My First Milky Way Shot: Testing My Gear in Maine

As a burgeoning space enthusiast, I decided to dip my toes into the world of astrophotography. My first mission? To capture the majestic Milky Way from the skies of Maine. This was a test shot, primarily to see if my current camera setup was up to the task, and honestly, to get a feel for the process. The goal is to eventually find a truly dark-sky area under a new moon for optimal results.

Milky Way over Maine

The Setup

Here's a look at the gear and settings I used for this inaugural attempt:

Camera: Canon EOS REBEL T3i
Lens: Canon EF-S 10-18mm ƒ/4.5-5.6 IS STM
Focal Length: 10 mm
Shutter Speed: 20 seconds
Aperture: ƒ/4.5
ISO: 6400

I took this shot with the moon illumination around 70%, just before its peak rise. While not ideal for capturing fainter details, it gave me a good baseline to work from.

Post-Processing in Lightroom

After capturing the raw data, I moved over to Adobe Lightroom for some editing. The goal here was to enhance the faint details of the Milky Way without introducing too much noise. Here are the key adjustments I made:

Basic Adjustments

White Balance: Custom
Temperature: 0
Tint: +10
Exposure: +0.20
Contrast: +15
Highlights: -30
Shadows: +10
Whites: +15
Blacks: -35

Presence

Texture: +20
Clarity: +15
Dehaze: +15
Vibrance: 0
Saturation: 0

Tone Curve

Shadows: 0
Darks: 0
Lights: 0
Highlights: 0
Shadow Split: 25
Midtone Split: 50
Highlight Split: 75

Sharpening

Amount (Sharpness): 40
Radius: +1.0
Detail: 25
Masking: 0

Noise Reduction

Luminance: 0
Color: 0

Initial Thoughts

Overall, I'm quite pleased with this first attempt! The Canon Rebel T3i, paired with the wide-angle lens, managed to pull in a decent amount of detail. The editing process was key to bringing out the galactic core. This shot definitely gives me the confidence to continue exploring astrophotography and invest more time in finding darker skies and planning future shoots for even better results. Stay tuned for more celestial adventures!