The Best Time Of The Month For Milkyway Photos

How to time your Pre-Wedding Photoshoot for the best Milkyway Starry Night Wedding Photos

There is ONE major consideration when it comes to booking your Prewedding Shoot with Night Shots under the Milkyway.

THE MOON PHASE.

I won’t go into explaining the rotation of the earth and the moon etc..

The best time of the month to get the clearest view of the Milkyway, is on a night with a NEW MOON (No Moon).

Let me demonstrate the difference the moon makes in the photos.

Example 1: New Moon (No Moon) + Absolute middle of nowhere (Tekapo)

Example 2: New Moon (No Moon), with light pollution from Queenstown city lights.

Example 3: Half Moon, near Queenstown City.

Example 4: Full Moon, 30km from Queenstown city. Milkyway hardly visible, mountains lit by the moon.

We basically want to avoid light pollution from the city and the moon, to get the clearest view of the milkyway.

Example 5: Tekapo, Quarter Moon + Light Pollution from township.

“So James, how do we find out which night has a NEW MOON?”

It’s simple really, just enter the year and location into the Moon Phase chart on Time & Date.com:

https://www.timeanddate.com/moon/phases/new-zealand/queenstown

Once you’ve got the perfect date figured out, we just have to hope for the best with the weather. Fingers crossed!