What Do You Need for Milky Way Photography?

Posted by Photography Talk on August 2nd, 2022

Are you looking for the milky way photography tips to choose right equipment? This blog will help you:

An advanced Camera: You will require an advanced camera that can provide manual exposure control, shutter speed, aperture, and ISO. Also, you want the camera to focus on its own since the nighttime focus will be difficult for any autofocus device.

The Fast Lens: If you utilize interchangeable lenses, I recommend using a practical, fast-aperture wide-angle lens. The best options for capturing the stars are prime speed lenses that perform excellent wide-open. My preferred lens for photography at night is the Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8G and the Nikon 20mm f/1.8G. Both are fantastic with max apertures (wide) and can be used in nighttime photography.

It is essential to have a Sturdy Tripod: you will be taking long exposures (15 seconds or more), So a strong tripod is essential. It is not advisable to use an unsteady tripod that could shake violently during exposure, mainly when there is a light breeze. Check out our complete guide on selecting the right tripod to get more details.

Sky Map App: this one is not required. However, I would strongly recommend it. A top sky map application like Star Walk could show you precisely which part of you are in the Milky Way is or will be. This will help significantly in the planning of your photos. Another excellent app I utilize is PhotoPills which includes a fantastic Night AR feature that can be extremely helpful in planning.

Post-Processing Software: You must process your photos using high-quality software to achieve the highest quality results and reveal the finer details. I'd recommend Adobe Photoshop or Photoshop Elements for astrophotography. Lightroom could be helpful. However, it will not offer the same flexibility to accomplish things like levels and advanced spot removal and cloning tools (to eliminate planes and other objects from the photos and so on).