Catch A Falling Star
October 26th 2007 04:24
Category: No Category
Photographing meteors
Meteors are camera shy objects to photograph it’s amazing how many seem to occur during a typical meteor shower.
This month October is a popular month for seeing a meteor shower the best dates are October 21 to the 27th. A typical meteor shower will yield on average between 10 and 30 meteors per hour.
Photographing a meteor is somewhat time consuming at times frustrating and a great deal of patience is required, still when you do actually get an image it is very rewarding. With the advent of digital cameras and a little automation just about anyone can photograph a meteor.
Every year there are meteor showers occurring every few months although the frequency and the brightness of meteors can vary greatly each year? This is partly due to the Earth’s orbit crossing the path of a comet’s dust trail.
So what type of photographic equipment is needed to capture a meteor streaking across the skies?
A typical camera would be digital something with a wide angle lens and have manual control, a tripod is essential. It's best to aim your camera high above the horizon to avoid the city lights etc.
Tips that might improve your chances of getting a good shots is to use short period exposures of around 30-60s. Place the camera on manual a remote shutter release comes in handy saves you holding the shutter button down therefore minimizing camera shake not to mention a sore finger. Set the camera sensitivity setting ISO 800 is good but 1600 ISO is a better option use a wide angel lens lenses with focal lengths of between 28mm to 50mm are ideal, remember to turn off the flash function.
The best times to take photographs of meteors are around midnight to just before dawn when the concentration of meteors striking the Earth’s atmosphere is at its greatest.
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Why not give it a try yourself its a lot of fun.
Meteors are camera shy objects to photograph it’s amazing how many seem to occur during a typical meteor shower.
This month October is a popular month for seeing a meteor shower the best dates are October 21 to the 27th. A typical meteor shower will yield on average between 10 and 30 meteors per hour.
Photographing a meteor is somewhat time consuming at times frustrating and a great deal of patience is required, still when you do actually get an image it is very rewarding. With the advent of digital cameras and a little automation just about anyone can photograph a meteor.
Every year there are meteor showers occurring every few months although the frequency and the brightness of meteors can vary greatly each year? This is partly due to the Earth’s orbit crossing the path of a comet’s dust trail.
So what type of photographic equipment is needed to capture a meteor streaking across the skies?
A typical camera would be digital something with a wide angle lens and have manual control, a tripod is essential. It's best to aim your camera high above the horizon to avoid the city lights etc.
Tips that might improve your chances of getting a good shots is to use short period exposures of around 30-60s. Place the camera on manual a remote shutter release comes in handy saves you holding the shutter button down therefore minimizing camera shake not to mention a sore finger. Set the camera sensitivity setting ISO 800 is good but 1600 ISO is a better option use a wide angel lens lenses with focal lengths of between 28mm to 50mm are ideal, remember to turn off the flash function.
The best times to take photographs of meteors are around midnight to just before dawn when the concentration of meteors striking the Earth’s atmosphere is at its greatest.
I was lucky enough to catch a few images this time. this image of the same area using multipal exposures
Why not give it a try yourself its a lot of fun.
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Comment by Damo