I’d never tried my hand at photographing the Milky Way before, but had always been something I’d wanted to try. Living in a south coast town in the UK the opportunity had never been on my doorstep with the light pollution, but when I found myself on Fitzroy Island on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia I really had no excuse
Timing was key; there was around a 2 hour window between it being properly dark and the moon starting to rise making it lighter again, and it was during this period that I set up for this photograph.
Getting any photograph correct requires getting lots of things right at the same time, so let’s get the easy steps out of the way first so we have less things to think about:
Astrophotography Basics
- Manual focus – focus to infinity and leave it.
- RAW mode – essential for astrophotography because a lot of the detail is lost if you rely on the camera to process the shot for you – you have to be in control of it! Read my article on raw for more details
- Tripod with a means of firing the shutter without touching the camera (remote release switch, or these days an app on your phone if the camera supports it)
- Wide aperture to allow as much light as possible – this will depend on your lens, but you want the lowest F number you can have (F4 in this example)
- As wide a lens as you have (this was a 10-20 mm lens set at 10mm)
- Knowledge of your equipment to be able to change the ISO speed and shutter speed in the dark
So – basics out of the way and set up we’re left with relatively few things to worry about!
Taking the shot – photographing the Milky Way
Here’s my top tip. The images you view on your camera’s screen as you take them are only half the story – in RAW mode they will look flat, lack excitement, and may leave you downhearted, but keep going, keep shooting, and keep positive – you’ll be amazed at what will transpire once you process the RAW files on your computer.
- COMPOSITION! As in any landscape photography this is our first priority but it’s difficult in the dark so you need to use your imagination and try a variety of landscape and portrait options.
- ISO Speed is critical – the higher the number, the more sensitive to light the sensor will be (which you need here) but remember the trade off is poorer quality ‘noisy’ images (read my article on ISO for more details). Whilst taking this image I went between ISO 1600 and 6400 – when I was happy with a shot I took it again at at 1600, 2500, and 3200 so I knew I had them in the bag. You can not tell what is right looking at the LCD on the camera in the middle of the night and you do not want any ‘I wish….’ moments when you are processing the image on your PC days or weeks later.
- Shutter speed – 30 seconds was my standard but again, if you get a composition you like repeat it with a longer and shorter exposure at each ISO setting
If you find yourself in such a lucky position to be able to see the milky way clearly and photograph it then just keep shooting – take shots from as many different compositions, orientation, ISO and shutter speed as you can. Only go home if the weather conditions change, your battery is dead or you’re out of memory cards, and don’t leave any opportunities behind. I walked off the beach with a big smile on my face and several hundred RAW files.
Processing your RAW files
The RAW files you now have are just the beginning of the process. Using a RAW editor (such as Adobe RAW or the RAW editing software that came with your camera) will bring out the real beauty of what you have captured – and remember the benefit of RAW files are that any editing you do is ‘non destructive’ – the originals remain the same, so as your editing skills develop you can get them out again and try something different.
In your RAW editor the key controls you want to experiment with are the exposure, highlights, shadows, whites and blacks and then experiment with noise reduction if necessary. There’s no ‘rules’ here so let your creativity flow!
I always shoot in RAW and JPEG at the same time (the camera creates 2 files at the same time) – so here’s the two side by side – the JPEG on the left being untouched from what came out of the camera.
I was delighted with the results after the RAW file processing. I didn’t use any filters, the camera used was a mid-range DSLR, so given the right conditions photographing the milky way is definitely something I would reccomend.
This image was taken from the beautiful Fitzroy Island, https://www.fitzroyislandcairns.com