A Guide to Photograph the Milky Way

The night sky is something I have always been interested, but with living in Billings there is rarely a chance to get a good look at the Milky Way and the constellations in the night sky. Here is a guide to photographing the Milky Way in the article "How to Photograph the Milky Way in 12 Steps (With 6 Epic Examples)" by Jason D. Little (https://www.lightstalking.com/how-to-photograph-the-milky-way/).  Since I am not familiar with night photography of any sort I will be listing all of the steps that are key for night photography in particular and skimming on the ones that make a little more sense :

The 12 steps include:
1. Finding a Dark Sky: As I had thought, the author suggests to find an area without a lot of light pollution. One of the tips with this that I hadn't thought about was to make sure there isn't a full moon.
2. Knowing When and Where to Look: As it turns out there is an optimal time to capture the Milky Way in the Northern Hemisphere. This time happens to be between the months of February and September so unfortunately the time for me to shoot that is almost up.
3.Use a Digital Camera with Good High ISO Capabilities: this one did seem a a little obvious to me just because without a high ISO capability, you won't get a very good picture
4.Using a Fast Wide Angle Lens: the maximum aperture of at least f/2.8 
5. Using a Tripod
6. Use Live View: I had no idea that this was an option on some cameras. Or maybe I know it as something different, either way, focusing on one bright star will help capture the distance 
7.  Staring with an ISO of 3200 
8. Setting a Long Shutter Speed: This along with the tripod should help keep everything in focus.
9. Setting a Wide Open Aperture 
10. Compose the Shot: add a little flare by capturing a building or something stationary in the picture along with the sky. 
11. Getting a Satisfactory Exposure: this may take a few times to get right but the more practice the better right? Little includes that "If there’s too much noise, simply decrease the ISO. If the shot is overexposed, check your surroundings for light pollution; decrease shutter speed; stop down the lens; or decrease ISO. If it’s underexposed, make sure you’re using the widest aperture on your lens; increase shutter speed (but beware of star trails forming); increase ISO, " which will be really helpful to reference later. 
12.Process the picture which include the editing process. 

There are a lot of tips and tricks that I can not wait to try and use! Milky Way From The Alabama Hills Photo by John Lemieux, is one of the photos from the article that I though was gorgeous!

Aperature and Shutterspeed Extremes

The three keys to a good picture is the shutter speed, the aperture, and the ISO. I chose to try and capture four extremes of shutter speed and aperture.
First let's start with shutter speed.

• This first picture the fountain is an example of a shutter speed that would be too slow in order to get a crisp and clear picture of the water. The settings for this picture were an aperture of 6.3, a ISO of 800, and a shutter speed of 1/125. 
• The second picture of the fountain has the correct shutter speed of of 1/1600 with an aperture of 5.6 and a ISO of 3200. 
• The first picture of the tree and the building is has an aperture that is too high which makes the entire picture in focus, but I only want the tree in focus. The settings for this picture are an ISO of 800, a shutter speed of 1/20, and an aperture of 25. 
• The second picture of the tree and building has the ideal aperture in order to get only the tree in focus. For this picture I had an ISO of 6400, a shutter speed of 1/3200, and an aperture of 5. 

Macro Photography: I love it but it doesn't reciprocate

Macro Photography is one of the things that I am very interested in when it comes to nature photography. It is the one thing that drew me into taking my high school photography in the first place. Though I am passionate about it and I absolutely love it... I am not very good at it. In my high school class, we only had one macro lens to use and the teacher was very hesitant to let anyone use it in fear that it would get broken. Which, with that expensive of a lens mixing with high school kids, I can understand why she was so hesitant. Anyways, I have always had a knack for noticing the detail in things, like the way light shines through flower petals or the grooves of tree bark, and to be able to capture an image of the things that I see in nature would be amazing if I knew the proper techniques and right angles to capture the image. So in an attempt to gain more knowledge in this area, I came across an article which helped a little bit. 10 Macro Photo Tips for Beginners by Micael Widell (https://petapixel.com/2017/10/02/10-macro-photo-tips-beginners/ ) was a great article to start with to expand my knowledge.

Here are some of the things that I learned:
1. Whenever you are trying to capture images of bugs and little creatures, you will likely want to go to a botanical garden or even a park. The best time to do this is either on overcast days or when the weather is 63 degrees or warmer. The overcast will make the light a little less harsh than say a 40 degree day in the fall with not a cloud to be seen. By the time 40 degrees rolls around, our itty bitty friends are long gone and the light will make your pictures way too bright.
2. The flash and a diffuser are your friends if you are trying get the very minuscule details of whatever your subject is. The flash will help get the entire subject in focus and not just the smaller area that is already in focus. The diffuser however, will go between the flash on the camera and the subject that you are shooting to (as the name states) diffuse the light. This way the light will still get through but it won't be as harsh.
3. Autofocus will be irrelevant and using a tripod won't be very helpful either. When doing Macro Photography, the subject will move (insects, flowers or leaves in the wind) and then there will be the process of adjusting and moving the tripod. It is better to just stabilize the camera by holding it at three contact points and manually focussing.
4. Use interesting angles!!! Whether that be hanging your head almost upside down or laying on the ground, think outside of the box.

Here is a picture from the article
 

First Day Introduction and Autumn Photography Article

Hello my name is Tabitha Sand. I am a Junior and a double major of Psychology and Sociology.I am hoping to get an internship with Child Protective Services next year to start a career with them. I enjoy traveling with my significant other Austin and reading. I work at a local coffee shop, which is fun at times. I don't have any pets only because "we can't get a dog until we own a house" as Austin says. I can not wait for the cooler temperatures and the leaves to start falling. 

https://www.nyip.edu/photo-articles/photography-tutorials/how-to-take-perfect-fall-photos

This article gave me a few tips and tricks to get less clunky shots of the season that I am most passionate about. One of the tips included making sure that when doing a reflection shot with a lake or pond, to check the weather and see if there will be any wind to reduce the possibility of ripples in the water. Though this may seem like an obvious thought, Half of the time I forget to check the wind before going out for a photoshoot. The article also recommended working during either early morning or late afternoon, which seems like a good idea. As a college student with a busy schedule, those are the few times when I have the most free time. The last tip that seemed extremely helpful that I had no knowledge of previously was to use a wide angle lens when trying to capture a wide landscape. In the past, I have only taken multiple shots instead of trying different a different lens (if there was access to one). I am interested in seeing how these tips will help me in my photography adventure this semester.