I am planning driving up in the mountains on monday or the day after to try to capture some shots of the milky way. I have heard that the best time to do this is when there is a new moon? (no moon). I hope it will be clear skyes.

 

The shots i am thinking about are somthing like this, found it in a quick google search:

http://ppcdn.500px.org/40109718/01ac381a3aa822fa468d1a371bcf340fa6dfa9b7/2048.jpg

 

I think i now how to shoot it. I have the Nikon D800 - and plan to use the Nikon 14-24 f2.8, tripod, and remote trigger. I have read you have to start at f2.8 around 30 sek shutter speed not over, and iso 3200 - 6400.

 

What i am worried most about is when in the night is the best time for this?

The sun in Norway sets around 21.30, will around 24.00 be dark enough? Or should i wait even longer? Will it be visble true the whole night? Or is it more like the sun and moon, that is rises or sets? (i am not astronome) so sorry for the stupid questions)

 

The second thing i worrie about is how to find it, i have read than in the northern hemisfer it shoul be in a south direction? I have an app called skywalk, but i am not sure if it will work in the mountains with no cell phone reception.

 

Since the earth rotates will the milky way be in different directions during the day and night time? I am planning driving up tomorrow in day time just to check and see if i find a location that would work.

 

Hope some of you have some tips :)

Dear Lars,

 

I am using sun surveyor application for the right timing especially you have to take care about moon availability if there is a moon then forget to capture this kind of image. Skywalker or Star chart are good choice for location of milky way.

 

Good luck..

 

Regards,

Faruk

As I understand, the Milky way is only visible in the United States in June, July and August. Not sure about Norway.

Good luck!!!!

Hi Lars.

 

I have taken a number images of Milky Way. As others already mentioned, there are useful apps to help you find out the location/time of Milky Way. In my experience, moon light plays a critical role in this kind of shooting. Complete darkness is usually believed to be an ideal condition for Milky Way/starry night shooting (after moon set or before moon rise), but this will also cause a difficulty to get interesting foreground. So sometimes, it could be a good condition that moon is behind of your camera and pretty low, and still sheds some light for the foreground.

 

I think D800 + 14-24mm f/2.8 lens are very combination for shooting god Milky Way /star images. ISO will depend, sometimes 1600 is sufficient, sometimes 3200 or even 6400. 20-30 seconds exposure is needed most of the times.

 

Hope this information is useful for you.

Hello Lars,

 

the photo that you will try to create is a composition, one photo taken at dusk and the other at the zenith of the milky way (probably a few hours later. Or a very long exposure for the foreground to be lit by the star light, you will need very dark skies for the second one.

 

not sure about skywalker, I use Sky Guide where you can enter the coordinates of where you are going to be (use google map to obtain the coordinates). then all you need to do is select the day and speed up the viewer to see the sky rotate. when you see the milky way in the ideal location stop the time and record it. you are now ready to have a snooze and don't forget to wake up :-)

 

as for the exposure use a wide angle lens 16 to 24mm at its fattest aperture f2.8 or 1.4, set it for infinity with a 30 sec exposure, a rule of thumb i use is to divide 500 or 600 by the lens focal length for the time exposure, i.e. 500/16= 31 sec's 600/16=37 sec's. You will need to play with this as this is your starting point. In order to get the colours and detail you will require an ISO of 1600 or 3200 pending on your camera.

 

So to recap you will need very dark skies (no moon), fast wide angle lens, good tripod (no vibration) and lots of coffee.

 

Good luck, and don't forget to post your results :-)

 

MarcB