9 p.m., the last clouds in the sky cleared and the stars became visible. The real work could begin. Switch on the start tracker, align it, mount the camera, align it and start recording. Unfortunately, that's not the end of the story. Unlike light painting, star photography requires a lot of post-processing on the computer. I have very little practice in this.
That's why I won't be able to post the pictures on my blog until next Sunday. I will then describe the creation process in detail. So stay tuned!