Perseids Meteor Shower in Sonoma

a 95 mile drive out of the city to somewhere without fog and lights. Its really that far for People living in San Francisco. But I guess I ended up seeing something.

I think astro photography is always difficult because of Different type of Blurs that occur.

Issues:

a) Trying to aim in the dark with nothing much to focus on is extremely difficult. It induces Focal Blur when you dont have it spot on. Even if you have Infinity on, sometimes your foreground subjects are not blurred

b) Field of Depth. Its really dark. So dark that if you take things using anything less than F2.8 means minute long or 2 minute long exposures. So now all the sudden, your depth is really shallow.

c) Long exposures induces motion blur. The earth after all is not still.

Position:

a) Get better equipment. Have a device that helps you rotate with the rotation of the earth. But of course, not everyone can do that. So just make that long exposure and see it blur. Get a sturdy tripod and weight it down with your backpack.

b) Focus before you arrive on site and lock it down. If you can’t do that, find a car light far (10+ meter) away and point focus on it. I really suggest getting to know your gear and also try to experiment more with what you don’t have rather than purchasing new stuff.