How To Light Up The Milky Way. Photography Tips!

Hey Steemians,

I have a running love affair with US National Parks. I'm always on the look out for tips on where to go. So if you have any please post them below. It is such a huge country, I feel like I have barely scratched the surface after years of travelling!

The bejeweled night skies above Arches National Park had a powerful effect on both my girlfriend and me. Our place in life assumed its true perspective (we’re small, the universe is massive; that sort of thing) yet we came out inspired and galvanised by the experience.

Then again, it could have been the half bottle of whiskey talking. We had to keep warm while we took the photos!

Taking astrophotography is both simple and tricky.

SIMPLE

Just follow these few steps and you will be able to get phots of the night sky every time.

You need to start by letting as much light as you can into your camera without affecting the picture quality:

• open your aperture to at least f2.8
• focus your lens to infinity
• pick the highest ISO your camera can handle without adding too much noise. I mostly used 1500.
• keep your shutter speed under 25 seconds or the stars will start blurring.
• use a tripod (duh!)
• use your camera timer, not your fingers to release the shutter.

You then need to find an area with the lowest amount of light, so you can see the most stars:

• shoot on a day with no moon
• shoot in a designated dark sky area as they have the lowest light pollution

TRICKY

The tricky bit is framing the photo correctly. I did not just want a photo of the sky, but a photo that frames the Milky Way. That was why we had arrived in Arches National Park. With over 2000 arches dotted around the park, we figured we figured we would find a few with the right location and aesthetics. And we did!

The only lights we had with us were torches. So lighting up Brei, the arch AND then running back in the dark to close the shutter (before the stars started trailing) proved awkward but amusing. Next time I’ll bring some remote lights to have more control of the scene.

The most rewarding part of the day was just toasting the splendour of the sky with a few glass of Jack Daniels. Post astrophotography shoot of course!

Below is photo taken at Skyline Arch earlier on in the day.