How to photograph Milky Way

  An Astrophotography Guide | North East USA

Spending warm summer weekends stargazing with your loved ones is one of the most sought get away experiences. Exploring nature, stars, planets and beyond not only pitches your wonder factor but also relaxes and rejuvenates the mind and body. 

This blog post intends to cover one of our very memorable stargazing experiences and capture the most picturesque creation – “The Milkyway”. 

Planning to photograph the night sky out in the dark indeed requires a lot of preparation – well ahead. Starting from choosing the right location, right weather, right time of the year and right camera settings.

Location

DarkSiteFinder – This website shows a US Map with pins dropped at various dark sky locations. Exploring the Milkyway requires a very dark night sky, devoid of moon or any other terrestrial light pollution. You would want to isolate yourself far away from civilization to get closer to the Ultimate Universe. For those who live in the North East, United States (especially NY, NJ, PA, MD, DE) – You would be amazed by the dark night skies in Coudersport, PA. 

Timing and Weather Conditions 

Milkyway can be best viewed in the summer months from May to August – For starters, you wouldn’t have to deal with cold night temperatures too. 

Clear Sky and no moon – A clear sky is a very essential element in the plan and from my experience – clearoutside.comcomes very handy to ensure right conditions for your game day. It provides metrics for overall cloud cover, visibility, fog and % of sky obscured and a color based scale (GREEN – Best, ORANGE – Average, RED – Not Recommended) that would help you decide your “When-to-go”. 

In addition to a clear sky, look out for days with no moon or new moon. Plan your stargazing on a night that falls between a moonset and a moonrise. Photopills is also a very popular app – that has everything a photographer would need to plan a MilkyWay Photoshoot. You will be able to track a lot of factors like the time of sunset, when the nautical twilight starts and ends, when the moon sets or rises and when the Milkyway itself rises above the horizon – That’s a lot of “whens” but these parameters are very deterministic in creating a perfect plan. Especially with stargazing and milky way photography – timing and weather conditions matter a lot and failing to plan properly would be disappointing. 

Composition

Composition is very important to score an aesthetically pleasing milky way picture. Make sure to include a beautiful foreground in your picture – that complements the infinitesimal aura. Pro-Tips for foreground include – Silhouettes of trees, mountains and roads.  It’s always ideal to get to the location in the evening or when there is sufficient light to plan your composition. Photopills has an Augmented Reality (AR) mode that overlays Milky way on a Live Mode – This enables you to imagine and point your camera in the right direction and angle.

Striking the right focus 

Always Focus your lens to infinity and that will do you wonders. If you do not know what focussing to infinity means – Before the sunset (or when there is sufficient light), Just point and focus your camera towards a distant object like a tree or a rock far away and lock the focus. Locking focus is as simple as toggling from Auto-Focus (AF) to Manual-Focus (MF). Any basic DSLR or even several smartphones allow you to switch your focusing mode. Setting focus to infinity allows your camera to put its focus on an object that is far far away like stars or the galactic center itself

Getting to know a little more about your camera settings can really help capture a great milky way photo even for the very first time.

Gear you need

• Tripod – ProTip: If you have a passion for photography – Invest in a good tripod. It will take you a long way. Essentially if astrophotography or nature photography would interest you more.
• Wide angle and Fast Lens 
  • Minimum Focal Length: 24mm – Lets you capture a wider image. 
  • Minimum Aperture f/2.8 – Lets in more light and a clearer picture.
  • Anything lower in terms of Focal Length or Aperture is more ideal. But these lenses tend to get really expensive. BorrowLenses or any other Lens/Camera Rental Websites are a great way to save.
• DSLR Camera – Crop Sensor camera or preferably Full Frame camera. A Full Frame 35mm Sensor Camera tends to have a larger sensor compared to an APS-C crop sensor camera. While APS-C crop sensor cameras exhibit a crop factor where the overall picture is cropped to a certain degree, Full Frame Cameras are the most sought for astrophotography. They exhibit a much better low light handling, less grainy images and no crop factor. 

Exposing in the dark

Ideal exposure settings help you capture sharp milky way images without star trails. As a matter of fact, star trails show up on photos captured with longer than usual shutter speed due to earth’s planetary motion. According to the popular 500 Rule, the longest usable shutter speed on a Full Frame DSLR camera that yields high detail and no star trails is equal to 500 divided by the focal length. 

While shooting in the dark – One needs to make sure to use the widest possible Lens Aperture. Wide lens apertures allow the camera to receive more light and improve the detail and quality of the picture. Most milky way photos are shot with a wide aperture between f/1.4 and f/2.8.

Besides Aperture, ISO also plays a very important role in low light photography. Using a higher ISO in dark situations like astrophotography will ensure that the image is well exposed. ISO scale can range anywhere between 50 – 128000. Using a high ISO yields a noisy and grainy image. But striking the right balance between Shutter Speed, Aperture and ISO would yield a well exposed image with little to no noise. Ideal ISO settings would range from 1600 – 3200

Final 2 Cents

• Find the right time, right location and the right weather. Get a lot of rest on the day before. Arrive at the spot when there is some light (preferably at or before dusk). Enjoy some time with your family or friends while the sky starts to reveal the magic.
• Stick your camera to the tripod and just follow the game rules – Right focus, Wide Aperture, Low Light ISO and 500th Rule. Good Luck and Happy Shooting!!