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AP is cosmic fishing to me, its about time, patience, equipment (and lots of it!!) and a lot of luck sometimes as well. I liken it to fishing as well…..my OTA a cosmic rod and reel….but maybe as much so simply as an excuse to hang out under starry skies….like fly-fishing and standing quietly in a mountain stream…. Cheers, Scott |
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Tomás Andonie: The hardest part for me about Astrophotography is that we're all seeing the universe from the exact same place (don't read too deeply into that, I know full well the S. Hemisphere has an entirely different sky)... So it is very much like if everyone went to the Grand Canyon and all took photos just from one scenic point. Sure you can point your camera in different directions, or weather will change etc, but ultimately there are only so many angles available, and only so many techniques and settings. Thus after a bit it can get a little "samey". Especially since I'm fairly novice at this, I intellectually know that I could just look at someone else's "Better" work. I get more satisfaction from my own journey. Just like looking at someone else's photo of the Grand Canyon is not the same as going there yourself and getting your own photo. I like learning the methods. And while I'm not competitive really, I do have a desire to learn to be as good as the great stuff I see from others. That motivates me. Most of the people seeing my images aren't astronomy geeks anyhow, so when they see them there is always "Wow" factor. Most of the world doesn't see this kind of imagery often. When you're surrounded by people who are doing the same thing you're doing, it is easy to believe that its not unusual. But it really is. Even though there are thousands and thousands of people creating astro images, they are still a tiny percentage of the people of the world. And the majority of the other people have never even seen these kinds of photos. So it is always fun to share them, even with only the very few who find them. Your motivation must always come from within. If you you seek approval or affirmation from others for your creative pursuits, you'll be unhappy. Do it for yourself, and if it becomes popular with others then that is just a bonus. |
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| You can take anything that we humans do in our spare time, eg. running a marathon, going to the gym, playing the piano etc etc and say, whats the point if there's people better than me doing it and I'm never gonna be as good as them. Motivation is not a word I like. I don't really need it. I do things because I enjoy them. When I no longer enjoy it I hop off that train and move to something else. None of this is a job. I have spent almost every single clear night in the last 4 years imaging. I've had lots of bad nights and lots of bad images but I loved every damn second of it. I do not have a big social media following nor will I ever stoop that low. I do it for the love of the game. |
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Hmmm, isn’t Astrobin a social forum? I’m not as harsh about social media. I have about 300 friends through such apps and I enjoy sharing images with them. Several ask me questions and the process ends up being educational. And one of my friends is now getting into the hobby! In fact, I’m a convert because a friend on social media suggested I would like the hobby. Now we text each other across the country on the nights we’re out and the asynchronous conversations keep me company while preserving the sense of silence and solitude. In the past few months, some friends even asked if I planned to image a target that recently made headlines. Social networks have, in this fashion, created a new community of folks interested in learning more about the universe, and I enjoy the camaraderie, just like I enjoy Astrobin’s more advanced base of users. |
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After 12 years of rain, clouds, light pollution, equipment breakdowns, Windows upgrades (now on Linux), cold nights, moon lit nights and lack of processing skills, I really don't know. Perhaps this year I will take a Hubble quality image. Or next year. |
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Lots of great comments here......so many that I apologize in advance for any repetition of thought. The deepest motivation is the spiritual connection that is made with a power greater than myself, the universe. The questions; "What's out there?" "What does this really look like?" and "What's it all made of"? propel me to explore and study the cosmic wonders of our home universe (yes, I go with the multiverse theory). My other motivations stem from this core drive: 1) I enjoy being out by myself under the stars. It's a respite from the fast-paced way of living that society has inflicted upon us. It's my chance to recharge so I can function as a "normal" person in day- to-day living. 2) This hobby (obsession??) is very technical and challenging. Since I'm 69 years old and retired, I need something to keep my mind sharp and fill my time (keeping in shape by carrying around a 45 pound mount and other equipment helps, too!!). I image at night and process during the day. Although I can look at all the Hubble images and admire the great beauty of those images, there is a deep satisfaction that comes from acquiring my own data and processing these into an image where I can say, "I did that!!" 3) We are never too old to stop learning! There is always something new and different to learn in astrophotography. The adage: "Progress, not perfection" truly applies here. If I expect to have perfect, beautiful images from the start, I will be disappointed and frustrated with my work. If I accept the process and learning curve, as slow as it may be sometimes, then I will improve over time by observing and learning what others who are more experienced than I have achieved. This keeps me in a state of humility and open-mindedness, which, in my opinion, fosters learning and growth. 4) I'm able to form a connection with others in this hobby. We speak a common language and learn from each other, no matter the experience level. We share our work and learn to be constructive in our criticism of others' and in our own efforts. So that is what motivates me. You're 18, so be patient with yourself. Put all your effort into your degree of astrophysics. Use the equipment provided by the university of your choice. Also, consider joining an astronomy club. Many of them have equipment you can use for a nominal fee (if not for free) and have set- ups you can train on and learn to use in their dark sky sites. Most importantly, don't let the set-backs and challenges discourage you. If anything, use those to fuel the fire of your passion for this hobby and strive to achieve your best effort. In short, HAVE FUN!!!! Clear skies and the best to you in your pursuits!! Patrick PS: My kids would call this a Dad Talk!!! |
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I do it for fun. I love studying the night sky. I love problem-solving. I enjoy the acquisition process and I especially enjoy processing the data. I love the creative aspect of this. I like learning new things. I enjoy sharing the results with friends and family as well as doing outreach to schools and clubs. I like the people I've met while doing this. I spent 35 years grinding out software for other people. Then I spent 12 years trying to keep them from getting sued or thrown in jail. I'd say I'm lucky to be retired and financially secure, but that didn't happen by accident. It was decades of hard work doing what other people wanted me to do. This thing is all mine. Recognition from others is great, but in the end, that doesn't matter. I post to Astrobin for two main reasons: (1) I don't want to create and maintain my own web page and Salvatore has mastered the design and interface to store a portfolio here, and (2) I hope that this giant astronomical repository may someday be of general use to science--in 10, 100, or 1,000 years. Maybe it will be, maybe it won't be. I won't care. I'll be dead. But right now, I'm alive and love doing this. |
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| Honestly speaking, Instagram and other similar social sites can be unhealthy places. If Instagram's algorithms are causing you to fall out of love with Astro then you have to question your relationship with IG. Ditch it. Find another platform. |
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My motivation is the challenge and enjoyment I get out of it. Also, nothing beats being outside at night on a clear and calm night. My wife and I love just laying out under the stars while the telescope is off doing its thing and hunting for satellites or meteors. The kids are also now starting to share in that joy. They bounce around carrying equipment for me while setting up and love having a look through the scope. I've also gotten the neighborhood involved and everyone stops by to have a peak, especially during the day when I have the solar scope out. Sure, it's nice getting a great photo but I also just love letting people have a look and seeing the look on their face when they see the Andromeda galaxy, Jupiter, or the craters on the Moon up close for the first time. As far as sharing my photos, we've found that we really like the digital photo frame we have in the entryway. It cycles through all sorts of photos so I get to enjoy seeing my photos on a regular basis. It also sparks conversation when company sees one come up. Getting likes online used to be somewhat of a priority but I didn't like how anxious it was always making me feel waiting to see how many likes or comments I could get. Now, half the time I forget to even post them and just enjoy them with the family. Just last year I created a short powerpoint with my photos and took that and a telescope into my daughters 1st grade class. That right there was better than any amount of likes online. The amount of questions and interest it sparked in the kids was amazing. Even now, we still get comments from the kids or parents about how I did that last year. Maybe finding some kind of outreach like that would be of benefit to you. |
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I had been really into astronomy since I was about 14, and began to be interested in astrophotography when I started college, but didn't have any money to invest into the hobby so figured it'd be something I'd pursue once I had a bit more disposable income. Then I got my Bachelor's in Physics and Astronomy but it was a difficult road for me and I ended up incredibly burnt out after graduating university. I didn't pursue astronomy as a career, and after a few years of being graduated and working a 9-5 office job, I found enough distance and a (barely) disposable income to start considering putting some time into trying out astrophotography. It forces me to go out and look at the night sky (otherwise I'm very prone to staying indoors) and I enjoy the learning process of it. I do enjoy posting my images here to astrobin and it's always nice to get a "like", I also post to instagram where primarily just my friends and family follow me, and while my images might not be anything special on astrobin, my friends and family are always impressed  . I also usually do my imaging at a public park and have gotten a couple follows from people who happen to come up to me and see what I'm doing or other astrophotographers I meet there. I'm certainly no expert but especially on meteor shower nights when you're set up at the park and lots of people come out, suddenly you become the resident expert just because you're sitting there with a telescope  |
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| For me the main motivation is my interest in astronomy, cosmology and in gaining a deeper scientific appreciation of some of the amazing objects one can see and image. Understanding the purely technical side of telescope set up , imaging and processing has also been interesting - and there is a sort of 'engineering' type satisfaction in getting the setup close to as good as it can be. It is nice to get the odd decent image oneself that provides the motivation for the main thing that is to gain a deeper appreciation of what the object is and what the image is telling you. It is illogical in some ways to take 'your own' images when the internet is replete with far better images of every object that you can conceive of . But given so much to look at the advantage of astroimaging is that the very process itself -- and the slow emergence of the final image during processing - slows you down enough to really appreciate and see all the fine details in just one object rather than skim many. Having said all that many nights I will forego astroimaging (a lot of time on one object) for EEA or visual astronomy . EEA sits in a sweetspot where you can get a half- decent image within 5-10 min and see a lot of stuff within a single night . This works well when conditions are variable and observation windows only short. It can also help pinpoint objects that you might like to try later with a deeper astroimaging approach. |
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I’m a child of the Apollo era, grew up interested in all things space, earned a Ph.D in aerospace engineering, have worked on numerous aerospace vehicles over the last 30 years (and still going), and every moment of it has been an absolute blast (off…rimshot). Astrophotography adds a bit of art to my steady diet of the science and engineering of air and space. As to the social media thing. Hated it. Completely beside the point to me. I had an Instagram when I started astrophotography and it grew to over 13k followers. I was going to delete it, but donated/rebranded it to my local club instead. |
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Dear Tomás, I would like to share a contribute as well to your topic. I think your topic can be projected, in general, in every thing we do as human being. The main force which is going to pull our will and our effor, is our genuine passion or our dedication to what we love more. By chosing astrophysics (I'm a physicist as well) you transmit to me the same strong desire of knowledge I also have and, especially, the will to understand how the Universe surrounding us is working day-by-day. Physics is a discipline where with humility you look at the Nature by trying to understand it and to figure out all the intrinsic laws from which we can describe it and then built inventions following its laws. It is a day-by-day growth that makes so special our daily life, opening also our mind to look at the Nature with different eyes and, especially, with more consciousness. The astrophotography is like a journey through the Universe and then we can feel it, with our astrophotography passion we do at every level with all the different conditions of sky, equipments and so on and so forth throughout the world, more near to us, part of us, in the same way for everyone here. That is the main goal. I hope this can help you in finding the motivation, all the best and many greetings from Italy, Davide Mascoli. |
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Maybe it is something generational, I don’t know… but the need for the world to see should be something secondary, tertiary even. I’m 40 years old and I’m not that focused on that. When I’m photographing I do it for myself. I like to share it with my family, because they love to see it and they see it as a miracle. But at the end of the day, it is my personal relationship with the Universe and the satisfaction of having the skill to capture something that far away. Just being able to see it for myself, in color, is the reward for me. When I’m out there, with my telescope, I feel plenty. Those are my moments for me, unrelated with work, stress, daily life worries… It’s like meditation. I could not care less about the technical perfection nor the social media likes. I recommend you to reflect on your personal relationship with your photos and the moments you spend capturing them and find the magic in it. Think of the movie ‘Contact’. Ellie Arroway was out there with her laptop, her headphones and her radiotelescopes catching distant signals. The world ignored all her work but she kept doing it. Eventually she catched “the signal” but that was not the main reason why she was out there. It was her personal relationship with the Universe. I feel a little like her when I’m out there. Forget about social media, that is my advice. I hope this helped you |
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Álvaro Méndez: Álvaro Méndez: Well said. Ultimately for me it is about personal satisfaction and development. I like to see myself getting better at something. Just another aside, my business Facebook (that I have worked very hard at for 10 years) has been blocked by Meta. We can post text but not pictures. Apparently because we have been reported by someone and that is that... I have torn my hair out with their "support professionals" to no avail. It is like some sort of bad dream. But my point is that the one thing I learned from this experience is that none of these social sites are "yours". You invest time and energy into a platform that can close you down tomorrow and there is NOTHING you can do about it. So whatever you do should be for you. Not them. |
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Hi, I was interested in astro photography since I saw Hale-Bopp appear in the night sky as a teenager in 1995. In fact, that was when I took my first night sky images with an analog camera and a 50mm lens. Then life happened and I went to university, moved to a huge town, got married and became a father. There were some attempts to do some astro photography but I was not very successful. But the fire was always burning. I guess it was around 2020 when I was able to do my first proper image with an old DSLR. It was really great back then and there is always room to improve in this hobby. I am really busy during the week. I conduct two choirs, play guitar in a band, have to care for my family and all the other things that have to be done. So having some time for myself is really important for me. Other people go fishing, do sports or relax in other ways, but I do astro photogrphy. I'm alone and there is usually no hurry. I love it if things appear on the screen. There is also the very technical side of it, that I am interested in. It can be really challanging to get good images. I came from standard photogrphy, too. There were times when I tried to compete with all the other photographers I could find on the internet. I never met the standards I thought I had to meet. It was frustrating all the time and I couldn't enjoy my hobby anymore. But that changed when I thought about who I take my images for. I realized that they are made for me in the first place. No matter what you do, you never get them right for everyone. I stopped caring about what others think or do. I made my images my style and there are a lot of people out there that like my work. Me, too! So back to astro photogrphy. It's the same here. I finally got my first astro images and I was quite happy with them. I know there is a lot to improve, but it's a process. I know, that there are so many other photographers out there that are better than me. Thats the way things work. There are always better ones. But I don't care. I love taking images and I upload them here. They can be seen. Meanwhile, there is a small fan community around my friends and I met some interesting people, too. The bussiness is slightly growing  and I really enjoy it.There are so many different things to consider if you do astro photography. There is a lot that can go wrong. But by the time you'll succeed more often and things become second nature. I try to analyze my own images and set goals to improve. I'm not in a hurry. It takes it's time and I know that. I do it for myself and I don't want it to become a second motivation killer. That said, there must be some words about the whole community itself. If you try to let others critique your images of real life photography, you get teared to pieces. Usually this is not motivating at all. Astro photographers are another kind of people. They really try to help you improve. Everybody seems to take the time to write some friendly lines and I really enjoy the community. No matter how dumb your question may seem, they don't seem to care. I love it! Everyone seems to be a friend. That's great!!! So I am happy with my situation (beside the cloudy weather, of course). I hope, others are too. So clear skies to everyone Christian |
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Hi Tomas, I‘m in a different stage of life, so my Motivation is pretty different from yours. I love spending time with my kids on astrophotography - selecting the next object, assembling the equipment, letting them do the wiring and polar alignment, checking the first images etc. I think it‘s also a good lesson for life, when they learn that sometimes problems occur and are not easy to solve- but when you don‘t give up, you‘ll find a solution… Coming back to your motivation: as you probably currently don‘t have the money to buy fancy astro equipment, have you thought about working with professional Data from JWST, Hubble, etc.? You can download it for free here: https://mast.stsci.edu/portal/Mashup/Clients/Mast/Portal.html Maybe that‘ll boost your motivation… CS Timo |
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| I started in 2012, when I discovered things from space that could be photographed in the backyard. I was fascinated thinking that I could record planets, galaxies and I wouldn't need to be using gigantic telescopes for that. It motivated me. Every night that I go to do astrophotography and I see something sinuous on the laptop screen, which will later take shape and life, I have a lot of expectations. Currently social networks try to seduce you to this path of likes and fame, I bravely continue doing it thinking that first I will please myself, if someone likes it, I'm glad you liked it too. |
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| I have been interested in Astronomy from a young age. At 8 I looked through a small scope at Saturn and I was hooked. I started visual astronomy with various scopes, slowly building in size from 4" to 10" to 20" and finally 25". I would be out almost every night with no Moon looking at deep sky objects. I arranged my weekend around visits to dark skies. As time went on Work started to interrupt my available time but I kept up New Moon weekends as Observing times in dark skies. My interest in Photography also had me shooting Nightscape images, I even purchased a tracker. In 2013 I changed jobs and started my own business as a Professional Photographer, and my time for observing disappeared. I wanted to still enjoy astronomy and started to use my tracker more just from my backyard. A secondhand EQ5 saw me getting a little more adventurous with what I could shoot, especially once I started to use the ED80 I had as the finder for the 25. My home is on the NSW Central Coast and my backyard is Bortle 4. For me, Astrophotography is part about me getting back under a night sky, Part about capturing the objects I used to love tracking down in the telescope, and the challenge of a new avenue of photography. I now run weekend workshops in a dark ski location, teaching people how to take Nightscape Photography, once a month. |
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I've been doing astrophotography for one year this month. But I've been fascinated by space for over 50 of my 59 years. I'm not religious but my religion is Astronomy. That doesn't just mean "I'm passionate about my hobby", it goes way beyond that. I'm basically agnostic but looking at photos of space, especially ones I took (so I know they're real), makes me almost believe in God. It's nice to get a "Like" on a social network for a space photo I took, or especially here (since people here know what goes into taking them), but "Likes" are not my motivation. My motivation is seeing photos I took. I would absolutely keep doing this if I were the last person on earth. |
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| You have to look at photos from amateur astronomers 20 to 30 years ago to see how far astrophotography has come in those years. Why do astrophotography to eventually get better at and photograph the not so usual deep space objects out there. There are astrophotographers on who basically have small observatory telescopes i.e planewave that take photos that not the usual objects and look like hubble space telescope photos. |
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If the question is what got me into it, it's this: I made a simple google search of some DSO that I saw on Youtube which I thought was a painting or something (I forgot the name of the object, it was years ago, but I feel it was the Helix nebula) I went to see images of it on google, and my first thought was: "Oh, amazing, but this is all from the Hubble space telescope" But then, I noticed there were multiple images, and many other DSOs, and multiple variations and images of those DSOs, and I wondered: "Is NASA going nuts? Why do they keep photographing the same object hundreds of times?" Months later, I was sleeping, and this question came back to me. I had to find out what was going on. I had an idea of something, but the idea was just too crazy for me to believe. And then, my idea was confirmed to be true when I researched and found out many of those images were actually taken by average people. You could imagine my shock. So I discovered this relatively secret hobby and "went down the rabbit hole". |
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Why I do it? There are several points such as: (1) Being alone in the darkness and getting fresh air. (2) Pulling the best out of my equipment. I am happy when I feel that there is very little more to be tweaked out of the system. I use grab & go setups for lunar/planetary and solar h-alpha and that sets limits for e.g. aperture so I am keen on getting everything out of my quite modest setups. (3) Learn new tricks in post processing and getting most of the data. I have a PhD in accelerator physics and I am pretty sure I need some kind of a technical hobby to satisfy my needs. But then again I almost hate to tinker with the setups so I tune them and then avoid taking them apart. In addition I have learned / developed a way to combine my (or my friends') lunar images and NASA LRO elevation data to create interactive 3d models of the lunar surface with open source software. I have presented those results in the Finnish astronomical association's meeting, posted them in Cloudy Nights and created an English manual so that anyone could try it themselves with their own data. I don't know if anybody has but I don't care, it was a fun project related to astrophotography 😀 I do astrophotography because it combines both relaxation (when things go well) and gives an opportunity to learn new things. I also like macro photography like some of the previous answers indicated so "big and small". I try not to stress for bad weather even while the solar maximum is now and I have not been able to have a solar imaging session since the latter half of June due to weather and other engagements. It also seems that we're gonna have lousy weather for the Perseids, too. There is always the next year for Perseids and the next solar cycle max in 11 years 😉 That being said, I took a break from astrophotography for 3 or 4 years because I was not motivated anymore. Now I have been doing this again for like 3 years. So I don't know, maybe there is a few years' cycle in my hobbies. My other hobby is freediving (length and time, not depth). Its a serene and relaxing hobby really and I think astrophotography has the same features for me. My suggestion to you: Take a break if needed and think about imaging for you instead of the social media. Aim for relaxing hobby, not performing at 100 % level all the time. And when at 100 % do it for you, not for social media. |
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My motivation started as realizing a childhood dream. I grew up fascinated with the stars. I was the 8th grader with a subscription to Astronomy after all. I always wanted to get pictures like I saw in the magazines. Fast forward many years and I get into photography and spend years doing that. One day I try to get the night sky pics. Didn’t work. After various false starts I finally started getting pics and enjoying it. It’s still a learning curve and it’s totally a hobby but I enjoy it. I don’t imagine I’ll be the kind who will move to darker skies purely for astro imaging or have multiple setups. But I do expect to get data for years to come and play with it. |
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| I like to through piles and piles of money away for mediocre images. |
