The Landscape Photography Book

Avoid Light Pollution

©Adobe Stock/serghi8

Before you even pull out your camera and tripod, you’re going to need to find a shooting location that will put you in position to capture a star-filled sky and/or the Milky Way (the “home run” of night sky shots). This is significantly harder than it sounds because to get the type of shots you probably want, you’re going to have to be far away from cities, highways, and basically any signs of civilization. These “signs of life” (houses, farms, billboards, highways, etc.) generate an amazing amount of “light pollution,” which masks the stars, makes them appear very faint (if they’re visible at all), and ...