Milky Way Over the High Uintas Wilderness: Canon 70D + Stack, Blend, and Sequator
Written and Photographed by Ryan Moat
Artist
My name is Ryan Moat, and I am a photographer, composer, and world traveler. While I’ve always had various cameras in hand, it wasn’t until the last few years that I began solo international travel in order to capture scenic views around the world. More of my work can be found on my Website or Instagram.
Concept
Growing up in northeastern Utah was the perfect place to view the stars. There was rarely a summer night that wasn’t spent outside sleeping on the trampoline. Staring up into the dark sky, you could clearly see every little star and constellation within the northern hemisphere, and it was always amazing to see an occasional falling star brightly streak across the sky.
This is where my interest in the cosmos sparked, and it would eventually lead me down the road of astrophotography. Being able to capture these otherworldly views, and to share them with others, has been a highlight every year during Milky Way season.
About the Image
When the galactic core of the Milky Way starts rising above the horizon in the northern hemisphere, the High Uintas Wilderness in northeastern Utah is the perfect place to capture this view. The galactic core is visible as early as April; however, there are a few challenges during this time of year. The first being, the galactic core isn’t visible until around midnight. Second, many of the roads leading to the mountains are still closed until June or July when the snow has melted. It takes patience, especially during those long winters. And last, those nights are often still quite cold.
Knowing the northeastern parts of Utah quite well, I grabbed my Canon 70D and Samyang 14mm f/2.8 lens and headed up a scenic byway towards the mountains in the latter part of April. Although the road is still closed during this time, it winds its way through the thick forest pines to the east for about 14 miles before the closure. And in order to maximize the time spent shooting the Milky Way, I use a mobile app called Star Walk 2, which let me know exactly where and when the Milky Way will rise.
I pulled off the side of the road around 12:15 AM, set up my tripod, camera, and connected an intervalometer, which would allow me to sit in the car and stay warm while the camera took pictures every 27 - 30 seconds. Using a Milky Way exposure calculator, it was recommended to use this camera’s sweet spot, an ISO of 3200, and set at a 21-second exposure. Using these settings, and about an hour and a half later, hundreds of pictures were taken, and the trek back would put me home around 3 AM.
Due to how cold it was, and with snow still on the ground, setting up a sky tracker didn’t sound too enticing. As an alternative, eleven of the best photos were selected, and using a photo stacking program called Sequator, the images were stacked into a 231-second exposure. This would have the same benefit as a sky tracker, but only this method would allow the images to be stacked and stars tracked while keeping the foreground of the image frozen. The result is a spectacular view of the Milky Way and its galactic core.
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