What about astrophotography keeps you guys hooked? - Forums

Topic starter

Dec 1, 2023 · Edited: Dec 1, 2023

Basically, what part of being an astrophotographer drives you guys to "keep going" to do more astrophotography? For me personally, it's the road trips to the Bortle 2-3 sites (since thankfully, the nearest dark site is only an hour drive away), and being out in the middle of nowhere, seeing the sky as you would never see it if you were in the city/in a light polluted area. Plus the quiet - absolutely no sign of society around for kilometers on end, and it's just you, your imaging gear, and the beautiful, non-light polluted night sky.

Obviously the data gathering (especially because data taken from a dark site is just sooooo crisp and high-quality) and seeing the final stacked image/processed image is super satisfying too, but I think above all it's just the action of going out to the middle of nowhere, separating yourself from the hustle and bustle of society, and just enjoying the peace and quiet.

Engaging

Boyan Stiliyanov

Dec 1, 2023

For me, it's the road trips and quietness as you said. It's like a meditation staying below the starry cosmos.

But I also like the technical difficulty in it. I can't spend a huge amount of resources, so I always experiment with different lenses, mounting setups and what-not. I enjoy this. Sure I can buy a well-researched telescope and a camera, but where's the fun in that?

To me this extends in photography as well.

Engaging

Itto Ogami

Dec 1, 2023

I think its the quiet and peace under the stars. Listening to some soft music and the surf in the distance (I image at a state park near the beach). Watching the subs come in when conditions are good and everything is working well. Nightdreaming (instead of daydreaming) how good the image will look when you process it and hoping it'll be as good as you think

JBNZ

Dec 1, 2023

I am fortunate with Bortle 3 skies at home, but I do multi-day hiking for exactly the same reasons you state in your first paragraph Carl. The beauty of nature both at night and by day, the peacefulness eases any burden I may have …

As for astrophotography, I love the challenge of completing sometimes multi-night imaging sessions, and then viewing a stunning (hopefully!) image created from all that work. Yeah, sure the technical side interests me too, software automation, the complexity of determining settings for the gear, but the final product is what I look forward to, something which, again hopefully, somebody may view as art.

CS for us all!

John

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Francesco

Dec 1, 2023

I think it’s the fascination and the kick that I get starting up the gear and see it parked in the morning and the joy I feel when I see that everything went well.

But a big part is also to enjoy the quite in the late nights and early mornings when only animals and nature are around you under the stars, it feels always so peaceful (almost like a meditation as Boyan wrote!).

I love the complexity of the hobby and the joy I feel when I solve problems with gear and software.

Of course to see the result of the stacked subs is a very big part that makes me hooked to this hobby.
It’s the combination of all those reasons I think .😁

Engaging