Sark17 Loc: Atlanta, GA

Hello! I put the New Moon on my calendar last week because I am so excited to try for a Milky Way shot and I am counting down the days. I am driving a bit north on 9/28, to where it seems to have much less light pollution (per my light pollution map). I have googled this and searched this forum, but have not found the exact answer I am looking for (and also can't find how to get to the astronomy/astrophotography portion of UHH so forgive me if this is the wrong place to ask). I will be about two hours north of Atlanta.

My gear: Canon EOS R, tripod, Canon EF 14mm 1:2.8 L Ultrasonic (ultra wide angle lens) and I recently purchased PhotoPills which I imagine will help but not sure how yet.

My question: What exactly do I need to do to actually shoot the milky way? I am also curious... the photos that people post of the Milky Way where it looks so dramatic, does it look like that with the naked eye? Or does keeping the shutter open for 25-30 seconds make it glow and there is some editing afterwards? Because if it actually looks like that with the naked eye, I may have to drive further north to see it/take these photos.

Also, to piggy back on this post, I will probably try star trails too which I would use the same gear plus my intervalometer but suggestions on best settings would be SUPER helpful!

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Math78 Loc: Scottsdale, AZ

Link to Astronomy section:
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/s-109-1.html

par4fore Loc: Bay Shore N.Y.

Just did this with my photo club. I suggest the following for the Milky Way.
1- Focus on something in the far distance with auto-focus turned off
2- Start with ISO 1600 but be willing to go to 3200
3- Start with 15 seconds (20 sec. Max @14mm IMO)
4- F stop wide open (2.8)
5- tripod and self timer

If it is windy you might note if your tripod is shaking. Stability is a very important factor for a shot of this length.
There are apps for locating it.

Sark17 Loc: Atlanta, GA

Thank you so much!!

big-guy Loc: Peterborough Ontario Canada

The milky way will be visible from NE to SW with the core being in the SW. Not knowing your location means this info is only approximate for the ET zone in NA.

To get sharp points on your stars use a shutter of 20-25 seconds, wide open aperture and an ISO that is high enough but not so high that the noise is unacceptable. Knowing that max is up to your discretion. No you will not see what the camera does as your eyes work like a video, now you see it now it's changed. Your camera on the other hand just keeps letting light onto the sensor.

I suggest for the first time shooting to the SW where your eye "can" see the milky way just not the way the camera does. Good luck and we look forward to seeing the results.

juan_uy Loc: Uruguay

Photopills has a feature "Night AR" that helps you locating the Milky Way before getting to your destination (any AR feature of the app will help no this).

Once you arrive there, I suggest you remain in the dark for at least 10 minutes to let your eyes adapt. You will never see the result the camera will get (or the result you have seen on others pictures), but this will help you seeing more of the sky.
Try to avoid as much as possible using lights, and I suggest you also lower the brightness of your screen.

Other replies already gave you guidelines on where to start.
I will add two tips:

- I suggest you disable "long exposure noise reduction" (this is Nikon's name, not sure how Canon calls it) until you are sure you want to use it. Maybe for the final shot.
This reduces the time that it will take for each exposure, if the feature is on a 20 seconds exposure will take 40 seconds.

- To check your composition, you can take a test shot cranking the ISO all the way up, so you can reduce the time to a couple of seconds and have a quick image. It will be very noisy, but useful to check the composition you want is right.

In addition to this, for star trails, I suggest you use the same settings but take shots separated 3 or 4 seconds. This affects how the intervalometer has to be set, mine requires me to configure the delay in 24s to have exposures of 20s separated by 4s. The 4s is intended to allow camera to write the camera to card and give a small break to the sensor (overheating) without generating gaps in the trails.
Aim to take at least 40 shots and leave some space in the borders of your composition (when stacking you probably will need to crop a little bit)

You could also take the star trails from a single shot, lowering the ISO to base value and using a very long exposure (around 15 minutes).
I prefer the above method mainly because if something ruins a shot (like someone flashing a torch) it would ruin only 1 "frame" that could be discarded (generating a gap in the trail) versus loosing the whole shot.

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

Your camera and 14mm lens will be perfect for photographing the Milky Way. Once you get everything figured out, you will find it to be not difficult to do. Some of the process is not 100% intuitive, so you may find the need for a little trial and error.

Step one is to find a good dark sky site and a night with good "seeing"...this may be a challenge in your neck of the woods because of humidity levels. Even here in Texas, the best sites are way out west, where elevations are higher and air is drier and clearer. There are likely some good dark locations in north Georgia, but finding good clear air may be a challenge.

When you choose your spot, plan to arrive before sunset. Use the time to find a good, accessible spot to set up your tripod so that you can get to it in the dark without tripping over plants or rocks. Also set aside some time to capture the sunset. You might just capture that "greatest one ever." After the sun is gone, do some "blue hour" photography. Depending on conditions, white balance temperature could be from 10000K to 20000K or even higher. As it gets dark, your eyes will adjust, and you will eventually see better in the dark than you ever have.

When it does get dark, your tripod should be already set up and leveled, and you should be working with a headlamp with a red light to preserve your night vision as much as possible. This time of year, the Milky Way will be somewhere between overhead and the high western sky. It will be difficult to capture the full arch until later, so concentrate on capturing images of the galactic core (the widest, brightest part) at first. This will let you experiment with focus and exposure. Jupiter and Saturn are the bright objects in the southern sky. Use a magnified live view on the back screen to focus on them.

I use a D810 and D850 for night sky photography, but I'm guessing with confidence that you can use very similar exposure settings and be really close with your EOS R. First, make sure that you are set up for normal contrast and saturation. You can use enhanced sharpness beneficially. (This will help a lot when reviewing your exposures.) White balance close to daylight (5800K) will let the red stars, blue stars, and white stars all be captured realistically. Of course, you may want to make a different artistic choice, and if you are going to do light painting, you will probably want to set color temperature to match whatever light you are using for that.

I start with ISO at 5000 or 6000, lens wide open at f2.8, exposure time of 25 seconds. You can probably come down to 20 seconds if the air is really clear.

If you trust the dynamic range of your camera, you can bring ISO down to 2500 and leave other parameters the same, then pull the exposure up in post processing. That can help with noise. Just try and see which works best.

As the night progresses, you should have opportunity to see and capture the arch as it gradually moves toward the western horizon. That will require a series of probably vertically framed images to be stitched together into a panorama.

Please make sure to take at least one other person with you to help watch for critters and to be able to help in case of accident or other unforseen events. Have fun while you are out.

We are close to the end of the Milky Way season. It will be too close to the sun to photograph after next month until next May. But you can work on technique, and there is no reason you won't be able to capture the core near the southern horizon. Then next spring you'll be ready to go out again.

Good luck and have fun. Please feel free to PM with questions if you like.

GreenReaper

This is a toughie. You should set your exposure using a particular formula. I believe it's 500 divide by the lens length. For my Canon T-6 using the shortest lens it urns out to be about 13 sec, wide open with the ISO being whatever. I know the smells you a lot, but I have shot with anywhere from ISO 200 to 1600. What you are trying to avoid is "star trails". A tripod and shutter release are a must. Having said all that if you have an iPhone there is an app called "Dark Skies" its free. all you do is plug in your focal length, and camera, its either an APS-C or Full frame and it will give you the longest exposure that is available for your setup. Lots of luck and I can't wait toes what you shoot.

GreenReaper

Oh, and by the way, you don't have to wait for the new moon. Another app called New Moon will give you the rise and set times of the moon and if you are out away from the city lights it might also be possible to get the kind of shot you want.

Sark17 Loc: Atlanta, GA

This is SUPER helpful! I didn’t realize there was an end to the Milky Way season! I’ll check for the moon rise/set so I can try more often too, while I can! Also, is there a way to know how to shoot for the galactic core? I’m sure the PhotoPills app could help? We will be in the North Georgia mountains so hopefully a decent opportunity to practice. Probably the best I’ll get here at least. I’m practicing so I can get the technique down before I head to South Africa soon where I may have a better opportunity! Granted it’s a full moon while I’m there, which will also be pretty cool! Thank you for your advice, I really appreciate it!

Notorious T.O.D. Loc: Harrisburg, North Carolina

Look at some of the PhotoPills tutorials and guides. They will help you learn the tool and techniques. The moon menu in PhotoPills will give you all sorts of information about the moon rise and setting as will as the galactic center and peak times, direction and elevation in the sky for your location.

martinfisherphoto Loc: Lake Placid Florida

You mentioned you purchased Photopills app and this is all you need to answer your questions. I would suggest watching the tutorials on how to use. Since you will be viewing the milky way in the south I would also suggest driving south of Atlanta so not to have all of the light pollution in your shot. You can find best areas using the app "Dark sky finder" https://darksitefinder.com/map/ for locations in your area. Here's a link to get started with photopills. https://darksitefinder.com/when-is-milky-way-season/

Fstop12 Loc: Kentucky

Since no one has mentioned other apps to use I will suggest a couple. 1. StarCaster
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/starcaster-night-sky-astronomy/id1121446331 This app is an excellent predictor of what the Astronomy conditions for viewing will be like on the night you will be shooting. I use it on my IPhone, I think it's available for Android as well. 2. Clear Outside: Another app giving you sky conditions, cloud cover times etc. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/clear-outside/id921555752 Both of these apps are free and very useful. I also use PhotoPills to plan my shooting locations. I have never shot the Milkway only StarTRails. Planning is everything, nothing worse than getting to your shooting location and having the clouds roll in 30 mins after you start shooting. I have never shot a single Long exposure for Star Trails although I am going to try it. I use a Nikon D7000, Tokina 11-16mm F2.8,Shutter Boss Remote timer. Camera Settings are at 11mm, F4, ISO 600-800,30 sec exposures with 1 sec in between. I usually shoot for 2-3 hours.

RGreenway Loc: Morristown, New Jersey

If that lens is autofocus I would set it to manual and perhaps use an electric shutter release. Try to be sure lens is accurately focused on infinity!

RGreenway Loc: Morristown, New Jersey

If that lens is autofocus I would set it to manual and perhaps use an electric shutter release. Try to be sure lens is accurately focused on infinity!