Magnificent Milky Way Photography Made Easy(ish).

Have you ever found yourself lifting your jaw off the keyboard, completely stunned by an out-of-this-world photo of the Milky Way?

This is one of those subjects were you can either get an “Eh” shot that will accumulate a few likes on social media websites, or you can create a potentially viral piece of art that will make E.T. wish he had stayed on Earth simply to enjoy the view.

More often than not, the difference seems to boil down to planning and hard work rather than equipment. This is not to say that equipment isn’t important, but we’ve already seen what a pro can do with even the cheapest gear.

A new and exceedingly comprehensive tutorial called “How To Shoot Truly Contagious Milky Way Pictures” will significantly help with your planning and cut back on wasted nights outdoors.

There are plenty of incredibly helpful tutorials out there, including those of Mark Gee, Dave Morrow and Phil Hart, that will help you learn the technical aspect of astrophotography and plan your shoot. Another powerful addition to any astrophotographer’s toolbox is PhotoPills, along with their own tutorials, but while each tutorial is great, neither one felt complete.

Antoni Cladera from PhotoPills solved this with an extensive astrophotography tutorial combined with in-depth info regarding the use of PhotoPills conveniently inserted at the relevant stages of the planning and shooting process.

Covering everything from composition to location considerations, equipment selection, inspiration and post processing, this article contains enough useful knowledge to make it a must-read. However, it is the integrated tutorials explaining PhotoPills’ 2D Milky Way Planner and Night Augmented Reality that make this my number one resource on the matter.

With some highly capable cameras available today at reasonable prices and the ability to rent any equipment necessary, the playing field has been leveled as far as gear and knowledge are concerned. Now all that stands between you and your next favorite photo is a bit of planning and a night outdoors.

[via Reddit]