Once a month in the Northern Hemisphere, between February and October, you are able to photograph the Milky Way. The best , even with the naked eye, is at the New Moon Phase. Around June the sky never gets completely dark and the visibility is limited unless you are in Southern Europe. At the beginning of the year the Milky Way is visible in the South East direction and throughout the year it is moving to the South West.
The weather plays such an important part. On a rainy and cloudy night we will not be able to photograph the Milky Way. A blue clear sky it's a must.
These days it is dead easy to find the Moon phases on internet, I use the all in one mobile application PhotoPills.
In the 'Planner' section in the top left corner is a picture of the Milky Way, if we click on it once the nearest available date will appear in the bottom right corner. If we double click on it the date goes backwards. Right next to the MW picture is an 8 line bar which also indicates visibility (more bars equals better visibility).
Once we know the date, we need to find the time when it is visible. If we slide the top line right with our finger we can see the exact time. In general, at the beginning of the year the MW is visible before sunrise, in the middle of the year around midnight, and at the end of the year after sunset. Also around summer the visibility is the longest, and in February and October the shortest.
I use a map to choose my main subject and always look for places with no city or town behind my subject. Remote places are the best because the camera picks light pollution better than the eye.
On the screenshot you can see the MW is visible in a South West direction from when the thick white line crosses the light grey line until it crosses the dark grey line. At the location I just find the right angle to set my camera at to align the MW above my subject at the time I want.
To find out at what angle the MW is visible I just check the MW picture for the particular time I want to take the picture.
If I click on the Night AR (Augmented Reality) and point the screen at my subject I shoot I can clearly see the MW where it will be at the time I set. A Calibrated screen is necessary here.
There are a lot of steps to keep an eye on but I have simple tip for you, the Milky Way is visible around the first day of the month in south-ish direction, so the next time you are in the middle of nowhere start to plan your Milky Way photo.
