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Beginners guide to getting your first milky way photograph
I am new to Milky Way photography, a
complete newbie to it all, but it is soooo exciting. Passionate about extending
my skills in this area of astrophotography, I have started to pick
up a few ‘beginner’ tips which I will now share over a series of posts.
But, please
remember I am still at the very beginning of my learning journey. I am no expert. I claim no expertise. A complete beginner
to astronomy and astrophotography, this entire blog is written from
that perspective – a chronicle of my learning journey thus far, written for other
beginners. I know very little about anything frankly but therein
lies the attraction. If I can do it with my very limited knowledge – then so
can you; and probably better, as I am a rather slow learner at the best of
times. If I have made any mistakes in my posts, I apologise. Please drop me a
comment highlighting the issue and I will correct it immediately.
In this series of
milky way posts, I will not be going into huge depth about how things work and
why we do things the way we do. I will give references for you if you wish to
pursue these areas further. I’m not dismissing the importance of having a
theoretical understanding – its critical – I’m just saying its not the focus of
these blog posts. My aim, is to just get you out there, obtaining a first
milky way image.
To help you
achieve this, I will outline some simple answers to these questions:
1. What
equipment do we need?
2.
What advanced planning is needed to ensure
success on the night?
3. What
base settings can we use to help us get success?
4. What
foreground composition considerations do we need to make?
5. What
are the different techniques for getting a milky way photograph?
6. What
do we need to consider if we want to do a milky way selfie shot?
7. How
can we improve our milky way photography skills?
8. What
is a ‘beginner’ workflow for post editing our milky way photographs?
1. What equipment do we need to take with us?
The Galactic Core of the Milky Way (the bright thick bulge around the
centre) is big, bright and during the summer months, very prominent. With stars
and nebulae scattered throughout, it's also quite colourful. Other parts of the
visible Milky Way are just as interesting and attractive – fainter perhaps, but
non the less, still beautiful. So, to
get a good chance of capturing it, what equipment do you need? Well, here is my gear below but at the most
basic level, all you will need is a camera, a wide-angle lens, a tripod and a
torch!
My equipment:
·
Canon 800D (modded – but my first images last
year were when it was still unmodded – for more about astromodified cameras –
see this blog post here:
·
Dummy battery for canon camera
·
Lenses: Samyang 14mm F/2.8 Canon 22mm F/2.8 Canon 50mm F/2.8 Canon kit Lense: 18 – 55mm F/3.2 zoom
·
L bracket and Intervalometer
·
Benbo carbon Fibre tripod, Gorillapod DSLR ball
head and graduated dovetail clamp
·
Small dew band heater strip
·
Safety equipment – Garmin Inreach, first aid
kit, survival bivvy bag and blanket
The observant amongst you may have noticed I have missed off
filters! I don’t possess any – yet! I’m actively researching this area for this
coming season and will post a separate blog about filter choice at a later
date.
My camera is a crop sensor one – an entry level DSLR
which is serving me well. As an APS-C x1.6 crop magnification – it means that
my lenses aren’t quite what they seem in focal length. My 50mm canon, for
example, is actually 50mm x 1.6 = 80mm focal length in reality. Worth
remembering this if your camera is a crop sensor one! There is plenty on-line about choosing the
right kind of DSLR for nightscape astrophotography and I’m not getting into it
here – suffice to say my Canon 800D is a sort of entry level DSLR and does a
perfectly good job of capturing milky way images.
When considering what lenses you have – you can get
relatively good milky way shots with your kit lenses – (I have using my canon
18 – 55mm zoom F/3) but with lenses there are three factors to think about –
focal length, maximum aperture (lowest f number) and aberrations. If you are
going for milky way landscape shots, then a good wide-angled lens with a maximum
fast aperture is a must. The wide angle allows great coverage of the night
sky and some foreground interest; the fast aperture – more light gathering. My 14mm is perfect for general landscape
astrophotography but I’m already on the lookout for a good quality 10 – 12mm
lens this year! My 50mm (in reality 80mm) lens allows me to really capture
close ups of the galactic core in all its glory but because of shorter exposure
times before I get star trailing, it is better suited to using on my star
tracker! In wanting to get as much light
as possible, an aperture of F/2.8 or even wider, is essential for the fainter
areas of the milky way and for being able to use lower ISO settings but beware
lens aberrations that may be found at these wider apertures – so do your
homework.
(One of the best summaries about cameras and lenses for
night sky astrophotography in in Alyn Wallace’s book – ‘Photographing the
night sky; technique, planning and processing’. It is pricey and quite a
tomb but if you can afford it and want just one really good reference manual to
start you off on your nightscape astrophotography journey, I’d heartedly
recommend this one. But, it is pricey!!)
Dummy battery – I have a dummy battery which has a
USB cable which plugs into a power bank which is velcro’d to one of my tripod
legs. It is frustrating to have to change batteries during a star tracker run
taking multiple images! Go on, ask me how I know! Never mind – it was a painful
learning experience! Let’s leave it at that! I also carry a few normal spare
camera batteries as a back up.
Memory card spare – it took me ages to get my head around card types and classifications; don’t know why given I own three GoPros and have a popular dinghy
cruising YouTube channel - I seemed to have got the cards right for those! Anyway, carry a spare card or two. It is surprising
how many multiple exposures you might end up taking on a night of landscape and
sky photography. Mine are large capacity, fast read cards – all 64Gb or 128Gb.
I favour Sandisk brands.
L bracket – it allows you to change your camera’s orientation from landscape to portrait without fuss; without altering your ball head settings. It also keeps your camera over the centre of your tripod for stability. Make sure yours allows you to still access camera ports, battery compartment and card slot!
Intervalometer – I could use an internal intervalometer on my camera but I find it such a hassle trying to work through menus on the touch screen during a night time shoot – so I opted for a cheap intervalometer. Game changer! It stops small vibrations through your whole rig every time you press the shutter button – its tricky enough trying to get pinpoint stars without introducing that variable as well. Vital if you are going to be using a star tracker and intend to capture multiple exposures on the night.
Benbo carbon Fibre tripod, Gorillapod DSLR ball head and
graduated dovetail clamp – Some of our exposures will be lengthy (10 – 30”
being the norm; at times multiple minutes with or without a tracker) so we need
a good sturdy, stable tripod. Simple to use in the dark, don’t get a
lightweight one which is flimsy! Ensure it can take the weight of your combined
rig. Carbon fibre or aluminium legs are best. Metal ball head not plastic; easy
to adjust, appropriate for the weight of your camera rig and solid! I put a
small circular graduated dovetail clamp plate on the top of mine which allows
me to make very accurate adjustments when needed. Small bubble level somewhere
is a useful bonus. Try to invest in a good tripod and get a beefier version
than you might need now, if you can afford it. You are bound to upgrade your
equipment in future years if you get hooked on the hobby!
Dew band heater strip – I lost my very first stacked
image of the milky way – I mean I had to throw away over 50% of my images –
because my lens had fogged over half way through and I didn’t notice. Another
very painful learning experience! A lens heater or dew band stops condensation
forming on your lens during humid but cold summer nights. My dew band heater is
a cheapy off Amazon but it works well; plugged into a power bank, again
velcro’d to one of the tripod legs.
Two 26,000 mAh power banks – actually, I carry three!
One for the camera dummy battery; one for a dew heater strip; the other for
charging my smartphone – an emergency back up basically! I use IMUTO, ANKER and
UGREEN brands – a mixture of 20,000 and 26,000 mAH powers. I carry two USB
cables as well – one that will plug into my star tracker if needed; the other
to charge my phone.
Head torch – I carry two – my favourite, and a spare!
Paranoia – suddenly brought on when I forgot to pack a spare and lost my main
head torch on a mountaineering climb where early starts just after midnight,
were the order of the day. It was embarrassing to have to borrow a torch from
friends! Nuff said! Both have optional red-light mode for preserving night
vision. One is a Petzel; the other from Decathlon and its this cheaper one that
has proven to be the most powerful, energy efficient and rugged, as it so
happens!
Skywatcher Star Adventurer 2i tracker with William Optics
wedge and MSM green laser pen; spare AA batteries; spare C2032 disc batteries
for the polar illuminator - YOU DO
NOT NEED A TRACKER TO GET GOOD MILKY WAY IMAGES – lets get that clear at the
start. However, if you have one, it’s a bonus! I’m not going into trackers in
depth here. Mine is the SWSA 2i; friends use the MSM tracker which is smaller
and lighter. I also have an Ioptron Skytracker Pro which is lighter than my
SWSA 2i and that often comes with me on a milky way imaging night.
Safety equipment – Garmin Inreach, first aid kit,
survival bivvy bag and blanket – my Garmin Inreach goes everywhere with me
when I am outdoors. It has the facility to link to your smartphone, without the
need for a wifi signal in the area, to make sending simple texts easier. It can
also send its own texts to designated people. There are also a series of preset
messages you can set up in advance. Its biggest purpose? Its an emergency
personal locator beacon which sends a distress signal via satellite to an
emergency co-ordination centre. It always stays in my pocket! Some of the
coastal locations I visit are remote and rocky with intermittent smartphone
signal in some places. I an keep family reassured I am safe. I can get help if
I need it! Small first aid kit - enough
to cope with nasty cuts, some bleeding and fractures.
I am sure you will already have much of this equipment.
Remember you can use your kit DSLR and lenses with no problem to start off.
Don’t compromise on your tripod or ball head though. Stability and sturdiness
are key pre-requisites for successful night time photography.
In the next blog post I will explore:
1.
What advanced planning is needed
to ensure success on the night?
Meanwhile,
here are a few YouTube channels which really helped me start grasping the
simple basics of milky way photography.
