Taking photographs of a meteor shower can be challenging since meteors streak quickly and unannounced across the sky, but with these tips and a little bit of luck, you might be able to get a memorable image.
1. Choose Your Photo Op
Before going for shooting, make sure to check the weather and Moon phase. Because clouds or a bright moon can diminish even the best meteor shower.
Several meteors per hour are usually visible on any given night.
You're seeing a meteor shower if there are lots more meteors than usual. Some meteor showers occur yearly or at regular intervals.
2. Choose a place with dark skies by going away from city lights.
If there is too much light, your eyes will have a difficult time seeing fainter meteors, and your image will get flooded with the glow of light.
It will be easier to keep your eyes adjusted to the dark if you reduce the LCD screen's brightness on the camera.
3. Use a tripod.
Meteor photography needs long exposures, and even the most steady hands can't keep a camera motionless long enough for a clear shot.
By using a tripod, you may lessen movement caused by wind and footsteps.
If you don't have a tripod, you can prop your camera on something nearby, just make sure to keep it secure.
4. Use a lens with a wide-angle.
A wide-angle lens will capture more of the sky and increase your chances of capturing a meteor in your shot.
Whereas a telephoto lens will only record a small portion of the sky.
There is less chance of a meteor streaking by that small patch.
5. Use the camera's built-in timer or a shutter release cable.
Your extended exposure may be blurry just by pressing the shutter.
By using the self-timer, you have several seconds before the shutter is released to stop any shaking caused by pressing the shutter button.
Using a shutter release cable (without a self-timer) eliminates the need to touch the camera at all. And, if your camera has wifi capability, you may activate the shutter from a mobile device.
6. Manually focus your lens.
Autofocus will have difficulty finding something on which to focus at night. You'll get close if you set your focus to infinity, but you'll still probably need to take some test shots and adjust.
You can test the sharpness of your focus by zooming on a star.
If the stars appear to be blurry blobs, make small tweaks to the focus and snap another test image. Continue until you are satisfied with the result.
You might be able to zoom to a star and focus without taking a test shot if your camera has a zoomable electronic viewfinder or live view function.
7. Set your camera.
Even though a single meteor's appearance is unpredictable since one meteor may occur at any time, anywhere, still we do know the general area from which it will originate.
The name of Meteor showers is based on the point in the sky from which they appear to radiate.
For example, when the Leonids are at their peak, they appear to be coming from the direction of the constellation Leo in the eastern sky.
8. Calculate your exposure time.
The stars in the sky appear to move as the Earth spins, and if your shutter is open for a long enough period of time, you might record some of that movement.
To avoid apparent star movement, calculate your exposure time by following the 500 Rule.
500 Rule - Divide 500 by your lens's length in mm to find the exposure duration. The resulting number is the number of seconds you can keep your shutter open before seeing star trails.
For example, the longest exposure time for a 20 mm lens is 25 seconds (500 divided by 20) you can set before star trails start to show up in your images.
9. Try new settings!
After knowing the maximum exposure time, you can set your shutter priority to that duration and let the camera find other settings for your first shot.
Manually change the aperture (set it to a lower number if the image is too dark) and ISO (set it to a higher number if the image is too dark) to improve your next images.
You will have a better idea of how those changes affect your image if you simply alter one setting at a time.
10. Watch the show with enjoyment.
Capturing the perfect shot is only just a matter of luck and time after you've adjusted your camera's settings.
The maximum number of visible meteors per hour is seen after midnight and before sunrise.
To experience the magic and wonder of a meteor shower for yourself, set up your camera next to a lounge chair or a blanket, hopefully, you'll also get some jealousy-inspiring photos.
(Source & Credit - NASA)