Does there really need to be a reason, explanation or endgame in everything that we do? Perhaps not. We talk a little deep, then go into how to capture the Milky Way. If you're just here for the photography, skip the philosophy and jump directly to the Photography section.
'The Bifrost'
The Milky Way shot from a low bridge over the uMzimkhulu River, Underberg. May 2024.
PHILOSOPHY
When you look at the stars do you ever wonder what their purpose is? Why does the universe look the way it does? Why are we so mesmerised by it? Sure there are scientific explanations involving gasses and refraction of light and so on, but on a more philosophical level, why are we drawn toward images like this?
Is it purely for the aesthetic quality? That the colours, contrast and shapes look interesting to us? Or is it the technical prowess of the image? The use of composition, exposure, special photographic techniques, camera settings and the 'seeing of the image' in the moment. Or perhaps it is simply the depth of the unknown that mesmerises us. When you look up into the night sky in a place like the Drakensberg, untainted by air and light pollution, you see millions of stars. If you look carefully, and you know where to look, you can also see the feint haze that is the Milky Way. To the naked eye it looks nothing like what is seen in the image above, but it is there.
Do we really know anything at all?
In academic research, there is a comprehensive body of knowledge that helps you define how something that you want to prove or disprove can be carried out. It was only upon embarking on my doctoral proposal journey that the nature of knowledge became apparent to me. Or at the very least, that it pushed me to think about how I perceive reality. What is real? What is true? How can we know that those things we take as facts are in fact, facts. The conclusion I came to was that one's epistemology has a strong influence on the answers to such questions.
Let's take a step back. Philosophy is essentially thinking and interpreting the things that we think about. Sound insane right? But it is, and most often it is literally the thinking about thinking and not ever really getting to answer. Because, depending on a person's relative view, there is no one common answer that is absolutely correct. We have no way of knowing with 100% probability that something that we have 'proven' to be true is in fact the only way in which that phenomenon exists. No thanks to the fact that we invented a numerical system that has no end or beginning. All we as the human race do is pick a phenomenon and try to explain it. We then try to physically or otherwise (mathematically for example) prove it or hold that because it cannot be disproved at a given time, it can be accepted as a fact...for now. The easiest example is how Newtonian physics was believed to be the holy grail to explain gravity, until Einstein came along with his general theory of relativity which included the speed of light as a limitation to the speed at which gravity is able to act across the universe, whereas Newton believed that everything, everywhere, felt gravity all at once. ie. That gravity had infinite speed. Newton posed that mass was the source of all gravity whereas Albert showed that the source of gravity is energy, the likes of which include mass and gravity itself so ultimately gravity causes gravity.
Yet we base the majority of our modern engineering and science experiments on Newtonian physics. But how can we if Einstein proved some of it otherwise. Well...for what it's worth in the practical sense, Newton's Laws hold up enough of the time for practical use on Earth and are simpler to work with so it is correct enough to an acceptable degree for its purpose.
Another example is the behaviour of fluids. Now bear in mind I am really simplifying the theory here. Please don't scream at me for technicalities. Just trying to illustrate a point. Newton's law of viscosity basically says that a fluid's opposition to flow (ie. viscosity) is not affected by the force applied to it. Eg. A hammer driven into liquid water will always smash through it. However, there exist non-Newtonian fluids whose viscosity changes with applied force. If this sounds like the sort of advanced science you would not come across in your day-to-day, go take some cornstarch and mix it in water at the correct ratios. It makes a substance called 'ooblek'. Put your hand out and pour some into your palm. Liquid right? Now stick your finger in the contained that you had poured from. It should behave more like a solid that you're attempting to poke.
My point is that just because a law has been proven, it does not mean that its validity is permanent and absolute. When or if you begin to believe otherwise is influenced by one's philosophical worldview.
How does one build a philosophical worldview?
However one perceives reality comes down to a few terms used in the academic and philosophical world.
Epistemology -How do we truly know what we think we know? Are facts just out there waiting to be discovered, or is what is perceived to be fact a function of individual interpretation of reality? Perhaps facts and knowledge are purely a social construct for lack of a better way for the human mind to understand things.
Ontology - What is the nature of existence? Do we have free will, do our choices influence the direction of our lives or is everything predetermined by some other force?
Axiology -This is all about your intrinsic values. How do you decipher right from wrong? Is there even such a thing? What is good vs. bad? How do you interpret and apply morals? Are you guided by some (holy) book to decide what is a 'good' thing to do?
It is the overlap of the three that informs a philosophy on something. If one takes the time to try to answer some of these questions, and come to a summarised philosophical worldview for themself, it becomes easy to see that the very manner by which each person interprets reality informs every aspect of what they believe is real or not. We find that belief is at the centre of all of this, and that is a very individual thing, but we must be tolerant of the fact that it is unique to every single person. Thus, every person may have a different understanding of something and every person could potentially be 'right' but we may never truly know.
In that statement alone, my philosophical worldview is evident. You will find yours creep into every interpretation of reality that you have, or you may not depending on what yours is. In this lies a paradox of dependency, which we can pick apart until the cows come home, and may never find an answer to. Or would we? Once again that depends on your philosophical worldview. Or does it? 😅
My philosophical worldview
I believe that all of human knowledge is dynamic and uncertain to an infinitely small degree. We may have figured some stuff out but cannot be sure that it is the absolute discrete fact of the thing. We have no way of being sure with 100% probability. However, we use what we know works for enough cases that make it useful, until a better more useful theory or fact believed by enough people comes along. To me, there is ALWAYS the possibility of the otherwise in everything. Ontologically, I used to be very analytical but that has changed to a large degree in the last two years. That said I still choose not to concern myself with the existence of a God or other supreme beings. It may exist, it may not, I don't much care because I have not had enough reason to believe in its existence. I do believe that religion and 'God' as a higher power are human constructs to give us something to hold on to when we encounter things that we do not have a logical explanation for yet, if we ever may have them at all. As a metaphor perhaps the concept of 'God' exists, providing that explanation for the unknown, and I respect those who choose that path of belief. I just don't.
I think perhaps for many it is a need to know what came before, and what comes after the period of life. Again, I don't much care. I rocked up here one day without asking to be here, and I will leave (maybe, I don't know) someday and go where I don't know. So why bother about it while I am here and conscious of the things around me? I also think a lot of people fear death. I am not sure if it is a neurodivergent thing, but I don't. Really. So what if the part that we are aware of comes to an end? Sometimes (during depression) I lose all understanding of why people bother to fight through the struggles of life just to continue to exist. Even with so much in my life worth living for that I am cognizant of, the emotions driving the thoughts are not strong enough.
Axiologically, I don't prescribe to any holy books or rules. I believe in decision and consequence. A simple dichotomy as that. I make a decision based on what I know of the possible consequences at the time and accept them. The only caveat for me is that whatever my decision is, is guided the impact it could have on entities outside of my being. eg. If my decision has the potential to directly impact you negatively, it has the power to bias my decision-making process. I suppose in this sense a bit of the humanist and socialist in me is evident.
The search for meaning
So what does all this have to do with our search for meaning? Well, for me, it means that I don't waste my time trying to understand why anymore. Well not to a debilitating degree. Why-ever it is, it is, and I am just going to enjoy it for what I can see, taste, feel etc. in that moment. I spent so many years of my life, and ended up building a career on the need to understand why, in the logical and physical sense. It became exhausting, and I did not realise how much was going unnoticed around me.
When I look at the stars now, there is a feeling of wonder and intrigue, I don't care why. The feeling is there for whatever reasons they may be, I just enjoy them in the moment that they are. I relive that feeling every time I look back at an astro shot of them too. This is an indicator that my photography is doing what I had set out to achieve with it.
PHOTOGRAPHY
What you will need, (and what I used in brackets)
A camera (Nikon Z6II)
A lens - Typically with the widest aperture in the focal length for your framing of the shot that you can get. Let's be real though, we all don't just have the perfect lens for every situation lying around. I used the following lenses respectively each time I shot Astro:
Nikkor Z 40mm f/2
Nikkor Z 24-70mm F4S - Yes, a 'kit' lens and whose image was good enough for Getaway Magazine
Samyang 14mm F2.8 ED AS IF UMC [Note: manual focus - don't be put off. You don't need autofocus, especially for Astro. Mark the infinity focus point on the lens with a spot of white paint during the day so you have it ready for the night shot.]
A tripod - as sturdy as you can afford and a means to weigh it down. (MiVision MI3770; Manfrotto Element mkii)
A torch/headlamp/cellphone light, somewhat clear skies, warm clothes and snacks (see point below)
A gullible and willing assistant to carry all of the above and to sacrifice to the creatures that may be hiding in the dark around you (Leeanne - my wife)
Preparation
A clear night would be ideal. Being out somewhere with as little air and light pollution is necessary for the Milky Way shots, not as much for star trails. Be aware of the moon's anticipated position as well. If it is too close to the Milky Way in its current cycle there will be too much light from the moon itself and will blow out the image. You will need to pre-emptively check where the Milky Way is going to be on the night you're going to capture it, relative to the foreground as well. Cloud cover and rain can be hard to predict, if it happens unexpectedly, it is what it is. Take the opportunity to shoot something else rather than be fixated and disappointed with what you thought you were going to shoot on that trip. There is always something to be made of every situation. Sometimes the best images come out of the unplanned.
Consider using an app to make life easier. I use PhotoPills (who I am not affiliated with in any way) to confirm the position of the Milky Way and the do the NPF calculation for exposure time. More on this later. However, that can all be done manually. If you look up into the night sky and look carefully, you should be able to see a faint white haze in the shape of a linear tear in the sky. That's the Milky Way.
Astrophotography Tutorial - The Milky Way
The first time I tried to capture the Milky Way was about a year after starting in the world of photography. I did some research and YouTubing before going out on a freezing cold winter night in Clarens, Free State, South Africa with my assistant and the frogs by the dam for company.
The key questions you need to ask are:
How long can I expose before the stars appear to move?
Where is the Milky Way tonight?
Where is my infinity focus point on my lens?
Where is the moon relative to the Milky Way?
What am I going to put in the foreground?
I answer these as follows:
Note: I use an app called PhotoPills and sometimes another called the Photographers Ephemeris to predict the movement of celestial bodies. There are manual ways to do it, but for convenience's sake, I use the apps.
Use the '500 Rule' or NPF calculation.
'500 rule' - Take 500 and divide by the focal length of the lens you're using. The answer is the maximum exposure time you can use before the stars appear to trail. Eg. For my Samyang...500/14 = 36 therefore if you set exposure time to anything less than 36 seconds your stars stay sharp.
NPF Rule - NPF = (35 x aperture + 30 x pixel pitch) ÷ focal length = shutter speed in seconds, where Pixel Pitch = the camera sensor’s physical width in millimetres ÷ number of pixels in width x 1000 to measure it in microns. For my Samyang 16mm @F2.8 and on my Nikon Z6ii full frame 24MP sensor NPF = 18.48 Seconds
So two things are clear:
PhotoPills is worth the once-off fee of $10.99 if you're going to do astrophotography
The 500 rule is a hit or miss kind of thing
NB: The 500 rule fails with most modern cameras. It is far less accurate than NPF. It cannot account for your aperture, sensor size, pixel density and diffraction. It was designed for 35mm film stock. Some advise that the numerator can be varied to 600 or 400 depending on sensor size, others say you should minus 5 sec or 10 sec from the calculated time. As you can tell, it's rather hit or miss. You could do an exposure and check, then do another and iterate until the stars don't appear to move, but that's also a bit painful when you're freezing your backside off in the mountains.
2. To find the Milky Way I use the PhotoPills Night AR function during the day and see where it will end up, relative to the moon and with a nice foreground. The manual way would be to look up into the night sky and look for a feint white haze in the shape of a narrow fishmouth or as if a lion ripped a tear in the sky with its claw.
3. I use a far-off object to set the infinity focus point on the lens during the day, by manually focusing on the object and making a physical mark with paint, correction fluid, nail polish or what have you, that goes from the focus ring onto a static part of the lens body. When those marks line up I know I am at true infinity focus, which is often not where the infinity focus is marked on a lens from the factory.
My actual infinity focus point on this specific lens.
4. See No. 2 above or I am sure there are more complicated manual ways to predict this available online. The other option is to observe the night sky the previous night and estimate from there.
5. This is a decision best made by scouting during the day. If you have a powerful torch then you could do it at night but I like to rather scout the night before (for the exact position of the Milky Way at a specific time) and how the composition will look relative to the foreground.
Examples and What I Learned from Each Experience
My 1st Milky Way shot - Kiara Lodge, Clarens in March 2023
I honestly feel I made a complete hash of it but at the time it was amazing to me. The foreground was a mess, it did not look right at all, so I did a composite of another foreground from the same area overlooking the dam, but with a different cliff face. To this day we still say that the cliff looked like the side view of a piece of steak. I don't like compositing but in astro sometimes to get a well-exposed foreground you have to do it. In this case, it just looked wrong, it did not fit the scene at all. Oh well, this is how we learn!
The widest aperture lens I had at the time was the Nikon Z 40mm F2 and that is what I had used. I was still caught in the hype of 'needing' a wide aperture wide angle lens to be able to do Astro. While it is preferred I don't think it is the be-all and end-all as you will see in my next image. Oh, and I had not learned the infinity focus marking trick yet!
My first Astro image before compositing
'Starry Starry Night'
The final composite image. Too many bad characteristics in this image to mention, but it's never a waste of time. Much was learned.
The Unexpected One
Champaign Valley Sports Resort, Drakensberg.
May 2023
It was freezing cold and I was sick as a dog. I had given up all hope of doing any Astro on this trip, but on the last night there I decided not to mission too far and take some shots anyway with whatever lens was on the camera and in my pyjamas no less.
I stood there just next to our cottage, with the Nikon Z 24-70mm F4 kit lens on. Pointed to the sky and accepted the surrounding cottages in the foreground.
At some point, I looked up with my headlamp to find 100 shiny dots in front of me. I almost added to the Springbok droppings on the ground. It was a herd of them munching away in the dark. If you look carefully you can see them in front of the cottage.
This image later became a monthly winner in the Getaway Magazine Getaway Gallery competitions for 2023/2024. It is published in the September 2023 issue of the magazine.
'Milky Way Over Champagne Valley'
The Bifrost
Underberg, near Lake Naverone. May 2024.
Named after the famed bridge in Norse mythology, The Bifrost is the shimmering multicoloured gateway between Asgard and Midgard (earth) or Heaven and Earth. The likes of Odin and Thor would use the power of the Bifrost to traverse lightyears in seconds if you prefer the Marvel adaption of the myth.
It was the reflection of the Milky Way in the uMzimkhulu River that drew my mind to the likeness of The Bifrost.
Aside from being the Astro image I am most proud of to date, this one is especially important to me because it was a single shot. I used the Nikon Z6ii with the Samyang 14mm F2.8 fully open at ISO 8000 and exposed for 15 seconds. I must have taken 10 exposures at the most with different ISO settings and slight tweaks to the camera position to get my final composition and preferred ISO. It was pitch dark and I did not have a powerful enough light with me, so I took a shot, checked it on the viewfinder, made an adjustment to the tripod position and shot again. Within the 25 minutes that we were out there, I got the image you see below.
It is a single shot. No compositing. I did however remove a distracting electrical pole and lines in post-processing. The land around the river mirrored the shape of the hills, the river winds downstream leading you to the horizon, and the white glow on the horizon created the feel of the Milky Way rising from behind the mountains.
'The Bifrost'
With that, I will end my waffling about astrophotography. If you have any questions please feel free to reach out to me. I am always keen for a mission, so if you ever want to do a workshop or astrophotography getaway sometime, that could be cool too. I am not an expert, but I think there is no better way to learn than to learn together.
I have recently attempted Star Trails for the first time, maybe a future article on that could be in the pipeline.
Until next time...
Neo
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