My Geminid Meteor shower attempt

[Ryan10]

Well...It is very tough to do anything astrophotography related in Orange County, but here is my attempt. I captured about 6 meteors in 6 images spread over 5ish minutes. I setup my tent fore some foreground interest. Yeah...it's an Instagram thing.

Crystal Cove, Newport Beach, CA by Ryan Luna, on Flickr

 

[JimFox]

Hey Ryan,

Pretty good job here. Not too bad looking considering our light pollution here. The tent was a good idea.

I wish I could have gotten out to Joshua Tree to shoot them, I have just been swamped with working on forum improvements the last few days I am too sleepy to drive now I think.

 

[lightsgood]

Well...It is very tough to do anything astrophotography related in Orange County, but here is my attempt. I captured about 6 meteors in 6 images spread over 5ish minutes. I setup my tent fore some foreground interest. Yeah...it's an Instagram thing.

Crystal Cove, Newport Beach, CA by Ryan Luna, on Flickr

I like it! Good job on getting out to shoot!

 

[AlanLichty]

I am surprised you got much of anything in the way of stars in the urban areas. Not bad considering the circumstances.

 

[Alisa]

Still loos nice! I love the tent in the image....

 

[Ryan10]

Hey Ryan,

Pretty good job here. Not too bad looking considering our light pollution here. The tent was a good idea.

I wish I could have gotten out to Joshua Tree to shoot them, I have just been swamped with working on forum improvements the last few days I am too sleepy to drive now I think.

The LP is bad. I used my new Irix 15mm. I'll need to use it more to have an opinion about it. This was my first time using it. I need darker skies to give an astro opinion of it. I have not even used it for daylight work yet. I will say, the infinity focus click is spot on and an awesome feature.

I like it! Good job on getting out to shoot!

Yeah...told my wife I'd be home 10ish. I didn't get home until midnight.

I am surprised you got much of anything in the way of stars in the urban areas. Not bad considering the circumstances.

I pulled out the ole iOptron. I spared no expense in regards to gear...(hence the obligatory useless tent shot). I was able to take 10 second exposures at F/3.2 and ISO 3200. I got 6 images with meteors, and because I was mounted to my iOptron, i was able to show all meteors without star trailing.

I did take about 100 images with the iOptron running. For shits and giggles, I took about 20 layers and did a Photoshop Median Stack....holy clarity and zero noise Batman! Because the iOptron was running, I didn't have to worry about alignment. Of course the foreground came out all blurry, but the sky looks awesome. Removed all the planes...GREAT! Also removed any meteors. lol....i gotta figure out how to tell the Median stack not to remove the meteors. I imagine a layer mask may do this.

Still loos nice! I love the tent in the image....

Thanks. The foreground in this image consists of 6 images at F/4, ISO 800. I don't remember the shutter speed, but I made it long enough to match the exposure to what I was shooting the sky. I think they were 30 second exposures. With the 6 images Median stacked, it is basically like an ISO 200 image.

 

[Ryan10]

Overall...it was a huge help in getting me ready for my Death Valley trip in March. I will probably go out to Joshua Tree 1-2 times to practice my iOptron technique before my March DV trip.

 

[JimFox]

Hey Ryan,

So once you get the iOptron set up, is it easy enough to switch other cameras on top of it? If it was, I was thinking we could set up a Meetup for the forum out at Joshua Tree, and those who have always wanted to shoot off of a star tracking device could take turns shooting off of it too.

 

[Mike Mancil]

Very well done.

 

[Raphael Sombrio]

Very cool Ryan, congrats!

 

[Ryan10]

Thank you all.

I updated the image. When I initially posted it, it was 2AM. I got home and edited the picture and missed several things, such as the image in which i intended to composite myself in, and a few nice meteors.