GoPros are constantly getting better at night photo/videography. With theGoPro Hero 11 Black, GoPro has achieved another milestone. It is one of the best action cameras to capture starry skies. Star Trails are a collection of stills combined to give you footage that shows how the stars move through the night.

To capture star trail footage or photo, your GoPro Hero 11 captures around 1000 (or even more) stills. The resulting footage is glorious and totally worth the effort!

In this post, you’ll learn about the best GoPro Hero 11 settings for some epic star trail shots.

 

Best GoPro Hero 11 Star Trails Video Settings

On the GoPro Hero 11, Star Trails is one of the shooting modes that fall under Time Lapse. To create a Star Trails video, use the earth’s rotation. For best results, point your camera due north or due south. Mount your camera to a stationary object or tripod, point it toward the night sky and let physics take over.

GoPro’s ‘Star Trails’ mode uses the Earth’s rotation and the stars to create beautiful trails of light across the sky. Use the trail length effect to choose maximum, long, or short trail lengths. Choose Max for continuous trails with no breaks.

Here are the default settings for Star Trails shooting mode on the GoPro Hero 11:

  • Resolution: 4K
  • Shutter: 30 seconds
  • Interval: Auto
  • Digital Lens: Wide
  • Trail Length: Long
  • Scheduled Capture: Off
  • Duration Limit: No Limit
  • Timer: 3 seconds
  • Bitrate: 150
  • HEVC/H.265 .mp4 files

And, if you want to have more flexibility, the Hero 11 Black also allows you to tweak these settings according to your own preferences.

Here are all the available options in the star trails mode:

  • Resolution options: 5.3K, 5.3K (4:3), 4K, 4K (4:3)
  • Shutter options: 0.5s, 1s, 2s, 5s, 10s, 30s
  • Interval: Auto
  • Digital Lens: Wide
  • Trail Length options: Short, Long, Max
  • Format: Video
  • Scheduled Capture options: On, Off
  • Duration Limit options: No Limit, 15s, 30s, 1min, 5min, 15min, 30min, 1hr, 2hr, 3hr
  • Timer options: Off, 3s, 10s
  • Zoom option in Wide
  • Bitrate: 150
  • HEVC/H.265 .mp4 files

Do you want to know everything about best low light settings? Click here!

Best GoPro Hero 11 Star Trails Photo Settings

On the Star Trails shooting mode on the Hero 11 Black, it’s only possible to capture videos. Fortunately, it’s possible to capture star trail stills with your camera. for this, you’ll need the night lapse photo mode on Hero 11 Black.

So, set up your GoPro on night lapse mode, sit back & admire the stars, and combine the frames into a star trail photo in post-production.

For more tips on Night lapse mode check out this article.

gopro hero 11 star trails

Here are the settings that you need to use:

  • Mode: Night Lapse Photo
  • Shutter + Interval: AUTO
  • FOV: Linear

In post-production, take all of the frames and composite them into a single photo using Photoshop.

 

Settings Guide for GoPro Hero 11 Star Photography

With the Night Photo mode, the GoPro Hero 11 Black makes long exposure and low-light photography easier than ever. In these modes, the camera includes higher ISO options to capture dark, starry skies. The GoPro Night Photo differs from regular Photo mode by allowing users to select a shutter length of up to 30 seconds. This is the GoPro equivalent of setting up a long exposure shot.

Here are the best Hero 11 settings to capture the stars in different situations:

Starry Sky with No Moon

If you are shooting under a starry sky with no moon and no foreground lighting, here are the best photo settings to use:

  • Mode: Night Photo
  • Shutter: 30s
  • ISO Min + Max: 1600
  • Output: RAW

You might be interested in Night Mode setting for low light as well. In this case, don’t miss this article.

gopro hero 11 star trails night mode

Starry Sky with a Dull, Waning Moon

In such a situation, use the dull, waning moonlight to your advantage. Have it act as your source of light and paint the foreground. Here are the recommended photo settings for the same:

  • Mode: Night Photo
  • Shutter: 30s
  • ISO Min + Max: 1600
  • Output: RAW

Starry Sky with a Bright Moon

In such a situation, pay close attention to high-contrast areas. If there are a lot of shadows, use these settings:

  • Mode: Night Photo
  • Shutter: 20s
  • ISO Min + Max: 1600
  • Output: RAW

gopro hero 11 star trails bright moon

On the other hand, if you feel that you need a faster shutter speed, then try these settings:

  • Mode: Night Photo
  • Shutter: 10s
  • ISO Min + Max: 3200
  • Output: RAW

Check out this article to learn more about How To Manually Adjust GoPro Shutter Speed

 

 

Thanks for reading! ?

I hope this guide helped you know all about the best GoPro Hero 11 settings for some epic star trail shots ?

 

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