With all the hype over this year's Perseid Meteor shower, I didn't want to miss it regardless of the challenge. Unfortunately, the local forecast called for clouds and rain for a solid week, so I drove 5 hours to Maine hoping to catch a glimpse of meteors two days before the peak. Even there the forecast called for 40% cloud cover, but my gamble paid off.
While I brought a whole truckload of professional astronomy gear with me, this 25 second exposure was taken with a regular DSLR and 16mm lens simply propped up on a chair. It's almost entirely a single exposure, too. I stacked the two meteors on the right from other frames in luminosity mode, but everything else is one shot. By sheer, dumb luck, a car pulled in right behind me and illuminated the island with its headlights during this shot as the meteor passed.
A couple of outtakes are posted in the forum thread.
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This should have been Blue, you actually have shooting stars in it.
Can't say I disagree, but I've won blue ribbons with DNMC images, too (notably this one), so no complaints. I also agree that this looks fake, like a model or diorama. I have outtakes with foreground rocks that dispel the illusion, but I cropped tight to get the meteors as prominent as possible.
This should have been Blue, you actually have shooting stars in it. My comment about it being fake (ish) yeah still kinda stand by it, BUT you have the luck of the Irish, with that car. It illuminated everything so perfectly and made it the crispest, sharpest shot in the pack, with real live shooting stars. Mine is full of space crap. I think you deserve an extra Ribbon for having shooting stars.
This is a fantastic shot, not sure if they are shooting stars , they look like them for sure (to me), so full marks on them. It is the island that bothers me somewhat. It kinda looks a like a model of an island. Everything is so perfect and sharp and clear and in focus and bright. It is a great shot, I just wish I could stop looking at it and thinking it is fake. But interesting side note, I looked up if lighthouses had red lights as I have never seen one or heard of it. And they do, it is for warning ships who obviously didn't think the white was saying danger. SO I learnt something new today! Bump up a point for that
Even without the meteors this would be an exciting image. Though a lighthouse is for guidance and warning, here it feels more like aspiration, to the stars and beyond. And what a nice set of meteors, kindly disposing themselves for this composition. I'm also charmed by the telephone lines stretching from the mainland (I'm supposing) to this tiny island, which now seems, itself, to be taking its own tentative first step into the beyond.
Personal favorite of the challenge.
Northern Lights
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