Night Photography on a Budget (Patreon)

At our 2021 NightScaper Conference, Shreeni Manievannan did two programs, "Capturing Starscapes on a Budget" and "Maximizing and Pushing the Limits with GoPro Cameras". Although I don't suggest you you trade in your expensive DSLR or mirrorless camera for a small GoPro camera, there are some interesting advantages to this little camera.

Obviously, its compact size and price (about $400) make it an attractive alternative, or at least a great 2nd camera to set up and take additional images while you are concentrating on compositions with your big camera. As you'll learn from the two videos I've mentioned, even the older GoPro's (i.e. the Hero9 Black used in his conference video presentations) do a great job of capturing star trails and timelapse videos.

The new Hero11 Black ($400) and the new Hero11 Black Mini ($300) have innovative firmware features that allow one to produce beautiful star trails, in 3 different lengths - max (full length of the Timelapse), long (comet effect), short (more of a traditional one with motion blur effect); plus "Vehicle Light Trails" - tailor made for car trails. There's also a “Light Painting” mode that lets you create brilliant brush stroke effects by moving light through the frame.

All these new features come straight out of the camera (built-in presets), with no post processing required. Check out this Instagram video that Shreeni did, and this GoPro video on the Hero11 Black's New Night Effects (the five images accompanying this post are all screen captures from that video).