How To Photograph And Edit Meteor Showers

With the Perseids meteor shower coming up I made a tutorial on how to shoot and post process your results into one meteor composite shot. This how to video also applies to other meteor showers like the Geminids and the Lyrids. We take a look at gear you need, peak time of meteor showers, location, composition, radiant point, weather conditions, moon phase, photography techniques, camera settings and last but not least the editing of your images.
00:00 Intro
Planning
00:48 Gear (camera, lens, tripod, remote shutter, dew heater, software)
01:40 Peak of a meteor shower
02:11 Weather conditions and Moon phase
02:39 Location, light pollution, composition
03:04 Radiant point of a meteor shower
Shooting
03:57 Photography techniques and camera settings
Post processing
08:08 Import images into Lightroom
08:52 Choose a base sky exposure
09:15 Basic editing in Lightroom (color temperature, contrast, highlights)
10:14 Find your meteors and flag them
10:23 The difference between meteors and airplanes and satellites
11:19 Sync settings
11:35 Increase contrast of meteor shots
12:11 Open as layers in Photoshop
12:26 Move base sky exposure to the bottom
13:08 Mask in meteors using lighten blend mode
16:00 Make the meteors stand out (increasing contrast and maximum filter)
18:41 Results
19:27 Thanks for watching
You might also like Alyn Wallace, Nightscape Images, Scotlands Nightsky, AstroHBF, Chasing Luminance, John Rutter photography, AstroBackyard, Milky Way Mike and Paul Haworth Nightscape Journals.

[@frankverburg]

Bedankt

[@StarScaperPhoto]

Thanks a lot Frank! Way too kind! :D

[@moraltraveller1166]

You're the first that I have actually enjoyed watching - you get straight to the point and explain what is necessary and wanted. Thank you!

[@StarScaperPhoto]

Thanks! Super nice to hear.

[@timscanlanphotography]

Thank you so much for sharing this tutorial Jeroen. I use exactly the same processes for my meteor editing but it's always good to see someone else's workflow. Thanks again and good luck with the Perseids.

[@StarScaperPhoto]

Thanks Tim! Also good luck to you!

[@scotlandsnightsky]

Brilliant tips there, I create my meteor shower shots so much more complicated than that so for sure using some of your techniques as they'll save a lot of time! Brilliant video and nice and easy to watch without getting confused, saved on a playlist for when i need to do a meteor shower image!

[@StarScaperPhoto]

That's great to hear Andrew! Hope it helps. And always keep in mind, what someone else tells you is never the only nor always the best way to do it 😅. This is just what I do haha. I am curious though how you would go about shooting meteors!

[@marcelvandenbos]

Prima Tutorial! Kijk er al echt weer naar uit om op pad te gaan! Nu hopen op een heldere nacht…

[@StarScaperPhoto]

Dankjewel Marcel! Fingers crossed 🤞.

[@nightscapejournals]

Some great tips in there, Jeroen - nice one. 👍 I’m hoping our skies start to clear a bit for the peak, and then it’ll be some local foregrounds (maybe our awesome local windmill) and a timelapse. Don’t forget the Quadrantids in early Jan as well - often some fantastically bright meteors from that one (but it’s COLD! 🥶)

[@StarScaperPhoto]

Hoping the clouds clear right there with you! A local plan always sounds like a relaxt evening. You have plans to film a vlog also?

[@nightscapejournals]

@@StarScaperPhoto yes hopefully a vlog too, although we’re heading to Spain at the weekend so it will all depend how organised I am! 🤣

[@StarScaperPhoto]

@@nightscapejournals both sound like good options though ;-).

[@benjaminberthold]

Thanks a lot Jeroen...just in time for the perseides...! :)

[@StarScaperPhoto]

You're welcome! And what a coincidence isn't it? 😁

[@thilinaalagiyawanna3680]

Thank you very much

[@StarScaperPhoto]

My pleasure!

[@thenimitpatel]

Helpful video thank you! I’ve either not felt like going out for meteor photos or had bad conditions like clouded over. It appears I’m gunna get lucky this weekend as I’ll be backpacking during peak time. So now I feel confident that I’ll come back with some really cool images as long as I shoot for a few hours near peak time and the right camera settings. Thank you

[@StarScaperPhoto]

Good luck!

[@Teresa-B]

Fantastic video! Thank you

[@StarScaperPhoto]

Thank you!

[@motty_henoch]

Great tips, thanks!

[@StarScaperPhoto]

My pleasure! Hope it helps 👍.

[@keyswitches9269]

underrated video! thanks for posting ❤

[@StarScaperPhoto]

That's super kind to say, thanks! And glad you enjoyed it!

[@DavideTorchiaPh]

Your tutorial is amazing! Thank you! 🙏

[@StarScaperPhoto]

Thanks Davide!

[@polskaeuropa7668]

Thank you .

[@carolsantulis1990]

Really well presented. Thanks.

[@StarScaperPhoto]

Thank you! Really nice to hear!

[@bensneen]

Great job with this video. The others I watched weren't as clear and concise. Very helpful for my first time making meteor shower composite.

[@StarScaperPhoto]

Glad it helped!

[@snezhinazlateva182]

Very nice video! Will be my first time shooting meteor shower, hopefully will have nice results 🤗

[@StarScaperPhoto]

Good luck and have fun!

[@paulscheffers]

Super! Ik hoopte dat je dit nog zou doen. Heel fijn. 🎉 Het ziet er goed uit volgende week! Helder weer opkomst. Ik denk iets met de paarse heide en of Drenthe sterrenwacht

[@StarScaperPhoto]

Hopelijk blijft de voorspelling zo inderdaad! En mooi plan. Heide had ik zelf nog nieteens aan gedacht! Icm sterrenwacht helemaal super. Succes en veel plezier alvast!

[@Raghav16yt]

very very useful video for us and thanks for sharing PS and LR tutorial.....

[@StarScaperPhoto]

That's great to hear! Thanks for letting me know!

[@joshuamuller9705]

Thanks for the very informative video 👌 I only did deepsky astrophotography to this day but planned to go in the Alps for the Perseids. So this was very helpful. Cheers from Switzerland 😊

[@StarScaperPhoto]

Happy it helped you! Good luck an have fun in the Alps. Super jaleous of such scenery! 🙂

[@stevenchurch8901]

Nice, thank you sir!

[@StarScaperPhoto]

My pleasure.

[@Mark_Wierda]

Nice informative video, Jeroen! Great tip to take short exposures with the camera on the star tracker to make it easier to blend the meteors in the exact position 👌🏻

[@StarScaperPhoto]

Glad I could help Mark! Good luck and clear skies!

[@StarScaperPhoto]

*small correction on the moon phase during the Perseids this year: there will rise a 10% moon around 02:20 AM Aug 13 in the NE (52 degrees North). I don't expect it to hinder that much though.

[@cygnus_m]

thanks! that's a very helpul video ;)

[@cygnus_m]

+1 btw

[@muris60]

thank you!

[@StarScaperPhoto]

My pleasure!

[@shr2000]

Thanks for the video man. I always got some meteors/satellites in my shots but they would get stacked out. Didnt knew how to blend it in properly. Now i know.

[@StarScaperPhoto]

Glad I could be of help!

[@shr2000]

@@StarScaperPhoto Came back again after Geminids to remember this technique.

[@helencogan2187]

AWESOME..Alyn Wallace recommended your channel.. great info! New sub🎉🎉🎉

[@StarScaperPhoto]

Thank you! And glad the video could be of help to you!

[@GrowPhotography]

Just wanted to pass on my appreciation for this content Jeroen. I used the information to successfully shoot and edit the geminids over the weekend (stay tuned for an upcoming video 😊). I used your tracker method with great results

[@StarScaperPhoto]

That is so good to hear Greg! Also glad that you got clear skies down there. We traveled all the way to the UK (about 10 hrs) for one all nighter but got clouded out pretty bad haha.

[@GrowPhotography]

@@StarScaperPhoto Oh no - that's a huge trip. I only had to travel 2.5 hrs to get to my location but still vascillated whether or not to go as I had conflicting cloud reports. Fortunately I did go and had clear skies until 4am

[@StarScaperPhoto]

@@GrowPhotography that sounds brilliant! And for us, ah well, we still had some good fun and all shared the idea of better to have failed than to not have tried at all.

[@danteedee8204]

Excellent video, just subscribed to your channel

[@StarScaperPhoto]

Thank you! And welcome to the channel 👍

[@juergenbaumann8817]

Hi, thanks for sharing your process and thoughts. Regarding the edit process, when you pushed your meteors to become a bit brighter, why not select and mask them but using a different approach. Add an adjustment layer, e.g. contrast, levels or curve to push the highlights to individual layers, or even group all layers with masks and apply that. It might be quicker, easier and non destructive.

[@StarScaperPhoto]

Thanks for your comment! In my edits from last week I actually tried what you suggested. This works pretty well, although it only makes them brighter, not 'broader' (spreading more pixels) so I ended up doing a bit of a combo. Anyways, my way is not the only one and probably not necessarily the best way also 😅.

[@Seegurkenwombat]

Great work!! I think I'll go for a Polaris in the frame star trail (standard method) with Perseus still in the frame. That way I have a video, meteor shot and startrail. While one camera is running all the time facing north I think I'll shoot a highly detailed milky way core Mosaik with my 85mm stacked an tracked 3*3 I guess with the Benro Polaris and hope to catch some meteors as well. There will be lots of rocks there, Jeroen. You can still join me!

[@StarScaperPhoto]

Whoah, that sounds like a solid and efficient plan dude 😎. You know I wish I could join 😅.

[@dancarroll927]

Great video and very timely. New subscriber. I am excited to try my luck capturing the Perseids. You answered most of my questions except for how to focus. Do we set to manual focus and adjust to infinite or is there a better way? Thanks for all of your great advice.

[@StarScaperPhoto]

Good luck! I'd suggest focussing manually on a bright star in live view. Try to get the star as small in your frame as possible. Alternatively you could try focussing on a distant light source.

[@Aerostar509]

I'm headed to Staniel Cay in the Bahamas and hope to get some good data on Aug 12 & 13 . I've never used LR but I do have PS. I mainly use PI which be of little value with meteor images. Love you channel. Tim

[@StarScaperPhoto]

Thanks Tim! And have a good one in Bahamas. Sounds like good fun. PS can basically do what LR does and much more. PI is brilliant for deep sky. Not used it that much for landscape stuff yet though.

[@BLarsenPhoto]

Great video thanks Jeroen. Very helpful. With the tracked method why do the meteors not look as good with a longer exposure? I would have thought that it wouldnt make much difference as long as the meteor goes through when the shutter is open. I'd also expect that with shorter exposures you're more likely to miss some meteors in between shots.

[@StarScaperPhoto]

Thank you! I would expect that with a shorter exposure time and higher ISO the fraction of a second a meteor is in the shot the sensor would collect a bit more light. I've not put this to a scientific test or something, but I have noticed meteors showing up less bright in my longer tracked exposures in the past. But please do let me know if you find other results! Always learning! :D.

[@raphaelcoelho1557]

Nice tut. Some improvements would be not editing the shots before blending that would avoid the problem matiching the brightness around the meteors. Second, a Star appears at the first layer blending since the basic sky was taken before tracking. So, I would prefere to blend all the tracked ones aligned with the first tracked as base layer. After that the one used as base could be done just replacing the sky. It also eliminates the necessity of shorter duration since no steady base sky would be presented you could shot the whole night.

[@StarScaperPhoto]

Excellent suggestions, thank you!

[@MysticalQ]

Nice tutorial! I'm looking into Astrophotography more and more thanks to you! Do you know a good place to start?

[@StarScaperPhoto]

That's great to hear! I should start with what you have, or just small. Check out if it's something for you or not. You can come a long way with a simple DSLR or Mirrorless camera and a relatively fast wide angle lens + tripod. Also know that post processing is a large part of the result of a lot of astrophotography you see online. I have some tutorials which you might think are interesting if you're starting out: Gear: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hHfMnmt9mMR_nLs Planning: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qH6pnIqsiZisZ9U Techniques: kzbin.info/www/bejne/iKnRnJqlodimptU Post processing: kzbin.info/www/bejne/b3vQi6qhbKeknac (although you could start out much easier by just using lightroom or a free software variant like Siril for example)

[@Bills_APCh]

Very good tutorial Jeroen! What interval between each photo do you allow for camera processing? 1 second or more? I am worried camera sensor will overheat if “continuous” shooting is chosen. Thank you.

[@StarScaperPhoto]

My old Canon 6D needs 5 seconds.

[@Bills_APCh]

What are your brush settings when selecting the meteor trail? 30 pixels, but what are the feather or blur/hard soft brush??

[@StarScaperPhoto]

Hi Bill. The size depends on the size of the meteor as you said. Furthermore I tend to use a soft brush with a wide feather. Please let me know if I can help further with specific details!

[@srikarkanchana]

Hi Jeroen, how long are your shorter exposures ? Could tell me what ISO you have used ?

[@StarScaperPhoto]

It depends a bit on your sky brightness and focal length. I'd say start somewhere around iso 1600-3200 with a shutter speed of about 15-20 seconds and take it from there. Try to experiment and see what works best with your location and equipment. Clear skies!

[@anata5127]

Great video. What about 200mm small scope with cooling astro camera? Will it be OK? I don’t want to get separate camera only for this.

[@StarScaperPhoto]

I have no experience myself with photographing meteors through a telescope and cooled camera. I guess it could theoretically work but you'll have to be super lucky that one will strike exactly through that small patch of sky which you are shooting with the 200. You might want to check this with some more deep sky oriented KZbinrs like Trevor from AstroBackyard for example.

[@anata5127]

@@StarScaperPhoto Majority of people think the same way like you. Moreover, composition of final photos ain’t probably be as impressive as yours. Oh well, perhaps I need to borrow a camera from someone for this occasion. By the way, are you really following advises by Backyard-Trevor?

[@StarScaperPhoto]

@@anata5127 I am not following advises for deep sky from anyone at the moment because I am focussing on nightscapes at the moment :-).

[@anata5127]

@@StarScaperPhoto Great! This is very much specific area of astrophotography. Different technique, different equipment, etc.

[@8arrows]

At 5:37 am August 13th ‘23 I was loading up my gear, after the moon rose, and I saw a meteor shoot in front of the crescent moon. I wish I had got that shot

[@StarScaperPhoto]

You can't catch 'em all but I can imagine how you felt 😅

[@8arrows]

@@StarScaperPhoto just rolled in from another hunt. The moon looked rally cool coming up. Lots of great meteors. But only got a few still shots, out of hours of trying. Are there twin satellites running parallel out there, but staggered? //one line was ahead of the other by half a “car length”.

[@StarScaperPhoto]

@@8arrows sounds like Starlink satellites.

[@corne102]

You got some tips for non cloudy locations for next year?

[@StarScaperPhoto]

I hear the UK is awesome 🤣

[@joewy71]

Great tutorial again. But where and when you going shooting😄

[@StarScaperPhoto]

Haha, no definite plans yet here. Afraid I can't shoot during the peak itself so I'll have to try to fit in something a day before or after ;-).

[@northtexasskies7786]

I've seen some awesome meteors already this week. My widest angle lens is 18mm but it only goes down to F/3.5. I'm in a Bortle 5 area hopefully it'll work tonight.

[@StarScaperPhoto]

Great! You will be fine with that lens 👌

[@northtexasskies7786]

@@StarScaperPhoto Awesome! Thanks for the video.

[@8arrows]

I’m here in the Texas Hill Country. I’m about to head out tonight. Clear skies here so far. I noticed last night they were heading towards me from the north.

[@TalGivoly]

Tx for video. Fairly clear. But what isn't clear is how to make the meteors appear to emanate from the radiant if shot on a fixed tripod. In that case, the radiant keeps moving, so the meteors will not appear to be coming from a fixed location... I've used 12mm lens on ASPS-C sized sensor, and I have over 60 frames with one or more meteors. Obviously, they're "all over the place". And I'd rather not relocate them all... Any suggestion on how to combine them and make them appear from a radiant that is present in at least one of the frames?

[@StarScaperPhoto]

Hi! Yeah, you would have to align tue stars from shot to shot to match up. Without using a tracker you could adjust your ballhead position every now and then to more or less keep your intended sky area in the frame.

[@TalGivoly]

@@StarScaperPhoto And do you know a method to do this after the frames were shot? These are 60 frames with meteors selected out of over 2,000 (I used 8 second exposures) - cannot reshoot them, some great meteors. But the composition would benefit from emanating from radiant...

[@StarScaperPhoto]

@@TalGivoly you can do it manually in photoshop by twisting and turning while the layer above is on 50% ish opacity, which cost a bit of time or do it automatically with the etar alignment process in pixinsight if you have that.

[@ricardoguerra9693]

Fuji 1.4 16mm. Hoping I can capture something. Unfortunately I can’t get to far from light pollution but I am in the desert so I should be able to get something

[@StarScaperPhoto]

Sounds good! Hopefully you have clear skies.

[@8arrows]

Sounds cool

[@graphguy]

Very useful as we go the Perseids in a waning 8% moon this year, so should be great. How about video?

[@StarScaperPhoto]

So looking forward! Tried my luck yesterday already. Saw about 10 and had about 2 decent ones in frame. What about video? You mean how to film them? Not sure, not much experience. I only tried last year with the Geminids and just adjusted my settings so that it let as much light in as possible (low f number, high iso).

[@graphguy]

@@StarScaperPhoto I have a goproh11 and a DJI OA3 and have been shooting in tandem night time-lapse from 2100~0600 pointing in the NE sky with keeping Polaris in the frame. Last night I got 10 with a few sky grazers, so it came out pretty good. Hoping for increases each night for Perseids. I don't see the ability to shoot intervalometer settings for still images on either of these units?

[@StarScaperPhoto]

@@graphguy that sounds like dedication! Nice. I am afraid I cannot advise you on the gopro or dji since I have not used those. Sorry man!

[@graphguy]

@@StarScaperPhoto no worries, thanks for the channel!

[@StarScaperPhoto]

@@graphguy my pleasure 👍

[@Iphonmm]

If we use 500 rule to set SS, all the stars would start trailing. Will it be like star trail rather than Meteor shower shooting?

[@StarScaperPhoto]

If you'd use the 500 rule you wouldn't see too much trailing. It's better to set your shutter speed a bit shorter though since the 500 rule doesn't work great anymore with modern camera's. Best to do some test shots, zoom in and adjust accordingly.

[@clipwat1511]

Alternatives for lightroom and photoshop?

[@MERLE1593]

I use Gimp. It's free and very powerful.

[@northtexasskies7786]

​​@@MERLE1593I second this.

[@StarScaperPhoto]

Yeah, I've heard Gimp is good as a free alternative.

[@StarScaperPhoto]

Let us hear you meteor plan!

[@KoenvanBarneveld]

Nou, met jou ergens naar een donker plekje😃

[@StarScaperPhoto]

@@KoenvanBarneveld klinkt spannend Koen 😄

[@8arrows]

Bringing a folding chair next time lol

[@8arrows]

Warning for Texans astrophotographers. August is thick with Rattlesnakes at night. I’ve already came close to 2 fat rattlesnakes. One has a rattle, but it sounded like wind, or waves. Texas rattlesnakes are losing their rattles. Because the rattles attract wild hogs. The wild hogs kill them, so the snakes are adapting to be more stealthy. I only set up my tripod on pavement, like a road where I at least have a better chance of seeing them, or avoid stepping on one.

[@StarScaperPhoto]

@@8arrows that sounds like quite the adventure 😲

[@bbtbnwjdfotsyk4]

a jew heater??? what did you say

[@StarScaperPhoto]

Haha dew

[@MadMat44]

Really cool! Fingers crossed for not raining on perseids… 🫣

[@StarScaperPhoto]

That would be typical though, wouldn't it 😅.