The Perseids and the starry sky: how to take great long-exposure shots with a compact camera
Every summer, around mid-August, the sky puts on one of its most spectacular shows. The Perseids streak across the night sky at breakneck speed, leaving behind those trails of light that we’d so love to capture. And yet, many people come away empty-handed, with images that are blurred or too dark to be worth looking at.
Photographing the stars with a compact camera is entirely possible, provided you know a few key settings and plan your outing with a bit of forethought.
This guide is for those who want to get out and about this summer, camera in hand, somewhere between a mountain bivouac and a campsite under the stars.
What’s the best time to see the Perseids and plan your photography outing?
Even before you touch the camera settings, there are two decisions to make: when to go out and where to go. These determine everything else. A good night chosen at the wrong time can ruin an entire session, even with the best kit in the world.
When do the Perseids take place? What’s the best time to see the Perseids?
The Perseids return every year at the same time, between late July and the third week of August. However, their peak activity is concentrated over just a few nights, generally around 12 August. It is during these nights that the number of visible meteors rises most sharply – sometimes reaching up to a hundred per hour in good conditions.
The phenomenon occurs when the Earth passes through the trail left by Comet Swift-Tuttle. The debris it has left behind enters the atmosphere at high speed and burns up, producing these characteristic streaks of light.
To photograph the shooting stars in the best possible conditions, you should point your camera towards the north-east. This is where the meteor shower appears to originate, near the constellation Perseus, a point known as the radiant. The higher it rises in the sky as the night progresses, the more numerous and visible the meteors become.
The best time to see the Perseids is definitely after midnight and, ideally, between 2 am and 4 am. This is when the radiant is high enough and activity reaches its peak. Another advantage of this time slot is that the moon is often below the horizon or very low, leaving the sky very dark. A moonless sky means a higher-contrast background, more visible stars and more effective long exposures.
Choosing your location: altitude, light pollution and a clear horizon
Once the date is set, you need to find the right spot. And this is often where the best photos are made, long before you press the shutter button.
The basic rule is relatively simple: get away from towns and cities, of course. Light pollution is the number one enemy of night-time photography. It drowns out the faintest stars in an orange haze that obscures much of the sky. Before you set off, take a look at a light pollution map such as Light Pollution Map. This will help you identify the truly dark areas near where you live.
The mountains offer an added advantage. Altitude reduces the thickness of the atmosphere above you. This improves the clarity of the sky and brings out more stars. A mountain pass at 1,500 metres already makes a noticeable difference compared to an open plain.
When camping, it all depends on the spot you choose. A site near a main road or a well-lit village will severely limit your results. It’s best to aim for a secluded spot with a wide, unobstructed horizon to the north-east – the direction of the Perseids’ radiant. Also avoid wooded areas, which block part of the sky and make framing the shot more difficult.
There’s also one final point that’s often overlooked. Arrive at your spot at least thirty minutes before you start taking photos. Your eyes need time to adjust to the darkness. You’ll need this time to set up your tripod, adjust your camera and choose your composition without rushing.
What settings should you use to photograph the stars with a bridge camera?
The location’s chosen, the time’s set. Now comes the part that makes many people hesitate: the settings. But rest assured, there aren’t dozens to master. Three or four settings are enough to achieve truly satisfying results – provided you understand how they work together.
What are the best settings for night photography? Long exposure, aperture and ISO: the inseparable trio
It all comes down to three sliders that you’ll learn to balance against one another: long exposure, aperture and ISO sensitivity. Each affects the amount of light captured by the sensor, and changing one often means you’ll need to adjust the other two.
Long exposure refers to the length of time the shutter remains open. The longer it remains open, the more light the sensor gathers. To photograph the stars, an exposure of between 15 and 25 seconds is generally what you should aim for. Any shorter, and the sky lacks depth. Any longer, and the stars begin to trace small arcs due to the Earth’s rotation, and they are no longer sharp points but dashes.
The aperture determines the size of the diaphragm, and therefore the amount of light entering the lens. In night-time photography, the aim is to open it as wide as possible. And the ISO completes the picture by amplifying the signal captured by the sensor, at the cost of a little more grain if set too high.
So what are the best settings for night photography? Here’s a solid starting point: a 20-second exposure, f/2.8, ISO 1600. You can then adjust these settings depending on how dark the sky is and how the image looks on the screen.
What is the best aperture setting for astrophotography?
The aperture is undoubtedly the most crucial setting in night-time photography. It’s expressed as an f-number: the lower the number, the wider the aperture is open and the more light enters. In practice, an aperture of f/2.8 or f/2 makes a huge difference compared to a lens set at f/5.6.
When photographing stars, the ideal is to go as low as your lens allows. At f/2.8, you’re already capturing much more light than at f/4, which allows you to reduce the exposure time or limit the increase in ISO. Both of these adjustments improve sharpness and reduce digital noise in the final image.
What ISO setting should you choose without compromising image quality?
This is often the setting that causes the most hesitation. Setting it too high introduces digital noise – those tiny coloured specks that reduce sharpness, particularly in the dark areas of the sky. Not setting it high enough results in an underexposed image where the faintest stars disappear completely.
For astrophotography, a range between ISO 800 and ISO 1600 offers a good balance in most situations. If the sky is very dark indeed and far from any light sources, you can push the ISO up to 3200, accepting a slightly more noticeable grain.
Focusing to infinity: how do you set this in manual mode at night?
This is one of the most common pitfalls on a first night-time photography outing. Autofocus, even on a good camera, struggles to lock onto stars. It searches, hesitates and often ends up freezing without finding a sharp subject. The solution is to switch to manual focus and set the lens to infinity.
On a bridge camera, this adjustment is usually made via the menu or a dedicated ring, depending on the model. The idea is to set the focus to the far end of its range, where distant objects are in focus. But be careful! The infinity symbol engraved on some lenses isn’t always perfectly accurate. It’s best to fine-tune the setting by using a distant point of light as a guide.
The most reliable technique is to aim at a particularly bright star, or failing that, a streetlight a long way off. Then zoom in as far as possible on the screen to check that this point is perfectly sharp. Once you’ve found the right focus, don’t touch anything else. Lock the focus ring if you can, or make a note of the setting so you don’t lose it between shots.
Which camera should you use to photograph shooting stars, and how do you use it in the field?
You’ve got the settings sorted and the location picked out. But one question remains: which camera should you take? And once you’re there, how do you actually use it so you don’t miss the moment? Here’s what you need to know.
Which camera should you use to photograph shooting stars?
The DSLR has long been considered the only serious option for night-time photography. Its larger sensors and interchangeable lenses do indeed give it a technical advantage on paper. But in the field – particularly when camping or hiking – it also means a heavier bag, a wide-angle lens that needs to be bought separately, and a learning curve that requires experience.
Compact cameras are a game-changer for those who want a single camera capable of doing it all. No need to change lenses, and no extra accessories to pack in your bag. They come with a wide-angle lens as standard, as well as a powerful zoom and a full manual mode. For a trip to the mountains or a night’s camping under the stars, this is a real advantage.
Let’s take an example. With a 52x optical zoom and a 24 mm wide-angle lens, a bridge camera like the PixPro AZ528 lets you switch in a matter of seconds from a wide shot of a starry sky to a close-up of a distant landscape. No need to change lenses, no time wasted. It’s this kind of versatility that makes all the difference during a night out in the wilderness where conditions change rapidly.
How do you photograph shooting stars during the Perseids?
The simple answer can be summed up in one word: repetition. A shooting star crosses the frame in a fraction of a second. It doesn’t wait; it doesn’t give any warning. The only way to capture one is to take a series of long exposures in quick succession, keeping the camera pointed at the same section of the sky.
In practice, set your camera to manual mode, point it north-east towards the Perseid radiant, and take a series of 20-second exposures without interruption. Between each exposure, let the camera record the image and start a new one immediately. Over the course of an hour-long session, you can accumulate around a hundred images. And amongst them, a few may well have captured that streak of light you were hoping for.
A practical tip: frame your shot wide rather than tight. A wider field of view covers more of the sky and automatically increases your chances of seeing a Perseid streak across the image. Including an element on the ground – a ridge, a tent or a tree – also adds depth to the photo and tells a story beyond the sky alone.
Patience remains the most essential skill for this type of outing. Some nights are bountiful, others far less so. But that’s also what makes a successful photo so rewarding when it finally happens.
Tripod and self-timer: the two things that make all the difference
We often underestimate the impact of an unstable camera. With a 20-second exposure, even the slightest vibration is enough to blur the stars, however imperceptibly. And once the image is on screen, this blur is impossible to correct.
A tripod is therefore essential. Choose a stable one, with legs spread wide enough to stand on uneven ground. In the mountains, place it on a flat surface and weigh it down if the wind picks up. A rucksack hung beneath the tripod head works very well.
The other step that’s often overlooked is using the self-timer. Pressing the button with your finger causes a slight jolt to the camera, and this jolt is visible in long exposures. Set the self-timer to 2 seconds, or better still, use a remote control if your camera supports one. The Kodak AZ528 has Wi-Fi connectivity, allowing you to control it from a smartphone. This elegantly solves the problem without the need to carry any additional accessories.
Its OIS (Optical Image Stabilisation) system also provides useful support in situations where the tripod isn’t perfectly rigid. It’s no substitute for proper mechanical stabilisation, but it’s a welcome safety net when the terrain isn’t particularly cooperative.
Photographing the stars this summer: all that’s missing is the night
The Perseids wait for no one. Their peak passes quickly, around 12 August, and the ideal window closes within a few nights, as we’ve mentioned. But with a bit of preparation, a well-chosen outing and a few well-mastered settings, those nights can yield photos you’ll be proud of for a long time to come.
A tripod, manual mode, focus set to infinity, the aperture wide open and the ISO carefully adjusted. It’s these few habits, once ingrained, that make all the difference between a failed attempt and an image that really catches the eye.
The rest is up to the sky. And your patience.
