A way to photograph a meteor shower with a camera
The Perseid meteor shower is observed in August every year, and this year’s Perseid meteor shower promises to be breathtaking! In this short guide, we’ll explain how to setup your camera in order to capture this year’s Perseid meteor shower. Take these steps, and you’ll walk home with pictures you’ll be proud of…
To capture a meteor shower such as the Perseids you’ll require an unobstructed night and at a dark place. Since you’ll work in darkness it is not advisable to make a mess of your camera’s settings. So setting the camera up in advance is a good idea to ensure that you are properly prepared.
How do you setup your camera so that it can capture perseid’s meteor shower? Perseid meteor shower
Because you’ll be completely dark You’ll need utilize your camera’s manual mode. Don’t worry about it. You can take an edge. Here’s how…
One of the first things you have be thinking about is the exposure duration. In contrast to other night photography that you’ve taken, it’s not necessary to utilize super long exposures for this. The reason is that the movement of stars will be captured as stars trails and when Perseid meteors appear in the sky, there will be tiny lines across the frame.
To prevent this from happening, change the camera’s ISO to a greater sensitivity, starting at ISO 3200. Then, see what shutter speed that this gives you.
The ideal setting is an approximate shutter speed of 5 seconds, and also you’ll need your lens’s aperture to be the most expansive setting – typically f/2.8 or F/4.
Focusing on your camera by hand, as well since your AF system continues to search the night sky in search of something that it can lock onto.
But, even manual focus in dark is not easy We suggest setting the focus until infinity.
If you’re using a zoom lens ensure that you make sure that the zoom is set to its optimal setting. This is usually an angle of wide, such as 18mm.
You can then point your camera towards an object that is far away and then carefully the focus. Alternately, you can utilize the lens’s focus scale to adjust the focus until an infinity.
We recommend using the small amount of tape over the lens to keep that the lens from slipping out of the position it is in.
As always, opt to shoot raw and Raw + JPEG within the menus of your camera. Also, while you’re there you should also consider to switch on the Long exposure Noise Reduction mode. It will increase the amount of amount of time needed to take every image, but the outcomes generally are more pleasing.
Adjusting your camera settings
There are many difficulties when photographing meteors and starscapes. However, trying to get your camera focused in the dark will probably be at the one of them.
In the previous paragraph, we explained the steps to set your focus which is fine. You don’t need to adjust it. However, should you choose to alter the setting of your zoom or the piece of tape fell off! You’ll have to center your lens towards the distance.
One of the best ways to do this is to turn the camera’s Live View feature. If you can see the night sky show up on the LCD Look for the most bright object that you could be able to see.
Then, you can zoom in to the object by with the magnify button located in the rear of the camera. Adjust the focus by hand. It’s true that this isn’t easy to accomplish precisely and takes a lot of perseverance. But you can do it!
When you’ve perfected your focus it’s recommended to test the focus by using the settings that you dialed prior to getting there. Does the exposure work? Do you think it is too loud?
Keep in mind that the suggestions for settings are only an initial point. There’s a chance that you’ll need alter them a little in order to suit your preferences or your own ideas.
The most common thing you’ll want to see is the image to appear dim with a lack of detail in the foreground However, the stars should appear bright and clear.
If you feel your photograph is bright enough, you can try an earlier shutter speed like 2 seconds. In the opposite case, if your photograph is dark, you’ll have to change the ISO by increasing it to a higher. If you choose to use a slower shutter speed you’ll experience an unwelcome movement in the stars.
The best camera settings to capture meteors and starry sky
Format for files is Raw
Mode of exposure manual
Aperture: f/2.8
ISO: 3200
The speed of the shutter 5 seconds
“Focus mode Manual
Drive Mode single shot
White balanceAuto
One final suggestion for photographing the meteor shower
Photographing meteors much easier if you allow your eyes time to get used to the dark.
For this, once you reach your spot, do not look at any flashing lights like the flashlight, or perhaps turning off the rear-facing screen of your DSLR during the course of about 20 minutes.
