Meteor Photography Tips
Astrophotography Tips

Scroll down for meteor photo tips.
This page created for Saugus Photos Online.
35MM Slides to Power Point

	Meteor Photography Tips - Astrophotography This page is part of Saugus Photos Online and Copyright 2006 - Jim Harrington The meteor photograph above was made using a tripod, Canon 10D DSLR and a Sigma 20MM 1.8 lens. The exposure time was 30 seconds. ISO 200, F2.0. I made about a dozen 30 second exposures that night and was just lucky to have caught a meteor in one. The dark skies were provided at Glen Ellis Campground in Glen, New Hampshire. The image was enhanced in Adobe Photoshop by adjusting brightness and contrast . "Hot pixels" were cloned out. Along the bottom most portion of the image a silhouette of tree tops can be seen. The orange colored gas and dust clouds of the Milky Way Galaxy can be seen just above the trees, extending to about 1/2 way up the image. The meteor, is just above and to the right of center. Meteor photography is not difficult and can be accomplished with most SLR cameras, including 35MM film and digital SLR cameras. I read somewhere that on an average night, at least 1 meteor per-hour can be seen when skies are dark enough. Meteor is the proper term for those objects causing streaks of light in the sky. A meteorite is the term for meteors which end up on planets or moons, after impact. Most meteors are small burn up completely before ever reaching earth. Occasionally, hissing sounds accompany meteor occurrences Below are some meteor photography tips which might help you get meteor photos of your own. Use a sturdy tripod and remote shutter trigger if available Set F stop settings just short of wide open Set cameras for long shutter times but not too long, to avoid star streaking and CCD noise Check Perseid Meteor Shower times for the most meteors (peak each year on August 12) Don't expect that you'll see every meteor your camera captures (some are as brief as a blink) Attempt meteor photography in an area where skies are dark, away from city lights Avoid nights where a full moon can brighten skies Use a wide angle lens or wide setting with zooms( this increases your likelihood of success. Lots of 30 second exposures might do better than one 5 minute exposure, since long exposures with digital cameras result in noisy images Use a lower ISO equivalent settings on digital cameras to minimize unwanted noise and hot pixels Increased meteor rates occur well before and long after peak times of showers (weeks) Most meteors are seen late at night, as opposed to early (midnight or after) Bring a lawn chair and sit back to enjoy the show If you enjoyed these meteor photo tips you'll surely enjoy my 35MM & Digital Photography Tips page. Make a permanant link to this page directly from your meteor or photography related page, and I'll retun the favor. Call me (Jim) at 4781-244-5655 or send e-mail to jim at saugus dot net. Put "meteor photography" in your subject line or your messeage might not be seen. Readers are welcome to submit photos, (any astrophotography) meteor photography tips or other content for publication here. For those of you who shoot 35MM slide film, I've created a page on the web for help with scanning 35MM slides to digital using the Nikon 5000 scanners. If you'd like to contribute please send e-mail to jim at saugus dot net (correct to normal e-mail conventions) Meteor Photography Links Meteor Photography Camera Clusters Meteor Shower Photography Sky & Telescope - Meteors Meteor Photography by Jerry Lodriguss Saugus Photos Online 35MM and digital photography tips Slide Scanning Tips