Summer/Fall 2021 Milky Way Season

[Ethan Schisler]

A thread for anyone who plans on shooting milky way photos this late summer/fall to post. Here are a few I took last night near Littleton, IL. Settings were 24mm, F/1.4, ISO 6400, 8" on all 3. Minimal post processing aside from slight color correction and noise reduction on Topaz Denoise AI.







I plan on doing more tonight if we can get any more brief breaks in the smoke like we got from 12AM to 2AM this morning.

 

[Ethan Schisler]

Some more shots I captured this morning between 12 and 2AM in rural Western IL using my Sony A7SIII at ISO 40,000-64,000 and the 24mm F/1.4 GM lens along with the 12-24mm GM lens for wider shots. All shutter speeds are between 1.5-2.5".

 

[JeremyS]

I always take some MW pics when we go out camping in western Nebraska. I love it out there because you can actually see the MW with the naked eye due to no light pollution.

 

[JeremyS]

Some more shots I captured this morning between 12 and 2AM in rural Western IL using my Sony A7SIII at ISO 40,000-64,000 and the 24mm F/1.4 GM lens along with the 12-24mm GM lens for wider shots. All shutter speeds are between 1.5-2.5".

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I LOVE your scenes that you have with the MW in the background! I've never done much with foreground set up when I do the MW, but I need to work on that.

 

[Dave C]

Sadly, the smoke set in early this year and I barely got a chance to get out to do astro. I've gotten some ok shots but not as good as years before. The airglow in the 2nd shot below was incredible, slightly visible to the naked eye which I have never seen before. You can see the camera caught it so vividly it is almost like the Aurora, but of course moves much slower and caused by a totally different atmospheric chemical and/or electric process.

These images are either taken with the Canon R5 or 5D4, with either the Tamron 15-30mm F2.8 or Samyang 24mm F1.4; I was a bit too lazy to dig up the EXIF at this moment. These images are part of a timelapse, and so I allowed more star trailing than usual.

 

[Ethan Schisler]

Probably the last night of doing the milky way here until the next new moon as humidity is increasing and storm chances increase later this week into next week (yay chasing!). Here are a few captures I got last night with my A7SIII and 24mm F/1.4 GM lens and 12-24mm GM lens:


Sony A7RIII + 24mm F/1.4 @ 24mm, F/1.4, ISO 10,000, 4" exposure.


Sony A7SIII + 12-24mm F/2.8 @ 12mm F/2.8, ISO 40,000, 5" exposure.


Sony A7SIII + 12-24mm GM @ 12mm F/2.8, ISO 40,000, 5" exposure.


Sony A7SIII + 12-24mm GM @ 12mm F/2.8, ISO 40,000, 4" exposure. I believe I caught Saturn in the foreground here as well to the left.


Sony A7SIII + 135mm F/1.8 GM @ 135mm, F/1.8, ISO 128,600, 1/3" shutter speed.


Sony A7SIII + 12-24mm GM @ 12mm, F/2.8, ISO 50,000, 4" exposure.

 

[Ethan Schisler]

Took advantage of the clear night tonight with an early moon-set to shoot the milky way before we go back into a stormy pattern. These were taken NW of Brooklyn, IL in Schuyler County IL which has some of the darkest skies in all of Illinois I've been able to find. Here are the shots I took, with my A7SIII at ISO 51,200 and 12-24mm F/2.8 lens and 24mm F/1.4 lens. All shot at their respective F/2.8 and F/1.4 apertures along with 1.5-4" shutter speed, varying to compensate for testing out such high ISO values. I'm still impressed.











Even managed to pick up on some airglow in some of the darker areas. Overall not too bad of an outing with temperatures down into the mid 50s. Pretty nice night for Mid-August. Get out and enjoy it if you can.

 

[James K]

Awesome photos guys!

At home I can't see much in the way of stars, let alone the milky way..

I did go camping a couple weeks ago, and one thing I like about being up in the mountains away from city lights is seeing the star-filled sky
This time though we had an evening thundershower move through & it remained cloudy afterwards into the night. So didn't see anything.
Me & my brother might try going camping again next weekend (which may be the last trip of the year if we do).

 

[Ethan Schisler]

Been a fairly busy last week to 10 days of traveling, breaking feet/toes, got a giant gash in my arm (unrelated to any of the other things)...so I figured I'd share some more milky way photos before things start dwindling down for the summer. This was last night NE of Augusta, IL in Hancock County. It took me forever to find this house as it's easily hidden, but here they are. I used the Sony A7RIII and 24mm F/1.4GM lens on the first 2 shots which are my favorite. I then used the Sony A7SIII and 12-24mm F/2.8 lens on the second set. I'm thinking about trading the 12-24mm GM in for the 14 1.8 GM as I prefer primes more anyway, but we will see:


Sony A7RIII, 24mm, F/1.4, ISO 12,800, 4" exposure. Edit to balance out WB and increase shadows a tad (although used Iphone for this in person).


Same settings as above, just used the Iphone flash a little better this time lol.


Sony A7SIII + 12-24mm F/2.8 GM @ 12mm, F/2.8, ISO 25,600, 4" exposure. I like this one as good as the first two, but I wish I had the 14mm F/1.8 here.





Anyway, I may try to go out again during the new moon cycle if we can get rid of the smoke here again. But we will see. I hope you enjoy.

 

[Ethan Schisler]

Probably will be the last outing for the season for myself as we have a few days of rather hazy weather coming up unless I head to WI/Northeast IA to hike, I may grab a frame or two. These are from last night and the night before. Shot using my Sony A7SIII and 24mm F/1.4 lens. I love how the fog rolled in toward 1am. Made for a spooky scene and also a very pretty one too. I wish it had shown up a little better:








Here are a few from the previous night as well:

 

[James K]

The photos above are simply beautiful.

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Went camping in the mountains Sat night, and the weather cooperated with a nice cloud-free night, not only that s trough passed through which helped clear out the smoke/haze for the evening (it was back the next by mid-day Sun though).
Must say, I had a very nice starry night view & got to see the milky-way for the only time this year. Certainly glad for that.
No pic's though as I have nothing capable of taking them.