Galaxy imaging

[tnorthy92]

Hope this is the right sub forum to post in.

Just got a query really. How do you get an 'untrailed' image of the Milky Way, something that presumably needs a long tracked exposure with a static foreground, i.e. the shots you see of the Galaxy behind an observatory etc, is it possible or a Photoshop job?

Thanks

[Sam]

To get much detail you really need to get a long exposure, and as you already mentioned, it would normally be tracked. The other option is to use a really high ISO such as 3200 and a shorter exposure of 20secs or so. Might be worth just seeing what you get - my camera only goes up 1600 so doesn't get a whole lot.

[ollypenrice]

You have to track the stars but this will blur the foreground. You either accept that or 'cheat' and get a crisp foreground separately which you apply as a layer in PS. You can align it carefully and use the magnetic lasso to grab the foreground sky and then erase it, though you'd get a smoother result using a mask between them.

Olly