Hey everyone, it's been brought to my attention that I said Nikon D7200 throughout this video when in actuality I was using the Nikon D7100 to take these pictures. My bad, once I said it the first time it was stuck in my head! Regardless, they are both similar in low light performance with the D7200 having a slight edge over the D7100... so this video still helps illustrate how stacking DX sensors images helps drastically improve the quality of your night image!
Milky Way Mike Thanks, Mike. Very useful. Coincidentally I have a 7100. I’ve got some good shots of Comet NEOWISE with it (15 seconds, ISO 3000), but it was a bear to clean up the image manually by partly desaturating the magenta, selectively applying blur, etc.
I go to thst place you shot all the time. Now I am getting into photography beyond my phone and what a treat to learn from this video at one of my favorite places! Thanks!
I finally found a video where someone isn't taking pictures in the UK or Australia. Although there's nothing wrong with that, it's just so many of these videos are taking landscapes that I'm never going to encounter. Also, it's the first video I've ever I watched that mentioned that there is a manual focus ring. I don't know if Canon has one or not but I haven't figured out how to focus manually. I'm returning my camera because it's defective apparently and I'm going to buy one in person so it'll be probably a couple weeks before I have another camera.
Kind of... Photography (defined): the art or practice of taking and processing photographs. Photography literally means drawing with light and is an art form that has no limitation other than your own. Photography is more than just snapping photos with a camera (which even a camera applies its own edit to it depending what settings you choose). Editing is just a tool just like cameras are just a tool... A photographer is an artist. Check out Ansel Adams and the Zone System (similar to hdr). Is he not a photographer and more of an editor because he wanted a balance exposure similar to digital HDR photography today? Cameras have limitations to what photographers desire to create, so editing becomes crucial to help us achieve that vision. The two are synonymous in my opinion.
About time I found someone who can explain these processes. I stumbled accross this today. Will be looking around for the rest of your videos and the ones to come. Thank you!..
After several attempts, I have done a couple of Milky Way shots that I like. I haven’t done any stacking and I really appreciate this video to review the basics and I will try stacking after the next shoot. I’ve down sized my kit from full frame to Canon crop, M50 mkII to reduce weight. So Ill be seeing a little more noise. Looks like the stacking will help. Great video. I look forward to watching more.
Finally, an astrophotography tutorial that’s actually honest! I always hated clicking on videos with very similar titles, (“easy AP with a cheap DSLR!!”, “how to shoot AP with a kit lens!”) only to find out that they failed to mention the other $10000 worth of AP equipment in the title (star trackers, stupidly expensive lenses, etc). So for this video I thank you! Very well explained, no unnecessary mumbo jumbo, and easy to follow as well! 😌
Thanks for the awesome video. Started to recently to take photography more seriously and I only have a crop camera (Nikon D3300) and stock lens. I tried some milky way photography a few years ago and it came out a good for a first attempt at it. Can't wait to get out there and try out your pointers here. Thank you
Great informative video Mike! Thank you. You have said one NEEDS a remote trigger, but I find that's not true. They're nice to have, but when my trigger broke, it didn't stop me from going out to shoot the stars anyway. I simply used the 2 second shutter delay. No problem, especially since my exposures are from 15 to 20 seconds typically. So if one has a camera with a shutter delay, and the ability to shoot up to say, 30 seconds, they're good to go!
Rick Kikta thanks for watching!! Yes I say you you need it for most cameras when doing exposures longer than 30 seconds. Obviously you don’t need one for 30 seconds or less. Thanks again!
The issue with figuring exposure for star trails is that the apparent speed of stars in the sky changes as you change the direction you are pointing (azimuth) and the height you are pointing - and your field of view. Think about apparent motion. You could take a fairly long exposure of the North star without getting a trail. There's a French astro site that has a star-trail calculation on a page. I used to use this, but I've since discovered that there's one built into PhotoPills. There's also a Milky Way planner that's quite good. As far as focus goes, it's *hard* to focus on infinity in the dark - lenses go *past* infinity, and I want to stay a bit short of that. I have problems focusing my D750 with a 20mm f/1.8. (full frame, fast lens). My hack: painters tape. I set up before dark, focus the lens, flip to MF and use some painters tape to hold the focus ring so I don't accidentally bump it. I used to use a bhatinov mask (google it) but this works just as well. Just a thought...
Esteban Fonseca I’m not sure about that... if you do a really long exposure for the foreground with stars trailing then sequator may give you an error.
BY FAR one of the BEST videos i found on how to shoot with a kit lens for us beginners. THANK YOU. and you did an excellent job explaining the process some utubers skip or forget or whatever.. you didn't do any of that :>)
Mike Well-done nice job i wonder if you could support with this question if i focus at the star the foreground ( small hut shown will be out of focus right? if not how to manage since I am going to use very wide aperture?) second to lit the hut wont this affect the starts as area need to be so dark
It depends on your focal length and distance from the hut. With an ultra wide the hut and stars should be both be in focus if you are far enough away (20-30 ft). For this video I was using a kit lens so it was not ultra wide. I would have to focus the sky and hut separately unless I moved back far enough away from the hut. If you light the hut it will not diminish the stars so feel free to light paint. You don’t need a bright light source. A low powered flashlight or light panel should work fine.
Congrats on getting a camera! Scout the location in advance and do some practice shots to nail the composition the works the best for that spot. Once you have a good composition your Milky Way shot should come together nicely! Cheers
I have been searching and searching for a video that explains everything you just have. Thank you so much for sharing and making me feel confident into trying astrophotography with the equipment I have. You have earned my sub and notify!
It can if you start raising the shadows in post process. When you stack your images it reduces the noise so that is less of an issue. Also if you use a remote trigger you can take longer exposures at a lower ISO to prevent too much noise as well.
Impressive. Hard to believe that's ISO 25.600. I wonder what kind of results I would get with my Nikon D850 paired with a Sigma 24mm f/1.4. Keep up the good work, man.
wyoming last summer. D850 nikkor 14-24mm f 2.8 ISO 4000 41 seconds with an intervolameter acting as cable release. mirror up. 0200 hrs. first clear sky all week. NEVER tried a milky way shot before. OMG!!! I would increase the ISO some and decrease my shutter speeds but holy (expletive deleted)!!!! the D850 was made for this!!! gads I love this camera ( both of them now...)
really nice video ! liked the extra step , u really cleaned the photo and the final image is really pleasing to my eyes. well done job! u earned my sub
Thank you - I got a lot of value out of this tutorial! Do you have any advice about Milky Way time lapse? Would multiple exposures per frame help in that scenario in any way? Obviously it would be too labour-intensive to process them all individually in a stacking app, unless it had a batch mode that could give good results. I'm not sure I've ever seen such a thing though...
Rhys Rhys I’m not a Sony guy but that camera is very capable of taking good pictures! Lonely speck did did a write up about it for night photography which you should check out! www.lonelyspeck.com/sony-a6000-astrophotography-review/
@Milky Way Mike Are layers, the same image copied multiple times or separate photos? As i think separate photos would not work due to the Earth's rotation.
I was wondering, is the Nikon D7500 better than the D7100 for low light photography or photography in general? Is the D7500 any good for low light photography?
Wow fantastic.. Thanks for sharing this. Honestly this is the first astrophotography video that's inspired me to use my current gear to try out astrophotography. Edit: follow up question, I might have missed it but would you put any noise reduction over the final image?
If you need or want to you can add more noise reduction. Stacking helps out a lot so you may not need it, however sometimes after editing the image you may introduce noise. Then you would apply some noise reduction.
One thing I will ask is, the Photopills site can't of been updated for a while. It has Canon 10D, 20D, up to 60D but nothing newer then this. I have an 80D, how much difference would the calculation for a 60D be compared to the 80D.
im a current user of the canon eos 200d which came with a kit lens and im wondering whether i can get by with just the kit lens for milky way photography, i've recently purchased the ioptron skytracker pro which i've heard will help with keeping stars sharp.
A kit lens is not ideal, but yes, technically you can photograph the Milky Way, especially if you have a skytracker. It will require a bit more work though... I recommend shooting your foreground during twilight for lower ISO and better sharpness. Then setting up your tracker for the Milky Way. Then blend those images together.
@@Milkywaymike will give that a go will the nifty 50 lens also be a good choice for Milky Way photography as got it recently as my first upgrade from the kit lens.
You can if you have the latest firmware update: "ISO 100 to 6400 (expandable to 12800 with Canon Firmware, expandable to 24000 with Magic Lantern firmware)" . This is important because with that lens you need to crank the ISO up to 12,800, 16,000 or 24,000 to allow you to gather enough light with that lens while keeping your shutter around 20 seconds and your F stop wide open. This is going to be a noisy image but if you get stacking software like Starry Landscape Stacker (mac) or Sequator (PCs - free). Then it will clean those noisy images right up. Just make sure to take about 10 consecutive photos (one immediately after the other). If you really enjoy nightscape photography you should check out a used Tokina 11-16 F2.8 lens which will really be much better for capturing the Milky Way and it isn't a crazy expensive lens.
That depends on the lens you are using... A slower lens F3.5 you might have to use as Shutter of 20 seconds, ISO 6400 - 12,800 depending how high the ISO goes up on the camera. If you have a faster lens 1.4, 1.8, F2 or 2.8 then you can lower your ISO a little and your shutter speed as well.
You focus at infinity with you lens which puts the foreground and sky in focus as long as you are far enough away from your foreground subject. The distance you need to be away from your foreground depends on focal length you are shooting at. Most wide angle lenses 20 - 30ft away should be sufficient enough, but definitely do some tests with your lens before going out at night.
hello.. im new to astrophotography, and want to buy my first camera.. i have my eyes on a canon 200d and nikon d5300 or 5600.. i have read on multiple forums that the 200d have banding issues, and heard nikon cameras arent supported by a lot of sotwares like canon.. can i have your opinion on what to get? im gonna buy a used camera so my budget is between 300 to 350$ to buy the best camera that this amount can get. thank you
Hey! im trying to do astrophotography but every time I try to take a picture it comes out all white. I am not using a tripod but it is still steady because I put my camera on a table. I am taking the pictures on my roof (in a city), and I take them when the moon is out. The pictures come out all white please help me out on this one.
Now a days it depends on you camera and lens. For example my nikon z camera with a z Mount lens will focus at infinity automatically when you turn the camera on. Some other camera manufacturers have other ways. If the camera doesn’t do it automatically then here are some basic tips ruclips.net/video/_JSV5HoGjGw/видео.html
It depends on a few things... photoshop can stack the foreground only and the sky could be stacked manually by itself as well which requires you to align the stars by rotating the images. This works best if you photograph the night sky separately from the foreground. Then you have to blend them together. Starry landscape stacker and sequator will automatically separate the sky and foreground for you and stack both after it automatically aligns the stars. Then it combines them back together. The good thing about the programs is they work regardless of what the foreground is (trees, rock formations, lighthouses, etc.). Sequator is free for pc and Starry landscape stacker is $40 on Mac / apple
@@Milkywaymike will purchase starry landscape stacker. Ive recently purchased the canon nifty 50 lens and I’m wondering which one will work best between it and the kit lens for Milky Way photography.
Judah Nuel Pamisa I’m going to butcher this explanation, but basically when you capture an image it creates a noise pattern slightly different in each photo. When you stack it is taking the best parts of the photo while eliminating the noise information... you are averaging those images together.
The remote is used to avoid shakings during the pressing of the shutter. This is a huge issue especially with short long exposure even with a delay it can occur if the delay is too short
I recommend you get a remote when taking longer exposures in BULB mode for the foreground for a cleaner image. Anything over 30 seconds for most cameras will require a remote trigger of some sort (wifi, wired, wireless).
Adobe Photoshop 2020... They switched to a subscription based product. I believe you get lightroom and photoshop for $10 a month. If you don't want a subscription based program then check out Affinity which does pretty much everything Photoshop does for a one time fee.
Michael, do you know what the cheapest camera I can buy to take a picture of the stars in the Milky Way? I have a Canon rebel T 100. They paid like 400 bucks for and I took it out yesterday and the only thing I got was a black color picture lol I followed the directions of a lot of people as far as what I should set the aperture for an iOS and nothing happened. I just got a picture of noise so any recommendations would be wonderful. I’m very poor, so yeah so under 500 is my hope.
Buy used equipment to save money. You can also get a star tracker like an iOptron for 200-300 dollars which will allow you to take longer exposures with your camera while tracking the Milky Way.
Hi Sir, I got some questions, a couple years ago, I was using NIKON D7100 with kit len 18-55, and took some star photos, I was using ISO-100. I just review my photos and realized there four dark corners on my star photo, is it because I set the ISO so low or other reason? and how do you avoid dark corners on your star photo? Thank you:)
I'm assuming it was Vignetting from the lens. Lightroom usually has lens correction options that help remove / reduce the vignette depending what lens you are using. If you are using lightroom you just have to check the "lens correction" box and sometimes you have to find the lens you are using. Or you might have to make a gradient and lighten the corners manually.
Ideally you would not want to use a kit lens for a time lapse because it forces you to increase the ISO due to the aperture / lack of light. It is possible to do it, but you will have a very noisy/graining time lapse. Your best bet is to at least get a cheap wide angle lens that is at least 2.8 like a Rokinon 14mm 2.8. Here are the steps to create a milky way time lapse: ruclips.net/video/OH48g0q1-Os/видео.html
Love this vid man and it will definitely help me when it comes to shooting. Something I wanted to ask was you used 5 pictures from that night shoot in the exact same spot but how come the sky hasn't moved in that period? Were you using a star tracker? Sorry if that question is weird, I might of missed something haha!
Thanks for watching! The sky has moved a little in each photo, but when you use Starry Landscape Stacker or Sequator it automatically aligns the sky for you and then stacks them creating a single cleaner image.
Super video and tutorial mate! Waiting for clear skies in London to try it out. Well clear skies maybe but light pollution gonna kill it! Thanks again!
jagjit sahota google dark sky map to see the best areas in the UK. London is going to be too bright for the Milky Way but you probably photograph it in the countryside there! Thanks for watching, cheers 🍻
@@Milkywaymike Yeah mate, im planning a couple nights out for photography on location so will try out an app for best location. Thanks again! I'll let you know what i capture. Do you have an insta page?
Here is my full guide in how to achieve that: ruclips.net/video/OH48g0q1-Os/видео.html The short answer is to take a couple hundred consecutive photos of the milky way galaxy and then use a program to compile those images into a video. Some cameras have a built in time lapse function to do it as well!
Great suggestion... That is a technique I teach in other videos as well, but forgot to mention it in this tutorial. I also like to use the "color" blend mode in photoshop and select the nearby correct color and paint over the purple corners to match the rest of the foreground. Try that out next time too if you want to keep the color in your photo without de-saturating. Cheers!
That photoshop idea is pretty neat too! From what I’ve seen a star tracker would give the best results with lower iso and longer shutter speeds but without the trailing. I haven’t bought/used one myself because I just don’t do astrophotography that often but if you need content ideas, maybe try renting one for a demo or maybe a review if you don’t have one already :)
Should be... which pancake lens? Their is a 16mm 2.8 which would make it easier but even a 3.5 will work. It's not ideal, however if you push your ISO to 12,800 F3.5 Shutter 20 - 25 seconds then you will capture the Milky Way
Great tutorial, I've been trying over and over to get the core as good as I can with a basic canon T6 and 18-55 kit lense before I invest in higher grade equipment, just ordered a sammyang 14mm f2/8 lense so hope it helps. Is the shorter exposure only to avoid star trail? Because I just piggy back my camera on top of my telescope and track, T6 still only takes 30 second exposures at max 6400 ISO though. I use DSS for stacking but I'm liking the sound of the programs you mentioned, I'll give them a try.
Yeah, you have to determine what amount of star blur you are willing to accept in your photos. I personally shoot for just about pin sharp stars so I try to keep my shutter as short as possible especially since I sell large images (4 - 8ft wide) so that shutter time is extremely important for me. Definitely experiment for what works for you and your needs! Good luck and thanks for watching!
@@Milkywaymike have you tried using something like a sky guider or star adventurer? You'll get long exposures with no trail at all. Have you got a website or something where I can see the prints you sell? Woupd love to check them out.
I currently have a d5300 and a 18-55 kit lens that I use for astrophotography. I'm looking to upgrade my lens thou and I was wondering if I should get tokina 11-16 mm f2.8 or tokina 12-24 mm f4. The tokina 11-16 has a faster aperture and wider focal length, but the 12-24 is much cheaper where I live, and has a better zoom range for landscape photography. What do you think? Thanks
You can go with the 12-24 F4 but you will have to crank up the ISO to 6,400 - 12,800 with a shutter of 20 seconds (maybe 25 but it will have more star blur). If you are using stacking software like Starry Landscape Stacker or Sequator then the 12-24 will work fine. I was very impressed with my results using a 18mm KIT LENS!!
Milky Way Mike thanks so much for the response! I think I'll go with the 12-24 because I can definitely use sequator to stack the photos, and for the price, I think it's a better option. Thanks again!
Finally someone who’s not afraid to suggest settings for astrophotography, I loved this video
brunaso there’s literally 100s of videos about astrophotography settings lmao
0
HOLY CRAP!!!! I JUST SCOUTED THIS EXACT LOCATION 2 DAYS AGO! Lol saw the thumbnail and thought, no way...is that Assateague!?! 😁👍
Thus single video deserves millions of views. Thanks a lot for the tutorial.
Appreciate the feedback and I'm happy it helped! Cheers
Hey everyone, it's been brought to my attention that I said Nikon D7200 throughout this video when in actuality I was using the Nikon D7100 to take these pictures. My bad, once I said it the first time it was stuck in my head! Regardless, they are both similar in low light performance with the D7200 having a slight edge over the D7100... so this video still helps illustrate how stacking DX sensors images helps drastically improve the quality of your night image!
great tutorial
Can I use my cannon 200d my 18-55 lens?
My camera has max iso 1600 can I do it anyway?
Milky Way Mike Thanks, Mike. Very useful. Coincidentally I have a 7100. I’ve got some good shots of Comet NEOWISE with it (15 seconds, ISO 3000), but it was a bear to clean up the image manually by partly desaturating the magenta, selectively applying blur, etc.
I have watched a ton of Milky Way photography tutorials, but I have to say this was the most well explained. Kudos buddy, keep em coming :)
Dimitrios Alexandris thank you!!
Nope. There another dude that did it better. Still a good video tho.
@@avishchand298 who
By far the best video I’ve seen that covers not only the equipment but a light demonstration of editing too. Thank you!
Thank you so much!
Thank's Macklemore
It's MikeLemore bro... get it right! LOL ;)
Since when Macklemore do photography??
Mr Lee 🤫🤫lol.... since when Bruce Lee do RUclips?? 🧐
Lmfaooo, you got him back good
Thank you, mister!
Such a clear way of explaining the point of stacking!
I go to thst place you shot all the time. Now I am getting into photography beyond my phone and what a treat to learn from this video at one of my favorite places! Thanks!
I finally found a video where someone isn't taking pictures in the UK or Australia. Although there's nothing wrong with that, it's just so many of these videos are taking landscapes that I'm never going to encounter. Also, it's the first video I've ever I watched that mentioned that there is a manual focus ring. I don't know if Canon has one or not but I haven't figured out how to focus manually. I'm returning my camera because it's defective apparently and I'm going to buy one in person so it'll be probably a couple weeks before I have another camera.
The more instructional videos I watch, the more I realize photographers today are more editors than photographers. So crazy.
Kind of...
Photography (defined): the art or practice of taking and processing photographs.
Photography literally means drawing with light and is an art form that has no limitation other than your own. Photography is more than just snapping photos with a camera (which even a camera applies its own edit to it depending what settings you choose). Editing is just a tool just like cameras are just a tool... A photographer is an artist.
Check out Ansel Adams and the Zone System (similar to hdr). Is he not a photographer and more of an editor because he wanted a balance exposure similar to digital HDR photography today? Cameras have limitations to what photographers desire to create, so editing becomes crucial to help us achieve that vision. The two are synonymous in my opinion.
That’s a great way to look at it actually!
Thank God someone uses a Nikon still!
Since day one! My first camera was a Nikon D40
Great tutorial Mike well done! Milky way season has already began ! Happy shooting!
About time I found someone who can explain these processes. I stumbled accross this today. Will be looking around for the rest of your videos and the ones to come. Thank you!..
CaGeN M thanks for watching!!
After several attempts, I have done a couple of Milky Way shots that I like. I haven’t done any stacking and I really appreciate this video to review the basics and I will try stacking after the next shoot. I’ve down sized my kit from full frame to Canon crop, M50 mkII to reduce weight. So Ill be seeing a little more noise. Looks like the stacking will help.
Great video. I look forward to watching more.
Glad to help and thanks for watching!!
great video, thanks Mike!
This is gold tutorial plain and simple explanation no necessary details ! SUBBED
thanks for bringing much detail Mike, love it
Thanks for watching!
Finally, an astrophotography tutorial that’s actually honest! I always hated clicking on videos with very similar titles, (“easy AP with a cheap DSLR!!”, “how to shoot AP with a kit lens!”) only to find out that they failed to mention the other $10000 worth of AP equipment in the title (star trackers, stupidly expensive lenses, etc). So for this video I thank you! Very well explained, no unnecessary mumbo jumbo, and easy to follow as well! 😌
axel diaz Thanks, I appreciate the feedback and I’m glad to help!! 🍻
Very good work Mike.
Thanks for the awesome video. Started to recently to take photography more seriously and I only have a crop camera (Nikon D3300) and stock lens. I tried some milky way photography a few years ago and it came out a good for a first attempt at it. Can't wait to get out there and try out your pointers here. Thank you
Phil Marcelino thanks for watching!! This should definitely help you out! Tag me on Instagram when you post your Milky Way shot. 🍻cheers
Great informative video Mike! Thank you. You have said one NEEDS a remote trigger, but I find that's not true. They're nice to have, but when my trigger broke, it didn't stop me from going out to shoot the stars anyway. I simply used the 2 second shutter delay. No problem, especially since my exposures are from 15 to 20 seconds typically. So if one has a camera with a shutter delay, and the ability to shoot up to say, 30 seconds, they're good to go!
Rick Kikta thanks for watching!! Yes I say you you need it for most cameras when doing exposures longer than 30 seconds. Obviously you don’t need one for 30 seconds or less. Thanks again!
The issue with figuring exposure for star trails is that the apparent speed of stars in the sky changes as you change the direction you are pointing (azimuth) and the height you are pointing - and your field of view. Think about apparent motion. You could take a fairly long exposure of the North star without getting a trail. There's a French astro site that has a star-trail calculation on a page. I used to use this, but I've since discovered that there's one built into PhotoPills. There's also a Milky Way planner that's quite good.
As far as focus goes, it's *hard* to focus on infinity in the dark - lenses go *past* infinity, and I want to stay a bit short of that. I have problems focusing my D750 with a 20mm f/1.8. (full frame, fast lens). My hack: painters tape. I set up before dark, focus the lens, flip to MF and use some painters tape to hold the focus ring so I don't accidentally bump it. I used to use a bhatinov mask (google it) but this works just as well.
Just a thought...
10/10 tutorial. Always wanted to get into astrophotography so hopefully next weekend will be the one haha
Thank you! This is exactly what I needed!!
Awesome, glad to help!
With Sequator you can specify which is your foreground picture, so you don't have to do that extra last blend yourself. Nice tutorial!
Esteban Fonseca I’m not sure about that... if you do a really long exposure for the foreground with stars trailing then sequator may give you an error.
@@Milkywaymike Haven't tried myself, but will do as soon as I can :)
Great composition and tutorial Mike!🖐🇦🇺
BY FAR one of the BEST videos i found on how to shoot with a kit lens for us beginners. THANK YOU. and you did an excellent job explaining the process some utubers skip or forget or whatever.. you didn't do any of that :>)
Chevy Van Travel glad it helped!! 👍
Well done Mike, good job
This is in-depth. Amazing
Very well explained as others have described!
Mike Well-done nice job i wonder if you could support with this question if i focus at the star the foreground ( small hut shown will be out of focus right? if not how to manage since I am going to use very wide aperture?) second to lit the hut wont this affect the starts as area need to be so dark
It depends on your focal length and distance from the hut. With an ultra wide the hut and stars should be both be in focus if you are far enough away (20-30 ft). For this video I was using a kit lens so it was not ultra wide. I would have to focus the sky and hut separately unless I moved back far enough away from the hut. If you light the hut it will not diminish the stars so feel free to light paint. You don’t need a bright light source. A low powered flashlight or light panel should work fine.
@@Milkywaymike Thanks Mike very kind of you wish you good luck for all photo sessions
Nice job thanks you for sharing
Thanks man I just got a T5i/700D and I hope to get a shot looking as good as this one when I'm out in the field in March.
Congrats on getting a camera! Scout the location in advance and do some practice shots to nail the composition the works the best for that spot. Once you have a good composition your Milky Way shot should come together nicely! Cheers
@@Milkywaymike thanks man really appreciated
Nice dude! That looks like something that even I could do.
The worst thing you could do, is not try it out! Even if you make mistakes, no worries, we all do and thats how we grow as photographers! Good luck
great tutorial!
😄
Awesome video and commentary 👌
I wish I would've watched your video before my trip 🥲
I didn't get many sharp photos, now I know why 🙃
oh nooo... well, now you have a good excuse to take another trip!!! Happy shooting!
@@Milkywaymike that's another way to look at it 😂
Perfect! I plan to try on an upcoming vacation to some dark sky areas of Utah. Thanks for posting.
I have the Nikon D3200, what you guys think?
I have been searching and searching for a video that explains everything you just have. Thank you so much for sharing and making me feel confident into trying astrophotography with the equipment I have. You have earned my sub and notify!
Awesome! I’m happy to help, happy new year!
Very good lesson. Thanks
Thanks for sharing, I will try your techniques
I have a question about iso.. if you put it too high, doesen't it leave a grainy noise on the black parts?
It can if you start raising the shadows in post process. When you stack your images it reduces the noise so that is less of an issue. Also if you use a remote trigger you can take longer exposures at a lower ISO to prevent too much noise as well.
@@Milkywaymike Okay, thanks for the quick reply. 😊
Impressive. Hard to believe that's ISO 25.600. I wonder what kind of results I would get with my Nikon D850 paired with a Sigma 24mm f/1.4. Keep up the good work, man.
wyoming last summer. D850 nikkor 14-24mm f 2.8 ISO 4000 41 seconds with an intervolameter acting as cable release. mirror up. 0200 hrs. first clear sky all week. NEVER tried a milky way shot before. OMG!!! I would increase the ISO some and decrease my shutter speeds but holy (expletive deleted)!!!! the D850 was made for this!!! gads I love this camera ( both of them now...)
Helcio Mello I suspect your results would be stellar!
really nice video ! liked the extra step , u really cleaned the photo and the final image is really pleasing to my eyes. well done job! u earned my sub
royadid123 glad to help!! Thanks for watching 👍
Thank you - I got a lot of value out of this tutorial! Do you have any advice about Milky Way time lapse? Would multiple exposures per frame help in that scenario in any way? Obviously it would be too labour-intensive to process them all individually in a stacking app, unless it had a batch mode that could give good results. I'm not sure I've ever seen such a thing though...
ruclips.net/video/OH48g0q1-Os/видео.html
Hi fantastic video what are the programs you use on Mac again??
i8 Farming Thanks, starry landscape stacker. It’s under the apps on a mac
Milky Way Mike sorry to hear about your job man 🙏
Nice simple video!
I'm just getting started and considering the Sony a6000. What is your opinion on that camera for photography?
Rhys Rhys I’m not a Sony guy but that camera is very capable of taking good pictures! Lonely speck did did a write up about it for night photography which you should check out! www.lonelyspeck.com/sony-a6000-astrophotography-review/
@Milky Way Mike Are layers, the same image copied multiple times or separate photos? As i think separate photos would not work due to the Earth's rotation.
I was wondering, is the Nikon D7500 better than the D7100 for low light photography or photography in general? Is the D7500 any good for low light photography?
Yeah, newer technology is typically better when it comes to camera bodies. The nikon D7200 has an edge over the D7100 as well.
Wow fantastic.. Thanks for sharing this. Honestly this is the first astrophotography video that's inspired me to use my current gear to try out astrophotography.
Edit: follow up question, I might have missed it but would you put any noise reduction over the final image?
If you need or want to you can add more noise reduction. Stacking helps out a lot so you may not need it, however sometimes after editing the image you may introduce noise. Then you would apply some noise reduction.
One thing I will ask is, the Photopills site can't of been updated for a while. It has Canon 10D, 20D, up to 60D but nothing newer then this. I have an 80D, how much difference would the calculation for a 60D be compared to the 80D.
Thanks, nice and calm explained. 👍👍 LG
Thank you ...it is helpful for me
Amazing
im a current user of the canon eos 200d which came with a kit lens and im wondering whether i can get by with just the kit lens for milky way photography, i've recently purchased the ioptron skytracker pro which i've heard will help with keeping stars sharp.
A kit lens is not ideal, but yes, technically you can photograph the Milky Way, especially if you have a skytracker. It will require a bit more work though... I recommend shooting your foreground during twilight for lower ISO and better sharpness. Then setting up your tracker for the Milky Way. Then blend those images together.
@@Milkywaymike will give that a go will the nifty 50 lens also be a good choice for Milky Way photography as got it recently as my first upgrade from the kit lens.
Awesome tutorial, thank you.!! Definitely learnt quite a bit.
Awesome, I'm happy to help!
Great tutorial! Can i capture the milky way with my canon eos 550d with 18-55mm lens?
You can if you have the latest firmware update: "ISO 100 to 6400 (expandable to 12800 with Canon Firmware, expandable to 24000 with Magic Lantern firmware)" . This is important because with that lens you need to crank the ISO up to 12,800, 16,000 or 24,000 to allow you to gather enough light with that lens while keeping your shutter around 20 seconds and your F stop wide open. This is going to be a noisy image but if you get stacking software like Starry Landscape Stacker (mac) or Sequator (PCs - free). Then it will clean those noisy images right up. Just make sure to take about 10 consecutive photos (one immediately after the other). If you really enjoy nightscape photography you should check out a used Tokina 11-16 F2.8 lens which will really be much better for capturing the Milky Way and it isn't a crazy expensive lens.
@@Milkywaymike thank you!
Really great video, thanks!
Thanks for watching!
This was without flat, dark, and bias frames right?
Correct
I have a D3300 Nikon For me to take pictures of the Milky Way or the stars what setting should I have it at ?
That depends on the lens you are using... A slower lens F3.5 you might have to use as Shutter of 20 seconds, ISO 6400 - 12,800 depending how high the ISO goes up on the camera. If you have a faster lens 1.4, 1.8, F2 or 2.8 then you can lower your ISO a little and your shutter speed as well.
@@Milkywaymike I have the same camera (Nikon D3300) and a 18-55. So I should use f/3.5, ISO 6800, 15-20 seconds, right?
You focused just the foreground right
Then how is the milky way in the back so clear and crisp?
You focus at infinity with you lens which puts the foreground and sky in focus as long as you are far enough away from your foreground subject. The distance you need to be away from your foreground depends on focal length you are shooting at. Most wide angle lenses 20 - 30ft away should be sufficient enough, but definitely do some tests with your lens before going out at night.
Great tutorial, thank you!
Thanks for leaving feedback! Cheers!
hello.. im new to astrophotography, and want to buy my first camera.. i have my eyes on a canon 200d and nikon d5300 or 5600.. i have read on multiple forums that the 200d have banding issues, and heard nikon cameras arent supported by a lot of sotwares like canon.. can i have your opinion on what to get? im gonna buy a used camera so my budget is between 300 to 350$ to buy the best camera that this amount can get. thank you
Hey! im trying to do astrophotography but every time I try to take a picture it comes out all white. I am not using a tripod but it is still steady because I put my camera on a table. I am taking the pictures on my roof (in a city), and I take them when the moon is out. The pictures come out all white please help me out on this one.
Always greats tutorial. Keep going
Thanks for watching!!
Fantastic tutorial!!! I love you bro
I appreciate the luv! Cheers buddy
What’s the best way to focus to infinity at night ?
Now a days it depends on you camera and lens. For example my nikon z camera with a z Mount lens will focus at infinity automatically when you turn the camera on. Some other camera manufacturers have other ways. If the camera doesn’t do it automatically then here are some basic tips ruclips.net/video/_JSV5HoGjGw/видео.html
@@Milkywaymike Excellent! Can’t wait to start shooting. Thank you so much for the wonderful information.
Can i take this astro photo with my nikon d3500?
Yea you can use that camera for astrophotography / milky way photography.
For stacking images, will I need to download those programs mentioned or can I use photoshop and lightroom for stacking and editing Astro images.
It depends on a few things... photoshop can stack the foreground only and the sky could be stacked manually by itself as well which requires you to align the stars by rotating the images. This works best if you photograph the night sky separately from the foreground. Then you have to blend them together. Starry landscape stacker and sequator will automatically separate the sky and foreground for you and stack both after it automatically aligns the stars. Then it combines them back together. The good thing about the programs is they work regardless of what the foreground is (trees, rock formations, lighthouses, etc.). Sequator is free for pc and Starry landscape stacker is $40 on Mac / apple
@@Milkywaymike will purchase starry landscape stacker. Ive recently purchased the canon nifty 50 lens and I’m wondering which one will work best between it and the kit lens for Milky Way photography.
Awsome tutorial - thank you!
At the bottom edge of the image there is almost a purple glow occurring in a long line. What is it caused?
I also have the Nikon D7200 but with ISO 6400 I don't dare to do it, it is very noisy, or are there tips, tricks? Greetings Gerd from Germany
Yes, the tips and tricks are in this video. Stack your images to remove noise and/or take longer exposures at lower ISOs for the foreground.
Very nice video bro but I have a question. What is the difference between the five photos?
Judah Nuel Pamisa I’m going to butcher this explanation, but basically when you capture an image it creates a noise pattern slightly different in each photo. When you stack it is taking the best parts of the photo while eliminating the noise information... you are averaging those images together.
@@Milkywaymike tnx.
What is your tripod brand?
you dont need remote, you can just set the camera on to like 2 second timer.
The remote is used to avoid shakings during the pressing of the shutter. This is a huge issue especially with short long exposure even with a delay it can occur if the delay is too short
Yes but a delay shutter would stop the shaking
Or just use your phone with Bluetooth remote if you have a canon
I recommend you get a remote when taking longer exposures in BULB mode for the foreground for a cleaner image. Anything over 30 seconds for most cameras will require a remote trigger of some sort (wifi, wired, wireless).
cpw80 this was clutch! Thanks!
nice work.
What version of photoshop are you using? I am curious about buying a new photo editing program. Thank you,
Adobe Photoshop 2020... They switched to a subscription based product. I believe you get lightroom and photoshop for $10 a month. If you don't want a subscription based program then check out Affinity which does pretty much everything Photoshop does for a one time fee.
Michael, do you know what the cheapest camera I can buy to take a picture of the stars in the Milky Way? I have a Canon rebel T 100. They paid like 400 bucks for and I took it out yesterday and the only thing I got was a black color picture lol I followed the directions of a lot of people as far as what I should set the aperture for an iOS and nothing happened. I just got a picture of noise so any recommendations would be wonderful. I’m very poor, so yeah so under 500 is my hope.
Buy used equipment to save money. You can also get a star tracker like an iOptron for 200-300 dollars which will allow you to take longer exposures with your camera while tracking the Milky Way.
@@Milkywaymike thank you
Hi Sir, I got some questions, a couple years ago, I was using NIKON D7100 with kit len 18-55, and took some star photos, I was using ISO-100. I just review my photos and realized there four dark corners on my star photo, is it because I set the ISO so low or other reason? and how do you avoid dark corners on your star photo? Thank you:)
I'm assuming it was Vignetting from the lens. Lightroom usually has lens correction options that help remove / reduce the vignette depending what lens you are using. If you are using lightroom you just have to check the "lens correction" box and sometimes you have to find the lens you are using. Or you might have to make a gradient and lighten the corners manually.
As basic and low quality this video is, it sets a message really clearly and I find it really useful and inspiring! Thank you! 💙
and a timelapse with same camera and same lens? looking for a milky way time lapse, how would you setup the camera?? thanks
Ideally you would not want to use a kit lens for a time lapse because it forces you to increase the ISO due to the aperture / lack of light. It is possible to do it, but you will have a very noisy/graining time lapse. Your best bet is to at least get a cheap wide angle lens that is at least 2.8 like a Rokinon 14mm 2.8. Here are the steps to create a milky way time lapse: ruclips.net/video/OH48g0q1-Os/видео.html
@@Milkywaymike Thanks!!
Fantastic tutorial, Mike!
Appreciate the feedback, thanks!!
Love this vid man and it will definitely help me when it comes to shooting. Something I wanted to ask was you used 5 pictures from that night shoot in the exact same spot but how come the sky hasn't moved in that period? Were you using a star tracker? Sorry if that question is weird, I might of missed something haha!
Thanks for watching! The sky has moved a little in each photo, but when you use Starry Landscape Stacker or Sequator it automatically aligns the sky for you and then stacks them creating a single cleaner image.
If you do not have a timer can use your camera selfie timer.
Super video and tutorial mate! Waiting for clear skies in London to try it out. Well clear skies maybe but light pollution gonna kill it! Thanks again!
jagjit sahota google dark sky map to see the best areas in the UK. London is going to be too bright for the Milky Way but you probably photograph it in the countryside there! Thanks for watching, cheers 🍻
@@Milkywaymike Yeah mate, im planning a couple nights out for photography on location so will try out an app for best location. Thanks again! I'll let you know what i capture. Do you have an insta page?
I didn't get it right... what is the program that i need to use if im using a PC?
Sequator
@@Milkywaymike Dude, thank you!!!! Your are amazing!!!
Would my Nikon D5600 be capable of this?
MyNameIsPrivate yes!
How do you manage to get a timelapse of the milkyway passing?
Here is my full guide in how to achieve that: ruclips.net/video/OH48g0q1-Os/видео.html
The short answer is to take a couple hundred consecutive photos of the milky way galaxy and then use a program to compile those images into a video. Some cameras have a built in time lapse function to do it as well!
@@Milkywaymike cheers budd
Perhaps also try desaturating purples - those purple corners are bad even in the masked photo
Great suggestion... That is a technique I teach in other videos as well, but forgot to mention it in this tutorial. I also like to use the "color" blend mode in photoshop and select the nearby correct color and paint over the purple corners to match the rest of the foreground. Try that out next time too if you want to keep the color in your photo without de-saturating. Cheers!
That photoshop idea is pretty neat too! From what I’ve seen a star tracker would give the best results with lower iso and longer shutter speeds but without the trailing. I haven’t bought/used one myself because I just don’t do astrophotography that often but if you need content ideas, maybe try renting one for a demo or maybe a review if you don’t have one already :)
in intro first one is Iceland can you give me name of the place?
It is called Kirkjufell AKA "Church Mountain". The waterfall is Kirkjufellfoss
Milky Way Mike wow you actually answered so fast... thank you, i actually live in Iceland so i can visit it tomorrow😂
awesome video
Is it possible with sony nex6 with pan cake lens?
Should be... which pancake lens? Their is a 16mm 2.8 which would make it easier but even a 3.5 will work. It's not ideal, however if you push your ISO to 12,800 F3.5 Shutter 20 - 25 seconds then you will capture the Milky Way
@@Milkywaymike thank you for reply I'll try and let you know about it. Thank you for help. Stay safe.
Got my first milkyway using canon t2i and 18-54
Great tutorial, I've been trying over and over to get the core as good as I can with a basic canon T6 and 18-55 kit lense before I invest in higher grade equipment, just ordered a sammyang 14mm f2/8 lense so hope it helps.
Is the shorter exposure only to avoid star trail? Because I just piggy back my camera on top of my telescope and track, T6 still only takes 30 second exposures at max 6400 ISO though.
I use DSS for stacking but I'm liking the sound of the programs you mentioned, I'll give them a try.
Yeah, you have to determine what amount of star blur you are willing to accept in your photos. I personally shoot for just about pin sharp stars so I try to keep my shutter as short as possible especially since I sell large images (4 - 8ft wide) so that shutter time is extremely important for me. Definitely experiment for what works for you and your needs! Good luck and thanks for watching!
@@Milkywaymike have you tried using something like a sky guider or star adventurer? You'll get long exposures with no trail at all. Have you got a website or something where I can see the prints you sell? Woupd love to check them out.
I currently have a d5300 and a 18-55 kit lens that I use for astrophotography. I'm looking to upgrade my lens thou and I was wondering if I should get tokina 11-16 mm f2.8 or tokina 12-24 mm f4. The tokina 11-16 has a faster aperture and wider focal length, but the 12-24 is much cheaper where I live, and has a better zoom range for landscape photography. What do you think? Thanks
You can go with the 12-24 F4 but you will have to crank up the ISO to 6,400 - 12,800 with a shutter of 20 seconds (maybe 25 but it will have more star blur). If you are using stacking software like Starry Landscape Stacker or Sequator then the 12-24 will work fine. I was very impressed with my results using a 18mm KIT LENS!!
Milky Way Mike thanks so much for the response! I think I'll go with the 12-24 because I can definitely use sequator to stack the photos, and for the price, I think it's a better option. Thanks again!
@@evanophoto and how about the 18 55?
Make good photos whit the d5300?
Thx!