How to take a proper ufo picture

Hi. I have noticed that there are a lot of UFO pictures being posted here recently.
And some of them are fake some genuine, but sometimes the credibility of the poster can be lost because he/she didn't take the "right" steps to post the pictures by the right steps I mean the procedure of taking the picture and then transferring it on the pc without any editing.

So I decided to give some advice, if the day comes when you will find yourself in the situation of taking a picture of an UFO.
To make this simple I will divide this in to parts. The first part when you are taking the picture and the second when you are going to transfer the image from the camera to the computer.

The first part. Taking the picture.
There are a few settings you should be familiar.
These are: ISO, shutter speed and aperture. If you have a point and shoot camera you would probably only see the ISO option.

If you suddenly see an ufo don't panic. Quickly go and get your camera if you have one close by.
When you have the camera first take a picture right away, Im saying this because you dont know if the UFO will stay or suddenly leave.

Now.. If it is a day it will be very straight forward you press the button half-way so the camera will focus and press it down to take a picture.
But if the sun is down then it will be a little more difficult. This is what you need to do.

ISO settings

Ok so you took your first picture. If the UFO is there and not gone then find a good position to place your camera. By this I mean to position your camera on static object such as a window, wall or something heavy so it wont move.
If you have a cheap camera or a pont and shoot camera search for your iso option and never set it to the max, for example if the camera has iso of 800 set it one step lower like 400. Some cameras have ISO option of 1600. You dont want it to be more than 800. Because if it is more than 800 on a cheap camera you will have a lot of noise.
Something like this....




So remember when you are taking a picture of an UFO in night time it is important not to move the camera when you press the button. Before you press it hold your breath and press.

Shutter speed

If you have this option on your camera and it is a point and shoot I recommend to set it to auto. If you are familiar how the shutter speed works than set it appropriately.
I didn't say a number because it is impossible to tell because of the diversity of the situations.
Here are examples of shutter speeds to give you a feeling.




The bigger the number the faster the camera will take the picture or you will capture a faster movement. Generaly in night time in a good lighting the shutter speed will probably be more than 1-3 sec or more. And remember a shutter speed slower than 1/80 th will have blur. Unless you have some vibration reduction option.
If you have a timer option place the camera on a steady position and set it on a timer. So that way it wont have blur.

Aperture settings

If the ufo is in front of the sun or the sun is at the same angle as the ufo you will have to set the aperture number a little higher for example 8 or 11. But bear in mind that when you up the aperture you will have to reduce the shutter speed.
When you set the aperture high it will close and the UFO wont be a silhouette.

If you have the option to shoot in RAW format I recommend you to set it.

The options that are for the point and shoot cameras are the same as for a cellphone camera.
Don't use the flash in any situation. Except if the UFO is VERY close like 6-8 m which is very unlikely.
Take as many pictures as you can, not just 1 or 2.
And also try to catch some objects in the frame so later on it may be possible to determine the size or speed

The second part the image transfer.

FIRST AND THE MOST IMPORTANT DO NOT EDIT THE PICTURE IN ANY WAY.
Connect your device to the pc and try to tranfer it with the windows explorer or the mac equivalent. Avoid third party programs if possible.
If you cant do this try booting the computer and press F8 and choose start in safe mode. Than try the windows explorer method.
If you dont have a cable send the picture through bluetoot or infrared and try the same thing from the other phone.
Be aware if you try to send the picture to another phone through mms it is possible the image will be reduced in resolution. Thus this will leave editing marks and you will be less credible.

This is all I could think of. If I missed something please write it.

[edit on 28/6/10 by defiler]

DAMN IT I MISS MY NIKON D40!!!!!

Originally posted by defiler
Shutter speed

The bigger the number the faster the camera will take the picture or you will capture a faster movement.

Isn't that the other way? The values are for exposure time, so when a camera shows, for example, 1/100, it means that the camera will be capturing the image during 1/100 of a second, so bigger numbers represent longer exposures and bigger probabilities of having a blurred photo.

Unless I'm mistaken.

One other thing that I always tell people that would like to take a UFO photos is that the most important thing is practice: learn how to use the camera and practice with aeroplanes, birds, whatever. Today's digital cameras make it easy to take hundreds of photos without spending more money, so we should use that opportunity and practice.

Originally posted by defiler
If you suddenly see an ufo don't panic.

That's easy to say, but most people will get very excited when they see a UFO in the sky. They're just gonna start snapping away; it's unlikely they will, in the heat of the moment, calmly go through all the technical steps you have provided.

But thanks for providing them anyway.

I can't fathom why we don't have a close-up, crystal clear photo of a genuine UFO yet... I mean, this isn't 1975... today, almost everybody has some kind of camera on their person - either a digital camera or a cell phone camera - and most are pretty good quality. If there are as many UFOs in the sky as the internet will make you believe, we should have had the "Holy Grail" photo by now...

Well I didn't sound very clear . I meant if the number has more characters it is faster so 1/25 sec is slower than 1/100. You are right.

reply to post by FOXMULDER147


Well most of the people have cameras but the cheap cameras and not to mention the cellphone cameras are pretty much useless in night time.
The peaople also zoom all the way using digital zoom and this is very bad.
And most of the pictures are from very far.
So if someone had really good pictures I think the government will take them. Or the people will have some hard time accepting them as real.

I'm saving money for 200-300 mm lenses so I will have a chance to get a good picture

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