| Would you like to have a small section (maybe just a filter) for people new to this who are just happy they captured something and would like to share without feeling like they are competing against the awesome pictures on the site? | |
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| Yes | |
| No | |
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| I would like to see an area for people new to this (for me it has been 2 nights). I have a few images I would like to share but compared to almost everything on the site I would be embarrassed to make them public. I was glad just to see anything. |
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| I still am embarrased and I know all of my stuff is very far from perfection. For me what counts is the journey and seeing how I improve over time. Having some quality and fun time learning and struggling and seeing the progression is great motivator (for me at least). |
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William: Just share the pictures. I'm stuck in Bortle 7 and I'll never compete with the guys with B1 skies or remote observatories on top of a mountain. Others are on a shoestring budget and a happy few have spent more on their setup than I spent on my car. Maybe even my house. But it's not a competition, we all do this for fun. What is the worst that can happen? Not getting many likes and views? Do you think you'd get more likes/views if you restrict the reach of your picture by putting it in a separate section viewed by only a small subset of AB users? On the contrary, put it in RCC and many here will gladly share their knowledge with you, reducing a lot of headscratching (bad for your hair, you know). We don't bite. OK - well, most of us don't. |
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| Everyone starts somewhere. I didn't post my very first images here but once I made something I was proud of I posted. It has 14 likes and looking back on it I can really see the flaws. But I can also see the improvement over the last year. I've considered taking some of my early images down but I like to see the whole journey when I click on my profile and it reminds me to have pride in those early images too. They were hard. |
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As someone who has just a few years now under my belt, I can say with confidence that you will likely never be completely satisfied with your pictures! I usually keep the original version of my image on the site to compare to later versions, and it's satisfying to see that I have made progress in my collection and post-processing skills over time, even if I don't particularly like all my latest versions (yet). The hobby is a mental progression for everyone, and practice makes better and better (if never perfect). So, I say enjoy the ride and appreciate how your skills can demonstrably improve over time. Don't be too hard on yourself, especially early. Everyone knows this is a hard hobby with a million things to go wrong. If you keep pressing forward and continue, you will improve. There's a lot to be said for perseverance in this hobby! Know and accept that your "style" will change over time. You may even find yourself circling back around to earlier approaches as you morph your strategies and skills. I'd say learn to enjoy the exploration as opposed to trying to secure great final results. Accept "interesting" first attempts as learning experiences, keep exploring and pushing boundaries, and soon enough good final result(s) will follow. |
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I'm a beginner too, having started about 7 months ago and only having produced about 10 images. The people here have been very generous with their time and expertise and have been quite helpful to me. I've had one image that I've had lots of trouble with and still am trying to make it better after over 6 weeks of effort. Maybe some see this pursuit in a competitive mindset, but I sure don't. I mean, seriously, NASA's got a telescope over a million miles from Earth. Nobody can compete with that! I feel happy and grateful just to have clear skies in San Francisco, which I haven't had since early March. Everyone starts as a beginner. It's the masters in every field who know they are still students, still learning, still gaining new experience. If they think otherwise, their growth grinds to a halt. |
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think my mindset is very much that I only want to better than my previous picture/attempt. Think that's why after 2 years in I do keep going back to certain objects to see if i can do better than the last time around. Like others mentioned do not think there is any point in competing with people who shoot from B4 or better when I am working from B9. For this hobby I think the journey and effort matters. And personally I still love the amazement when I go galaxy searching in the captures I do an notice so many more than I thought possible. |
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Hi and welcome! Be brave and publish your images. And ask for critique too! I understand that especially getting critique for your work might be out of your comfort zone. However this is the only way you can improve since you'll might get gold nuggets of information from another person who can judge your work objectively. Someone else is required to criticize our work since us, the creators, are always emotionally biased regarding our work. |
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| Thank you all for your support. I could let others know a little about the acquisitions which are about 40 seconds total as I could tell my mount wasn't guiding was off and daylight was approaching. |
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voted "no". Don't see a point in it. Astrophotography is a very welcoming community and there is no reason to "hide" your images.. it's not a competition, it's a community so there is no reason to feel like it is a competition. - there is no winner, no loser, no "best" or better ... or we can all start hiding our images, since there is no way any of us is "beating" NASA and their James Webb scope.. ever.... Yes, I'm also drooling over pics of people who have been doing this for years, with scopes that are more expensive than cars or houses.. doesn't mean I'm not going to be proud of the images I take. and the progress that I'm making.. we're all starting somewhere. So.. welcome! enjoy emptying your wallets for years and years while exploring what's up there! |
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You can't grow without starting from somewhere and progressing. One of the great things about Astrobin is the "revision" where you can revisit old targets, add data, reprocess, or even start from scratch... then you get to see your own progress over the years. This is not a competition, it is a community. There are images on here that are truly truly phenomenal and they can inspire. Groups are a great tool as well, to share with other people within categories, e.g. Bortle 7/8/9 areas. Also when people post their exposure data, equipment, and bortle information you can use that information to find people who work with similar equipment and environments as you and you can find inspiration in that. share share share. |
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Hi William, I joined Astrobin for the safe storage of my data. I still look at my very early stuff that I posted on Flickr and think that I might bring it here one day just for all of the great memories and definitely not because of the quality of my early images. I first started in AP in my obstructed Bortle 7 backyard with my 2k budget and old dslr. My goal was to get "decent" images of space. Some weren't too bad and others were crap, but I was thrilled with them and still am. I really haven't progressed much further, but my images are better and I am happy to get out when I can (horrible skies the past two summers). Share away! We all started at the beginnng and like others have mentioned, have lots of experience to offer. It is also nice to be a member of a site that the best amateur astrophotographers in the world belong to! Take care and have fun! Jim |
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I could see both sides of this. It can be daunting to put your first image out there, especially when you see the amazing images from everyone else. But...you sort of just need to make that leap. I think most everyone can remember there first couple images and seeing a faint nebula show up. Those almost never turn out great, but those shots are some of the ones I remember most. (for me it was bubble nebula) Maybe a compromise would be another forum topics called "First images" or something. Not quite the "Constructive Feedback" topic because there's often much to address in a first image, but a topic that is slightly more congratulatory? I would recommend anyone new to just go for it though. The astrophotography community is really one of the friendliest and most helpful out there. especially on AB |
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| I started imaging 3 years ago, and posted my beginner images here and was honestly nervous about it, but found over time that this is a really encouraging community, and there is a lot of advice and help available here. I did learn a lot from both here and my friends and mentors outside of astrobin. I highly encourage all newcomers to post and solicit feedback and suggestions! |
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Hi William. I am 3 days in! For me, I am embarrassed about asking really stupid newbie questions. So maybe your proposed new beginners corner could include both “ I took something” as well as associated dumb questions! Neil |
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The only dumb question is the one not asked. This hobby is great at teaching patience and tolerance with ourselves. Enjoy the journey and just have fun with it. CS Patrick |
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Hi William. I am 3 days in! Hi Neil, If you haven't already, before making any equipment investments, read The Deep Sky Imaging Primer, by Charles Bracken. When I decided I wanted to learn astrophotography, the very first purchase I made was this book. And now, 9 months later, I still find myself using it frequently as a reference. Jerry |
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Jerry Gerber:Hi William. I am 3 days in! Thanks Jerry! I will check out the book you recommended. I am in the Apple ecosystem and I don't want to invest in a Windows machine. So I'm restricted to Siril and other astro tools that run on a Mac. I have found it difficult to find books that give advice for software tools that run on Macs. Of course I am sure there is a lot of other great advice in the book other than simply processing tools so I will take a look. I did make an initial investment by way of an accident. Someone sadly lost many things (including a Skywatcher tripod) in a house fire and they were looking to sell an unused HEQ5 mount. I got it for a good price and they got some needed money so it was a win-win. I jerry-rigged the mount onto a Meade tripod and have been experimenting with my existing Nikon photographic gear. The first few days have been a steep learning curve and the first night it took me several hours simply to learn about the SynScan controller and get a not-so-good polar alignment. But yesterday I was able to capture images and I have also been trying to learn Siril with the help of YouTube videos. Here is the photo I took of the Pacman Nebula. (24 light frames of 30s each, ISO 800, F4, Nikon D750 with 80-200mm lens at 200mm, 20 flats, 5 darks, 5 biases) This forum is invaluable and of course as William pointed it it can be a bit daunting for beginners! Neil  |
