Capturing the celestial fireworks: A guide to photographing the Perseid meteor shower with your digital camera.
The Perseid meteor shower, one of the most anticipated celestial events of the year, is upon us. While this year’s peak (August 11th and 12th) coincides with a nearly full moon, making faint meteors harder to see, you can still capture the brighter Perseid’s and create stunning night sky images. The shower is visible from July 18 to August 23, with peak activity typically around August 12th or 13th.
Photographing meteors, especially during a shower like the Perseid’s, requires some patience and the right camera setup. Here’s how to maximize your chances of capturing those fleeting streaks of light with your digital camera:
1. Finding your location and gear preparation
- Dark Skies are Key: Light pollution is your biggest enemy when it comes to astrophotography. Search for locations far away from city lights, ideally in areas designated as dark sky sites. Websites like Dark Site Finder can help you find suitable locations.
- Sturdy Tripod is Essential: Meteor photography requires long exposures, making a stable tripod crucial to prevent blurry images.
- Wide-Angle Lens is Your Friend: To maximize the chances of catching a meteor within your frame, use a wide-angle lens (e.g., 14mm-35mm on a full-frame camera or equivalent on a crop sensor). A fast lens with a wide maximum aperture (e.g., f/2.8 or faster) will let in more light and help capture fainter meteors.
- Shutter Release or Intervalometer: To avoid camera shake when pressing the shutter button during long exposures, use a shutter release cable or the camera’s built-in self-timer. An intervalometer is even better, as it allows for continuous shooting at set intervals, increasing your chances of capturing a meteor.
2. Camera settings
- Manual Mode is a Must: You’ll need to control your camera’s settings manually as automatic modes will struggle in the dark.
- Focus on Infinity: Manually focus your lens to infinity. You may need to fine-tune this by focusing on a bright star in Live View mode and zooming in for accuracy. Taping down your focus ring with gaffer tape can prevent accidental adjustments.
- Aperture Wide Open: Set your lens to its widest aperture (lowest f-number) to allow maximum light capture.
- Shutter Speed and ISO Balance: Experiment with shutter speeds between 20-30 seconds, balancing between capturing light and avoiding star trails caused by Earth’s rotation. High ISO settings (1600-6400, depending on your camera’s noise performance) will boost sensitivity but can introduce noise. Start with a lower ISO and increase it if necessary to get a proper exposure, according to NASA Science.
- Download our Cheat Sheet for suggestions on camera setting to get sharp stars.
- RAW File Format: Shoot in RAW file format (or RAW+JPEG) to give you more flexibility for post-processing adjustments.
- Turn Off Long Exposure Noise Reduction: This feature can double your exposure time, causing you to miss meteors.
3. Aiming your camera and continuous shooting
- Radiant Point: While meteors can appear anywhere in the sky, they will seem to emanate from the constellation Perseus, the radiant point. Aiming your camera towards the constellation can create a visually interesting composition.
- Consider Foregrounds: Include interesting landscape elements in your composition to add depth and perspective to your shots.
- Continuous Shooting: Set your camera to shoot continuously using your intervalometer or remote shutter release. This maximizes your chances of catching a fleeting meteor.
4. Staying comfortable and enjoying the show
- Warm Clothes: Even during summer, nights can get chilly, so dress in layers to stay warm.
- Don’t Forget to Look Up! While your camera is doing its job, take some time to lay back and enjoy the Perseid meteor shower with your own eyes.
5. Post-processing: Identifying a meteor
- Find Your Meteors: Once you’ve captured hundreds of images, review them in a program like Lightroom to identify the ones containing meteors.
- Don’t be confused by satellites or airplanes in the night sky. A meteor will only appear in a single frame of your time lapse, where as a satellite or airplane will appear in multiple frames as it works its way across the night sky.
- A meteor travels across the sky at 10x the speed of a satellite or airplanes.
- Airplanes often appear as a dashed line, due to the blinking red, green and white lights on the plane.
- Meteors can also appear as a multicolored streak as chemicals burn off the meteor while it flies through the atmosphere.
- Stacking and Compositing: If you’ve captured multiple meteors in different frames, you can stack them into a single image using software like Photoshop or specialized astrophotography software to create a visually striking composite.
With a little preparation and patience, you can capture breathtaking images of the Perseid meteor shower and create lasting memories of this annual celestial spectacle.
Meteoroids vs meteorites
A space rock, smaller than an asteroid is called a meteoroid. If a meteoroid survives entry through earth’s atmosphere and lands on the ground it becomes a meteorite. The meteoroid is called a meteor only while it is making the bright streak of light while burning up earth’s atmosphere.
