Aiming for the Milky Way

I’ve been taking a lot of nightscapes and star trails lately. Just a few days ago, I saw a photograph of the Milky Way shared in a WhatsApp group. More than the photograph itself, what intrigued me was the statement from the photographer, who mentioned spending many months, possibly years, and countless failed attempts to capture that perfect shot. While the photograph was impressive, the statement felt like something out of a reality show, aiming to tug at the emotional chords of some gullible readers. I thought, why not try capturing some Milky Way shots myself the next time I’m out photographing star trails? They are not difficult. The pictures here are from an inexpensive camera and done up in a hurry.

(The faint colors in Nebulae can be seen even in simple Milky-Way snapshots. Someday, I’ll get myself a powerful telescope to enjoy all these)

Milky Way photography is not difficult at all, if you know how to photograph stars in general. Just a little bit of extra knowledge and preparedness helps. Though, I have already written an article on photographing stars – Capturing Starry Skies, I’ll summarize the basics once more here.

Camera Basics

Use these settings –

• Set the ISO to a medium range (1600-6400; this is suitable for most modern cameras). Don’t worry about overexposure; it’s actually beneficial as it reduces noise and can be corrected later.
• Use Manual Mode. The photographs will appear overexposed in the preview, but that’s okay. Stick with Manual Mode and ignore the camera’s meter.
• Set the aperture to the widest available on your lens, or the widest that provides enough depth of field to capture the foreground as well.
• Set the shutter speed to Bulb or Timed Mode, allowing you to manually determine how long the shutter remains open.
• Use manual focusing to prevent focus-hunting in the dark.
• Mount the camera on a sturdy tripod—this is essential.
• Shoot in RAW format. This gives you more flexibility to correct exposure and bring out the details of the Milky Way. JPEG is not an option!

For details about why I recommend these settings, do read the starry-skies article, I have mentioned above.

Milky Way

The galaxy we inhabit is called the Milky Way, a fact many of us learned in school but may have forgotten. The Milky Way is a spiral galaxy with a bar-shaped core, containing billions of stars. Since we are located within it, we see the galaxy as a band crossing the sky. This band, primarily composed of the galaxy’s core, is what photographers refer to when they say they are photographing the Milky Way.

Photographs of the Milky Way often feature clusters of cloud-like formations known as nebulae or cosmic clouds. These nebulae emit various colors, but due to long exposures and atmospheric dust, the colors are not always recorded accurately. For those interested in seeing the true colors of these nebulae, a dedicated high-powered telescope is essential.

Timing the Photo-Shoot

Some photographers mention that they spent so many months or years trying to photograph Milky Way. In my opinion, they should have either asked some old villagers about the visibility of ‘aakash ganga’ (as it is fondly called in India) or used some technology. (I am one of those few who believe that a photograph should tell the story on its own. There should not be a need to improve its importance by telling the story behind it.)

The Milky Way can be photographed from late spring to early autumn.

The best time to photograph the Milky Way in spring and summer is in the early morning hours, a few hours before sunrise. In autumn, it is easily photographed in the early evening, a few hours after sunset. The photographs in this article were taken around 9 PM (IST) in the first week of September.

The biggest challenges for a photo shoot are light pollution and atmospheric pollution. Therefore, I always recommend photographing the Milky Way in March or August/September. Summers in India are notorious for dust storms, and the sky is often obscured. During July and August, clouds frequently play hide and seek.

It is also crucial to have a dark sky with no moonlight. Plan your shots around the new moon or when the moon is not visible in the sky (after moonset during spring and before moonrise in autumn).

Location

The farther you are from civilization, the better for photographing the Milky Way. Light pollution can ruin your shots. Some friends tell me that living near the hills makes it easier for me to capture the Milky Way, but that’s not entirely true. Almost any location can be a good spot to photograph the Milky Way as long as the sky is visible and light pollution is low. I have a friend who took a stunning shot from his apartment balcony during a power outage. I’ve also captured night sky photographs from a village near a densely populated city. While low-light pollution areas are ideal, even rural areas near a city can work. There’s no need to wait for a trip to the hills to photograph the Milky Way—you can start tonight!

The Milky Way appears in the southern sky. To identify its location or predict the best time to photograph it, there are many apps available for phones and computers. At the time of writing this article, Stellarium and SkyView are two good options that come to mind. These apps are useful not just for photographing the Milky Way but for anyone interested in astronomy.

I prefer the age-old method of identifying constellations first and then locating the galaxy’s core. The Scorpius constellation has its tail in the core of the Milky Way. Find Scorpius, and the star in its tail will be part of the Milky Way. The top two stars of Sagittarius are also part of the Milky Way core. Learn to identify these constellations, and you’ll always find the Milky Way without fail.

Light-Pollution Filter

Light pollution filters are an accessory that few photographers use nowadays, yet they remain helpful. These pink-magenta colored glass filters screw onto the front of lenses and were highly effective when light pollution was primarily from the warm light of sodium-vapor lamps. Nowadays, with the prevalence of cool-colored LED street lights, their efficacy has diminished but they are still quite useful. If you live in a city, give this filter a try! Even in dark locations, a light pollution filter can help enhance the beauty of the Milky Way.

(Milky Way in the backdrop of a road)

The Photography Begins

Once everything is set—the sky is cloudless, there’s no moon, the Milky Way is visible, and the camera is ready—it’s time to start shooting.

Use the ‘500 Rule’ for the shutter speed. For a 25mm lens, this rule suggests that the maximum exposure time should be less than 20 seconds (500 divided by the focal length, which is 25mm in this case).

For the shots in this article, I used a Zeiss 25mm lens mounted on a full-frame Nikon body. The camera was securely attached to a Manfrotto ball-head on a Vanguard tripod. No filter was used in front of the lens. I set the ISO to 3200 and 6400 for different shots.

In the photograph above, the exposure time was about 20 seconds. This was long enough to capture a vehicle moving across the frame, creating a light trail in the foreground, yet short enough to prevent star trails. By the way, for those concerned about light pollution, the above photograph was not taken in a particularly dark location—it was actually next to a road with traffic!

Post-Processing

Post-processing raw files is slightly different from other regular photographs. Here, the aim is to bring out the nebulas without increasing noise. After correcting the exposure, shift the black-point to make the sky dark. Apply sharpening, while adjusting the threshold for it. For details, I once again recommend reading this article – Capturing Starry Skies.

Strong Compositions

The photographs on this page are snapshots meant to showcase the principles behind photographing the Milky Way. To create impactful images, focus on the entire composition. A foreground subject standing tall and covering part of the sky can look stunning against the backdrop of the galaxy. Treat the whole frame with importance, not just the galaxy. Beginners can rely on basic composition rules, but always keep the overall composition in mind. Use the Milky Way to enhance your subject rather than making it the main subject.

For the best technical quality, use the latest camera model you have (the one with the least noise at high ISO or a high native ISO), consider using a light pollution filter, and overexpose the raw file!

An Interesting Offer …

In fact, if you are planning to photograph Milky-Way, why don’t you plan a trip to our homestay? It’s on the edge of a village and a forest. Great place. You pay for the stay and photography lessons will be on me!

This article, originally published on my photography site, is now archived here; while some details may have lost their original context over time, it still offers an intriguing read.
Complete list of archived content – Photography Articles