How to shoot the Milky Way
Where, when and how to shoot the Milky Way
Some people don’t even know that you can see the Milky Way, the galaxy our earth is located in.
It’s a very special moment and it almost can’t be described.
A few years ago when I was in Croatia I saw the Milky Way for the first time. I was completely blown away and I could not believe my eyes. Fast forward a year and right after I got my first camera I wanted to photograph the Milky Way immediately.
So I watched countless videos to learn more about when, where and how to shoot the Milky Way.
In this article I will teach you exactly what you have to know about seeing and shooting the Milky Way.
Where to shoot the Milky Way
The fact that only a small group of people know that the Milky Way is a real visible thing says enough: You can’t see or shoot it everywhere. Because we’re humans and we need light 24 hours a day there are a lot of issues with ‘light pollution’. Light pollution makes it impossible to see the Milky Way with the naked eye and most of the time it makes it impossible to shoot it as well.
Light pollution is in fact light from urban areas that shoots up and reflects off of the air droplets in the sky. You might be thinking: ‘But when it’s not raining, there are no droplets in the sky?’ But that’s where humidity steals the show.
So where can you see the Milky Way?
It’s actually pretty simple. Find yourself a really dark place and you should be able to see it.
I do have to mention that certain areas might seem dark but still have lots of issues with light pollution.
Via this link you can access a map that shows how much light pollution there is and where to find a dark area.
The map uses colours to indicate which areas are subject to a lot of light pollution and which aren’t.
I always try to aim for an area that’s marked dark yellow or better.*
Generally speaking you should try to shoot in the direction of a dark area or be in a dark area yourself.
You can be in a dark orange zone but shoot towards a dark yellow zone and you should be good.
Just being in a dark area doesn’t always do the trick, it’s important to move away from any light source in the area.
If you think you’re in a good spot, just try it out! The map isn’t that accurate either.
*If you really want to get the full experience you should aim for dark blue/light grey
The Milky Way above a lonely tree in Belgium - the bright star you see is actually Jupiter
When to shoot the Milky Way
Now that we know where to shoot it, it’s time to look at when to shoot it. This might get a little more complicated so bear with me.
First things first: You can only see the Milky Way 2 hours after sunset and 2 hours before sunrise.
Unfortunately the Milky Way isn’t visible all year round except for some places on earth.
In Europe for example you can only shoot it when it’s spring or summer. When it’s winter time the Milky Way is ‘visible’ when it’s daytime and not visible when it’s nighttime. Pretty confusing I must admit.
To make it even more confusing you will stumble across another issue.
When the moon is out you can’t see the good part of the Milky Way. The moon works like light pollution. Because it is a bright sphere in the sky it kinda ‘steals the show’ of the Milky Way. It will be dancing in the sky while it’s singing like a rockstar. You’re probably wondering what kind of drugs I took but you get the idea: If there is a moon, there is no Milky Way.
To determine if you’ve chosen a good time frame you can use one of the following apps:
Skyview Lite (SL), The Photographers Ephemeris (TPE), Photopills,...
I never used Photopills so I won’t talk about that one. But here are few screenshots of the other 2 apps which you can use.
Hover over the images to find out more.
Skyview Lite shows where the Milky way will be at a certain time at a certain location. You can easely change the time and location of course. It uses AR so move your phone around to see where the Milky Way will be.
Skyview Lite - You also have the option to select a bright star, planet or start star constellation and get more information. Next to the information you get to see the path the star or planet will take.
The Photographers Ephemeris is a little more user friendly and a lot more accurate. However, you will have to pay if you want to use the app. With the slider at the bottom you can easily ‘slide trough time’ and see the movement of the Milky Way.
In boths apps you can change the date, time and location.
My first ever Milky Way shoot and Milky Way panorama - Italian Dolomites
How to shoot the Milky Way
.1 What you will need to shoot the Milky Way
If you look at the gear shooting the Milky Way is nothing crazy, you don’t need expensive rigs or cameras to be able to shoot it.
There are actually 2 things you need to shoot the Milky Way, a camera with a manual option and a tripod. That’s it.
Obviously there are a few things that make shooting the Milky Way easier. These items are not necessary but certainly come in handy when you’re out in the field. A remote trigger, flash light, head torch, snacks and patience should help a lot when you’re on the hunt for the perfect Milky Way photo.
.2 Finding the right composition and framing at night
It’s always best to scout the area before night falls. Otherwise you will find yourself in a pitch black unknown dark world and finding a good composition may be hard or even impossible.
Since I like to shoot sunset as well I usually scout for a composition right after the sun has set and the colours are gone.
When you’ve found a great composition it’s a good idea to make your final frame already. And then you just have to wait until the Milky Way is visible, this is where the patience comes in handy. Remember: the Milky Way will be visible around 2 hours after sunset.
If you happen to arrive after dark you will have to struggle a bit to find a composition. If you’re really dedicated it’s a good idea to buy a decent flashlight that can light up your surroundings. The weaker your flash light, the harder finding a composition gets.
If you think you found a great composition it’s a good idea to bump up your ISO to the max so you can see what you’re going to shoot.
If everything seems okay take a few test shots to see if it’s what you’re looking for or not.
Since you arrived when it’s dark you probably don’t have to wait for the Milky Way to come out, just start shooting!
.3 Focussing at night
How to focus at night? Most types of autofocus look for contrast on horizontal areas of the AF points but at night, when everything is black, there is not much contrast to be seen so your autofocus won’t work. You will have to focus manually.
There are 6 or more ways to focus on the Milky Way but I will focus - pun intended - on the easiest one.
When you put your camera in live view your screen should show what your sensor is seeing.
Next you have to look for a bright star and zoom in on it (NOT WITH YOUR LENS - with the digital zoom)
When you zoomed in on the bright star rotate your focus ring so the star becomes really small. The smaller the star, the sharper your Milky Way will be. If you think you nailed it, take a test shot to see if you actually nailed it.
Underneath you’ll find an example of how you can focus on the Milky Way.
This is what you should see when you’ve found your composition: absolute darkness
Next, zoom in on a bright star, you might notice that the star is a little blurry. That’s okay!
Last but certainly not least rotate the focus ring so the star becomes as small as possible. Now it’s sharp. Take a test exposure to see if it’s really sharp!
.4 The settings
First things first: ALWAYS SHOOT IN RAW.
The settings may seem complicated but just like everything else, it’s surprisingly easy.
Please study your camera before shooting the Milky Way, you should know how your camera works before heading into the field.
If everything goes well you should have 3 variables to determine your exposure.
The ISO, shutter speed and aperture.
Let’s start with the easiest one: the aperture.
Your aperture should be opened all the way to let in as much light as possible.
If you have a lens with a maximum aperture of f1/.8, go for f/1.8. I have a lens with an aperture of f/2.4 so I’ll use this as an example later on.
Next up: The shutter speed.
This is the most difficult setting to determine, well if you think about it you could just try and fail a couple of times before you nail it but let’s do it the clean way.
Your shutter speed should be as long as possible but not too long, makes sense? Probably not, let me explain.
If you expose for let’s say 3 seconds you won’t see a thing and everything will be dark and noisy. So you might be thinking: ‘let’s expose for 30 seconds then!‘
That’s definitely a solution to your problem but the photo will look great from afar but when you zoom in you will see that your stars look like small lines instead of dots. These are what we call ‘startrails’. They are caused by the rotation of the earth, essentially you can see the movement of the stars/earth.
Instead of trying multiple times I’m going to teach you a small trick to calculate the - almost exact - shutter speed you should use.
You take 500 and divide it by your focal length (f). The result you get is the maximum amount of time your shutter should be opened.
So: 500/f* = Shutter speed
For my lens that would be: 500 / 24 = 20.83 seconds
I can expose for a maximum of 20 seconds before startrails show up.
IMPORTANT: If you’re using a crop sensor camera make sure to multiply your focal length by the crop factor of your camera before calculating your shutter speed. If you’re using an 18mm lens on a crop camera your focal length will be around 27mm!
*f = Focal length
Last but not least you have to set our ISO, I recommend shooting at around ISO3200 - ISO4000. This should be enough to capture the Milky Way. This all depends on your aperture and your shutter speed of course so just play around a little and see what works best.
A small summary
Choose a moonless summer night and find yourself a dark location away from light pollution. Look south and you should be able to see the Milky Way.
Next you have to find a composition using either a head torch or a flashlight. If you found your composition take a few test shots.
To focus, zoom in on a bright star using live view. Turn your focus ring so the star becomes as small as possible (sharp).
Last but not least you have to nail your setting. Your aperture has to be opened all the way, your shutter speed can be calculated by dividing 500 by your focal length. Make sure to calculate your focal length before you calculating your shutter speed if you have a crop sensor camera (approx: 1.5 x focal length). Your ISO will be around 3200-4000 but you can play around with it.
The end
Hops, that should do the trick. Now you should be able to capture an image of the Milky Way.
Of course there are lots of special techniques you can use to improve your Milky Way photography but I won’t cover those in this blog, maybe in a future blog post.
Make sure to experiment with Milky Way photography, find yourself a nice reflection, make a panorama,…
Thanks for spending your time with me and I hope to see you somewhere around.
Adventure awaits, let’s explore.