Aurigid Meteor Shower

[ehughes]

My take on the Aurigid Meteor Shower, this is 157 stacked images taken from Glacier Point.

There are about a dozen or so meteor trails visable in the shot, it was a grat view from up there.

ISO 200 - 20 second exposures

http://www.edhughesphoto.com/photos/190580699-M.jpg

[gus]

If anyone could do it ...it was going to be you mate :thumb Magnificent !!

[Andy]

Nice job, Ed :clap

Wonder if you'd share the technique - at shoot and in post? :ear

[kdog]

this is 157 stacked images taken from Glacier Point.

:huh Yowza! Would love to learn more about this technique.

Great work. Creativity at its finest. :thumb

-joel

[m_granite]

Wonder if you would smoothen the horizon & end of the sky a bit. Look like jumping from land to effect.

It is an intriguing shot by the way.

[Awais Yaqub]

Wow fantastic

[Skippy]

My take on the Aurigid Meteor Shower, this is 157 stacked images taken from Glacier Point.

There are about a dozen or so meteor trails visable in the shot, it was a grat view from up there.

ISO 200 - 20 second exposures



Wow Ed, the shot looks more like a meteor storm, kinda scary to wonder what would happen if they made contact with the earth hu :huh

Excellent Shot :clap ..... Skippy :D
.

[ehughes]

Thanks folks, I'll write up something tomorrow on how the image was made. Just finished up another 20 hour day running all over the state shooting. :D

[ehughes]

Here's the scoop on how the image above was created, it's a fairly simple process. A cable release and a sturdy tripod are a must.

1. Get up at some insane hour and drive for a few hours ( the drive is optional ) :D

2. Set your camera on burst mode and manual focus. Focus to infinity and then back off a little.

3. I set my camera for a 20 second exposure at 200 ISO ( you can take a few practice shots depending on how bright the moon is while you are shooting. The apparant movent of the stars depends largly on the focal length you are using, the longer the lens the more apparant the movement. Normally with a dark sky a 30 to 40 second exposure is preferrable. This night with the bright moon 20 seconds was about all I could get away with without blowing out the ground.

4. Compose your shot and lock down the tripod.

5. Set and lock the cable release and let the camera fire away.

After the shooting is done you can put your pictures together with this photoshop action

http://www.schursastrophotography.com/software/photoshop/startrails.html

The picture above represents 2 hours of movement.

Hope that helps a little, have fun..

[Nikolai]

Ed, this is awesome! My view was nothing compared to yours! :bow

[Van Isle]

how does this technique work with, say, Nikon noise reduction where long exposures are followed by an equally long sensor sampling to weed out hot pixels? Just turn it off? That's the idea in the first place of stacking a series of shorter exposure images, n'est pas? Reduce hot pixels and associated noise?

Great shot by the way. It's the meteors crossing it all that make it for me. :):

VI

[ehughes]

Ed, this is awesome! My view was nothing compared to yours! :bow


Thanks Nik, next time just come hang out with us in the park :)

[Nikolai]

Thanks Nik, next time just come hang out with us in the park :)
Thanks, let me know when you go next time. Leonids, perhaps? :wink

[ehughes]

Thanks, let me know when you go next time. Leonids, perhaps? :wink

When is the next one due?

[Nikolai]

When is the next one due?
Leonids, around November 17 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonids)

[OffTopic]

Wow, that is gorgeous! What a perfect spot to photograph the meteor showers. I like the touch of warm color from the lights down in the valley, Would love to see this larger since it's kinda hard to pick the meteors out of the star trails.

Thanks for posting the action and the tutorial for stacking. That should be much easier than trying to manually subtract a dark image. I'm looking forward to giving it a try.