Trona Pinnacles - twilight Milky Way

Here is the twilight Milky Way shot from Trona during this month’s new moon. Caught 2 shooting stars in 1 frame. As a general note, you can pull off a good MW shot in Feb if you are ready to shoot about 1.5 hours before sunrise right in that twilight time period before the sun starts washing out the stars. I’ve shared a few tips in the past for astrophotography but here are some good ones to remember. 1: The darker the area the better. Light pollution severely washes out the night sky. 2: Learn how to focus in the dark either using live view manual focusing or by a focus assist high powered flashlight. 3: Use the fastest lens you have, i.e. something that can open to f/2.8 or more. 4: Keep your shutter speed in line with the rule of 500 (some use less) where you take 500 / your full frame focal length equivalent in mm. So a 20mm on a full frame would be 500/20 = 25 secs max. I personally use 15 secs max but my lens opens to f/1.8. 5: Utilize programs such as stellarium to plan the direction of the MW to pre-visualize your shots before you get out in the field. 6: Practice, make mistakes, learn, and repeat.

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