My First Astrophoto: Capturing the Milky Way

Hey everyone!

With much excitement, I recently acquired my first tripod and immediately set out for the countryside to try my hand at capturing the majestic Milky Way. After a bit of work, this is what came out:

This shot was taken using a Canon 2000D with the IS II kit lens. The settings were: 18mm focal length, f/3.5 aperture, a 20-second exposure, and ISO 1600. The final image is the result of stacking 14 individual photos, followed by processing in Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop.

I must admit, balancing the exposure and getting the settings just right was a challenge, but I'm quite proud of how it turned out for my first attempt.

All feedback, analysis, and suggestions for improvement are most welcome! Thanks in advance for your insights.

p.s. Apologies for any image quality reduction due to compression for uploading.