Yosemite National Park is a ‘dark skies’ area, which means there is little light pollution from nearby city lights. This makes it a great location for star gazing and astrophotography. Since we’ve been having clear skies during the past week, I checked PhotoPills for the Milky Way position and its rise time. I wanted it rising over Half Dome and found I could setup on the pedestrian road (red X), near our campground at 1am. I e-biked over to the pedestrian meadow road which, when facing east, has a clear view of Half Dome. Setting up in the middle of the road was easy and level.

Gear used: Nikon Z8, Leofoto tripod w/ Benro geared head, Move Shoot Move star tracker, 14-30mm f4 & 20mm f1.8 Nikon Z lenses.
The Benro geared head is great for fine tuning the star tracker position. Pointing the star tracker laser at Polaris is accurate enough for wide angle astrophotography. The Z8 has a ‘starry sky live view’ setting so I could make out Half Dome and compose my foreground easily in the dark.
There were very few people out and I was spooked by the occasional noise in the nearby brush. We had seen a bear earlier in the day in Yosemite Valley although miles away. But using my headlamp, I did pan around from time to time.
I used the 14-16mm at f4 and tried ISO settings from 1600-12,800. With the excellent noise reduction software available these days, I wasn’t too worried about high ISO noise. But most of my favorite photos were taken with the 20mm between f1.8-2.2 from 10-60secs, varying the ISO. I did not take flats, blacks, or biases which I regret when processing with Siril and Sequator. Next time, I’ll be sure to take some exposures with the lens cap on (blacks, biases) and with a white screen on my iPhone (flats).

I spent about two hours, doing a variety of ISO, shutter speed, and focal range combinations. In hindsight, I think I should pick one focal range, composing for Half Dome. Take several long exposures for the foreground without star tracking. Then readjust the composition to mostly sky, use the 20mm and one ISO setting. I can vary the exposure by changing the shutter speed from 60-120secs using the star tracker for multiple exposures to stack. After processing the foreground and stacked Milky Way images separately, I’d composite them into a final image.
Overall, I had a great time and I am happy with the photos, but they can definitely be better.