How to Photograph the Milky Way
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Loading... - Joseph Medjo
- 19 Aug 2022
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This guide will be a walkthrough of the basics of Milky Way photography. It is best for beginners, but even intermediate and expert photographers might find something new! Plus, I always find it never hurts to refresh yourself on the basics.
Before we get to the good stuff, I’d like to start by saying that I hope you find this guide to be a bit different from the rest. I have found that most guides go on way too long and provide more detail than you could possibly need. This doesn’t sound like a bad thing, but it creates a problem. With that much information available, it tends to be overwhelming and hard to retain what you learn. By the time you’ve read through the countless pages, you’ve forgotten where you started!
The goal of this guide is to get you through the basics as quickly as possible so you can get out shooting! Think of this guide as the notes you would take during a lecture. When you start out, learning only the most important basics gives you more time to take photos of the Milky Way, which is by far the quickest way to learn and improve your art.
Photographers love to talk about equipment, but it’s honestly one of my least favorite topics. While it is important to know your gear, you will improve your photography much faster by going out and taking shots or viewing other photographers’ work, rather than researching/buying every piece of gear on the market.
Minimum Required Equipment
Tripod: You need a tripod (well built and sturdy). Invest now and it will last for years. A cheap tripod will be unsteady, leading to blurry images. I can’t stress enough how important a good tripod is!
Camera with manual mode: Manual mode means you can manually adjust the ISO, aperture, and shutter speed.
Camera lens with a minimum f/4 aperture (preferably f/2.8 or smaller): The smaller the f-stop (f/4, f/2.8, etc,) the more light your lens can let in. The more light, the more star detail you can capture.
Preferred Equipment
Tripod: A tall, strong tripod with an excellent ball head.
Full-frame camera: While today’s crop sensor (and even some point and shoot cameras) can shoot stars, full-frame ISO performance will perform better.
14-24mm wide-angle lenses with minimum f/2.8 aperture: My favorite lens for milky way photography is a 24mm f/1.4.
Shutter release/Intervalometer: Allows for long than 30s exposure times and reduces camera vibrations when pressing the shutter.
Star tracker: A star tracker is a device that attaches to your tripod. You then mount your camera on the device and it follows (tracks) the stars as they move through the sky, allowing for longer exposure times (greater star detail). Learn more about exposure times in the camera settings section. Read More...
