Huntin’ Season is on for the Galactic Core of the Milky Way. That means it’s time to capture foregrounds in dark sky situations for your blends. I’ve got a pretty slick way to help make noise a non-factor in your final image.

Possibilities with some light

Ideally, when you capture your foreground you would do it with some light source. Blue hour is a great time as you have enough light for a decent exposure. But then you have to leave your camera in that same position to capture the Milky Way. That’s all fine and good but what if the Milky Way is not making an appearance for two or more hours? That’s a long time to wait. And, you can’t move the camera or you loose the registration between the two captures.

Wait, you could also light paint your foreground. but that can be less than ideal especially if your landscape stretches into the distance. It can also disturb wildlife. Also other photographers or sky watchers may not appreciate the light pollution.

A partial moon could be helpful adding just a bit of light. Again there’s a problem of timing to work with, and not interfere, with the Milky Way capture.

Noise from ISO 25600 image capture
ISO 25600 straight out of camera. Lots of NOISE apparent.
Noise reduced with Photoshop
Here’s the finished section after stacking and processing in Adobe Photoshop. Again this was captured at ISO 25600 with 10 exposures stacked with Median filter.

What’s the solution when it’s dark?

Here’s a system you can employ all the time. It involves extra work but the results are more than worth it in knowing you can make your foreground capture at any time. Set your ISO high and check the Histogram. Experiment between time of exposure vs ISO. You can expose for longer times with lower ISO. But remember that you are making 10 separate exposures. (or more) Make sure your details are to the right of the Histogram. Definitely do not not pile up to the left on the dark side. Make multiple exposures. I’ve found some pretty consistent result capturing 10 frames. Try different ISO’s/time combinations until you find what gives you the best results for your camera lens combination.

layers median filter menu
After loading your images into Layers in Photoshop select all Layers and Convert to Smart Object.
Then Layers>Smart Objects>Stack Mode>Median to blend away noise.

How do you know?

The proof is in the processing pudding. Take your images and load them into Photoshop layers. Highlight all images and Convert to Smart Object. Use the Layers Menu to navigate down to Smart Objects > Filters > Median. The change is pretty incredible. Remember, I started with ISO 25600!

Being out under dark skies is fabulous. But the dark skies while it makes the Milky Way appear stronger makes it more difficult to get a nice foreground. This technique helps with that.

Yours in Creative Photography, Bob