Planning the Perfect Milky Way Photograph
A Practical Field Guide to Landscape Astrophotography
"Night on the Savanna"
From Masaai Mara, Kenya, February 2023.
Introduction
Landscape astrophotography has fascinated me for well over a decade. Like many photographers, I was initially drawn to the spectacle of the Milky Way itself - the idea of capturing something so vast and seemingly unreachable. Over time, however, I realised that the photographs I valued most were rarely the ones with the brightest stars or the highest ISO. They were the images where the landscape and the night sky came together to tell a single story.
That shift changed the way I approach astrophotography.
Today, I spend far more time planning than I do adjusting camera settings. I think about moon phases, weather forecasts, foregrounds and composition long before I mount my camera on a tripod. More often than not, the success of a night photography session has already been decided before darkness falls.
This guide is built around that philosophy.
Rather than focusing on camera settings alone, we'll explore the complete process of planning and creating a successful Milky Way photograph - from understanding the movement of the night sky and choosing the right location to composing the image, selecting appropriate equipment and avoiding some of the most common mistakes photographers make.
Although many of the examples are drawn from landscape photography, the principles discussed here apply whether you're photographing along the Norwegian coastline, beneath the mountains of the Alps or under the remarkably dark skies of Namibia. Good astrophotography is built on the same foundations regardless of where you are.
Throughout this guide I've drawn on my own experience as a landscape photographer and astrophotographer. Over the past decade I`ve photographed the Milky Way in environments rangning from the Norwegian coastline to the Italian Alps and the African savannah. I am also relying on educational material from photographers whose work I respect, astronomy resources and published reference material. Wherever practical recommendations are based on specific sources rather than my own experience, those sources are acknowledged throughout the text.
My hope is that this guide will help you spend less time wondering which settings to use and more time experiencing the quiet moments that make night photography so rewarding. Because in the end, the best Milky Way photographs are rarely created by chance. They're created through careful preparation, patience and a willingness to let the landscape surprise you.
"Majestic Sights"
Olde Mountains, The Dolomites, Italy
October 2022
This photograph was never really about the Milky Way.
It was about waiting for everything to come together: the last traces of twilight, a clear autumn sky, the position of the Galactic Core and a foreground that could support the night sky rather than compete with it.
By the time I pressed the shutter, most of the important decisions had already been made. The image wasn't created by chance. It was the result of careful planning and patience.
That philosophy forms the foundation of this guide.
1. Why Planning Matters More Than Camera Settings
Ask a group of photographers what makes a great Milky Way photograph, and you'll probably hear a long list of camera settings. Wide-angle lenses. Fast apertures. High ISO values. Exposure times. Focus techniques.
All of those things matter.
But they're rarely what separates a successful night photograph from a disappointing one. Over the years I've realised that my best astrophotography sessions were decided long before I mounted the camera on a tripod. They were the evenings where I'd already thought about the moon phase, checked the weather forecast, explored possible foregrounds and knew where the Milky Way would appear in relation to the landscape. By the time darkness arrived, most of the important decisions had already been made.
The opposite has also been true.
Some of my most frustrating nights have had nothing to do with camera settings. I've arrived too late to explore a location properly, discovered that the Milky Way wasn't where I expected it to be, or realised that the moon was brighter than I had anticipated. No amount of technical knowledge can compensate for poor planning.
Landscape astrophotography is, perhaps more than any other genre of photography, an exercise in preparation.
Unlike wildlife or street photography, there is very little left to chance. The movement of the stars is predictable. The moon follows a known cycle. Sunrise, sunset and astronomical twilight can all be calculated months in advance. Modern planning tools allow us to know exactly where the Galactic Core will appear at any given location and time. The challenge is rarely a lack of information. More often, it's knowing how to use that information effectively.
In Practice
Before thinking about camera settings, ask yourself four simple questions:
• Will the Galactic Core be visible?
• What phase is the Moon in, and how will it affect the scene?
• What foreground will support the composition?
• What are the expected weather conditions?
If you can answer those questions before leaving home, you've already solved many of the problems photographers often try to fix in the field.
One of the most common misconceptions about astrophotography is that the camera is the limiting factor. Modern cameras have become remarkably capable, and even mid-range equipment is capable of producing outstanding night photographs when used well. More often than not, the difference between a memorable image and an ordinary one comes down to planning, observation and patience rather than expensive equipment.
This philosophy forms the foundation of the entire guide.
In the chapters that follow, we'll look at each part of the planning process in detail. From understanding the movement of the night sky and choosing the right foreground to selecting camera settings and working efficiently in the field. My goal isn't simply to help you photograph the Milky Way. It's to help you arrive at a location with the confidence that you've given yourself the very best chance of creating the image you have in mind.
2. Understanding the Milky Way
Before planning a night photography session, it helps to understand what you're actually photographing. Many photographers use the term Milky Way as if it refers to a single object in the sky. In reality, the Milky Way is our home galaxy - a vast collection of hundreds of billions of stars, gas and dust stretching across more than 100,000 light-years. Because we observe the Milky Way from inside the galaxy, it appears as a luminous band stretching across the night sky rather than a spiral shape often shown in astronomy books.
For landscape photographers, however, one particular region receives far more attention than any other: the Galactic Core.
This bright, colourful section near the centre of the Milky Way contains dense star fields, dark dust lanes and glowing nebulae that create the dramatic structures seen in many landscape astrophotographs. When photographers talk about "shooting the Milky Way", this is usually the part they are referring to.
Figure 1:The Milky Way and the Galactic Core
The Milky Way stretches across the entire night sky, but landscape photographers usually compose their images around the Galactic Core.
This region contains the brightest star clouds and the most prominent dark dust lanes, making it the most visually striking part of our galaxy.
The position of the galactic core in the night sky changes throughout the year as Earth orbits the Sun. Because of that orbit, different parts of the night sky become visible during different seasons. In the northern hemisphere, the Galactic Core is typically visible from late winter until early autumn, while the best opportunities for photography usually occur between April and August. During winter, it remains below the horizon during the night, making it impossible to photograph regardless of camera settings.
Understanding this seasonal movement is one of the first steps in successful planning.
Did You Know?
The light from many of the stars visible in a Milky Way photograph began its journey long before humans invented the camera. Some has travelled thousands of years before reaching your sensor.
For photographers travelling between hemispheres, another important difference becomes apparent. In the southern hemisphere, the Galactic Core climbs much higher above the horizon than it does in most parts of Europe or North America. This provides longer shooting windows and allows photographers to capture the Milky Way in positions that are simply impossible from northern latitudes. It is one of the reasons destinations such as Namibia, Chile and New Zealand have become so popular among astrophotographers.
Figure 2.The same galaxy, seen from different latitudes
These pictures show the position of the Galactic Core at about the same time of year from southern Norway (left) and Namibia (right). The lower latitude in Namibia allows the Galactic Core to climb much higher above the horizon, providing greater compositional freedom and a longer period of darkness in which to photograph it.Notice how the Milky Way rises almost vertically in Norway, while the Galactic Core climbs much higher across the sky in Namibia.
Shot in Southern Norway in August
Photo: Frank Otto Pedersen
Shot in Namibia in July
Photo: Laura Oppelt
Fortunately, you don't need to memorise star charts to take advantage of this knowledge. Planning tools such as PhotoPills and Stellarium calculate the exact position of the Milky Way for any location and date. Understanding the basic movement of the night sky simply helps you use these tools with greater confidence.
In the next chapters we'll use PhotoPills to plan a complete Milky Way shoot. From choosing a date to placing the Galactic Core exactly where you want it in the composition.
3. Planning Your Milky Way Shoot
Tre Cime di Lavaredo and the Milky Way. Shot on July 1, 2016. Carefully planned before arrival.
How do you know exactly where the Milky Way will appear?
One common question I get on workshops is whether photographing the Milky Way is mostly luck.
The short answer is no.
Images like the one above are planned long before I leave home. Today, tools such as PhotoPills allow us to predict exactly where the Galactic Core will appear, how high it will climb, and when darkness and moonlight create the best conditions for photography.
In this chapter we'll use PhotoPills to plan a Milky Way photograph from start to finish.
Meet the Planner
At first glance, the Planner can seem overwhelming. Coloured lines, circles, icons and graphs all compete for your attention. The good news is that you don't need to understand everything to start planning successful Milky Way photographs.
Throughout this guide, we'll focus on just a handful of features that you'll use again and again. Once you understand these, the rest of PhotoPills becomes much easier to navigate.
Everything starts with one simple element:
The red pin
Figure 3: The Planner in PhotoPills
The red pin marks the location where your camera will be placed.
The red pin tells PhotoPills where you're planning to photograph. Combined with the selected date and time, the app can calculate the position of the Sun, Moon and Milky Way for that exact location. Move it to a mountain pass in the Dolomites, a beach in Norway or a desert in Namibia, and the app instantly recalculates the position of the Sun, Moon and Milky Way for that exact location.
This means you can plan a photograph weeks or even months before leaving home. Instead of arriving and hoping the Milky Way is in the right place, you already know where it will appear.
For that reason, placing the pin accurately is always the first step when planning a Milky Way photograph.
Photography Tip
Zoom in on the map before placing the pin. A difference of just a few hundred metres can noticeably change the relationship between the Milky Way and your foreground.
Choosing the Date and Time Result in the field
The Milky Way
Figure 4. Tre Cime di Lavaredo, Italy
Planned in PhotoPills using the date and time shown on the left (1 July 2016, 00:04). The Galactic Core appears directly above the peaks, exactly as predicted.
Changing the Date
Tap "More" and select "Date". Leave "Time zone" set to Autodetect.
Once you've chosen your location, the next step is deciding when to photograph.
PhotoPills calculates the position of the Sun, Moon and Milky Way from three pieces of information: your location, the date and the time. Change either the date or the time, and the sky updates instantly. For this example, I've set the Planner to 1 July 2016 at 00:04, matching the conditions used for the photograph at Tre Cime di Lavaredo.
Even if you return to the same viewpoint, the Milky Way will appear in a different position as the the Earth orbits the Sun. Once you've chosen the right date, adjusting the time lets you to place the Galactic Core exactly where you want it within the composition.
Visibility
Once you've chosen the date and time, there's one more thing to check before heading into the field: Visibility GC.
This panel tells you exactly when the Galactic Core is above the horizon. In this example, it becomes visible at 23:55 and remains above the horizon until 02:34. Remember that visibility doesn't necessarily mean ideal conditions. When the Galactic Core first appears, it is still low above the horizon. Waiting another hour often places it higher in the sky, giving a cleaner view and more flexibility when composing your photograph.
Visibility also depends on your latitude. Here in southern Norway, the Galactic Core never rises high above the horizon, giving us only a very limited opportunity to photograph it. The farther south you travel, the longer it remains visible and the higher it climbs in the sky.
Photography Tip
Choose the date first, then fine-tune the time. The date determines the seasonal position of the Milky Way, while the time determines where it will be at that particular moment during the night.
Direction Lines
Now that we have that covered, t's time to answer another important question:
Where will the Milky Way actually appear?
This is where the direction lines become invaluable.
The dotted white line represents the Milky Way as it will appear in the sky from your chosen location. As you move the timeline forward or backward, the line rotates across the map, allowing you to see exactly how the Milky Way will be oriented at any given time.
This is particularly useful when deciding what type of photograph you want to create. During spring and early summer in the Northern Hemisphere, the Milky Way forms a broad arch across the sky, making it ideal for panoramic images.
As the season progresses, the Milky Way gradually rotates until it rises diagonally across the sky. This orientation often works better when photographing the Galactic Core above a foreground subject, as in the Tre Cime example shown earlier.
Understanding how the Milky Way changes orientation throughout the season makes it much easier to choose both the right date and the right composition.
Photography Tip
Think about your composition before choosing your shooting date.
If your goal is a full Milky Way panorama, plan your trip during spring or early summer. For a more upright Milky Way rising above your foreground, later summer often provides better opportunities.
4. Keeping it Real
Before we move on to composition, I'd like to share one principle that guides all of my astrophotography.
Everything in this guide is based on photographing the night sky as it actually appears.
Today's software makes it easy to replace the sky, move the Milky Way, or combine photographs taken at different locations or even in different hemispheres. While there's nothing wrong with creating digital art, that isn't what this guide is about.
Instead, we'll use PhotoPills to find the moments when the landscape and the night sky naturally come together. It often requires more planning - and sometimes more patience - but I believe the result is far more rewarding.
For me, the satisfaction comes from knowing that what you see in the final image is a real moment. The Milky Way was genuinely there, exactly where the photograph shows it.
The image on the left is a good example of this approach. I photographed it in mid-August 2017 after scouting the location several times throughout the summer. Eventually I found an angle where the Milky Way would rise directly behind the lighthouse.
To this day it remains my best-selling photograph.
Oksøy Lighthouse, Norway.
Planned months in advance so the Milky Way would rise directly behind the lighthouse.
Bringing It All Together
By now, you know the four pieces of information I look at before planning every Milky Way photograph:
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Approximately where will my camera stand?
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Will the Galactic Core be visible?
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When will it appear?
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In which direction will the Milky Way stretch across the sky?
Once those questions are answered, the planning becomes much less about the app itself and much more about photography. The next step is choosing a composition that works with the sky rather than against it.
5. Composition
Planning tells you where the Milky Way will appear. Composition determines whether that information becomes a compelling photograph. One of the most common misconceptions about landscape astrophotography is that the Milky Way itself is the subject. In reality, the night sky is only one part of the composition. The landscape remains just as important as it is during the day, and the strongest images are usually those where neither element dominates the other.
When I arrive at a location, I rarely begin by looking at the sky. Instead, I spend time exploring the foreground. I look for shapes, leading lines and visual balance, asking myself how the Milky Way might eventually interact with the landscape rather than simply appear above it.
A question I often ask myself is whether the photograph would still work without the stars. If the answer is no, then adding the Milky Way rarely solves the problem. The night sky can strengthen a composition, but it cannot rescue a weak foreground.
Finding the Relationship
The most successful Milky Way photographs are rarely about the sky alone. Instead, they tell the story of a relationship between the landscape and the stars.
When planning a composition, I don't ask myself, "Where can I fit the Milky Way?" Instead, I ask, "How can the Milky Way strengthen this landscape?" That small change in perspective often leads to a very different photograph.
Figure 6. From Southern Norway, August 2021
Finding the Relationship
A successful Milky Way photograph isn't simply about placing the Galactic Core somewhere in the sky. It's about finding a relationship between the landscape and the stars.
In this scene, I wasn't looking for the largest foreground element. Instead, I was drawn to the small white flowers growing between the rocks. They provide a natural starting point for the eye before it travels through the rocky foreground and continues upwards into the Milky Way.
The dark rocks create weight and texture, while the flowers introduce a delicate contrast that balances the image. The Milky Way isn't competing with the foreground - it completes it.
When planning a composition, I often ask myself a simple question:
- If the sky disappeared, would the landscape still be worth photographing?
If the answer is yes, there's a good chance the final image will feel balanced once the night sky is added naturally above it.
Sometimes the answer is obvious. The Milky Way may rise behind a lighthouse, frame a mountain peak, or follow the curve of a valley. At other times the relationship is much more subtle. A diagonal band of stars can echo the shape of a ridgeline, balance the weight of a foreground subject, or simply lead the viewer's eye deeper into the scene.
This is where PhotoPills becomes more than a planning tool. Rather than forcing the landscape to fit the sky, it allows you to explore different dates and times until the sky naturally complements the composition you already have in mind.
I've often found that moving the camera only a few metres, changing my focal length, or waiting another thirty minutes creates a much stronger connection between the landscape and the Milky Way. Those small adjustments are often the difference between a photograph where the sky feels added on, and one where every element belongs together.
Ultimately, I don't want people to notice the Milky Way first. I want them to experience the photograph as a whole, with the landscape and the night sky supporting one another rather than competing for attention.
Figure 7. From Southern Norway, August 2021
22:45 - The composition is there, but the Milky Way has not yet reached the right position.
00:15 - About 90 minutes later, the Earth's rotation has moved the Galactic Core into the composition.
Waiting for the Right Moment
One misconceptions about Milky Way photography is that the sky somehow has to fit the landscape immediately.
When I arrived at this location, the composition was already there, but the Milky Way wasn't. The Galactic Core was still hidden behind the rocks, leaving the scene without the balance I was looking for.
Instead of searching for another foreground or creating the composition later in software, I simply waited.
As the Earth rotated, the Milky Way gradually climbed into position until it aligned naturally with the rock formations. Nothing in the landscape changed. Only time did.
This is often one of the most overlooked aspects of landscape astrophotography. Sometimes the best compositional decision isn't to move the camera - it's to stay exactly where you are.
Ultimately, I don't want people to notice the Milky Way first. I want them to experience the photograph as a whole, with the landscape and the night sky supporting one another rather than competing for attention.
Beyond the Rules
Composition is one of the most discussed subjects in photography. Entire books have been written about the Rule of Thirds, leading lines, visual weight, triangles and countless other principles. Many of these ideas are valuable, especially when you're learning to see. They encourage you to pay attention to how different elements relate to one another within the frame.
Over the years, however, I've found myself thinking less and less about rules. Not because they are wrong, but because they are no longer where my compositions begin.
Instead, I usually ask myself a much simpler question.
What am I actually photographing?
Sometimes it's a lone tree. Sometimes it's a dramatic rock formation, a patch of flowers growing between the stones, or simply the quiet relationship between the landscape and the night sky. Once I've identified what truly interests me, the composition begins to form around that idea. Everything else is there to support it rather than compete with it.
As I've spent more time in the landscape, this process has become increasingly intuitive. I rarely stand there consciously analysing where every element should be placed. Instead, I move around the scene, adjust the tripod a little, perhaps wait for the sky to change, until something suddenly feels balanced. It's difficult to explain exactly why. The image simply feels right.
I suspect that's something experience teaches better than any rulebook. The more time you spend observing landscapes, the more your eye begins to recognise balance without needing to measure it. You start responding less to diagrams and more to relationships - between foreground and background, between light and shadow, between the landscape and the sky above it.
For me, that's ultimately what composition is about. Not arranging objects according to a formula, but creating an image in which every element belongs. When the landscape, the Milky Way and the feeling that first drew me to the scene all point in the same direction, the photograph feels complete.
6. Working in the Field
Romsdalen, 2019
One thing I've learned over the years is that the best part of a Milky Way photography session rarely begins after dark. If everything goes according to plan, most of the important decisions have already been made before the Galactic Core even appears. By then, I've usually explored the location, settled on a composition, photographed the foreground if the light was right, checked my focus and decided exactly where the camera will stand. I don't always manage it, but that's what I aim for.
That approach has changed the way I experience a night in the field. Instead of rushing around in the dark looking for compositions, I can concentrate on photographing. As the sky gradually changes, my attention shifts from finding the image to recognising the moment when everything comes together.
Of course, nature doesn't always cooperate. A cloud bank may appear on the horizon, the wind may pick up or the light may be different from what I expected. Sometimes the composition I planned simply doesn't work once I'm standing there. That's part of landscape photography. Planning gives me a starting point, but experience teaches me when to adapt and when it's better to wait.
I've also found that every stage of the evening has its own purpose. The hours before sunset are often spent exploring the landscape and testing compositions. Blue hour is usually the best time to photograph the foreground. Once darkness arrives, there is surprisingly little left to do except wait for the sky to move into the position I've already planned. When the Milky Way finally reaches the place I've been waiting for, I'm ready to photograph it immediately rather than trying to solve technical problems in the dark.
The following sections describe the workflow I've gradually developed over more than a decade of photographing the night sky. It's not the only way to work, but it has consistently helped me return home with stronger images—and enjoy the process a great deal more.
Field Checklist
Before heading into the field, make sure you have:
Checked the moon phase
Planned the Milky Way in Photo Pills
Packed spare batteries
Download offline maps
Brought a headlamp
Scouted the location before sunset