LocalNavy433 Photography

Hello and how the hell are you?  If this is your first time here thanks for stopping by.  In this blog we are going to cover three myths that are going around when it comes to shooting the Milky Way.  When it comes to being alone at night under the stars we want to take a photo of them.  I remember looking online in awe over some of the Milky Way images that I was seeing.  I wanted to learn how to shoot them so I could get some images of them for myself.   The process of learning how to shoot those type of images is rather straight forward when it comes to getting the image of the sky.  The complexity of getting a good foreground to go with your sky images is where the real work starts.  We are not going to cover how to blend a foreground with the sky but we are going to cover some of the myths out there about shooting the night skies. 

The first myth is that you need a very expensive camera and lens to get an amazing shot of the Milky Way core.  The only thing that you truly need is a camera with a largish sensor.  From Marco 4/3’s to a crop sensor will work to get the shots.  Heck with the way cell phone are at you just need that to get a image of the Milky Way core.  Now depending on the level of detail that you want in your image determines the size of the sensor that you want to get.  If you are just wanting to post the images online then just about any sensor will work for this.  The better looking images with more detail are going to come from a full frame body and a really fast lens but you don’t need all that to get good images of the core.  

The second myth that we are going to look at is really going to blow your mind.  The myth about needing extremely dark skies to shoot the core.  Yes having truly dark skies are going to help but you can get the images of the core that you are wanting there is just going to be light pollution in them.  If that doesn’t bother you then you are good to go.  The theme that I am going for here is to just get out and shoot to practice for the times that you are in the location that is really dark so that way you know what you are doing when in that moment.  You see having a dark sky that you can just get a shot of the core is going to get you ready and that is what you are needing. The myth of needing no light pollution is not going to happen.  Most of the world has light pollution now so if you limit yourself to just shooting in truly dark sky locations you are actually holding yourself back and it will take you longer to grow as a photographer.  

The last myth about shooting the Milky Way core is as simple as composition.  Whenever you look at the stand out images of the Milky Way there is always a foreground in those images.  The photographer is going to build his or her comp around the foreground and the Milky Way is added to that giving it that awe that we all want in our images.  The foreground is just as important as the sky in theses types of images.  In fact without a good foreground you just have the sky to look at and to me that makes for a boring image.  Using a silhouette for the foreground adds interest to an image as well and draws the viewer into the image.  Being able to balance the image with a good foreground is the key to that.  

Depending on where you are at in your journey of this genre depends on how you are going to shoot the foreground images.  Regard less on where you are at the foreground if you want it to be seen is going to happen two ways.  The first is going to be taking a super long image of the foreground and then blending it with the sky shots that you are taking.  Then you have what is called a blue hour blend.  Which means that you will take a blue hour shot and then blend it in with the sky shots that you take.  This all comes down to taste on how you want to post process your images.  

Bonus myth the Milky Way can only be shot at certain times of the year.  This myth is something that even I fell for because you always hear about the Milky Way Core season.  This usually starts in February and ends around October of every year.  Which just means that you will see the core during that time frame.  The actual Milky Way is seen all year round every night you can see the Milky Way as long as the moon is not washing out the sky.  The fact is the most photogenic time to shoot the Milky Way is between Feb-Oct.  This means that most people will be out shooting during that time.  I actually use from October to February to be proactive in shooting at night so that way I can give myself a challenge when core season comes around I will be ready. 

At the end of the day shooting the Milky Way is so much fun and learning how to shoot different ways will always help you when you are in the dark sky locations.  Give yourself some base settings that will get you started shooting right away.  This will allow you to dial in the right settings faster and you will know what to do when it comes to shooting and you will not have to reference books or guides while on location.  Practice all year long so you have muscle memory down pat.  The fact is that if you don’t practice you will always have to ask what was that setting for again.  Enjoy from St Johns AZ y’all