Milkyway Starry Night Sky Pre-Wedding Photoshoot in Tekapo & Queenstown, New Zealand

Milkyway Night Shots are a very exclusive and rare.

3 things must align, for the perfect shot to happen.

1) The Location must be free from Light Pollution.

In Big cities with many street lights, cars and brightly lit buildings, it is impossible to take photos with the stars.

We are very lucky to have our bases in Queenstown and Tekapo, which are dark enough at night to get magnificent views like this.

This is my family, right outside our studio in Arrowtown on a cold winter’s night when the Aurora showed up.

2) The Moon Phase must be close to a New Moon.

The best view of the stars, will be on a night with a New Moon.

This happens ONCE A MONTH!

While it is possible to still get shots of the stars on a Full-Moon night, we recommend dates with less than a half-moon for the best results.

See the diagram below for a comparison of Full Moon, Half-Moon and New Moon:

3) The Weather must be Clear.

Let’s put it this way - with the couple in the photograph below, we had a New Moon but it was slightly cloudy.

We got away this time, but if it’s cloudy or rainy, there’s no way for us to get this shot.

In the image below, we were affected by the Australian bush fires.

We had a New Moon and clear weather, but the orange ash from Australia had tinted the photograph even at night.