Backyard Milky Way
Been dying to get out and take some more shots of the Milky Way since the beginning of summer, but just haven’t found the time to get a dark desolate location. Fortunately, I live in a fairly dark edition south of town with a clear view of the Milky Way. There is still quite a bit of ambient city light, but not enough to keep me from seeing what I can come up with.
Scott Ackerman Photography 
Wow, very impressive. What were your settings for this shot?
September 1, 2011 at 5:33 am
F/2.8, 30″ Exp, ISO 4000, 16mm on Tokina 11-16. Didn’t change anything in Camera Raw. Used black dropper to adjust blacks on Levels in photoshop. Masked multiple layers with levels to reduce ambient light from the city and then lightened the house by removing the levels mask from the house. That was about it.
September 1, 2011 at 9:48 am
Spectacular image Scott! I love how you’ve framed this.
September 1, 2011 at 7:48 am
Oh wow man, this is just incredible! The house in the foreground is perfect!
September 1, 2011 at 8:07 am
Man, I’m gunna have to email you and ask how in the world you get these… I’ve been trying. I guess it’s just to bright here. But man, this is awesome.
September 1, 2011 at 9:33 am
I’m looking forward to getting some shots like this on Friday and Saturday night. We will be camping in the high country so my fingers are crossed.
September 1, 2011 at 9:57 am
Wow! Youre so lucky you can see all of those stars from your house. Awesome.
September 1, 2011 at 9:59 am
Wow dude, this is absolutely sick. Great shot and heck of a view.
September 1, 2011 at 10:32 am
Dang man, this is freaking cool. Love how you were able to get this with the galaxy coming right into the house. Freaking cool work man!
September 1, 2011 at 10:36 am
Wow – that’s quite a sky you’ve got there!
September 1, 2011 at 10:50 am
Incredible shot Scott.
September 1, 2011 at 11:32 am
Sick! That Milky Way loves hanging out in Kansas!
September 1, 2011 at 11:51 am
Impressive, Scott. You must live a ways out of town. I tried this the other night, but was only a couple of miles outside of town and the city glow was way to much. Giving thought to trying this this weekend in a more rural setting.
September 1, 2011 at 12:10 pm
Wow…fantastic image Scott.
September 1, 2011 at 2:18 pm
My first thought was you did this with two exposures. Very nice.
September 1, 2011 at 2:40 pm
Awesome shot Scott! Good insight on your processing above! Been trying to get one of these shots for awhile. Just get too much noise for my D90. I’ll try this processing out and see what I get.
September 2, 2011 at 11:15 am
Very nice. I have been trying to do the same sort of stuff lately, but my old D200 maxes out at ISO1600 and that makes a really noisy image. I still get OK shots, but nothing like this.
September 4, 2011 at 4:40 pm
That is quite the view from your backyard. Fantastic image!
September 7, 2011 at 12:37 pm