Park Blue Hour
Staying till blue hour when out capturing the Milky Way can be a surprise!!! Reason for f4 is for highlight control, if at f 1.8 too bright. The first light bar...
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Staying till blue hour when out capturing the Milky Way can be a surprise!!! Reason for f4 is for highlight control, if at f 1.8 too bright. The first light barely visible to the eye but building and park lights were blown on review. The Sigma 14mm f 1.8. @ f 4.
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SONY ILCE-7S
Aperture f/4 ISO 1600 Shutter 10/1 Focal Length 14/1 
Jacksonville Beach, Florida, US
Feb, 2020Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This is just south of Beach Boulevard at Jacksonville Beach Florida where it meets the ocean along the coast on 1st Street South and 5th Avenue South meet. It is called Oceanfront Park with a playground, beach access, picnic shelters & a bronze statue of a boy riding a dolphin. It is a place where the University of North Florida puts statues and keeps up maintenance of the grounds. The park is a place between high rise condos that can be used by visitors from across Jacksonville to access the beach with free parking and also have a picnic with family during the day and not around a big crowd like other locations.Time
It was in the early morning hours just before sunrise of February 23rd, 2020 at 06:08 am when the Milky Way came out from behind the sun that year being the start of the Milky Way season in Jacksonville, Florida being at the 30 degree parallel. It was at the time of morning with a colorful sunrise with just aircraft contrails from morning red eye flights from south to north and north to south over the Atlantic but with a Milky Way just visible in the Blue Hour seen only with a cameras long exposure.Lighting
The park and street are lit with new LED white lights that give a studio type lighting for great color of the night looking like a day capture but with stars. The nature of having a very dark sky of a bortel 3 but with city lights behind helps to get bright foregrounds with a star filled sky. Many, Many Milky Way Photographers are afraid of any light and head for the darkest places but their backyard would do just fine. Today with white LED lighting the sky is no longer yellow from high pressure sodium bulbs the need for special night light filters are no longer needed where areas are lit with them.Equipment
For most everyone doing night astro milky way photography there is a closet full of tripods collected over the years from heavy to light weight and I am one of them. This night I used a new one the Peak Design Travel Tripod even though I was really still near home. When you are out at night by yourself you never leave anything in your car carrying everything with you so the light weight tripod is an easy pick. My Astro Camera since 2014 has been the A7s but this night I was using the new tank of a lens the Sigma 14mm f/1.8 (it was 2020 before the Sony and not as good as advertised) to see if it was any good. I carry camera and lens in a small two separated pocket teardrop bag, kinda not noticeable when walking at night from car to spot not to draw attention and fast to set up and put back.Inspiration
I drive around and look for good spots for astro milky ways over the ocean but with a good subject. I had picked three spots this early morning, one at a city park then a lifeguard headquarters with lifeguard stands all together then this park. There was a two hour time window and I quickly went to each. I was happy that the early sunlight was not yet showing on the horizon and walked about the park capturing the light. More light than the eye can see is captured with a cameras long exposure so every capture you have to review to know when to stop and still have the Milky Way still visible in the blue hour sky, just something you learn to do and stay on site. I always stay till the end of a golden hour walking and capturing while everyone has already left not knowing that a beautiful sunrise is just moments away. Also many are still having breakfast in the early hour before sunrise.Editing
Yes! The fastest post processing program for Milky Ways is Lightroom!!! Many may say Photoshop but all the functions and tools just crowd your mind and you get over processed many times. I used an older version, but today with the new masking for just sky or ground or both with adjustable radial and linear gradients with even subject selection. I rarely even use the brush except for the center of the way to darken a little but get a few stars bright that are within. But it is fast to use a gradient on the ground and the sky- reason I always capture at Meter Mode + .7 mainly for shadows. But after I use the radial gradient around the entire Milky Way center and the extended way even for panos, But you adjust the sliders the opposite of the global because you want to brighten the the center pegasus horse/ smiling cat but darken the center way part but keep the sides bright and bring out the centers dark outline and bring out the stars within the way part also. Even with the MW in the blue hour blue sky with stars you can see Pegasus dimly but with just right amount of tweaking it can be seen like a ghost in the sky or like a hidden subject in a blue hour sky with a sunrise below. After Lr I use Topaz Denoise AI and if using the A7s/siii (12MP) Gigapixel AI, they were the first and still the best for noise and enlargement and reduction. For Panos PTGui is by far the best, a long learning curve but YouTube is a great classroom.In my camera bag
For me I am always near home or a campground or hotel. I have been collecting Sony lenses since 2014 when I first went to Sony and have most all Sony makes enough to fill a couple of packs. But when you do Milky Ways you want fast glass like f/2.8 to the f/1.4 but widest offered so to get a panorama like image. I carry the FE 12-24 f/4 now the f/2.8 and the other 14mm and 20mm f/1.8 and 24mm 1.4 also the original 16-35 f/4 in night travel case. But I select just one lens and one camera, sometimes two of each and carry in my old three pocket over shoulder bag that will also have room for a small pano rig. It all depends on the foreground subject. I used to do just ultra wides but now with a Pano rig a 200 degree or more pano can be done in about 2 min. so using a 24mm in portrait view you can capture a early season MW arch with just a one level pass and July and after 2 level or when the MW is vertical a three level landscape view pano up. I used the Novoflex Panorama VR-System Slim($$$) first but now carry the Neewer Gimbal Head Panoramic Head Camera Tripod Head very low price and with a selectable stepper base that you can feel every step, this allows moving to next step while camera is in dark processing NR mode ( yes I use NR, too much after work not using).Feedback
First study PhotoPills Milky Way info of when and where. Next understand the beginning month and how it looks. The first month to capture is normally the end of February new moon ( this year 2022 the first of feb). It will rise at about 4:30 am to sunrise but mid season is July /Aug is right after sunset after you get a vertical to tipping over to the right in Oct/Nov.. Next do not be afraid of lit places just look for dark sky places. Example I first started in June 2015 I would head to the beach areas looking over the dark sky above the ocean (the eastern side of Florida) but one night after coming home I looked up and saw Venus shining bright over a neighbor's house, 15 miles from the beach and brightly lit area of the city, I set up under a street light (yes for real) aimed south and tilted up and captured a vertical MW and was clearly visible on the camera display and using just Lr brought it out fast, now a poster size print in my neighbor's house and I used Aperture mode not Manual, It is always your choice! Do not follow all the hype of fast glass and best camera. Wide aperture glass requires faster shutter speeds and higher ISO's or the same you used for the common f/4 lens. Alway check PhotoPills Spot Stars selecting camera and lens MM to see SS, and write with pen on your hand before going out , so many lenses to remember for each. It was said that a 12MP camera was best because of bigger pixels gathered more light but the A7iii and the A7rii disproved that. https://clarkvision.com/articles/color.of.the.night.sky/ where he was a photographer for NASA in the film days says and now digital cameras says not the case but he also shows how to capture gas skyglow, yes in high altitudes gases glow and is great to capture and there is nothing wrong with your camera or light temp selected, the A7s AWB captures it. You do not need a astro modified camera for the normal MW image, You need a special filter to get rid of all the red anyway. Todays Software is so good, like in Lr selecting portrait will give you nice tan beaches as well as the colors of the MW center magenta on the left and a baby blue to the right the yin and yang within. Have on you pad or phone weather apps that show clouds also at night. You have a week before and after the new moon in the early months 5 days before you get a crescent moon below the MW (I discovered by accident. Knowing tides you learn as the moon rises the tide goes out, even the new unseen moon!, you get a clean no footprint beach. Yes the east coast of the US is great in the early months but the Gulf coast is great all year. Lastly go with some friends for safety sake make friends with local police and check for safe zones, Also a hotel room high up with a balcony view over a city. Scout and Scout more using a paper map noting time of year as a bucket list. No need to travel to far off and snake filled desert's.
