Astrophotography

Finding and photographing the Milky way in the North Georgia area.

Introduction

Hello I am Scott Padgett, I am an avid amiture astronomer, astrophotogropher and certified NOAA / Skywarn storm spotter and chaser. Most nights you can catch me lying under the stars counting shooting stars and satellites as they pass by.

Ingredients of a Nightscape

Its an old cliche, but “LOCATION LOCATION!!!”.  To photograph a nightscape first escape the cities and urban areas as best as possible. 80% of North American residence can not see the milky way due to light pollution from major cities, Georgia is no exception.

This is a map of the North Georgia area from Dark Site Finder. The areas in the shades of green is the area you are wanting, the darker green the better. I mainly shoot the milky way from is the Fort Mountain state park and Northern Murray county due to logistics for me. Even though these areas are in a light green the Milky Way can be seen on clear moonless nights. Another part of the location equation is weather. Here in the Southeastern U.S. Steamy, humid, summer nights play a big roll in photographing the milky way. Low level moisture and high humidity can and will diffract light pollution and make viewing almost impossible. August thru early  November are the best due to clear nights and low humidity.  

The second part is the easiest, a good unobstructed view of the southern sky. Look for the constellation of Scorpio it will precede the Galactic center or what's called “Down Town” by roughly 4 degrees. Another way to find the Galactic center is to find the constellation of Cygnus. Cygnus is what some refer to as the northern cross and is a better marker for finding the galactic center due to its higher position in the sky. The length of the cross runs through and along the Milky Way, draw a line through the cross and continue straight to the southern horizon that will be the position of the Galactic center.     Add it all together and you will have the optimal viewing area for you location of choice. They are a few apps out to help in locating and identifying the area or object you are looking for. Stellarium is my goto app for nightscapes on PC and mobile.  

Tips for night viewing and photography

Allow enough time for your eyes to adjust. The average person needs 45 minutes or longer to reach optimal night sight.

Use only red LED lighting otherwise you have to wait till night blindness goes away.

GEAR!!!!!!!

This is as simple or as difficult as you want to make it. A good sturdy tripod, a camera that can shoot in manual mode and a lens. There is no one camera better than the other, it's practice that makes the shot, just don't shoot in scene mode. A good fast wide lens is what you want.  The shot above was taken with a Sony A7r with a 20 year old Minolta manual 24mm f2.8 lens.  Even some new auto lenses have quit a bit of coma aberration.

Some of the newer point and shoots work wonderful for nightscapes. Research your camera, youtube it, google it, take it out and play with the settings.

“HANDS OFF!!!!” You will need to be able to take a photo without touching the camera. One way is to set the drive / timer, 2 seconds is the most common time on your camera of choice. A shutter release or a intervalometer can be attached wired or wirelessly to some cameras. Gear can be simple as a camera lens and a tripod.

This was taken with a Canon T3/1100d and a 18-55mm f3.5 kit lens. This show almost any DSLR / mirrorless camera can get the job done.

Settings are just settings, Wrong!

Number one rule is manual mode, always!  Never let the camera decide what the exposure, white balance, ISO or F stop is.  The first thing I do is set my exposure for maximum light reception without star trails this can be done with the 500 rule. The 500 rule is formula to determine the length of time the shutter can stay open before trailing. For example, if I am shooting with my Rokinon 14mm f2.8 lens on my A7r I will take 500 and divide that by 14 (500/14=35.7). 35.7 is too long of an exposure time for a camera without a shutter release so I will set it at 30 seconds and adjust accordingly. For a cropped sensor camera  the formula is 500 divided by 14, divided by crop factor (500/14/sony crop factor of 1.5=23.8). The 500 rule help determine how high to set the ISO as well. Next ISO, I try to shoot as low an ISO as possible.  I tend to stay in a 2000 to 3200 range to keep noise level low. A side note to ISO is the warmer the weather the more noise in the photo.  White balance with my photos is a standard 3500k, I try to keep my photos on the blue side of the spectrum. It also helps with the way light pollution appears in photos. Aperture is simple, as wide open as the lens will allow.  

I will be doing some tutorials on my work flow and post processing steps on youtube in the near future.

Summary

Getting out and seeing the night sky is awe inspiring experience. Experimenting with different lenses, setting and foreground subjects is a way to learn more about your camera. It can bring you closer to the ones you love or give you peace and solitude to clear your head from a hectic day.

A big thanks to the Wander North Georgia crew for letting me put this how to together and in hope it will get folks out to shoot the night sky.