The interest that I have had over time both in the field of traditional cosmologies and in that of modern cosmology, together with the experience of the last years in photography (landscapes, product photography, virtual tours, sometimes also private events) constituted a necessary support for approaching this unique photographic genre, situated at the intersection of astronomy with photographic art.
A field that opens the dark night sky towards the color depths of nebulae or distant galaxies, or towards the crystalline purity of globular clusters, true ornaments hidden in the darkness of the firmament. Each image in astrophotography must be seen as a "celestial fossil" that contains encoded stories thousands or millions of years old about the continuous evolution of the universe.
In 2021 I started to photograph the starry sky. I had attempts in the past, like any photographer who once reaches the mountains wants to capture the Milky Way. But that photographic genre usually represents only a preview of astrophotography.
In the summer of 2020 it was the first time when I saw and when I photographed a comet (comet NeoWise), without special equipment (without mount, filters etc.). It was an exceptional moment!
At the same time I found out that the Andromeda Galaxy can be photographed with a relatively normal lens and a classic DSLR. Until then I did not know that images with galaxies or nebulae can be made from anywhere and with equipment that many photographers already have (DSLR, tripod, telephoto lens). For me it was a decisive moment when I learned to correctly identify on the sky the Andromeda Galaxy and then I photographed it with an 85 mm lens. The image seemed extraordinary to me... Today I feel like laughing when I look at it, but at that moment it was a big "WOW". The fact that I identified it in the sky and then "something" luminous appeared in the final image made me want more... That first image with Andromeda can be seen here.
Then I discovered specialized sites astrobackyard.com, galactic-hunter.com and the excellent tutorials of Peter Zelinka which convinced me to invest in a star-tracker (iOptron SkyGuider Pro which I continuously upgraded). Later I also acquired a Sigma 150-600 Contemporary telephoto lens.
Thus, in the summer of 2021 I started to discover what astrophotography means using an unmodified Canon 7D, a Sigma 150-600 telephoto lens and the SkyGuider Pro mount with iPolar.
It took me a few nights just to understand and to perform the polar alignment... without photographing anything...
Then I started to learn the sky and to identify the position of some invisible celestial objects using visible stars as reference, in order to be able to center that subject and photograph it.... obviously everything manually, since SkyGuider Pro is not a GoTo mount.
Also I learned that in order to produce quality images several different ingredients are necessary: the ability to "lose" nights in a row in areas with as little light pollution as possible, knowledge of astronomy and photography, use of specialized image processing software (I am not referring here to Photoshop ...) and last but not least investments in equipment...
And the story continues ...
For me astrophotography means first of all DSO (Deep Sky Objects - deep sky objects) such as galaxies, nebulae or star clusters.
At the moment I am less interested in planetary and solar photography.
The Moon is an interesting subject that allows many creative approaches...
I have learned that behind a single successful image (or less successful) there are often many "lost" nights, either in the cold during winter or in the summer surrounded by insects. Then hours, and sometimes entire days, of software processing.