my first time lapse while trying to get persids meteor shower

patrick in memphis

Senior Member
Ok so i was unsucessful at getting any meteors due to clouds but I had some fun with time lapse clouds instead
dsc_0081.jpg
dsc_0082.jpg
dsc_0083_147341.jpg
 

Jahendo

New member
I'm right there with you. I got my first star trail picture the other night while trying to capture some good meteor shots. I'd never done stars, trails, or anything of the sort. Sadly, no meteor pictures, though I KNOW there were some in frame when the shutter was open. Still had a lot of fun doing it.

​Great photos!
 

patrick in memphis

Senior Member
hi marcel but that would negate the fact that im trying to get meteor shower picks wouldnt it?i can certainly try it..here are two pics i got last night if you look at the top you can track the meteor...1 min time lapse 3200 iso f 4.5 just for rough numbers
DSC_0029.jpgDSC_0030.jpg
 

Dave_W

The Dude
Ideally, to get the whole "star trails" you would want to stack these images on top of each other. If you don't have the software, send me the images and I'll stack them together and send them back to you so you can post them.
 

patrick in memphis

Senior Member
hi dave i have several programs but none of the are for beginners.i.e. easy to use. here are some color corrected time lapse clouds.as always if anyone has a suggestion on how to do better i'm willing to try.im using manual mode on camera but unsure why the pics get the color tone they have raw.
DSC_0081 - Copy.jpgDSC_0082 - Copy.jpgDSC_0083 - Copy.jpg
 

Dave_W

The Dude
hi dave i have several programs but none of the are for beginners.i.e. easy to use. here are some color corrected time lapse clouds.as always if anyone has a suggestion on how to do better i'm willing to try.im using manual mode on camera but unsure why the pics get the color tone they have raw.
View attachment 48131View attachment 48132View attachment 48133

The color you're seeing is light pollution from sodium lamps coming from a city or town. Long exposures really pick that color up.
 

sOnIc

Senior Member
Hi there .. meteors are a lottery! I've tried a fair few times with no real success, but this year I got a couple: www.flitemedia.com/photography/night-sky.php

I like your composition/foreground in your wide-field shots, though you are facing south away from the shower's radiant, I was directly facing Perseus to the north. There is a compromise because the meteors are shorter when looking directly at the radiant but you have more chance of catching one; whereas looking away from Perseus will get much longer meteors but much rarer (I too was using the kit lens at 18mm).

Firstly I'd say your focus looks off, if your eye-sight is good then all you need to do is zoom in on one of the brightest stars you can see (I used Cappella) and manually focus on that, then pull back and compose your shot. (Prime Lenses will require a different approach.)

Then the orange glow of streetlights is always there if you are anywhere near civilization, it's the thorn in the side of night sky photography, ideally you want to drive as far away from the city lights as you can. The most important thing is that in post-processing try your best to preserve the colour difference between the stars; some are very blue; and some are very orange - if you use colour correction to remove the orange light pollution then you'll end up affecting the colour of the red giant stars as well.

Stacking is an option for star trails, but our camera's are very happy up to 30 minutes (and beyond I hope? I've got a thread asking for confirmation for my D3200) and if you do it right you'll get a great shot. You will need to turn the onboard noise reduction off; and do dark frame reduction after - though actually my camera at ISO800 performed brilliantly for the short meteor shots. I was shooting aprox 7-10secs F3.5 ISO800.

One other thing, did you see 'that' meteor with your own eyes? If you spend time watching the night sky then you'll see all sorts of moving objects - in my Persied session I caught several iridium flare's which are satellites catching the sun; and also when doing long trails its common to get aircraft going through your shot which is a real pain. I'm not sure myself if your curved streak is, or is not, a meteor.. it could be a satellite going right-left, meteors should be straight and do not bend/curve unless done with a fish-eye lens... not sure ..

Anyway, there are other meteor showers in the year; and potentially a bright comet later this year .. best of luck : )
 
Top