I presented a program on night sky and Milky Way photography to the Arizona Professional Photographers Association. After class time we headed out to Apache Junction south of Phoenix to put the knowledge to work. After helping my students with ideas on composition and focus, I made some images for myself. I’ve found that I need to concentrate on helping folks or photographing. Can’t do both together. Results of one of my compositions below.

Cholla cactus composition

The cactus you see in the foreground of this photo are called cholla and they need some serious respect. In addition to just being their cactus selves they have tendrils the float on the wind. If you pass by too close they can shoot their spines out at you. In spite of their defense mechanisms, I find photographing them yields a lovely texture. Add in the path that leads into the scene mimicking the Milky Way shape and there’s a lot going on composition-ally.

base image and composition
Base exposure and composition.

Many times the foreground is the star of the show in a Milky Way Nightscape.

Capture

I work with OM System cameras. One of the advantages of my OM-1 camera is Starry Sky Autofocus. When activated it looks for sharp stars. If it registers as in focus you know you have sharp focus. This is an extremely handy feature for night sky photography. It’s one of the toughest things my students have to deal with with other camera models when first starting out making night sky images.

ten image screen capture for milky way
Ten image capture. Camera on tripod using the in-camera interval timer with a two second delay to touch the camera as little as possible. Camera – OM-1 with M.Zuiko 7-14mm Pro Lens.
Settings 10 sec. f/2.8 at 14mm f/2.8 ISO 3200

Once focus and composition were attained it’s time for shooting the stars. Making multiple images is the secret. More images made and stacked lead to less noise. I have found however, there is a fall off in the noise reduction and the extra time it takes to make lots of images past 20 or so is negligible. You’ll want to experiment with the amount that works for you. I’m usually happy between 8 and 20. You can also capture dark frames for additional noise reduction. In order to deal with noise issues, I made 10 exposures. I used the steps below to process the files.

Note: the SLS is showing 9 frames but I processed 10.

noise image
Before Starry Landscape Stacker (SLS) process showing file noise.
lower noise image
After the noise has been adjusted with Starry Landscape Stacker. (see steps below)

Post process

First stop is to move the files from RAW mode, which I always use for capture, into 16 bit .TIF files. These are saved into a folder. As a MAC user I employ an APP called Starry Landscape Stacker. (SLS) The APP aligns the stars and processes and blends files to remove noise. This can also be done by processing in Photoshop but I find the time saved using the SLS APP makes the $59.99 price more than worth it. Especially, if you work with a lot of night sky and milky Way captures. You’ll find SLS int the Apple APP store.

Starry Landscape Stacker: A closer look

Point Starry Landscape Stacker App to the folder of .TIF images. It will ingest the files and prepare them for processing. Once the files are in you can ask it to find the sky. It will place red dots throughout the sky area. You can help the software making the sky selection along by adding extra red dots. If there are red dots in the foreground they can be, and should be, removed before making the sky mask. The sky mask can still be adjusted with a paint brush if necessary. I find adding the extra red dots usually gives me a good mask on the first go.

Starry landscape Tracker APP red dots
SLS when first opened setting red dots in sky. I recommend adding red dots before processing for a better mask. When you are done press Find Sky.
Starry landscape Tracker APP
SLS showing finished mask. If necessary additional adjustments can be made to the mask with a paint brush.
Starry landscape Tracker APP

Then it’s time to let the software do its magic. It will align the stars, remove the noise and allow you to export the final image. There are a number of algorithms that can be used for different results. I usually find success choosing “Mean Min Hor Noise.”

If you are a PC user, there is a free stacking program called Sequator. I’m not a PC user so I can’t offer any tips other than to get it and find tutorials online for best practices.

Photoshop

When processing, the Milky Way needs to be teased out gently as what you see with your eye is a soft cloud gracing the night sky. It’s the large aperture and time exposure that allow us to record the clouds of gasses and detail in the shadows of the Galactic Center.

photoshop layers palette milky way
Many Adjustment layers are employed to gently move the file. Large adjustments can add artifacts leading to a less than stellar look. Soft Light Blend Mode layers are used to Dodge and Burn adding highlight and shadow for additional depth and dimension.

Enhancing the image was accomplished using Adobe Photoshop. Layers, Adjustment Layers, Blend Modes and Masks are my tools of choice. One caveat, especially for new Milky Way image makers, is to avoid adding too much color or pushing the image to far toward the blue. It’s easy to overcook color and intensity of the night sky. I personally favor a more natural look.

milky way image superstition mountains
Here is the final image after processing with Starry Landscape Stacker and Adobe Photoshop.

This image was helped by the light pollution from the city to the North. It lit the cholla and Superstition Mountains and gave the photo lots of depth and dimension. That same light, however, also took away some of the subtleties of the Galactic Center. There are always tradeoffs when working to have an interesting foreground to enhance the Nightscape with Milky Way.

If you are looking to move to OM System, I recommend the flagship OM-1 Mark II camera as it has more features and is currently only a couple hundred dollars more than the OM-1.

Yours in Creative Photography,

Bob