Perseid Meteor Shower - A Photo

astrostu · Aug 13, 2007

First, let me say that I REALLY like my new f/1.4L lens. At f/2.0, I can do what was before a 300-second exposure in around 30 seconds.

I mention this because this was my first serious test of my new lens.

Anyway, I was out last night and once I finally got a good focus, I took a few dozen ~75-second images at f/2.0, ISO 100 with my 35 mm prime. As is somewhat typical for me, the only shot that showed anything was my first. I've gone through my standard image reduction (averaging 5 shots to get the starfield, overlaying the meteor trail), cropped it, and shrunk to around 30%.

As I'm sure most people can attest to who saw these in person, they're much more impressive when viewed with the eye as opposed to viewing in a photo.

boomersgot3 · Aug 13, 2007

Neat!

&Denekamp · Aug 13, 2007

I tried this, I failed.

Looks like a crack in the universe!

Antarctican · Aug 13, 2007

Nice! [I don't think I actually got any streaking meteors in my timer shots

)

Mohain · Aug 13, 2007

Wow, awsome. Much better than ALL the other efforts I've seen!

fido dog · Aug 13, 2007

I'm JEALOUS! I wanted to try the meteors this morning, but blew it off. :grumpy:

That is a great shot.

Heck · Aug 13, 2007

Too bad the only stars I see in the city is the moon.

Crobo · Aug 13, 2007

i was in VT for this shower and OMG. it was amazing. nice capture, i tried to get a few but i havnt uploaded yet.

JTHphoto · Aug 14, 2007

still a neat capture. I'm not sure which meteor shower I'm thinking of, but the one I really got to experience was breathtaking, better than any fireworks show I have ever seen. We counted about 200 in less than 2 hours.... amazing!

astrostu · Aug 14, 2007

Thanks all. It's my first shower that I tried to photograph, so I'm relatively pleased that I at least got one.

JTHphoto - you might be thinking of the Leonid shower in (I believe) September '01 (or '02 ...).

neea · Aug 15, 2007

Ah.. so jealous!!

Was completley cloudy the night of the main shower here. Actually. I got off work at midnight and it was clear. I got home and pulled in the driveway.. still clear. Went inside and changed out of my work clothes and went outside to start setting up.... CLOUDY. I was so mad.
The next night though was totally clear. I got my first 10 min exposure of the stars and seen, but didnt manage to photograph, a few falling stars.

Great job!

E-jeezy · Aug 13, 2009

thats beautiful! I cant even capture stars with my camera, is there a special technique? or is it the lens? I captured one meteor but looks nowhere near as good as yours.

ocular · Aug 13, 2009

Neato looks like it was painted.

astrostu · Aug 15, 2009

Wow, I looked at the photo on this thread and was like, "That looks familiar ... I wonder if someone stole my shot." And then I realized that I made this post before SOMEONE accidentally deleted my account and then re-made it but couldn't link it back to the original ....

Anyway, it's both a lens issue and a camera mounting issue. The camera was placed on a mount that tracks to the sky so you don't have star trails. This is purely aesthetics - some like trails with their meteors, some don't. I don't. Otherwise, it's just playing around with exposures and getting lucky. A fast lens (the f/1.4L) definitely helps you get more stars in less time, and it also allows the meteor to be brighter. You can always expose longer to get more stars, but the meteor isn't going to stick around longer just 'cause you're using a smaller aperture.

E-jeezy · Aug 15, 2009

astrostu said:
Wow, I looked at the photo on this thread and was like, "That looks familiar ... I wonder if someone stole my shot." And then I realized that I made this post before SOMEONE accidentally deleted my account and then re-made it but couldn't link it back to the original ....

Anyway, it's both a lens issue and a camera mounting issue. The camera was placed on a mount that tracks to the sky so you don't have star trails. This is purely aesthetics - some like trails with their meteors, some don't. I don't. Otherwise, it's just playing around with exposures and getting lucky. A fast lens (the f/1.4L) definitely helps you get more stars in less time, and it also allows the meteor to be brighter. You can always expose longer to get more stars, but the meteor isn't going to stick around longer just 'cause you're using a smaller aperture.

Wow that's an in depth explanation, I wish I had the equipment to attempt this

But I know it definitely take a lot of skill to get a shot of that caliber as well. Well beautiful shot, can't wait to see more :thumbup: