The Milky Way

"The universe is big. It's vase and complicated, and ridiculous and sometimes, very rarely, impossible things just happen and we call them miracles."

Yes. That was a Doctor Who quote. Don't look at me like that, you all knew it was coming!

My first attempt at photographing the Milky Way Galaxy. I must admit I am surprised. I researched somewhat on how to take these photographs, and stumbled across, among others, this article. It had some good advice, including the "500 Rule", equipment and post processing.

What became clear to me even before I started was that my gear was most likely going to be inadequate for any super duper shots. All the articles I saw said you needed a fast lens to avoid too much noise due to the high ISO value. My fastest lens is my nifty-fifty - so not much help in capturing the whole milky way! My wide angle is only f/3.5-4.5. My nifty fifty is f/1.8. It really made a difference.

This was still a fantastic exercise though. I went in with low expectations, thinking I wasn't going to be able to capture the milky way at all, that it would be cloudy, or I would forget something. We were driving through the Pilbara at night, me anxiously looking to see where the milky way would be and lo and behold, we pull over to camp and here it is, smack bang in front of me! We were able to set up the chairs, my husband patiently sat there watching me after setting up the swag, and I started snapping as soon as the lights were out! I managed to capture the milky way on the first shot. The foreground, not so much but the milky way yes!

The foreground proved to be my most tricky thing. The milky way was easy, because I knew my shots were going to be grainy and there was little I could do about it, given the gear I had. The foreground wasn't playing the game though. Vegetation was blowing in the wind, my flash wasn't making it over the lens and I had left my external flash at home. I ended up light painting with my headlamp, which all in all was an acceptable solution.

Canon 50D, f/3.5, ISO 1600, 30 seconds, 10mm. 10-22mm Wide angle lens (Canon), light painting in the foreground

 The above is probably the best shot of the milky way I got. You can see how it was windy in the vegetation below, but I like the angle of the milky way. You can see I stopped down the ISO to 1600 because 3200 was just far to grainy. This one is still too grainy to do anything useful with, but still, a lot of fun.

Like I said, I tried all my lenses, especially my nifty fifty because it was the fastest. I could boost the ISO to 3200 for this one, still grainy but not too bad. Composition was a challenge though, because I couldn't actually see through the viewfinder, or even in the live view if I was focusing on the galaxy or not. So there was a lot of maneuvering and guess work involved.

Canon EOS 50D f/1.8, 6 seconds, ISO 3200, 50mm (nifty fifty),

It is incredible that even with a slow lens, my camera can pick up so many stars. What's even more incredible is that their creator knows them all by name.

Isaiah 40:26 - 28. Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name, by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power not one is missing. Why do you say, O Jacob and speak, O Israel, "My way is hidden from the LORD and my right is disregarded by my God"? The LORD is the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary, his understanding is unsearchable.