Starlight from the Greenpoint Waterfront

From the photographer: “Every time I do one of these star trails composites I’m amazed at how many stars the camera is able to capture compared to how many I’m able to observe at the scene, especially given Manhattan’s light pollution. I don’t think I was able to see any stars at all below 30 degrees or so.

This image represents about 2 hours of time passing from a small park near the Greenpoint ferry stop in Brooklyn. This area has one of my favorite views in the city when looking south towards the Williamsburg bridge, though in this image the camera is pointed northeast towards the midtown skyline.

To create this, I stacked images in Photoshop, removing unwanted elements in the foreground and sky as the stack was assembled. This is necessary, otherwise the image becomes a mess of light trails from NYC air and boat traffic. The stack includes 889 8-second exposures.”