Stargazers are on the lookout for Perseid meteors streaking through the sky this week.
The meteor shower should peak tonight and into the wee hours of Thursday morning, staying somewhat visible through the weekend. The Perseid meteor shower is also a great opportunity for taking gorgeous late-summer pictures. For the layperson with an amazing view but a lack of amazing photo equipment, never fear.
Your trusty smartphone can easily do the trick.
Before You Shoot
Be aware that it’s going to be a lot harder to see the meteor shower from within a city than from outside.
During its peak, Perseids might have some visibility in light-polluted areas, but your best chance to snag a peek is to steer clear from large light sources. Luckily, the Perseids are expected to coincide with a moon near its new phase as well, allowing even the faintest shooting stars to stand out at night.
Apps and Gear
The key to photographing a meteor shower is a steady camera and long exposures.
A long exposure will capture the sky properly and have the meteor shower show up as beautiful streaks against the stars. But with long exposures, stability is key. The most subtle camera shake, even from tapping a shutter button, will ruin a picture's clarity. To keep you camera snug and stable, check out this list of affordable tripods made for smartphones.
As smartphones have evolved, their digital sensors, lenses and camera control have grown more sophisticated, but many still lack real manual controls like setting an aperture or shutter speed. Luckily there are a number of camera apps that will allow manual shutter controls.
Slow Shutter Cam (for iPhone only) will (can you believe it?!) slow your shutter speeds down from fractions of a second all the way to full 30 second exposures. On the Android, Camera FV-5, a multi-function camera app, features a long exposure mode that also extends up to 30 seconds.
But what if that’s not enough?
Enter NightCap Pro. Made specifically for nighttime photography, with an extra emphasis on stargazing, the app boasts an “Ultra long exposure mode” which allows for unlimited length exposures. NightCap Pro also provides a helpful noise reduction feature that eliminates digital artifacts and grain, which are prevalent at high ISOs (the camera’s sensitivity to light) and with long exposure photography.
When all else fails...