I had tried to shoot a milkyway at Sandakphu but my lack of expertise got me a nice blur of a shot. However this weekend I had a chance to learn some of this techniques from folks who were more proficient than me.
Basics for shooting ( Note to myself for reference )
- Use an external wired remote shutter release. Its way more reliable than the internal intervalometer.
- Must have a fully charged camera battery. Two batts recommended.
- Must have a tripod
- Check moon phase for least moonlight
- Check weather for no clouds
- Check site for light pollution. Need a dark spot to setup.
- Shoot some 150 shots for startrails ( 62.5 mins total time for 150 shots at 25 sec each)
- ISO 800 – 3200, 25 sec exposure @ F2.8 on a 17mm about wide lens. Check exposure with a test shot and see you get sharp stars.
- Set manual exposure , lock the external wired remote in and keep it pressed for 62.5 min.
- Check infinity of lens since the mark on the lens can drift. Manual focus helps. Focus at infinity, keep AF manual and VR set to OFF.
- Can paint in a foreground subject for compositional interest.
- Shoot last four frames with lens cap on for “Noise frames”.
- Multiple apps available for the phone to locate the stars & milkyway One I saw being used was “Photopills“
Post Processing flow
- Shoot RAW
- Process one frame and copy the settings to all other frames except “dark frames”
- Convert all 150 RAW to a jpegs.
- Use a stacking software like Sequator / Starstax for stacking the shots and get the combined shot.
- Final process in Photoshop or similar
Light Painting
The last shot is mind-blowing! Kudos !