Photographing the Milky Way the Pillar of Fire by Night

I have photographed nature for over 30 years as a nature photographer but had never ventured or looked into the deep dark sky at night for astrophotography (except for aurora in Iceland) till recently with a couple of Astro nuts who showed me the way. Boy, I must say that I was awestruck.

I was awestruck

On one clear evening in Mersing, Johore, Malaysia, I witnessed the beauty of the Milky Way with my naked eyes. It was like the glittering of sparks from angel fire with birthstone-blue, a silverly yellow, and polar-white stars. It seemed to me that there was a snowfall in outer space. Now I remember what Jacob in Genesis 28:12-13 meant when he saw the Milky Way.

And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold the angles of God were ascending and descending on it
Genesis 28:12-13

Why didn’t I see the Milky Way before in Singapore?

What struck me was why have I not noticed the stars all these years which have been there for millions of years? The key obstacle is the light pollution in major cities where the sky never turns dark at night. The other reason was that I was probably too busy looking for birds and animals in the daytime and never paid attention to the night skies until recently.

Sometime in May 2019, while leading the Adobe Lightroom Workshop, I met two participants who were into astrophotography. When they showed me their work and passion for shooting the night sky, I was drawn to it immediately and could not wait to try it myself.

Where did I go? | Singapore | Mersing Malaysia

Mersing

Mersing Malaysia is a great place to see the Milky Way. It took us 4 hours to drive from Singapore to reach Mersing in Johor, Malaysia. We left Singapore at 6 pm, reached Mersing around 10 pm. We headed to the beach near Kampung Sisek to set up our cameras. By midnight, the sky was clear, and I was amazed by the millions of stars right up above us twinkling in front of my naked eyes. I thought we were crazy going to Mersing to see the stars, but we were not alone. Since it was a weekend with a new moon, more than ten others cars came from as far as Kuala Lumpur to see and photograph the Milky Way. Astrophotography has caught up very fast in the last few years in Malaysia and Singapore with the advancement of the camera and new software programs in smartphones to locate and identify the stars.

Milky Way | Photography techniques

Without diving into much detail in photographic techniques, I set up my sturdy Gitzo tripod for the long exposure around 15 to 20 seconds with an aperture at f/4.0. Any shutter speed of more than 30 seconds will have the risk of star trails.

I learned from photographing aurora /northern light in Iceland a few years ago that an interesting foreground in the composition of the sky is always helpful to relate the image to the layman. I decided to do the same for the Milky Way in Mersing. I picked up the coconut groves and the wild mango trees or rolling hills by the beach or lake as the foreground to relay the story of the milky way in the tropic.

Finding Your Vantage Point | Photographing the Milky Way the Pillar of Fire by Night

The difficulty I found on the first night was searching for a vantage point in darkness in unfamiliar places. We drove around the beach and located a coconut grove where we stayed for hours shooting the stars. Being a morning person, I had difficulty staying awake until 4 am on the first night. The next day, after catching up with my sleep, we searched for the location during day time. With smartphones and new apps, we could predict where and when the stars would be rising. Therefore, we can plan the night to shoot different foregrounds at a few locations.

The Fog and the Lens Heater For Tropical Climate | Singapore | Mersing Malaysia

The unexpected came at around 4 am when the temperature in the tropical climate dropped a few degrees in the humid weather. Without realizing it, my lens fogged up. My lens front element was wet with the condensation from the humidity. If I did not wipe it clean, the picture became a blur. One of my friends showed me a gadget called a lens heater. A device to warm up the lens using a USB power supply to solve the problem. It worked.

I hope you now know how to see and capture the night sky.

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day, they pour forth speech; night after night, they reveal knowledge.
Psalm 19:1-2