Finally got a good night shot of the Milky Way after 4 cloudy weeks in a row

I've been trying to capture the Milky Way from my backyard in Tucson since early March and every single night was either clouds or a bright moon. Last Thursday I checked the forecast around 10 PM and saw it was clear with zero humidity predicted. I ran out with my old DSLR and tripod, dialed in the settings from memory, and actually got a clean shot with the core visible before 2 AM. The amount of stars that popped out made me realize I'd been way too impatient about waiting for perfect conditions. Anyone else have one of those nights where everything just clicked after a long dry spell?

2 comments

2 Comments

jamie_clark4d ago

Wait you just ran out at 10 PM with settings from memory and crushed it like that? That's insane honestly I forget half my settings if I'm not prepped for a shoot haha

alice8084d agoRising Star

Right, the "forget half my settings" thing is so real. I've been there where I had to dig through my camera menu in the dark (looked like a total mess). But I think once you shoot the same type of thing enough, you kinda build muscle memory for your go-to settings. Like, for me, it's always ISO 1600 with a wide open aperture and a shutter speed that's just slow enough to get light but not get blurry. The panic of forgetting something actually helps me lock it in my brain, honestly.