This is because the stars’ movement is relatively faster when your perspective is tighter. This means 35.7 seconds is your maximum advised exposure length.įor that same calculation again, this time for a 24mm lens, the result is 20 seconds. You divide 500 by the effective focal length of your lens.įor example, 500 divided by 14mm would be 35.7. The 500 Rule calculates the longest exposure time possible for Milky Way photography before the movement of stars starts to show. And those sharp dots of detail will look like soft smudges.įortunately, there’s a very easy way to work this out with a quick calculation involving your focal length. Set too long of a time, and the stars will start to move in the sky. But there’s a very specific limit to how long you can expose photos of the stars. We can set almost limitless exposures on our cameras. So, the shutter speed should be the longest possible. The aperture you choose for Milky Way photography is the widest possible. And it provides enough depth of field to get the foreground in relative focus. It’s wide enough to allow plenty of light into the lens while. If you’re taking a photo with some foreground interest, such as the tree in the image below, then f/2.8 is the magic spot. This allows the most light into the lens and a shorter exposure duration. The question isn’t, “Will everything be in focus?” It’s, “Will I have enough light for my exposure?” After all, we capture photos of the stars during the darkest nights of the month.įor Milky Way photography, I recommend shooting at your widest aperture settings-f/2.8, for example. One luxury of focusing on a single point of interest millions of miles away is that you don’t need to think about the depth of field even if you shoot at f/1.2. If you want to get the best image of the Milky Way possible, set the exposure for the sky. When you start adding foreground interest, it can be tempting to compromise on exposure to suit both parts of the photo. Milky Way Photography Settings: Exposureīefore we start, I want to clarify one thing-always set exposure based on the sky, not the foreground.
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