Here in Southern California, Summer tends to be a season which is typically wretched for landscape photography. The coastal low clouds usually roll in during the months of May and June, killing off potential sunsets and sunrises on the coast. The afternoon skies turn hazy and the hills turn brown, and most of us turn on the air conditioner and retreat indoors to work on our shots taken earlier in the year.
There is, however, one fantastic photographic opportunity to look forward to each Summer here in California. For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, Summer is prime time to get out and shoot the Milky Way. Although the Milky Way may be photographed throughout the year, the brightest corner of the Milky Way begins to show up around May along with more reasonable times for shooting it.
For those of you who are new to shooting the Milky Way, there are several challenges to consider: