Here’s a couple of night photographs I’ve taken since Trevor’s light painting course last month.
Stars over Zakimi
Stars and flashlight over Maeda
The first shot had an exposure of about half a minute, the second shot was closer to 15 minutes.
Published on August 15, 2011
Night Fever
TRAVEL 67 : Chris Willson Photography 
Are you using filters on th lens to get the longer exposures, or just a small aperture?
No filters, and I think the lens aperture was quite large to make sure you could see the stars. I could use a very long exposure simply because it was so dark. A moonless sky works best. Go out into the countryside away from the city lights, point the camera at the sky, set to bulb, and open the shutter for a few minutes. You’ll be surprised at what you can get.