To watch meteors dart across the night sky is to witness a humble but fleeting natural phenomenon. And without photos to document the momentary wonder of burning rocks screaming through the airwaves, what do you need to remember how you experienced this sporadic event? Will someone believe you if you tell them you have the Lyrid Meteors all the way? Space photos or it didn’t happen.
But shooting the stars is more than just pointing your phone at the sky. Here’s what you need to know about photographing meteor showers, shooting stars, comets, and other celestial wonders that force us to stay awake and stay out if we were otherwise in bed.
You need a tripod
If you want to capture something as fleeting as a shooting star, you can’t trust the stability of your hands. Meteors sail overhead at blinding speeds, meaning you’ll need a tripod to capture achievable photos.
“You will need [a tripod] shoot with slow shutter speeds, ”says Aysia Marotta, a photographer based in Brooklyn, New York. Take it somewhere remote, far from light pollution that could endanger your photos, she says.
Use a wide angle lens
When shooting with a camera, as opposed to a smartphone, Marotta describes the basic needs of capturing as much of the sky as possible:
“You’ll want to work with a wide-angle lens, so anywhere between 8-16mm will capture as much of the sky as possible. F-stop is also important. Try to bring a lens with an aperture of f / 2.8, that way you don’t overcompensate against your ISO. ”
G / O Media can receive a commission
If you’re not fluent in the language of photography, you can refer to Marotta’s photos, which showcase the beautiful photos that can arise when you master the basics:
Use infinite focus
Another pointer Marotta recommends is to set your focus to infinity, which will expand the depth of field of your camera to the widest possible setting. The sky is big and empty, which means you want to capture as much of it as possible.
Money Maker Photography explains how infinite focus works:
Infinite focus is comparable to an extraordinarily large depth of field. When your lens is in focus at infinity, everything in your frame is focused regardless of the distance from your lens. However, there are some caveats here.
Know your environment
Another useful point of reference is to understand how meteor showers and related phenomena work. Chris Westphal, an amateur Florida photographer who trades in his own stunning night sky photography, advises setting yourself up under “dark skies with good transparency, meaning no clouds, fog, smog, and haze.”
Westphal notes that meteors usually “come from a radiant beam near the constellation of the meteor shower’s name, so it’s good to shoot in those areas.” The Lyrids take their name from the constellation Lyra, which is especially prominent in the northern sky in summer. In this situation, the ‘shining one’ that Westphal refers to is the star Vega, which provides the necessary illumination to capture the Lyrids as they shoot through the sky. You can usually find Vega quite easily, as it is usually “ in mid-northern latitudes on midsummer nights directly above your head, ” according to Space.com
What about smartphone photography?
If you don’t have a camera, but still want to try taking photos of heavenly treats, don’t worry – there are plenty of ways to get the most out of your smartphone, be it an iPhone or an Android.
Tom Peet, manager of Repair Outlet, a UK-based camera repair company, joins Marotta’s advice when it comes to the need for tripods and wide-angle lenses, but recommends some smartphone accessories that will help you search for excellent photos of meteors.
While your phone’s camera is a tech marvel in its own right, it’s probably not quite as good at night photography as your standard DSLR camera. To boost your phone snaps, he recommends downloading a long exposure app and telling Lifehacker:
With a long exposure time, your camera can take multiple photos over a period of time – essential for capturing the volatile nature of meteors. Some free samples include Easy Long Exposure Camera (iPhone) and Long Exposure Camera 2 (Android). Good quality paid apps include Slow Shutter Cam (iPhone) and Night Camera (Android).
Turning off your flash and High Dynamic Range (HDR) are also essential steps. While your flash negates the purpose of shooting in the dark, your HDR presents other challenges.
Peet says:
HDR stands for High Dynamic Range. This setting allows the camera to take multiple photos in a row and combine them to include more light than is visible to the lens in a single shot. This can be good for photographing the sky, but tends to slow your camera down, risking missing meteors in the short time they are visible in the sky.
And whether you’re using a camera or a phone, make sure to take as many photos as possible. Never zoom in either; you want to capture as much of the sky as possible.