15 Tips to INSTANTLY IMPROVE Your MILKY WAY Photography

15 tips to instantly improve your milky way photography hello photopillar rafael dubar here in this video i'm gonna give you 15 tips 15 learning pills you can take too

literally and instantly up your milk away photography game but these are just my 15 tips the list could be much longer so you have any tips you want to share

with the community comment below ah i'm getting ready to see lots and lots of amazing photos from the photo people's tribe and here we go let's get rolling subscribe and let's

get into it tip number one less is more simply remove the noise take away the chaos the less elements you include in the frame the better eliminate distractions

direct the people's attention to a powerful subject and the milky way your job is to do the work and use for example nasa's blue marble map to find a dark sky location

by the way here in the photopills team we're working in a very cool project that will include a very nice light pollution map among many other things wait and see well when you find a dark sky location

get out there scout and find grey subjects and then apply team number two tip number two plan planning saves so much time

and provides so much fun because being at the right place at the right time to capture the photo you want to capture is just priceless so when you find a cool subject make the most of it

use the photopills planner to plan all the possible milkweed photos you can imagine with practice it will take just a few minutes to plan your milk away photos plan for example to get the milkweed low

in the sky for a beautiful panorama also plan to get the galaxy in a stunning diagonal across the scene by the way have you noticed this bright

area in the milky way arch in the milky way that's the galactic center that's the scent of our galaxy when applying your milky way photos make sure that you include the galactic center in the frame it's the most stunning and

powerful part of the milky way also you can plan to have the milkway completely vertical for example align with your subject and when you're in the field use the knight er button here in the planner or

go back to the pills menu and use the knight yard button to visualize the position of the milky way at all time so you know where the mccoy is going to be compared to your subject so

you know the exact time the milky way is going to be right where you want it to be and you can choose your shooting spot easily how cool is that and when you're scouting when you're planning

take into account tin number three by the way if you want to learn how to plan the milky way watch this video and we shall learn how to photograph the milky way from start to finish

from idea to photo watch this one tip number three composition use some of the fundamental elements of composition the point the lines symmetry

balance texture scale patterns this image by jaime hill romero is a great example of the use of a great use of the composition elements first the path catches our

attention and gently guides us into the picture where we find this tiny human figure almost as a point and working great with the majestic milky way in the sky to give us a sense of scale

the image is telling us humans you're so tiny and so insignificant compared with the immensity of the galaxy you could also use distance to show how distance are the elements by separating them

in the frame like this photo by each and sober or use texture and shapes like in this photo for example by rj mcbain that was taken in white pocket

arizona usa and the list goes on there are so many examples i could show you but i could do a whole video only on milkweed composition tips wait a minute that would be cool yes that would be

very cool you know what i'll do it i'll make the video you have my work if you don't want to miss it subscribe tip number four framing how do you frame at night you don't see anything and i

don't recommend you to use your torch to leave the foreground because your eyes will need between 20 and 30 minutes to adapt again to darkness and even worse you could

ruin others photographers shots and i suppose that you don't want to have to escape to run away in the middle of the night leaving all your gear behind chased by a furious crowd of photographers armed

with tripods stones and who knows what else right so how do you do it how do you frame a knight and how do you do it fast easy just push the iso

up to 6400 12500 25600 so you can set a super fast shooter speed of a few seconds because you don't want to waste 20 or 30 seconds every time you need to adjust your framing

then take it a shot check the framing and if you don't like it just adjust the frame and iterate repeat the process iterate until you get the framing you want well we have the subject the plan

the composition and the framing now let's talk about focusing tip number five maximize depth of field if you wish to maximize depth of field this is to get

in focus accessibly sharp from the foreground your subject to the stars that you look away then use the hyperfocal distance in the photo steam we use hyper focal distance all the time and it

works great for us but if you're using another focusing system please let me know in the comments where was i ah don't panic the hyper focal distance is just the distance you need to calculate

it will bite you it depends on the sense of your camera the aperture and the focal length you can easily calculate it using the hyperfocal table of photopills for example for the nikon

z6 if i'm shooting with a focal length of 14 millimeters at an aperture of 2.8 my perfocal distance is 2.33 meters and when you're in the field you can use

the ar button to visualize the hyperfocal distance in the field on the terrain in this case 2.33 meters over there now the trick here is to make

focus at something that falls behind by perfocal this in this case for example this chair over there if your subject falls behind that difficult distance just may focus on your subject this way you'll get your

subjects super sharp and the stars accessibly sharp the rule says that if you focus at diaper focal distance you'll get in focus or accessory sharp

from half of this distance to infinity but be aware because if you do so if you focus on something that falls shorter than a perfocal you'll get the stars

out of focus don't believe me well watch this video and you'll understand it tip number six foreground live painting unless you photograph in a lighthouse or the moon is above

the horizon if you wish to photograph the milky way one single exposure you'll need to light paint the foreground to capture detail in both the milky way and the foreground otherwise the foreground will appear too dark

with no detail and you don't want that so how do you do it well please don't do what i see people doing all the time which is taking a torch and adding light from right behind the

camera if you do that if you add frontal light to your subject what you'll get is a super flat image instead if you're shooting with a group of friends just

ask a friend to go to the site and leave the foreground from the side and this way you'll be able to capture volume and texture in the foreground in your subject making the image much

more interesting another option is do it yourself do the line painting yourself by using a wireless shutter list on amazon you'll find super cheap wireless shutter releases for a bit more

than 20 bucks and then other more expensive and more powerful ones like the cam ranger mini for around 200 bucks antonik lederer the photographer of the

photopil's team uses the cam ranger 2 to control the camera from the phone and i have to say he's addicted to it the only downside is that it cost around 350 and

400 dollars according the official website okay when it comes to the gear we use and how we use it we like to use toolet panels at five percent capacity placed super

far away from our subject say 30 40 meters this lighting technique is called low level lighting because once everything is set up is so much convenient without having to

worry about light painting the foreground from scratch in every single exposure but above all the resulting images have a much more natural look as if the

scene was naturally lit by a natural source like the moon for example well this is how we like paint the foreground but what about you how do you do it what other techniques do you use

let me know in the comments tip number seven think different break the rules challenge the status quo don't take the same photo everyone else is taking look up sometimes the photos know where

you expect it to be take advantage of trees use them as guide online a frame in the milky way close up pick a tiny object and make it the start of the photo make it huge fill the frame with it the

effect is stunning go long everyone is using wide angle lenses to photograph the milk way do the opposite go far away from your subject and use a telephoto lens to photograph it

with a huge milkweed core capture detail in the core in the center use bokeh shoot a portrait with a white aperture and use the pocket of the stars to create a super interesting

background the stars are not white they have color catch the color make the photo more interesting feel the foreground get closer to a nice stone a nice plant and feel the foreground with it

begin a dialogue with the foreground and with the secondary subject that you have at the background and the milky way climb up climb the mountain and photograph the milky way above the clouds

how cool is that the sky is the limit the possibilities are endless so next time you approach your scene think what could you do different what could

you do to create something new tip number eight avoid star trails i mean don't get me wrong star trails are super super cool we love capturing the color of the trails

in our star trails for us we love star trails so much that we've actually written a super detailed analog starter photography guide you'll find a link in the description of this video check it out

but when photographing the milkway we don't want the stars to peer as trails in the photo we want pinpoint stars no trails and as you know when you're shooting a long exposure due to

the rotation of the earth after a certain exposure time the stars begin to appear as trails in the photo so to get the stars as pinpoint stars

you need to limit your exposure time so what's exposure time you should use well you go to throw pills in the pills menu and scroll down and tap on spot stars you'll find the answer here

set your camera the focal length the aperture the declination and the position and he will get to results the mpf rule 18 seconds in this example and the 500 rule 36 seconds take

these values as a range of shooter speeds begin using the mpf rule should speed 18 seconds take a test shot and see if the star appears

as a trail or as a pinpoint the star if it appears as a dot you can even increase the shutter speed a bit to allow more light to get into the system to catch more stars let's say for

example you increase it by 2 seconds to 20 seconds then you can take another test shot and see if you like the result if the stars are remaining as dots if not then use a shorter shoulder speed

just practice just test differentiated speeds and decide what works for you and of course if you use the 500 rule share speed probably you'll get trials

in your photos tip number nine mix it having the milk away in the sky is great but imagine what will happen if you have milk away and you mix it with another cool astronomical event

like for example a meteor shower would it be amazing of course it would be so do it let me give you two examples for example you can mix it with a meteor shower if you plan your milky way shot for the night a

powerful meteor shower is speaking a mutation like the geminids or the pursuits and you spend the whole night taking photos of the show then you'll end the night with so many cool photos of the milky way

and probably some meteors like this one and once at home you'll be able to create images like this one in post processing where you see all the meteors converging in one

spot in the sky the radiant point and here you have another example and another one if you wish to learn how to plan your photos of a meteor shower watch this video

example number two mix it with an aurora truth is this is a legendary photo i mean mixing a milk very arch with an arch made of an aurora just incredible it seems almost impossible to

me so congratulations julio what an amazing photo as i am representing the photos team here i accept the challenge in the name of the team i mean photographing the

milky way with with an aurora so exciting tip number 10 are exposed to the right when photographing the milky way under

heavy light pollution pushing the exposure up pushing the histogram to the right towards the whites can be beneficial for the final image because in post you'll be able to recover lots of detail

in the shadows in this field the expert is my friend anthropos master ian norman from lonely spec so i recommend you to watch this video where ian's explains step by step how to

photograph the milky way under heavy light pollution and he demonstrates the editing workflow too so watch it come on guys five tips to go tip number

eleven harmoring what do i mean with harmony i mean that when you're looking at your milky photo you need to feel that the milky way the foreground your subject are embracing each other that they live

in harmony this image taken by antonio the photographer of the repeals team in the early days of milkweed photography it's the opposite example of

harmony in a milky way photo the sky is far too bright explosive the foreground is poorly lit the composition well what can i say there is no harmony in the image there

is a clear separation between the sky and the foreground compared with this one he took a few years later the composition is great the human figure gives scale and the natural arch and the milky way

are talking the same visual language here using the low level lighting technique is key to get this natural look of the natural arch and also the right white balance delivers these

natural tones of the galactic center these brown tones to get these natural colors of the milkway start using a white balance of 3900 kelvin when there is no light pollution when

there is light pollution then start with white balance of 3400 kelvin but when you're in the field you don't really need to worry too much about the wire balance because you can always adjust it in post processing also and this is very

important when you're editing the milk way you have antares the red star in the frame in the picture then adding the milky way in a way antares is a kind of reddish if you do

it then the milkwave will have a supernatural look the question is how do you locate antares on this image antares is located on the right hand side can you see the horn on the military or

the galactic center pointing at the star you see it it's a bit reddish by the way if you want to learn how to edit the milky way watch this master class by nick page

the gray make page and if the link doesn't appear here i'm gonna leave the link also in the description of this video just in case okay okay okay next tip results in

amazing photos so let's go but first subscribe tip number 12 panels capture it all capture the whole arch of the milky way if you take all

the tips i already shown you and you apply them in a milky way panel

the results are going to be stunning

let me give you a few examples enjoy

[Music] by the way i almost forgot to mention it when you're shooting a panel

make sure that you overlap your photos with more than 30 it's gonna be easier to put the panel together afterwards imposed

tip number 12 plus one tip number 13 reflexes it is said that weather is water there is life well i say that where there is water there are stars

lots of stars well technically you could also use a large mirror so go and find a lake find the pool find the surface capable of reflecting the stars plan a cool photo

and enjoy the show and pray that's no wind that day plan and pray if you're interested you'll find a link in description of this video to our t-shirts shop plan and pray

tip number 14 no vibrations this one is easy the more stable your camera is the less you touch your camera the sharper your milkweed photos will be remember that you're shooting a long exposure so avoid

any vibration at all cost vibrations produce blurry images so get a sturdy tripod and press it against the ground to make sure it is stable i use a shutter release or an intervalometer

so you don't have to touch the camera and when it's windy don't hang a weight from the tripod it will make the system unstable and you will introduce vibrations

avoiding vibrations this key so avoid them at all costs well and finally we get to our last tip but don't worry i have more tips to share i'm already planning on making another

video milk with photography tips and in this case i'm going to share super advanced tips for pro results ok the last tip tip number 15 and in my

opinion is the most important one just do it just do it just do it and just do it take action with all the tips and videos i've shared in this video

you have everything you need to radically improve your milky way photography now it's when the fun begins it's time to put everything you learned into practice

so find a powerful subject in a dark sky location plan a cool photo and go and capture it but above all enjoy the ride with practice you see how your photos improve the next video is going to be

about photographing astronomical event that happens only twice a year and that probably you don't know about its existence so give me a like subscribe and i'll see you in the next video and if you wish to

learn more about milkweed photography and also leaving a link in the description of this video to our super detailed milkweed photographing guide check it out and remember that you have

the power to imagine

plan and shoot legendary photos bye you