Milky Way

EAGLE BLUFFS MILKY WAY

(Click On Any Image To Enlarge It)

Photographing the night sky can be a challenge not to mention frustrating at times. This is a good example of where persistence pays off.  You will constantly battle the limitation of your equipment, light pollution, people, and the weather.

Milky Way #1-2019 Nikon D750, 20mm f/1.8-Lens, f/2.8, 25 Seconds, ISO 2500

So what part does equipment play in this?  You are going to need a camera that is capable of taking a long exposure.  You will need to be able to set a time that could range from 15-30 seconds. An alternative is to shoot in bulb mode, if your camera has that, and physically count out the time. You will need a wide angle lens, anything from 12mm to 24mm will work great.  I prefer the primes which I will discuss later.  It is important to note that digital sensors generate noise during long exposures.

Next, you will need to find an area with little or no light pollution and that can be challenging.  I use a website for this at Light Pollution Map.  This map allows you to move around the world and zoom in for finer detail.  You might wonder why does this matter.  After all, you go outside, look up and see stars.  Well, the problem is you are going to have to set your sensor to be extremely sensitive to light and although the light pollution may be 30 miles away your sensor is going to record it.  Now you can work this into your composition but keep in mind you are going to have a bright spot in your final image.

I will discuss later the best time to photograph the Milky Way and the best hours to capture your subject. Now you hope not to encounter any problems with other folks interfering with your shot but don’t count on it.  On my most recent outing, I was in a conservation area with lots of wetlands and pools, and I had to share the area with a lot of local bow-hunters who were using flashlights to locate fish plus they drive around from one location to another. Trust me, car lights and flashlights will ruin your picture. On a side note, the Missouri River and Perche Creek run parallel to this area and both were flooding.  This creates a problem for all the pools in this wetland area and brings in a lot of rough fish which can include carp, eels, suckers, perch, catfish, and gars. These are considered invasive and detrimental to local fishing.  This is where the bow-hunters play a vital role in helping to control the rough fish populations.  An added advantage since this type of fish may not good to eat, they are left for the local wildlife.

Now the biggest factor for a successful outing to photograph the Milky Way is the moon phase and the weather.  The darker the skies the better, therefore, selecting to shoot during a New Moon can be critical because you will not have to address light pollution coming from the moon. Most calendars and online services can provide the moon cycles.  Right now new moons are falling on the first of the month.  In my case around the 4^th day of each month.  It can vary from month to month but currently, it occurs within the first week.  The second very important factor is the weather. You are going to want clear skies plus the darkness afforded by a new moon to be able to see the Milky Way so you can photograph it. I used a couple of online services to aid me in my quest to determine the best time to go, National Weather Service-St. Louis, and Clear Outside.com.

Milky Way #2-2019, Nikon D750, 20mm f/1.8-Lens, f/2.8, 25 Seconds, ISO 2500

My quest to shoot the Milky Way at Eagle Bluffs started in April of 2019.  I had obtained a permit to be in the area after hours.  I got rained out on the first attempt and clouds moved in on me on my second attempt.  Okay, I must confess that I did not check to see sky and cloud conditions.  It was a new moon so my mind said go for it. Sorry but it takes a little more planning which I quickly learned. With that out of the way another new moon was approaching, May 4, 2019.  The day before and after can work too but it was not looking good.  In our area, it has rained off and on continually for several weeks and this week was not looking promising.  But I monitored the two websites above and originally thought I was going to have a break on Sunday night the 5^th but there was a change in the weather forecast and my chance came Saturday night.  That morning I loaded up all my gear, a cooler of beverages, and snacks.  I had gotten my permit from the local conservation office and even though I really needed to mow; however, that chore got put on hold because there were more important tasks on the agenda.  Before I talk about my equipment and setup I have to tell you that I drove to Eagle Bluffs Conservation Area which is 30 miles north of where I live, got there early but realized I had left my permit on the table.  Augh!  I drove back home to get it because it needs to be displayed in your car window in case the conservation agent comes by and wants to know what you are doing in his area after hours.  Did I mention that in Eagle Bluffs you need a permit if you plan to be in the park from 10 PM to 4 AM?

On with the story.  I go to Eagle Bluffs on a regular basis and using an app on my phone, PhotoPills I had been planning in advance where within the area I was going to set up to shoot the Milky Way.  This app, which is available for iPhone and Android allows you to see where the Milky Way will be at any given hour on any given day.  You can plan your event and save it for later.  I knew the Milky Way would appear in the heavens out of the south.  I also knew that I would have to deal with the fact that Jefferson City was south of the area, hence potential for light pollution. Each trip to the area I would stop at various locations and use my phone to take a reading for my next outing.  Bottom line I knew in advance where I was going to set up. 

Milky Way #3-2019 Nikon D750, 20mm f/1.8-Lens, 25 Seconds, ISO 2500

Getting there early afforded me the opportunity to photograph some wildlife in the early evening hours when they are the most active to feed.  Knowing there was a break in all the rain/storms meant I had a good chance to capture a beautiful sunset.

That morning I took my time and selected my camera.  I was going to shoot with a Nikon D750 full frame and I wanted a wide angle lens so went with a Nikkor 20 mm f/1.8 prime.  This camera allows me to go into the settings and set the shutter to raise the mirror 1, 2, or 3 seconds after activating the shutter release. I was also able to set the camera on a 2-second delay.  What this means is once I click the shutter button the camera will wait 2 seconds before raising the mirror and the camera will then wait 2 or 3 seconds before taking the picture.  Even though I was using a tripod which is an absolute must these steps limit any possible camera movement from the shutter, mirror, or my hand on the shutter button.  By the way, I also used a cable release so that I kept my hands off the camera.  Another reason for my camera selection is it has an articulating LCD screen.

You can use a wide-angle fixed focal length lens known as a prime or a wide angle zoom lens. Anything from 14 mm to 24 mm seems to work for me.  Zooms in the range of 12-24 mm, 18-55 mm or just a couple of examples.  There is an issue that you must compensate for when using a zoom lens and that is when shooting the Milky Way you will need to focus using manual focus and once determined not adjust the range. Example; lets say you are using a 12-24 mm zoom and you compose your image using a focal range of 20mm.  What do you do to make sure that you don’t accidentally move the zoom range once you are focused on the stars?  A lot of people use painters tape to make sure the lens does not move and I am sure there are other methods but this is the one I am familiar with.

I had my spot picked out and I set up my camera as night was coming on so that I could get ready to focus for my shot.  I wanted to focus on infinity and even though the lens has an affinity mark on it, it doesn’t mean you can just set it to infinity and you are good to go.  I have found that my lens focuses just slightly before the infinity mark.  With that said my method was to angle the camera to the brightest star and using live view to focus.  In the live view mode, I increased the magnification to its max and then adjusted the focus ring until my star or white dot was perfectly round and not blurry. With the focus set, I aimed my camera toward where my PhotoPills app indicated it would be.  However, at this early point in the evening, the Milky Way was not visible.  My Photopills app indicated that the brightest part of the Milky Way, it's Galactic Center would start showing up around 2 AM in the morning.  So it was time to set back and read my Kindle until the appointed hour.  I think this is a good time to point out that dew can set in on your gear and especially the lens glass.  I carry a soft black, light-weight throw with me so I gently covered my camera and lens. The following image was my test shot.

Milky Way #4-2019,Nikon D750, 20mm f/1./-Lens, f/5.6, 15 Seconds, ISO 3200 RAW File Un-Processed

Once the stars came out I took a couple of test shots to make sure my stars were in focus.  My test shots consisted of a couple of attempts at different time settings.  One at 15 seconds and another at 20 seconds.  I also wanted to see how much ambient light pollution I would need to deal with.  Light pollution normally adds a yellow glow to your image and obscures the night sky.  For this occasion, I opted to try out a new light pollution lens filter I bought.  This filter is designed to reduce the appearance of light pollution in images that include the night sky and illumination from artificial light sources.  However, the filter is magenta in color and can add a little pink cast to your image but I liked it.  Back to my novel while I waited.  The next image is a section of the image above which I used to check the focusing on the stars.

Milky Way #5-2019 Nikon D750, 20mm f/1./-Lens, f/5.6, 15 Seconds, ISO 3200 RAW File Un-Processed

Around 2:30 AM I started seeing my subject.  It does not jump out at you like all the images you see posted.  That is part of the art form in post-processing.  But if you don’t see it you can’t capture it.  I experimented with different setting combinations.  I varied my ISO from 2500 to 6400, my shutter speed from f/2.0 to f/8, and from 15 seconds to 25 seconds.  I did not go above 25 seconds for this lens.  Anything longer could produce star trails.  If that is what you are going far then great, otherwise your stars will be blurry. Remember the higher the ISO the more noise you will introduce into the image.  I have been experimenting with some success on different techniques to reduce noise in post.  Image #6 is a RAW File captured at 3 AM.  This is what I saw before adding any post-processing to accentuate the Milky Way.  At this time I was able to see the Milky Way with the naked eye.

Milky Way #6-2019 Nikon D750, 20mm f/1./-Lens, f/5.6, 15 Seconds, ISO 3200 RAW File

You can calculate the maximum shutter length by dividing the number 500 by the focal length of your lens. (500/20=25) this is the 500 rule.  Some people use the 600 Rule or (600/20=30).  I stick with the 500 rule.  Starting at 3:00 AM I ended up with 35 exposures.  Processing these images is an art form in itself in my opinion.  Each image I processed generated a different look.  Which one is best?  I guess the one that moves your soul.  Search YouTube to learn how to process these images.  There is a lot of good training out there. Image #7 was shot with a greater depth-of-field (f/5.6) which help bring out the star effect in this picture.

Milky Way #7-2019 Nikon D750, 20mm f/1./-Lens, f/5.6, 15 Seconds, ISO 3200 

I am going to add two more images below, taken last year without the light pollution filter.

Milky Way #8-2018 Nikon D750, 20mm f/1.8 Lens, f/2.8, 20 Seconds, ISO 2500

Images #8 was taken last August 2018 at  10:30 PM.  At that time of year, the Milky Way was more visible and I am not sure why.

Milky Way #9 2018 Nikon D750, 20mm f/1.8 Lens, f/2.8, 25 Seconds, ISO 1600

Image #9-2018 was also taken last August 2018 and was taken at 5 PM.  I used the same lens and camera as this year but by August the Milky Way was being its descent back south so appears further away from where I was standing.

I hope you enjoyed this blog.  Special thanks to MDC for the permit to allow me to capture this moment while enjoying the solitude of the night at Eagle Bluffs Conservation Area.