No timers, just a remote cable release. I set the camera to continuous mode and locked the remote. I don't know the exact brand but something like this:
The exposure was set to 20 sec, f 2.8, ISO 3200. The camera keep shooting until the card filled up - about two dozen images. I edited levels, curves and noise in Lightroom and synced the settings, then selected "Open in Photoshop as layers." In Photoshop I selected all the layers and changed the blend mode to "Lighten," cropped the image and exported a JPEG. That's it, the actual editing probably took less time than importing the images into Lightroom.
Most of the time I use the built in timer on the camera. Not for any technical reasons but because it is there. The limitation of that approach is that it can only go 30 seconds and I have to allow three seconds between each shot or it will sometimes miss an exposure. The three seconds is enough that there will be gaps in the star trails that you have to fix in post. Using the external trigger allows the images to be taken much quicker.
Using an external timer is even better as you can go longer on the exposure so there is much less data and post work to deal with. The drawback is noise. At 3200 ISO I am willing to let the D800 go for up to four minutes on a single exposure - less as the temperature rises. This is great but I rarely have that gear with me so typically it is 30 second shots.
As for faking it - I believe that is the way to go. The best thing about digital is that you can experiment and take lots of shots. You don't have to pay (and wait) for developing. Most of my night work evolved over time by just playing around with the camera and the settings.
The warped panos are a good example. I have no idea what I'm doing nor how to get some of the shots I am looking for. I just know that the 14 mm lens will do some odd things up close. I've been purposely setting the tripod at an angle so that the camera isn't level as I pan through the shot. I have some vague ideas about how to get what I want to shoot but until I experiment more I don't know how to get there. The trick is that I have to come up with 16 shots before the end of the semester.
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Thanks.
For posting more than one image in a quote I end up replacing the attachment tag with an image tag. It takes a few minutes to load each image and copy the URL but I think it makes the resulting post better. Unfortunately with the loss of the TIMG tag things aren't as nice.
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