Between November 17 and November 18, an amazing meteor shower will be visible around the world, and the ZenFone 3 (ZE552KL) is  to help you capture the magic. Here are a few hints for making sure your photos turn out great.

Smartphone Requirements

It is impossible to photograph any meteor shower using the auto mode of any smartphone. You need one like the ASUS ZenFone series that has a manual setting to adjust shutter speeds and the ISO sensitivity of the sensor. We’ll show you how to do this further down.

Timing and location

The Leonid meteor shower will be most visible after midnight, closer to dawn. If you can get out of the city, you’ll have less competing light and a clearer view of the sky. This is particularly important this year because there’s almost a full moon out, and that may already obscure meteors.. Orient yourself towards the Leo constellation, which can be found with handy apps like Sky Map.

Tripod and mount

For late night photography, you’ll need extra stability to eliminate camera shake for longer exposures. Get a tripod and a phone mount so your ZenFone 3 can be set up in the perfect position. ASUS has a great portable combo made in conjunction with Manfrotto worth checking out

Use Manual mode

Since meteors are thin light streaks against a vast, dark sky, you will need to take full control of your smartphone’s camera through its manual mode that allows you to increase the exposure by either decreasing the shutter speed or increasing the sensor’s ISO sensitivity. You can do this just by tapping the M key next to the shutter button. Because you’ll never know when a meteor will zip through the air, you’ll want to set long exposures.

The ASUS ZenFone 3 has a manually adjustable shutter speed range between an incredibly fast 1/50000 of a second, and up to an amazingly slow 32 seconds. You can start by shooting exposures using 1 second and tweaking the ISO to as high as possible without making the resulting photo look too grainy.

Finally, you’ll want to put on the self-timer when shooting. Even the slightest camera shake will ruin a long exposure. A self-timer ensures tapping the shutter button doesn’t do that. Tap the gear button, and scroll down to Self Timer, and select 2 seconds.

Start shooting as soon as you see the first signs of the meteor shower beginning and continue for as long as you can, so that you end up with as many photos for you to choose the best ones from.

Timelapse

If you’re in it for the long haul, a timelapse video may even be better. You’ll still need a tripod and mount, and you’ll probably want an external power pack to make sure you capture everything. Though you may have to wait a while in real time to see each meteor, crunching that time together on the ZenFone 3 can create a dramatic barrage, easily shareable on your favourite social networks. Best of all, it requires minimal fiddling (though you may have a harder time getting a shot, depending how the lighting pans out).

Hopefully those tips will help you capture what’s sure to be an incredible display of natural beauty. Swing by the ZenFone 3 product page to learn more about what it can do for you.