Milky Way season is here!

We made you a free cheat sheet with the best camera settings. Today's quick tip is brought to you by [Shutterstock](. Thanks to them, we're able to continue offering you free image downloads at StockSnap. Please consider their 30 day trial, it helps us out and you get [10 premium photos]( at no cost—not a bad deal. Milky Way Season is Here! Whether you're located in the Northern or Southern Hemisphere, the Milky Way galaxy is visible at this time of year and will be until around October. Here's a handy cheat sheet for capturing those nighttime shots: - Shoot in RAW and use Manual mode (M): To get the best image quality and post-processing flexibility, always shoot in RAW format. Next, flip your camera to manual mode for complete control over the following settings. - Aperture: Use the widest aperture available on your lens (e.g., f/1.4, f/2, or f/2.8) to capture as much light as possible. Also, a wide-angle lens will work best, such as a 14mm or 24mm. - Shutter speed: To avoid star trails due to the Earth's rotation, use the "500 Rule" to calculate your shutter speed. Divide 500 by your lens's focal length (let's say 24mm) to get the maximum exposure time in seconds before star trails become noticeable. For example: 500 / 24 = ~20 seconds. You can round down to 20 seconds for a sharper image. - ISO: Start with an ISO of 3200 or 6400. You may need to adjust this depending on the ambient light and your camera's noise performance. Higher ISO values will make the image brighter but may introduce more noise. - Focus: Set your lens to manual focus and focus at infinity. You may need to fine-tune the focus using the live view function and zooming in on a bright star or distant light source. One trick is to use the digital "zoom" feature if your camera has it while focusing on a star to get pinpoint sharpness. - White balance: Set the white balance to "Daylight" or use a custom Kelvin value around 3800-4200K. This can be fine-tuned later in post-processing. - Use a tripod: To ensure a sharp and stable image, use a sturdy tripod. - Enable mirror lockup or use the electronic shutter: This will reduce camera shake caused by the mirror's movement. - Use a remote shutter release or the camera's self-timer: This will help minimize camera shake during exposure. - Avoid city lights, as well as the moon: Perhaps the most challenging part of all this is finding dark skies! Try to get away from light pollution and wait for a moonless night. That's it! Happy photographing and if you found this useful, feel free to hit reply and let us know 👍 [milky way galaxy photo] [Share]( [Share]( [Tweet]( [Tweet]( [Forward to a friend]( [Forward to a friend]( If you want to end the awesome stream of photos and tips to your inbox, [Unsubscribe]( StockSnap, 18 Shipyard Dr, Hingham, MA 02043