Planning for Milky Way photography

Capturing good pictures of the Milky Way in Florida can be quite a challenge. Rain, clouds, fog, insects, and bright moonlight are a part of life here. Did I mention snakes? Alligators? Lighthouse ghosts? “Area X”?

This year I had made several attempts to frame good shots with the bright galactic core near terrestrial objects, without much success. As the season progresses the Milky Way gradually moves to the west and the galactic core moves to the south. With the passing of the autumnal equinox in September, it looked like I would not get good images this year.
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The lighthouse and Milky Way at moonrise.

When I photograph the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge lighthouse and the Milky Way I try to avoid using electronic flash or “light painting” with a flashlight to make the lighthouse and trees more visible.

I used a flashlight in my early Milky Way photos but once during post-processing I noticed there was an owl atop of the lighthouse and decided to quit using artificial lights at night. The last thing I want to do is blind or disturb the wildlife.

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Improve terrestrial milky way photos using image stacking

Photos of the milky way are more interesting if there is some kind of terrestrial object in the foreground to indicate the location.

Lighthouses make great foreground objects not only because they show the location of the photo but the idea of this beacon shining over the vast ocean and the vastness of space is very compelling.
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