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Photography · by Jack Taylor · 2026-10-19

Tips for shooting the Orionid meteor shower peaking this week?

The Orionids peak this week and I want to try photographing them properly for the first time. My plan is a wide lens on a tripod, long exposures, and hoping for dark skies, but I'm not sure about settings or where in the sky to point. I've also seen people stack frames afterwards to show many meteors in one image. What's worked for you, and are there mistakes I should avoid?

34 sparks · 17 comments

Comments

Lina Al Harbi · 12 likes

moon phase matters a lot. check how bright it'll be where you are

Bianca Santos · 3 likes

photopills or similar app makes this way easier to plan

Paolo Garcia · 8 likes

bring spare batteries, cold nights eat them fast

Emma Tremblay · 8 likes

keep them in an inside pocket too, warm batteries last longer

Chloe Davis · 4 likes

turn off long exposure noise reduction or you'll lose half your shooting time

Lucas Silva · 4 likes

oh good tip, I'd never have thought of that

Maja Wiśniewska · 4 likes

check focus on a bright star with live view zoomed in. autofocus at night is useless

Tanvir Rahman · 5 likes

and tape the focus ring once it's set. I bumped mine once and lost a whole night

Chloe Davis · 2 likes

don't point straight at the radiant. aim off to the side a bit so you get longer streaks

Mariam Said · 4 likes

didn't know that, makes sense though. thanks

Budi Santoso · 1 likes

wide and fast lens, wide open, ISO around 1600-3200, and just let an intervalometer run for hours. it's a numbers game

Finn Brown · 11 likes

the numbers game part is so real, I get like 3 usable frames out of hundreds

Cozy Marauder · 6 likes

this. set it and go sit in a chair with a hot drink

Aisha Rahman · 0 likes

honestly my best meteor shot was an accident during a milky way timelapse

Theo Bennett · 1 likes

the universe rewards those who weren't even trying

Siti Lestari · 0 likes

dew heater or at least a hand warmer rubber banded to the lens. fogging killed my first attempt

Valeria Flores · 8 likes

the hand warmer hack is so cheap and works great