Photographing the Milky Way

I’d never photographed the night sky until last week. Living in the Northeast, it’s rare for me to have a clear opportunity without lots of light pollution. And when I’ve been lucky enough to travel somewhere remote, I’ve generally been without a tripod or the right lens. In Hawaii, light pollution is low and visibility is great, so I decided to give it a try while Laura and I were visiting.

Here’s what I used for settings on a Nikon D7200 with a 16-80mm lens: manual mode, ISO 6400, focal length 16mm, f/2.8, shutter speed 25 seconds, and focus just a few millimeters to the right of infinity. I tried a few slight variations of those, but found the results weren’t as good.

I shot the first bunch while walking back from the lava flow outside Kalapana. When we were about halfway back, the sun had completely set and the stars came out. I walked about 50 feet off the road to get away from the flashlights other hikers were using, and then balanced my camera and tripod on some lava stone.

Here’s what I got:

Samuel Kornstein: Recently Added &emdash; Hawaii-2544
Samuel Kornstein: Recently Added &emdash; Hawaii-2546
Samuel Kornstein: Recently Added &emdash; Hawaii-2547
Samuel Kornstein: Recently Added &emdash; Hawaii-2548

There are clear parts of the Milky Way in all of them. You can see the Andromeda Galaxy near the center of the first shot, and there’s a shooting star on the left side of the second.

A few nights later, Laura and I were at a ranch in Hamakua near the northern coast of the island. The sky was clear again, so I thought I’d try some more. We were at a higher elevation which should have improved visibility relative to my first shots. I also had some more interesting foregrounds to work with:

Samuel Kornstein: Recently Added &emdash; Hawaii-2662
Samuel Kornstein: Recently Added &emdash; Hawaii-2669
Samuel Kornstein: Recently Added &emdash; Hawaii-2670
Samuel Kornstein: Recently Added &emdash; Hawaii-2723
Samuel Kornstein: Recently Added &emdash; Hawaii-2726

I think the focus isn’t quite as sharp in the second set, but I like them more. Let me know if you have any tips on camera settings or post production techniques.