If you're ever crusing through the channels on your TV and run across Peter Lik's show on the Weather Channel, From the Edge, you will end up staring in amazement at the talent and photographs Peter can produce.

It is truly amazing how different he can make any landscape appear compared to our poor piddling around, how come our shoots never turn out that way?

To be sure it has a lot to do with the gear and equipment that are used. I'm sure it also has a lot to do with Peter Lik's experience and time spend as a landscape photographer. There are a few tricks that can only be learned by years of practice.

Some pictures he produces never cease to amaze me, especially his outdoor nighttime shoots.

If you have never seen a outdoor night sky photograph by Peter Lik, you have to check some of them out. They are truly otherworldly and uniquely beautiful.

I've always wondered, what is the key and how are these amazing night sky shots taken? How do they show the sky so vividly, even more then eye usually can see? The flowing milky way and galaxy stretches across these pictures, who wouldn't want to take a shot like this? I do.

How do we all get this shot?

1. Slow down the shutter speed on your camera.
What does this do? It apparently lets more light into the picture for a longer period of time, so you get more exposure.

Instead of the normal point and pull where the shutter speed is faster then your eye blinking, allowing for a slow shutter speed, maybe as much as 30 seconds will ensure your camera picks up all the objects and light better.

Doing this will probably require a tri-pod of some sort to keep that camera still during this process.

2. Keep away from other light.
You don't want to be near any sort of city lights, parking lot lights, and even the moon shining bright in the sky might ruin you a little bit.

There is probably only a few places and a few times during the night and month that you maybe be able to catch awesome night sky shots like Peter Lik. It's going to take a little work and research on your side to figure out when and where you can get your night sky shot.

3. Play with your aperture
The aperture is basically going to govern how much light you let in. When you are looking for just the right final product you don't want some objects to be too bright, it could ruin your shot.

You will just have to play with aperture setting when going for a good night sky shot. Not sure what Peter Lik does, but I'm sure he has got everything down to a science.

The simplest way I've heard and seen aperture explained is "the size of the hole in the lens when you take a picture." So think of it like this, bigger and higher aperture equals more light getting in. Smaller hole the less light gets in.

But, the actual aperture numbers are reversed, want more aperture, number goes down. Want less? turn the aperture up.

Have you taken any shots of the night sky's before? How did they turn out? Is it hard to get it right for the first time? Any other tips?