Milky Way question

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C. Hand

Senior Member
OK, so I already had one failed attempt of taking Milky Way pictures. My question is kind of a no brainier, but I have to ask. I live on the north west site of Oklahoma City, so when I go to DarkSky.com to look for a good place to shoot the closest and darkest is further North west, but since the the Milky Way center appears South East I would be taking pictures into the Oklahoma City direction, so that would cause a orange glow right? so the question is that just because I am in a place that is "DARK" I still have to take into consideration that I would be shooting back towards Oklahoma City right?

It would save me about two hours driving if this was not the case.

My first attempt I ran into fog and thought I was out of the fog, but when I got home and processed the pictures the fog was actually pretty bad.

Thanks
 
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wornish

Senior Member
You are right shooting back towards the city will mean some glow low down even in a dark sky location unless you are so far away that its gone well below the horizon.
 
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WayneF

Senior Member
Maybe you meant darkskyfinder.com ?

I'm inclined to think two hours should be good for Oklahoma City. Or you could drive SE, towards Mena AR, and then worry about Texarkana :) (Texarkana seems no problem there).

Dallas is larger, and it has an astronomy club with a dark site about halfway between Durant and Atoka OK. It is 1.5 hours from Dallas, and Durant is the problem, population 15000, about 15 miles, and it makes a noticeable big dome in the low sky. But the vast sky is fine. But since Durant and Dallas are the same direction, I wonder about if maybe Durant is hiding a little from Dallas? :)

But the problem may be smaller towns much closer. If only a few miles away, the sky can still be dark, but there can be a light dome on the horizon.
 
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Don Kuykendall_RIP

RIP :(
i live in the Eastern half of the US and there is no dark sky in this half of the country. I ended up going to Moab, UT and shooting the milky way.

That is only a 13 hour drive but if you want really good milky way photos that is where you need to go.
 
cwgrizz

cwgrizz

Senior Member
Challenge Team
Don Kuykendall said:
That is only a 13 hour drive but if you want really good milky way photos that is where you need to go.
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Thirteen hour drive is for the OP and not you, right Don? If it is for you, I want to know what you are driving and what route you are taking. Ha!
 
D

Don Kuykendall_RIP

RIP :(
cwgrizz said:
Thirteen hour drive is for the OP and not you, right Don? If it is for you, I want to know what you are driving and what route you are taking. Ha!
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I flew into Las Vegas and rented a car. shot the first Milky Way shot in Zion Canyon.
September 03, 2015 - 16 mm - ISO 3200 - 15.0 sec at f - 2.8 - -_ NIKON D7100 16 mm 15.0 sec at f.jpg
 
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Whiskeyman

Senior Member
Well, I can now add getting kicked out of a National Park to my list of life achievements!! Our local photo club had a caravan out to the Gulf Islands National Seashore last night, and immediately after we arrived in the parking lot, were met by a Park Ranger who wanted to know what we were doing. It sort of threw him off guard that we were a bunch of old fogies with camera gear, and he admitted that he expected us to be a bunch of partiers instead. Although our intentions were benign, we did have to leave since the park was "Closed for the evening." Apparently, the case due to miscreants vandalizing the property after hours lately.

Anyway, we packed up our gear as needed and proceeded to an area just outside the National Seashore and spent about three hours shooting the Milky Way in-between clouds drifting by and with much more ambient light in the background. Since it was my first attempt at MW photography, I had a lot of culls, and little to satisfy me from last night. It was, however, enough to get me to keep coming back for more.

June 11 - Navarre Beach Milky Way-506.jpg


June 11 - Navarre Beach Milky Way-601.jpg

And we didn't see Sasquatch on the beach!!;)

WM
 
D

Don Kuykendall_RIP

RIP :(
Whiskeyman said:
Well, I can now add getting kicked out of a National Park to my list of life achievements!! Our local photo club had a caravan out to the Gulf Islands National Seashore last night, and immediately after we arrived in the parking lot, were met by a Park Ranger who wanted to know what we were doing. It sort of threw him off guard that we were a bunch of old fogies with camera gear, and he admitted that he expected us to be a bunch of partiers instead. Although our intentions were benign, we did have to leave since the park was "Closed for the evening." Apparently, the case due to miscreants vandalizing the property after hours lately.

Anyway, we packed up our gear as needed and proceeded to an area just outside the National Seashore and spent about three hours shooting the Milky Way in-between clouds drifting by and with much more ambient light in the background. Since it was my first attempt at MW photography, I had a lot of culls, and little to satisfy me from last night. It was, however, enough to get me to keep coming back for more.

View attachment 215204


View attachment 215205

And we didn't see Sasquatch on the beach!!;)

WM
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Those are quite good. I have not gone out with my D750 to shoot the Milky Way yet. I may have to go back to the beach and try it there.
 
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Whiskeyman

Senior Member
Don Kuykendall said:
Those are quite good. I have not gone out with my D750 to shoot the Milky Way yet. I may have to go back to the beach and try it there.
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Thank you, Don. I really want to go back and do this over again, and hopefully I'll have a 20mm lens to do so eventually. Let me know in advance if you're coming this way, and I'll try to meet you.

One thing about this, is that I'm still recovering from the late night. (I got home at about 3 AM, and got to sleep about 4:30. Bedtime tonight should arrive early!)

WM
 
D

Don Kuykendall_RIP

RIP :(
Whiskeyman said:
Thank you, Don. I really want to go back and do this over again, and hopefully I'll have a 20mm lens to do so eventually. Let me know in advance if you're coming this way, and I'll try to meet you.

One thing about this, is that I'm still recovering from the late night. (I got home at about 3 AM, and got to sleep about 4:30. Bedtime tonight should arrive early!)

WM
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Is this on the Mississippi Gulf coast?
 
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Whiskeyman

Senior Member
Don Kuykendall said:
That is only a 3 hour drive from home. Not to bad
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It's a whole lot closer than Zion or Great Basin National Parks, but it's not nearly as dark either. But the water's much closer. ;) I had an hour's worth of driving after I left, and believe me I wouldn't have wanted more than that. In fact, if the hotel weren't charging in-season rates, and they'd actually had some vacancies, I'd have gotten hotel room for the night.

I just need to find a way to legally get into the national park after dark, as it had much less artificial light than where we ended up.

WM
 
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