Table of Contents
how to capture the milky way
On the last night of our photo tour, we wanted to fit in one more session to work on our night photography skills. Maine is a much better place to view the stars than Florida because there is less light pollution. Capturing the Milky Way is not even possible in Jupiter, but there is a perfect spot to set up less than a mile from our house in Maine. These images were taken just after sunset and before the moonrise, when the sky is the darkest. However, the skies were clear, so perfect for night photography. When I looked it up on the Photo Pills app after the fact, it turned out that it was the ideal viewing time!
The trick to the settings is to get the longest exposure while keeping the stars round, with no trails as the earth moves.
the gear
I used my Nikon Z7 mirrorless camera with an FTZ adapter and the widest angle lens I have which is the Nikon AF-S Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8. It’s a fisheye, and causes a bit of distortion on the edges, so the trees appear to lean in, but it is my best option, and does very well.
You must have a tripod – no one can hold steady for 30 seconds…
the settings
- Set the focus to infinity and turn the auto focus off.
- Set the shutter to a 2 second delay, or use a shutter release to reduce camera-shake.
- Put the camera in manual mode – I know it’s scary, but try it…
- Open up the aperture as wide as you can. That is the lowest number, in my case 2.8. I used the longest shutter speed that I could without a bulb, which I didn’t have: 30 seconds. The ISO will adjust based on the aperture and shutter speed.
the 500 rule
This is a guide to calculate the longest exposure you can have before the stars become blurry and start showing trails from the movement of the Earth. The formula is:
ss = shutter speed, we are trying to solve for the length of the exposure
cf = crop factor of the sensor. The Nikon Z7 is a full frame, so this number is 1, making my math very easy. The Nikon DX cameras have a 1.5 crop factor; Canon cameras are 1.6. Let’s not get too technical or complicated. Check the specs for your sensor to find out your crop factor; it’s good to know.
fl = the focal length of the lens
In my setup, the math is quite easy 500/(1 x 14) = 35.7 seconds, and I was using a 30 second exposure, which was shorter and my stars are quite clear.
happy accidents
There were three of us shooting this particular night, and we used head lamps to navigate in the dark and adjust our settings. We would try to coordinate our exposure times, by shutting off the lights, and counting ‘1-2-3 shoot’. As it turns out, I like the shots where the foreground has some of the light, when the timing wasn’t quite right.
gear envy . . .
Foolography Unleashed N2 Smartphone DSLR Remote for Nikon Z6, Z7 Cameras
Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer Pro Pack
Inspiration
NISHA REEDTZ
EXIF Camera used was a Nikon Z7, with 24 mm f1.8 Nikkor lens. Three sky images were taken using a sky adventurer tracker for 3 minutes with an ISO640 and f2.2, and four foreground images at 3 minutes with an ISO640 and f1.8, no tracker.
Edited in PTGui (stitching), Photoshop (color balance, contrast, star reduction, chromatic aberration) and Lightroom (final touches!)
