I recently found a new spot that immediately looked like it would be a potential location for shooting the Milky Way, and after I successfully realized the vision I had last night, I decided to write a blog post about the steps I typically follow and the things I watch out for.

I know I am not unique in wanting to have unique interpretations of known locations or finding new locations that I have not seen anyone take pictures of before, have a vision for the outcome I’d like to achieve and then go about doing so.

I have hiked the Middlebrun / Finlay Bay trail in the Sleeping Giant Provincial Park countless times, and even though it is a beautiful and easily accessible destination, I always struggled to take photos there that I felt were keepers, primarily because I felt nothing there stood out. This changed about a month ago when I decided to go past a specific point I always stopped at and see what the landscape looked like.

The photo above shows the striking rock I found that I felt was a good candidate for a strong focal point for a Milky Way or any other dramatic landscape photo or panorama. It is a short distance from the sandy beach at Middlebrun Bay.

I started visualizing the Milky Way arc stretching over the horizon above the rock with the Core rising on the right side, preferably over the island in the distance. I know if this is at all possible in that specific direction then this has to be in the early spring when the Milky Way is low in the sky, so to say, and ideal for arc panoramas.

I looked this up on Photopills, and it turned out that this is indeed possible. For the plan to work, I needed the following to happen:

Clear sky without clouds or haze, this is obvious because otherwise you have no visibility
Moonless night, this one is also obvious because moonlight or any other light pollution can make it very difficult to get good contrast
Low wind speed, this is important only if there are trees or other landscape features that will have severe motion blur if it is windy, unless this is a feature you creatively want in your photo
A location to safely camp and have easy access to the site from, I did not feel like sleeping on junipers again

Using PhotoPills, screenshot below, I determined last night was a good night for Milky Way photography, and the weather forecast looked good too for last night.

It can be seen from the screenshot above that at about 4-4:30 AM, the Milky Way would be exactly where I want to be. The moon would be at -12.15 degree elevation, well below the horizon, which is good, and obviously the Milky Way Core would be visible at that time.

I arrived at my destination just after sunset. The first thing I did while there was some light left is set up my tripod where I wanted it to be, levelled the tripod head and took some sample shots with the lens of choice (14mm, f1.8) set to manual focus wide open focusing at the islands in the distance.

After that, I set up camp, had a snack and went to bed early, setting up my alarm for 2:30. As always, whenever I out for Milky Way photography I feel like I need not bother with the alarm. I always end up waking up ahead of time, and honestly, I am primarily there to enjoy the night sky, not to sleep.

I made myself a cup of tea and allowed my eyes to acclimatize to the darkness, and to my pleasure, the sky cleared up after I went to sleep, and the stars were out - majestic and stunningly beautiful.

I took several sets of panorama photos for stitching later in Lightroom. I have not yet started experimenting with stacked sky photos because DENOISE has become so good, I did not feel I needed to, but this could change.

Eventually, I changed my aperture to f4 and used light painting to get a sharp and somewhat detailed but believable foreground. I also decided to illuminate a cavity in the rock which to me was an important feature that I wanted to be visible in the dark. I went with light painting rather than extremely long exposures (>4minutes) because of the breeze that was slightly shaking the needles of the trees on the Rock.

When I got home, I stitched my panorama, blended the wide aperture panorama with the light painted foreground panorama, and the result is below.

Milky Way Panorama near Middlebrun Bay - Sleeping Giant Provincial Park

On my way to the location, I was able to capture this sunset photograph, which was a nice bonus.

Planning another Milky Way Photo-shoot

Milky Way Panorama over the Old Chimney