Beginner Geminids meteor shower

LJR

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Lloyd
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Not easy this stuff is it!?

So last evening, for the first time ever, I decided to try and get out for the peak time of a meteor shower (reported to be around 2am) and see if I could capture any of it using my Nikon D850 and 24-120mm f/4. I'm not new to photography but I seriously got to a point last evening where I just could not work out what else to do to try and capture the night sky, stars (without trails), and a meteor trail.

I would LOVE someone to help point out what i did wrong so here's what I tried.

Kit: D850 24-120mm f4 lens, tripod, remote shutter release (MC-36), iPad with Night Sky app (which pointed me directly in the direction of the shower)
Location: Greenham Common (old USAF air base). It's pitch dark up there, but there's still a lot of light pollution around when you consider the town of newbury and thatcham are within a couple of miles of the location (and this might be why I struggled)

Process:
I first wanted to work out how long I could have the shutter set to without it introducing star trails. I googled it and found some rule of 500, which I applied to my 24mm focal length, giving an effective total shutter time of 20s (already worried that this didn't seem enough)

I set up the camera on the tripod, levelled it, tried to get some of the shadowed trees in the frame while still pointing skywards in the direction of the shower. Set focal length to 24mm and my aperture to f4. Focused manually at inifinity and then set the shutter to 20s. All was set so I activated the shutter remotely - pitch black image, not a star in sight. There's no way I was going to get these wonderful star filled night skies with that setting. I therefore decided to ramp up the time and see just how bad the star trails would be. I set the shutter to 1 min and tried again. This time I got some stars, with beginning of trails (urghh) and I wasn't happy with the image. In fact I still was not getting enough stars in the image.

Then I also realised that these meteors (which I could see with my naked eye every few mins) last around a second before disappearing. They themselves are not particularly bright and so now I'm attempting to capture a dimly lit 'shooting star' in a pitch dark night, that will be in the frame for just a second, perhaps two, and all while leaving the shutter open long enough to capture night time stars, preferably without trails.

I tried every which way but south and never got anything close to what I wanted.

Hints, tips, blatant point outs where I went wrong - gratefully accepted.
 
What ISO?
 
*head hits desk* I'm going to claim that it's because it was 2am and was oo'ing and arr'ing over the meteors that I cannot believe I didn't even consider it! I could kick myself really hard as I do a lot of sport photography and ISO and I are well acquainted friends :D

I don't know to be honest, but not enough!!
 
Been there myself, I am still very much a beginner to Astrophotography. I can very much recommend the photopills app which will give you positioning in the night sky and correct exposure. Costs a tenner but worth every penny IMO.
 
Thanks Geoff. I think your link would be of use to others starting in this area too: http://moore.photos/blog/astrophoto...rs-how-to-photograph-them.php#camera-settings

Bearair, you're just being polite lol. Honestly if I hadn't decided at 10pm that i was getting up at 1am to go and do this and given myself more time to think it through I suspect I wouldn't have done something so stupid. However, it's a learning experience and I'll NEVER forget it again :D

Gonna go search for that app right now.
 
Been there myself, I am still very much a beginner to Astrophotography. I can very much recommend the photopills app which will give you positioning in the night sky and correct exposure. Costs a tenner but worth every penny IMO.
Love PhotoPills but it does come with a learning curve :)
 
Yeah I just downloaded it and had a quick flick through. Nicely detailed and I think I grasped most of the concepts. I'll spend some time later going through the documentation and watching the tuts. Great app!
 
I would tink that having a F4 lens didnt help that much, You really need something in the region of F1.8 to F2.4 for best results .
Better luck next time.
 
I would tink that having a F4 lens didnt help that much, You really need something in the region of F1.8 to F2.4 for best results .
Better luck next time.
My mate gets some good shots on an f4, he's on2500 iso though, but thats not a problem on a d3
 
...I can very much recommend the photopills app which will give you positioning in the night sky and correct exposure. Costs a tenner but worth every penny IMO.

This app rocks! I've downloaded it yesterday and spent a good part of today going through the guide and watching tut videos. Absolutely amazing app! Thanks for the recommendation.
 
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