Perseid Meteor Shower-Thursday and Friday Night

Jackobyte

The peak of this shower is Thursday or Friday night and apparently we should have clear skies.

I myself am hoping to be out in the countryside so I should avoid the light pollution.

I am just looking for some tips on photographing the sky. What aperture and shutter speed produces the best results?

And how are pictures like this taken?


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BrokenArrows

Jackobyte wrote: »

The peak of this shower is Thursday or Friday night and apparently we should have clear skies.

I myself am hoping to be out in the countryside so I should avoid the light pollution.

I am just looking for some tips on photographing the sky. What aperture and shutter speed produces the best results?

And how are pictures like this taken?


Source
Source

A picture like the one you show would be achieved with a long exposure. The stars paths will be caused by the earths rotation.

Im not sure of exact camera settings. Ill have to do some tests on the night.
Ive never done star photography.

Jackobyte

BrokenArrows wrote: »

A picture like the one you show would be achieved with a long exposure. The stars paths will be caused by the earths rotation.

Im not sure of exact camera settings. Ill have to do some tests on the night.
Ive never done star photography.

I'm the same, never tried it. Damn, I just realised that I don't have a remote so bulb, the only setting over 30 seconds, isn't an option. Crap.

Thecageyone

I went out to give it a try last night ... nothing but cloud as usual for Ireland. Hopefully it'll be much clearer tonight.

One tip is to cover the viewfinder during the exposure, that cuts down on light pollution.

paulusdu

Enfuse looks like the dogs em, liathróidí. Is there a version for Photoshop?
Tonight may be a chance of catching some of the show though, through some broken clouds, in fact, that might even add to any picture

Jackobyte

bedlam wrote: »

Take multiple 30 second (or shorter) exposures, it should result in less noise in the images as the sensor won't get as hot. Use something like Enfuse to convert the multiple images into one, see example at bottom of page here

How much is a remote capable of bulb though? I presume the Canon RC-5 is useless at it only does 2 second timer. Do the 3rd party wireless ones do bulb does anyone know?

Thecageyone

Timer is useless for bulb mode anyhow, as you have to keep the shutter pressed during the exposure. A remote is essential. Timer is fine for anything up to 30seconds.

Jackobyte

bedlam wrote: »

You'd want a wired remote to get bulb functionality, such as the Canon RS-60E3 or RS-80N3. You'd have to check the features of 3rd party remotes to see if they were suitable.

I just looked in the local camera shop and a third party wireless one with bulb functionality is €59 or €99 if you want a battery grip included

Buckz

On Film I used exposures of around half an hour with apertures of F5.6 to F11. ISO 100. The wider the aperture the stronger the trails. try to include the pole star so that there is something stationary with thetrails going around it. At wider apertures the sky doesn't stay black...

Jackobyte

This is the remote for €59. Worth it? Canon one is the last one on list.

JayEnnis

Don't go out and buy new gear for one shoot.

Tape a pebble to your shutter release.

Jackobyte

JayEnnis wrote: »

Don't go out and buy new gear for one shoot.

Tape a pebble to your shutter release.

Well I was looking at a remote before as well. They are handy in general because I like shooting moving water.

JayEnnis

Jackobyte wrote: »

Well I was looking at a remote before as well. They are handy in general because I like shooting moving water.

I got mine with my camera and rarely use it.

I'm just saying its not one of those things I'd rush out to buy when a 2 second timer and mirror lock up is more than adequate.

Jackobyte

JayEnnis wrote: »

I got mine with my camera and rarely use it.

I'm just saying its not one of those things I'd rush out to buy when a 2 second timer and mirror lock up is more than adequate.

How do you do that mirror lock up? I have to keep the shutter pressed on mine

JayEnnis

With my D80 its an option in the menu. It just means that the mirror swings up a second or sobefore the shutter opens so there's no shake from it moving.

If you use it with bulb and a timer/shutter release you'll get zero shake if you have a decent tripod.

magicbastarder

doesn't look like we'll have much luck tonight.

whyulittle

Forecast is for the cloud to clear as the night goes on.

BFassassin

I saw three flashing across the sky but didnt have the camera pointed in the right direction on all three occasions.
Still managed some nice shots though.

Its got cloudy now so I dont think ill see any more.

Buckz

That Hahnel release is well worth it- I use it a lot. I think you could get it cheaper than €59 though.

Jackobyte

I bought it anyway. :P I checked it up on the internet.

£39 on amazon
€59 on pixmania

I said it wasn't too expensive when compared to internet standards so I now have a shutter remote capable of release from 80 metres away.

eeyore2502

Went up to Blessington lakes hoping to see a bit of activity but all cloudy On the way back there was some large flashes across the mountains, think it may have been Sallys Gap not sure what it was.

Eirebear

****ing light pollution. Even in the clear areas of sky i have little chance of really seeing anything.

I miss the dark.

JayEnnis

Its been cloudy my way all evening, Not very happy about it.. Could have got some good shots as I live in the middle of no where :P

Jackobyte

JayEnnis wrote: »

Its been cloudy my way all evening, Not very happy about it.. Could have got some good shots as I live in the middle of no where :P

I'm in West Clare and it is looking more promising by the minute.

IamBlip

I'm here in Meath and its cloudy, ah well, gave this a go on Mon & Tues both nights where cloudless and was up till 2:30 so think I'll head to bed now and get an earlyish night.

Overcast all night in Galway so no fireworks to report, will train the eye on the leabhair instead

Jackobyte

Spent the last 40 minutes or so outside. Saw 5 but no photos, had problem with focus.

Clouds came in and filled the sky.

Elmar Fudd

Me and my family looked up one night back in the eighties and saw a REAL meteor over Ireland, in 2 or 3 parts, and I'll be darned if it wasn't mentioned on the national news later that night. Even seen it in the Irish Times archive. But the chances of anyone photographing a biggie are slim.

joeKel73

Deleted User wrote: »

Overcast all night in Galway so no fireworks to report, will train the eye on the leabhair instead

Went out to Tra Sailin, Spiddal last night and got a good clear patch in the sky for about 30mins... saw about 8 or 9. Didn't bring the camera though, doh!

Stuxnet

Elmar Fudd wrote: »

Me and my family looked up one night back in the eighties and saw a REAL meteor over Ireland, in 2 or 3 parts, and I'll be darned if it wasn't mentioned on the national news later that night. Even seen it in the Irish Times archive. But the chances of anyone photographing a biggie are slim.

was that around 1986, i remember looking out my bedroom window when we lived in Dublin one evening, it was summer i think, because i remember it was bright, I was only six at the time, but i distinctly remember seeing a fireball shoot across the sky,my parents dismissed it, i'M 30 now and and can still remember it clearly, i never found out what it was ! and no one believed me lol

Stuxnet

crossed my mind years later, but defo not

this was actually a streak of fire across the sky !

i didnt drink or take drugs back then !! :cool:

whyulittle

Weather forecasters, worse than the bloody weather!

jpb1974

First it was amazing sunsets caused by Volcanic Ash... and that was a flop.

The we were supposed to have Northern Lights last week... and that was a flop.

If these Meteor Shower don't show up tonight I say fcuk landscape photography... I'm taking up Macro.

joeKel73

Surely it's more astrological photography than landscape that's not working out for ya!

magicbastarder

bedlam wrote: »

possibly Halley's Comet.

nope, halley's comet would have been essentially static in the sky.

i saw a fireball about 12 or 15 years ago, bright enough to read a book by. that was on a friday evening - i rang astronomy ireland about it the next morning, and they were at first quite dubious about my claims as to how bright it was, but once they realised i wasn't a crank, they agreed to send me out a form and asked me to fill it in and send it back as soon as possible.

on monday morning, there were people ringing in to gerry ryan claiming they'd seen a UFO that night.

Nebezpeci Mys

bedlam wrote: »

There are a few GUIs on the Enfuse site, nothing similar to LR/Enfuse for Photoshop that I am aware of however.

As it's really a tool for producing tonemaped like images results may vary depending on how you envision the end result.

New version of Photomatix have 'Exposure Blend' function which should be capable of the very same thing, I believe...

Thecageyone

I went back tonight to give it a go, the best has passed of course but I did spot one flying up above. They're so quick you'd want to know where to be aiming!

This was about the best I got: I really must get me a remote



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And it had taken me so long messing about with controls and manually focusing into space that by the time i got it about right the cloud had come out of nowhere - It was clear up to that.

But hey, at least I found a nice dust spot :rolleyes:




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Jackobyte

Cleared up for a while and I tried to get some photos. I felt extremely hard done by. One of the meteors appeared to pass through my frame but it didn't appear in the photo. It must have bordered the photo. :mad:

Saw a load, no pictures.

Thecageyone

They're that quick you'd really need a much faster exposure to catch them, and know where they're about to spring! Impossible me thinks. I got nothing but black shots at first and was getting frustrated, I had it set all arseways of course. ISO 200 and f/22 is not the way to go Much better results at ISO 1000 and f/8. I tried hand holding the shutter down in bulb mode, useless ... 30 secs was my max.

Jackobyte

As soon as I think one has past my frame I'll stop the shot if it is over 2.30mins at F4 and ISO 800.

IamBlip

Yeah, all above for me too, seen about 7 tonight, a couple of faint ones but deffo thought I got two fairly bright ones in the frame but they didn't show up ?

I changed from long bulb exposures to multi 30" timers with setting of F4 & iso200 also lens in manual set to infinity "and beyond" sorry....and because of the strong sox street lights on the adjacent road I also changes WB to tunsten this cleared up the browny colour I was getting on the images to a more natural night light. The clouds started to come in at about 1:15ish and thats it for this year I think.

So after three nights of photography about 7 hours in total and having seen about 13 metorites I ended up with nothing, but I did still enjoy it. I got some nice night sky shots might throw some on the RT.

Thecageyone

My attempt was a bit half-arsed to say the least. but it was bloody freezing out by the time I noticed the clear sky. Was about 12:30. It was worth it here too, as it is a hell of a long time since I just simply admired a starry sky!

hmboards

The skies were very clear here last night. I saw about 8 or 9 of them. I'd say at least three passed through the frame, but even at f/4 ISO1600 they didn't show up (the stars did, and some outlines of light cloud). I presume they were too fast and just not bright enough. I was shooting as wide as I could to get the best chance of catching them.

Thecageyone

Some nice ones on flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ovaunda/4887561676/

20seconds only, f/3.5 @ 18mm, ISO 800.

IamBlip

I hit auto levels in PS and bingo there in the left bottom beside the tree is a streak. I'm going to go through the other 60+ shots I have to see if anything else shows up. The bright spot on the right is the space station thingy I think?

Burnt

IamBlip wrote: »

The bright spot on the right is the space station thingy I think?

IamBlip I think that the bright spot is more likely to be Jupiter, the space station moves across the sky quite quickly

hmboards

I downloaded mine (nothing was visible on the camera display), and compared some of the multiple 30sec exposures. I spotted one trail. It's very faint so I've had to highlight it! So this is f/4, ISO1600, and the exposure and levels were brought up. Not sure how I could have done any better ? Maybe they just weren't that bright over Ireland ?



Edit: only really visible on original size:
http://pix.ie/alfapixels/1857029/size/0

Mountainsandh

hmboard I think you actually have quite a nice one near the brighter spot top right (my right looking at pic) too !

hmboards

Mountainsandh wrote: »

hmboard I think you actually have quite a nice one near the brighter spot top right (my right looking at pic) too !

Well spotted! I'll have to have a look through the rest of the shots in more detail. None of them are striking though.

Mountainsandh

Such a pity there's been such cloud cover here in South East (albeit broken), am in the middle of nowhere so light pollution is not a problem. Oh well, they're nice to see anyway.

Mountainsandh

Sky is beautifully clear so far, and here is what they said in independent today :
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/stargazers-treated-to-more-fireworks-2297136.html

Still way too bright here though, but will have a look and a go tonight anyway.