Okay, so I heard that there is supposed to be a meteor shower coming up. I would love to take some pictures, but I have never taken pictures of this kind. Does anyone have any tips or tricks or is there any special type of equipment that I would need. Thank you so much!!! :)
I've heard the best way to shoot them is to use a short lens for wide field, focus on the point where the meteors are supposed to be originating from, and leave the shutter open.
The best time of night to see meteors is after midnight. That way, you are on the leading side of earth, and heading into the shower.
I haven't shot any myself, but I may give it a try this time around as well. :-)
Does your camera have adjustable time that the shutter can be open. If it has bulb setting it gives you control on how long the shutter is open which allows for a higher chance of capturing meteors.
This was one I took last year on Aug 12 that made the popular page:
Settings for this shot were - 200 ISO, 50mm, 15 sec at f/4. I use an App on my iPad called Star Walk to point me in the right direction at night to focus on the origin of the meteors.
You're thinking of the Perseid meteor shower, it has a very wide peak and you can see them for most of the month of August but the peak is the weekend of the 11th, 12th.
Meteor showers are named for their radiant constellation which is the point from which they seem to originate from but they could be seen anywhere in the sky, not just at that point.
You'll have to check your local conditions but generally the best time is later in the night when it's darkest. You really need to get out of the city to get the most out of it though.
As for getting a shot of a meteor, I will be setting up an intervalometer at more or less the same settings as above and letting it shoot that every 20 seconds or so.
@sheliwithani Hi Sheli I found this info on viewing from Brisbane. Apparently any further south and the radiant will be below the horizon. Not sure where you are but the is info about where to look. 3:30-5:30am about 3 handspans from the horizon to the North http://home.mira.net/~reynella/skywatch/ssky.htm
@saranna I really appreciate that, thanks. I'm currently in central Aust so will be without city lights. Those hours are a little early/late for me so I'll what I can achieve before midnight. I had my first experiment at the Tropic of Capricorn using the settings in the earlier post and they worked well. Hope you capture some magic.
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The best time of night to see meteors is after midnight. That way, you are on the leading side of earth, and heading into the shower.
I haven't shot any myself, but I may give it a try this time around as well. :-)
This pretty much covers all you need to do. http://www.spacedex.com/guides/photograph-meteor-showers.php
Settings for this shot were - 200 ISO, 50mm, 15 sec at f/4. I use an App on my iPad called Star Walk to point me in the right direction at night to focus on the origin of the meteors.
Meteor showers are named for their radiant constellation which is the point from which they seem to originate from but they could be seen anywhere in the sky, not just at that point.
You'll have to check your local conditions but generally the best time is later in the night when it's darkest. You really need to get out of the city to get the most out of it though.
As for getting a shot of a meteor, I will be setting up an intervalometer at more or less the same settings as above and letting it shoot that every 20 seconds or so.
@brumbe- thank you that link was great and really helped me :) @mikegifford- great shot :)
@kalexa- it is 8/11, 8/12, 8/13 and here is another link with a some more information: http://365project.org/discuss/articles/13814/upcoming-meteor-shower-11-12-august-2012