First, they can be used as planning aids prior to visiting a location with the goal of finding the final composition once you’re on-site, and therefore you’d be simply establishing the general plausibility of the shot in advance.
There are two general approaches to using the tools I’ll discuss. Confidently capturing shots like this requires predicting the location of the galaxy in the night sky. Gigapanorama (13 vertical photos blended together) of the Milky Way from Splitrock Lighthouse State Park near Beaver Bay, Minnesota. So, ensuring that the Milky Way is positioned exactly how I want it in a scene requires some planning.įigure 2. If the disc is too high in the sky it will be more difficult to capture the scene, and may even be impossible depending on the lens I’m using.
#Stellarium landscapes full
If you prefer to view a video of this material, please visit my YouTube page.Īs shown in the image above, when shooting the Milky Way I like to keep the stars sharp and round, and include as much of the galactic center as possible since it’s the brightest, most colorful and most compelling part of our galaxy, and if shooting large panoramas of the full arc of the Milky Way (Figure 2), I need to assess the elevation of the galactic disc relative to the horizon. So, I’m simply sharing information and my experience as of 2016 with what I consider to be some of the better tools available on the market to help plan these types of shots. Since the initial learning curve associated with taking Milky Way landscapes can be steep, my students often ask for tips on planning these shots. Please know that I don’t work for and am not being paid to promote any product mentioned in this post or on my video blogs. In this tutorial I’ll describe the information, tools, and workflow I use to plan my Milky Way Landscape star photos. If you’ve tried your hand at star photography you know there’s a lot involved, and appropriate planning helps me better achieve my artistic vision within this genre.
Capturing Milky Way landscapes has become one of my passions, and for up to a week each month from March through September I’ll rearrange my schedule and sleep cycle in pursuit of a nice Milky Way photo at my favorite locations…… my kind of night life! Rather than deep sky star photography, I’m more drawn to nightscapes that include a large portion of the night sky with the Milky Way as the main subject. Due to my formal science background I’ve always been keenly interested in the universe beyond our solar system, and as an artist have always been inspired by various renditions of galaxies, particularly our own Milky Way. Combined with advancements in post-processing software, now we can create relatively noise-free imagery while revealing subtle starlight that was simply impossible to capture well with film.Īs for myself, I began dabbling in star photography after investing in a full-frame sensor in 2013. For no other genre is this more true than astrophotography. Over the past few years digital camera sensors have advanced to the point where the resolution, dynamic range, and overall image quality of the final output exceeds what could be captured on film. Ancient starlight illuminates an old growth mixed pine hardwood forest at Itasca State Park near Lake Alice, Minnesota.
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